Re: theropod tongues

[Bettyc <Bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

Archosaur@aol.com wrote:
> In the Lost World the tyrannosaur laps out of the swimming pool with a pink,
> very mammalian looking tongue.  My birds sure don't drink like that!!  What
> do we know about how theropods would have gotten liquids into their systems??
>  How likely is it that they could have lapped?

We talked about this a little about a month ago.  
Crocodiles don't lap and can't stick their tongues out as a prevention
for them biting their own tongues (all those teeth).  Since most
meat-eating dinosaurs had similar problems and would probably have been
in danger of biting through their own tongues, no, they probably didn't
lap like mammals and probably their tongues worked mre like birds'
tongues' do.

but this is probably a generalization, and it's cetainly possible some
dinosaurs like Oviraptor (mostly toothless) or many of the herbivorous
dinosaurs had active tongues.

Humorous off shoot-
Instead of a tippy bird novelty item 
we get a tippy dinosaur novelty item for parties and such.

-- 
           Betty Cunningham  
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