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Re: If you had a time machine...



I for one have always been intrigued by some of the unusual symbiotic relationships that exist in nature, and would love to see how dinosaurs might potentially have assisted each other. I can recall seeing a nature documentary some time back... It was long enough ago that I no longer remember what animals were involved, but the gist was that one animal was capable of locating a food source, but could not physically get to it, so it would lead another more agile critter with similar tastes to the bounty. The latter would retrieve the food and consume its share, but also leave a portion behind in a location accessible to the former, thereby ensuring that the relationship would continue. (Incidentally, if anybody saw it and remembers what creatures were involved, I'd love to identify the show and see if I could track down the footage. It was quite impressive!)

Along similar lines, I imagine that within ecosystems where food is scarce and a lot of opportunisic feeding is taking place, things would be pretty tense, but how might dinosaurs have behaved differently in environments where there was ample food and water to go around? Doesn't seem a stretch to think that a more playful and mischievous side would have emerged.

So, even if it were nothing as grand as the above level of cooperation, anything from Mesozoic birds pecking away at parasites on a dinosaur hide, brave pterosaurs picking clean the teeth of a well-fed theropod, maybe a horned dino mock charging a herd of grazing hadrosaurs just for kicks... These would be cool things to witness!

Good luck with the documentary!

Rob Taylor
The Theropod Archives
http://home.comcast.net/~theropod-archives/


----- Original Message ----- From: "David Krentz" <ddkrentz@charter.net>
To: "Dinosaur Mailing List" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 3:14 PM
Subject: If you had a time machine...


Hello All

  I'm working on a new documentary series that involves a whole bunch
of dinosaurs.  I thought it would be nice to give you all an
opportunity to let us know some of the things you wish you could see
in CGI driven dinosaur shows that you have not seen before. We are well aware of dino-doc fatigue, but we are trying to break the mold with this one. Heck, forget
the fact that its a show and tell me this...IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME
WHAT WOULD YOU YEARN TO SEE?

What "greatest hit" moment from the Triassic to Late Cretaceous would  you
dream of witnessing? And with what creatures doing what to whom? I know under
your cynical science hats there is still a wide-eyed kid!

 Violent battles?  Peaceful vistas?  Lazing Dinosaurs? The life of a
mosquito? Predator and Prey ignoring each other for once? A gentle
rainstorm in an ancient forest? Burrowing dinosaurs? T-Rex's
violently copulating? Inside the egg of a Sauropod as the embryo stirs into
life? An endless plain of ferns?

WHAT WOULD TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY?!