The Smilodon Show (was RE: JP III Item)

[Larry Dunn <majestic_cheese@yahoo.com>]

(Ok, not a dinosaur, but a bona fide dinosaur
paleontologist started it.)

--- "Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>
wrote:

> Speaking of paleo-entertainment, I caught most of
> the Sabretooth show on The
> Discovery Channel last night.  Great to see the
> paleomammalogists getting
> their chance in the spotlight.

And equally great to see a *steel skull* operated by a
*mini-excavator* used to simulate the bite of a
lion-sized animal.  When the docs stood over that
truck in their shorts, having just rammed their
construct into the bison carcass, and Pryce intoned
that "the controversy was now over," I burst out
laughing, frightening the children.

Let's overlook the fact that _Smilodon_'s skull was
not made of steel.  How did they arrange to have the
little excavator exert bite pressure similar to that
of a _Smilodon_?  

> It was also nice to
> hear that they didn't
> redub the narrator's voice from English to
> American... ;-)

Is Jonathan Pryce still English?  I thought he'd
become American by TV commercial osmosis.  :)


=====
Larry

"Catapultam habeo. Nisi Pecuniam omnen mihi dabis ad capul tuum saxum immane 
mittam."

http://members.tripod.com/~megalania/index.html

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