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Another question! If there can be adaptations defending against ghosts, can there be likewise adaptations for hunting ghosts? Giant tusks or claws for bringing downlarge or thick-skinned prey now extinct?

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Yes, indeed. Pleistocene carnivores were larger on average. Here is a link https://youtu.be/8ooKB3jRQ8M?si=DoWn9jhaQwaG1aLB. The La Brea Tarpits Museum in LA has recovered millions of bones from large animals, including carnivores. The museum is very worth visiting. The carnivores are just plain scary.

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Can the trunk thorns be removed with a lopper when they appear? Perhaps that would eliminate the dangers from the lower reaches of the tree? I wonder if any of the extinct megafauna tried that out. Any tests of beaver/young honey locust tree interactions?

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I'm sure it would be easy to prune off the thorns. Maybe they were left on as an IQ test for undergraduates...? Beaver/locust interactions? No idea, but thorns that size would probably not be an impediment to animals as small as beavers.

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A group of college students at Yale found the honey locust worthy of extensive study and even as a subject of poetry:

https://naturewalk.yale.edu/trees/fabaceae/gleditsia-triacanthos/honey-locust-18

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Well, why not? It's a beautiful and interesting tree, the students learned a lot, and poetry is always appropriate.

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