Re: Warm-Blooded debate

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 02:25 AM 6/25/97 -0500, Sean C. wrote:
>
>> This is true.  Out of the argument whether they were warm-blooded or
>> cold-blooded, all that comes from the cold-blooded side is defense!
>> Why the warm-blooded evidence COULD be wrong, although they provide no
>> evidence of their own.  What kind of closed-minded people could possibly
>> belive in such a weak argument as that?
>
>The idea itself has a sad beginning.It was part of the early "Dinos as
>just big lizards" B.S...Back when they were proposing all sorts of silly
>notions like sprawling sauropods and breaking tails so they could have
>tripod porkers instead of balanced bipeds.They wanted to make dinos into
>big slow genetically deformed monstosities because they weren't mammals
>and therefore not close to "The One Perfect Creature" (man).Yes this is
>a simplified explanation but that's is where many of the ideas like
>ectothermic dinos got started.                                                 
>>Rant Concluded >G<, Sean C.
>
Well, there is more to the endothermy/ectothermy debate than is addressed on
TV documentaries or popular books.

Although I am primarily agnostic with regards to total endothermy in
adulthood in all nonavian dinosaur lineages, I would not characterize the
"dinosaurs as ectotherms" camp as being strictly defensive nor beholden to
post-1900, pre-1970 theories.  Ruben et al.'s respiratory turbinate
analyses, for example, stem from recent discoveries, and do not harken back
to Gilmore-era studies.  If you can find some writing on the subject which
covers more than one point of view (the appropriate chapters in Fastovsky &
Weishampel, for instance), you might learn something new.

(Incidentally, for those not aware of it, Owen himself, in the 1842 paper in
which he coined the term "Dinosauria" ('fearfully great lizards'), includes
a footnote suggesting that dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded, and
approaching modern birds and mammals in terms of their physiology).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661