Mesozoic impressions (was Re:Jurassic Park)

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

Larry Dunn wrote:
> 
> It seems pretty clear that at least some dinosaurs (probably all of
> them) had tough beady skin rather than the wrinkly elephant skin you
> see in the movie, but it would have been VERY hard to illustrate that
> kind of skin!
> 

I thought that re-examination of the Pelicanimimus skin impressions
showed that it did have naked, wrinkly skin? No proto-feathers (a la
small Chinese theropods) or pebbly scaly/scute-ish skin (a la 
hadrosaurs). Mmm, scute-ish ... did I just invent a word?

While we are on the subject, is it generally agreed that most large
theropods probably had some variety of scutes, as the Carnotaurus 
impressions illustrate? (That is, the skin impressions, not someone
stomping around doing a Carnotaurus impersonation).

-- 
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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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