Re: Polly Want a Dinosaur?

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

At 08:50 PM 11/5/98 EST, you wrote:
>As Adam Yates mentioned here earlier today, some of us might have to
>wait for months to get a chance  to see a given paper. Some might never see it
>at all.

In point of fact, this paper is out (in the UK, at least), and since Nature
ships realtively quickly everywhere, it should be available within week or
three in the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere.

Also, in this case, it was a non-scientist who forwarded me the information
on the paper (thank you, you very kind person).  I haven't seen the specimen
in person myself (John Hutchinson, however, has already mentioned his views
of the specimen, and the reaction of others to seeing the fossil).

>  What is wrong with asking a question or making a comment about a topic that
>appears here on the list? If the question or comment is wrong-headed or off-
>base surely someone will correct it or add comments of their own.

Funny, that was what I was doing: correcting the incorrect assumption that
the specimen was not compared to caenagnathids.

>If this list
>is restricted to discussions only by those who have read the pertinent
>publications, I have a feeling you're going to get pretty lonesome. Unless, of
>course, you'll Xerox the pubs and send them to us. I'd go for that! Dan
>Varner. 

It wasn't the asking of questions or comments that were the problem: it was
the PARTICULAR comment that was the problem.  The question wasn't "I wonder
if Stidham compared it caenagnathids? They have similar jaws to parrots."
The statement made was "It sounds like a caenagnathid."

In other words, it assumed that Stidham didn't do his job and check out what
is the obvious first option to check (before I was forwarded the file, *I*
certainly thought it was going to turn out to be a caenagnathid!!).  It was
this assumption which I found annoying, not the fact that questions were
asked about the fossil (in fact, I explicitly stated that I LIKE to see
skepticism!).

Just because some of our brethren out there don't work mostly on non-avian
dinosaurs doesn't mean that they aren't aware of them.

On a more positive note: look for a pretty big announcement in the non-avian
dinosaur world in about a week.  I am fairly certain it will interest a lot
of people on the list.

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