Re: Stegosaur plates as protection......

[Randy King <randyk@informix.com>]

Mark Sumner wrote:
> 
> I find it very difficult to picture a bipedal theropod, it's head a dozen
> feet in the air, attacking the "soft underbelly" of anything.  We have good
> evidence from hadrosaur and Triceratops specimens that Tyranosaurs attacked
> the backbone.

That doesn't imply that that is the killing blow.  It could have been
a maneuver to turn the animal over.  The teeth won't fall out if you
bite into soft tissue.  There is still a lot of cost in going through
hard material.  Don't read too much into the fossil evidence.  

> 
> Jurassic theropods were certainly not so top-heavy as a T. rex, but I still
> rather doubt they would have grabbed a Stegosaur by the underside of the
> throat.

I'm not trying to imply they only attacked soft tissue, but that this
was
their ultimate target.  The killing blow would be to soft tissue.

I also have no doubt that there were exceptions.

> 
> Mark
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