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Ceratopian defense (was..ah its to long to write).
You wrote:
>
>
>I've always been skeptical of the idea of using the horns for
>intraspecific competition for two main reasons: first, those horns are
>long and sharp.
Some are indeed long, but sharp? I don't think so, a more rounded tip I'd bet.
Aside from the obvious problems of breakage due to
>direct contact with the frill, the risk of injury in such exchanges
>would be quite high.
The horn is thicker and wouldn't break if it hit the thinner frill.
Look at modern ungulates who exhibit head-butting
>behavior; all of them have either antlers or recurved horns of some
>type.
and NONE have frills like a ceratopian.
>The second reason I'm skeptical is the fact that many ceratopsians had
>holes in their frills; even covered with skin or cartilage these would
>make the frill rather dubious protection against horns.
True.
Tracy