wear marks on hatchling teeth

[Phillip Bigelow <n8010095@henson.cc.wwu.edu>]

cowen@jade.ucdavis.edu writes:
snip
but I remember that the hatchlings were reported at one time to have slight 
wear marks on their teeth.  That would be a minor miracle if they had not 
hatched yet.


       I remember a discussion a while back (don't know if it was a
       published study or not) on wear patterns in "hatchling"
       dinosaurs.  About 10 years ago or so.  A researcher who
       apparently was a good-mother-lizard-skeptic made the
       comment that perhaps the wear patterns on these small
       maiasaurs was due to the embryonic dino grinding it's
       teeth while still gestating.  I know that embryonic
       domestic chickens peck at their shells days before they
       hatch.  Who knows?  Maybe an SEM study of scratch marks
       could tell the difference between the two behaviors.  At
       any rate, this skeptic sounds like a spoiler to me!
                  :)                     <pb>