[qeternity]

> If the paleontologists had an answer, why are they making flippant comments and un-founded guesses?

Right, like I said, person with no domain knowledge alleges experts are making “flippant” and “unfounded guesses”.

What exactly were you trying to prove?

[JoeAltmaier]

Again, just what I wrote. Guessing mastadon behavior, extrapolated from what living mastodon? Speculating on behavior vs probability of ending in the fossil record - is that a thing? Where has that been studied? Ignoring risks taken by female mastadons - giving birth, defending calves. Are those part of the behavior group that affects likelihood of fossilization? Nothing in this (soft) article about that.

Let's be totally honest. Paleontologists have make astronomical errors in interpreting probabilities and statistics in the past.