Re: Dinosaur tail dragging

["Jerry D. Harris" <102354.2222@compuserve.com>]

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Message text written by INTERNET:lra_raptor@hotmail.com

"I'm probably wrong and what I'm about to say is only speculation,
but if the prints were formed in what was a coal swamp, wouldn't the
dinosaurs sink into the decaying material, making their tails closer
to the ground and making it more likely to have long tail drags?  Like
I said it's just a thought, and could very well be wrong."


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        If this were true, then the footprints would be extraordinarily
deep, which they are not.

        Anyway, just because they're found in a coal mine doesn't mean they
were made in a coal swamp!  The prints are all on the roofs of the mine
tunnels -- they stick down from the ceiling.  The prints are all in
sandstone -- the sandstone overlies the coal, and the mines follow the coal
seam.

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                     Jerry D. Harris
                 Fossil Preparation Lab
          New Mexico Museum of Natural History
                   1801 Mountain Rd NW
               Albuquerque  NM  87104-1375
                 Phone:  (505) 899-2809
                  Fax:  (505) 841-2866
               102354.2222@compuserve.com