Re: Glypto-love

[zenlizard@boo.net]

> > Gavin Rymill asked:
> > Has anyone considered the similar problems that Ankylosaurids or
> > Nodosaurids  would have mating?

At last, the list gets around to discussing the epitomy of dinosaur evolution, 
the ankylosaurids!

Seriously, turtles these days would seem to post similar engineering problems 
to mating:  high domed, immovable armor  (granted, most don't have large bulky 
tails, but smaller ones).  Some species get around this thusly:

The male mounts the female in what might be familiar to mammalian quadrupedal 
mating, but insertion does not occur at this point.  Rather, this is just the 
preliminary.  At some  point in time, the male rears up to and sometimes  
*past*  the vertical, achieving insertion while falling backwards.

Sounds awkward, but the tortoises seem to enjoy it, and it gets the job done.

As has been pointd out, ankylosaurid tails were relatively mobile, so I'm not 
so certain that the tails present an obstacle to this method.  One has to 
wonder about a multi-tonne animal crashing back to earth, however.
-zenlizard




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