[crpntr@ix.netcom.com: Re: [Achut.Reddy@Eng.Sun.COM: Re: T.rex teeth]]

[rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe)]

If anybody has Jack Horner's ear, I'd like to hear his side of the
following story.  I forwarded to Ken Carpenter part of LN Jeff's
(Martz) and Achut Reddy's conversation about the bitten hadrosaur.
Ken replied:

  Hi Mickey, 

  Thanks for forwarding the message.  Only three more months until I
  can get back on the list! Ackkkk!

  > [from LN Jeff] Are you referring to the Denver Museum of Natural
  > History Edmontosurus tail?  The new mount that it is in has the
  > tail held about 8 feet off the ground, right around mouth level
  > for a T.rex.  The wound consists of a (very) roughly semicircular
  > shape in the neural spines about 10 inches (?) wide and 6 inches
  > (?)  deep, where the neural spines are either broken off and
  > partially healed over, or at least mangled.  There is a spot on
  > one spine where a hole has been punched clean through.

  Actually, the height is 13 feet.  The top 1/3 of one neural spine is
  obliquely sheared off leaving a U-shaped groove.  There is some
  remodeling of the bone indicating some healing occured prior to
  death.  Other neural spines are mangled, with at least two tooth
  punctures.  These and the missing spine form a nice U-shape that
  conforms well with the cast of the T. rex skull we have.  Jack has
  seen it and agrees that it most likely was done by a T rex, however,
  argues that it was a rare attack. He argues that T rex was not built
  for speed because the lower leg is shorter than the upper leg
  (opposite of horses).  But as I argued publicly with him at a AAPG
  (Bakker never showed up, so I was asked to fill in), hadrosaurs are
  also not built for speed.  Besides, the business of lower leg/upper
  leg ratios is missleading and abused.  Jack and I stood up on the
  stage and I pointed out that he and I have the same leg ratios, but
  he could out run me because his legs are longer (I'm only 5 feet to
  his 6 ft 3" or so).  However, we were not able to run the race down
  the corridor because of Jack's Vietnam injury. Even Lockley, who was
  on the stage with us, agreed that leg ratios are only part of the
  story and noted that the fastest sprinters tend to have shorter
  legs, but the opposite is true for distance runners.  Anyway, to
  argue that T rex was not a fast runner ignores that the prey is not
  built for speed and there were a lot of smaller (hence shorter
  legged) juvenile and subadult hadrosaurs upon which to chase down.
  
  Ken