Re: tails for defense

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM>]

>From: larrys@zk3.dec.com
 > 
 > Actually, we have little idea how stegosaurus fought. 

Quite true.

 > One other point: correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you all will) but
 > stegosaurus was from the earliest age of dinosaurs

More like the middle - Late Jurassic to be precise.
Tyrannosaurus rex was Latest Cretaceous, about 60 some
odd million years later.

 >  - none of them ever
 > _had_ to face down a t-rex. 

True.

 > The carnosaurs of that age were not so
 > formidable as the ones that triceratops had to deal with.

I am not so sure of this.  Allosaurus achieved a size approaching
that of T. rex, and had larger, more formidible arms.  It clearly
used a different hunting style, so direct comparisons may not
be that easy. As Dr. Holtz has pointed out Allosaurus was probably
a grapple-and-bite predator, as opposed to T. rex's pursuit-and-
bite style.
 > 
 > If they were herd animals, _I'd_ bet that's what they'd do.

Well, this is assuming they were a herd animal.

What evidence is there of that?

[There *is* substantial evidence that ceratopsians tended to
feed in herds, but I haven't seen any comparable evidence for
Stegosaurus]. 

swf@elsegundoca.ncr.com         sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.