RE: theropod tongues

["Douglas W. Lewis" <dwlewis@rmii.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From:   dunn1@IDT.NET [SMTP:dunn1@IDT.NET]
Sent:   Sunday, June 08, 1997 6:18 AM
To:     dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject:        Re: theropod tongues

> From:          Archosaur@aol.com


> 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??

But then of course Tyrannosaurs  probably didn't have beaks either.  
Dinosaurs and birds are related (or dinosaurs are birds or birds are 
dinosaurs or dinobirds are . . .) but can we really say that a two 
ounce dinobird should dictate the reconstruction of a five ton 
theropod?  

I personally think that, with nothing but it's head to poke around 
with, a tyrannosaurid would probably benefit from a long tongue in 
low-risk poking-around situations.  Then again, I won't be chased in 
JP3 . . .
Larry

I personally believe that dinosaurs are birds ancestors. One species might 
be(I'm talking along the lines of Avimimus [I think it's Avimimus] and 
Archaeoptorex[spelling?])the birds' ancestor. But I think that dinosaurs were 
just similar to birds and reptiles. I think that they were their own class(or 
phylum,or whatever).


Caleb
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/6619/index.html