RE: hopping theropods

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

I hope this viewpoint hasn't been offered already.  I have been distracted
on other things, so please excuse already trampled ground, if such is the case.
  "Hopping" behavior in birds has always struck me as an adjunct to the
development of wings, not of cursoriality.  Marsh birds are notorious for 
hopping about on the mud flats, while flapping their wings.  The purpose
for the hopping-flapping concerto is not to gain powered flight, or to
increase pounce-speed (it would appear that it actually _decreases_ pounce
speed).  Ostriches, which are now flightless, none-the-less maintain a
hopping-flapping combination, although it is much rarer than in smaller
birds.  Non-maniraptoran theropods, presumably ?lacking feathers and elongated
forelimbs, would be lacking the ability to preform 50% of the hopping/
flapping combination.
  Hopping/flapping in flamingos and long-legged marsh birds seems to me to
be more for display/intimidation, than for locomotion.  T. rex had much
better physical attributes for display/intimidation than it's puny
forelimbs.