Re: Diplodocid duck-and-cover techniques

["Patrick Norton" <ptnorton@email.msn.com>]

>A tail that massive wouldn't necessarily need direction.<

If your argument is that a swinging tail is an effective defense mechansim
even if the animal couldn't see behind itself, then you have to agree that
the tail would need to be in side to side motion >constantly< to be of any
effect whatsoever. This seems to be not only a huge waste of energy, but a
behavior that would easily be overcome by a predator.

> I've seen horses blindly kick at whatever's behind them<

If this is only a behaviour directed towards "whatever's behind them", then
it's not so blind, is it? Horses don't go around kicking their hind legs all
the time, do they?

PTN