Re: Sue, gout and metabolism

["Michael" <tons@ccs.netside.com>]

>   > Rothschild, B.M., Tanke, D., & Carpenter, K. (1997).  Tyrannosaurs
>   > suffered from gout.  Nature, 387, 357.
> 
>   Maybe, but I suspect the actual cause was renal failure due to the
>   many pathologies Sue has on the humerus, skull, and fibula. Sue was
>   not a healthy individual at the time of her death.  As was pointed
>   out in the article, other non-mammalian occurances of gout are
>   known. What was not stated was that these cases are often linked to
>   unhealthy kidneys.  Therefore, nothing about the metabolism of Sue's
>   prey can be inferred from the presence of gout.
> 
>   Kenneth Carpenter
> 
Gout is not a routine complication of kidney failure in mammals.  
However, birds and reptiles excrete nitrogen as uric acid which is 
the crystal responsible for gout.  Is gout a complication of renal 
failure in birds and reptiles?

Michael Teuton