RE: again: frill of Triceratops

[Nick Longrich <longrich@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Nathan Myhrvold wrote:

>  From:        Jonathan  R. Wagner[SMTP:znc14@ttacs1.ttu.edu]
> 
> >  One I would favor is blood support for a keratin sheath.  Since
> > Triceratops in particular had marginal hornlets, perhaps the entire
> > frill was covered in horn.  Or maybe all of the vascularization was
> > there to support the frill.
> >        Wagner
> 
> Antlers on deer, moose and related species are a good example of this -
> highly vaclularized to support growth, not thermoregulation.

        Ah, yes, but I was told in my vertebrate bio course that many 
horns ( don't know about antlers) play significant roles in 
thermoregulation, being highly vascularized. It was news to me. Not that 
I would suggest this as a primary function or primary factor in their 
development. So is it inconcievable that if the frill did not primarily 
devlop for use as a thermoregulatory device (like ungulate horns) that it 
served this purpose anyway, and helped to regulate heat like an 
elephant's ears?