Re: Stego/Ankylo limbs (really ceratopsian limbs)

["Nicholas J. Pharris" <pharrinj@PLU.edu>]

On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, Rob Meyerson wrote:

> Ultimately, one does not just take a track and from that make assertions on 
> how
> the animal moved.  

No.  One takes a series of tracks and makes assertions about how the 
animal moved.

> One has to go back to the actual skeleton and see if it fits
> the data.  The point I tried to make from the trackway analysis I mentioned is
> that sprawling forelimbs don't necessarily fail to match the tracks.  I'm not
> saying that this closes the book on anything; I am saying that sprawling
> forelimbs must be considered a possible alternative, since it is possible that
> even a sprawling mount matches trackway data.

But a sprawling mount does not match trackway data.  If the forelimbs 
had sprawled, the forefeet would have been far apart.  If the forelimbs 
had sprawled and the animal had brought its feet in under its body, the 
forefeet would have been intoed.  Neither of these is the case.  The 
animal's forelimbs did not sprawl (at least that's my interpretation).

> Rob
> 

Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(206)535-8204
PharriNJ@PLU.edu

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -- Harry S. Truman