CARELESS RAPTORS AND CERATOPSIAN RINGS

["D.W.Naish" <dwn194@soton.ac.uk>]

THE 'FIGHTING' VELOCIRAPTOR
1) I can't remember where I read about the fighting specimen being a juv. I'll
find out and get the ref. to you.
2) I have seen two new photos of the 'fighting' pair (both have now been
dissolved out of the big sandstone block they were originally in) and both
photos clearly show well preserved uncinate processes. There is no question 
that they are anything other than uncinates. Again, I'll send you the refs. if
you want. In Ostrom's 1969 monograph, there's a figure of an uncinate process
found with a Deinonychus. I think that the presence of uncinates in 
dromaeosaurs is important as many popular sources list them as uniquely avian.

Re-analysis of the Deinonychus maxilla and jaw articulations show that
Deinonychus is not the allosaur-headed creature that many people still think it
is. Its head is quite long and low, very much like that of Velociraptor, and
whether it is still distinct enough for its own genus or not is, I think, a
little uncertain. I KNOW that this is controversial and that very few people
agree, so don't rip my head off about it....

I think it well likely that, even if Deinonychus was a pack hunter (a 
conclusion questioned by some), there is no reason that Velociraptor must have
been also. There's no evidence that V. was, yet. Also, this sort of variation
in social behaviour is common amongst predator families, genera and even 
species (the Arabian wolf is solitary, unlike other Canis lupus). Possibly, 
with their awesome weapons, dromaeosaurs didn't need to be pack hunters, a bit
like sabre-toothed cats (but then there's some good evidence that sabre-tooths
were social hunters, so this analogy doesn't really help much...)

CERATOPSIAN RINGS

The reason I foolishly stuck my neck out back there goes as follows...

Only one animal is known to form defensive rings - the Musk ox (Ovibos). In
fact, the supposed reports of musk ox forming defensive rings are a little
suspect, and not everyone believes them (it's an appealing idea, and therefore
possibly a myth started by 'armchair naturalists'). I've seen them forming a
kind of defensive wall, but does anybody really know if they DO from rings?

Anyway, let's just say that they do... well, forming a defensive ring is a very
sophisticated behavioural achievement. I don't think that dinosaurs were
particularly stupid, so this isn't a good reason for their not being able to do
it. But musk ox live on the tundra and they detect their lupine predators when
they are still a very long way off. If they have evolved defensive ring ability,
it could be because they have enough time to gather their babies together,
locate themselves rump-rump (big males on the ouside) and face horn outwards.
The reason I asked if ceratopsians are known from grassland-type habitats or 
not is that, unless they did, they would not have had time to respond similarly
(i.e. by ring forming). As far as I know, all ceratopsians were forest dwellers,
and thus couldn't have had the time (or the space!) to make a nice little ring.
As you probably know, the idea was suggested by Bob Bakker. Mark Hallett
immortalised it by doing a nice painting of a Triceratops 'ring' under attack
by two green tyrannosaurs.

So then, does anybody know a musk ox expert who can prove that they (the musk
ox) do form defensive rings? Of course, even if the musk ox can't (or doesn't),
that doesn't disprove the ability in ceratopsians (because dinosaurs are better
than mammals!). I have also read that oryx and horses (hooves outwards!) 'ring'
in the same way, but I think it's nonsense.

"The Off-Gauge Autoloader with laser sighting... the Plasma Rifle in the 40 
watt range..."  "Hey, only what you see pal.."  "The Ouzi 9 millimeter...." 
"Any of these is ideal for home defense, so which'll it be?"  "All"   "All? I'm
gonna close early today.. there's a three day wait on the hand guns, but you 
can take the rifles now if you want....  you can't do that in here.."   "Wrong"

DARREN NAISH
dwn194@soton.ac.uk