Re: Ceratopsian frills

[FEUKAC@PLU.edu]

On Wed, 8 Feb 1995, Kenneth Carpenter wrote:

> Merritt Clifton wrote: 
> 
> >
> >A while back I speculated that Ceratopsian frills,  especially the 
> bigger
> >ones,  might have acted as huge ear-trumpets,  helping them to ear the
> >approach of predators.  Tom Holtz shot that one down by arguing that 
> the
> >frills don't appear to funnel
> >sound toward the ears.  I've been mulling that over ever since
> >and am not really convinced:  it would seem to me that the accoustical
> >properties of the frills would depend on the inner parts,  not just the
> >externals,  and that the circulatory plumbing some others have 
> mentioned from
> >time to time could have had a significant amplifying effect.  There's 
> more to
> >this than just funneling sound to consider;  there's also resonance.  I 
> think
> >this idea can't be dismissed out-of-hand until and unless there's some 
> way to
> >test it,  say by beaming sound at a replica and seeing what happens.
> > --Merritt Clifton,  editor,  ANIMAL PEOPLE.
> 
> 
> I agree with Tom about this.  The shape and angle of the frills would 
> deflect sound away from the ears, not towards them.  Note, especially 
> the upward curve of the Triceratops frill.  In many ways, the angles 
> of the frills would function like the angles on a stealth aircraft, they 
> would deflect sound, but not towards the ears.
> 
> 
> Kenneth Carpenter
> 
>{Imagine this}
           Your a Ceratopsian feeding on the ferns and your pretty busy 
doing whatever you really feel like and sure your hearing is not too hot 
but your sense of smell is more important. I don't think  T-Rex had 
 any way to brush his\her teeth, Therefore he\she would have some 
really, REALLY BAD breath, could this have been a possibility? Which would 
mean  Mr.T-Rex in order to get close enough attack from downwind or get 
some Breathmints.(personally I would not want to be his dentist)This 
could be a totally off the wall but it does make you think.

Maybe the hearing was not as important as the (stoping to smell the roses)
<I know thats impossible because no flowering plants until the Tert. but the 
ideas the same.>

Aaron Feuk
Preparator,Dept. of Earth Sciences
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma,Wash