Re: Another Press Release: Broken Allosaurus ribs, and presumed activity level

[Jeff Hecht <jhecht@world.std.com>]

Rich Travsky wrote:
>
>Regarding broken ribs on Allosaurus: The University of Wyoming
>has a nice Allosaurus on display. I've some pictures of "Big Al"
>on my web page
>
>   http://w3.uwyo.edu/~rtravsky/big_al.html
>
>one of which shows damaged ribs. The broken ribs, tho, are
>very high up high and forward, being directly under the scapula.
>This injury is one of fourteen the animal had.
>
>Looking at the picture, I'm not sure it could be ascribed to a fall.

Rothschild says that if Allosaurus made a "three-point landing" -- falling
flat after tripping -- it would have cracked its top ribs. So "Big Al" may
be a case history of just that. In fact, it may be among his sample. --
Jeff Hecht

Jeff Hecht     Boston Correspondent    New Scientist magazine
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