After passing on these startling findings to Our Man In Chile, a conversation about wildlife ensued. O.M.I.C. was at the same time observing a very small hummingbird outside his window, which led us to the following conversation.

O.M.I.C.: i am in no position to dispute their findings
Heathen: Because the mountainous regions of Chile are utterly and tragically devoid of enormous reptilian predators?
O.M.I.C.: among other reasons, yes

Then, slightly later:

O.M.I.C.: there is an impossibly small hummingbird outside
O.M.I.C.: it’s like a large bee
Heathen: I got some (poor) pictures of a normal sized on in Mendocino on our honeymoon.
Heathen: It kept folding space and suddenly being somewhere else.
Heathen: And was therefore hard to photograph.
Heathen: Frankly, the whole idea of alligators is pretty bizarre.
O.M.I.C.: it is much easier to explain hummingbird behavior if you assume not that they are very light, but are instead infinitely dense
O.M.I.C.: re: alligators, i think it is very important, at the end of the day, to be thankful that you were not eaten by something. without alligators we lose this small satisfaction.

So there’s that.