Re: Feathered Theropods -Reprise

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

John Clavin wrote:
> 
> A 6ft wolf would be a pretty big one.
> Mostly they're a little smaller and more slender that a German Shepherd dog.

Except for those north American populations that specialise in hunting
bison, which tend to be quite large. I suspect that a 10 foot
Deinonychus (half of which, or more, would have been tail) would
have been lighter than the average adult wolf. Wolves don't have
the hollow-boned, avian-like body form that dromaeosaurs seem to have
had. Which begs the question: is that because dromaeosaurs are
decended from flying (or at least arborial) anscestors, where
weight reduction was a necessity? Or was the development of flight
facilitated by the light-weight small theropod design? A chicken
and egg problem, you might say.  :)

-- 
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        Dann Pigdon
        GIS Archaeologist
        Melbourne, Australia

        Australian Dinosaurs:
        http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/4459/
        http://www.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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