Re: Dromeosaurid behavior.......a big sleep

[Frank Galef <tyra-rex2@nctimes.net>]

"John M. Dollan" wrote:

>
> John Dollan wrote:
> Also, again from the point of view of simple curiosity, is not the mass
> fossilization of Coelophysis groups proof of their living in large groups?  Or
> was this simply a result of the animal being very numerous and its remains
> coming to rest in a chance communal grave over a long period of time (my, 
> wasn't
> that a long and bogged down sentence)?

> I respond in deep thought:
> Not to appear overly uniformitarian, but I wonder if the coelophysis 
> assemblage
> could have been a winter den.  Rattlesnakes are solitary hunters, but they 
> winter
> together without fighting and biting.  If the coelophysis population in a 
> given
> locale did the same and their den got flooded, it might produce the fossil
> assemblage.  Who knows, maybe a local crew of Deinonychus did the same and 
> were
> joined by some young Tentonosaurs.  Being cold and out of a feeding mode, 
> there
> would no objection to another body in the dinopile from the dromaeos.  If 
> space
> was limited, it may have prevented large adults from joining the swarm.  This
> could have produced the close association found by Ostrom as well as a lot of
> other explanations.  If this has been proposed before on this list, I 
> apologize,
> but being new I haven't yet had a chance to go through everything alse that 
> has
> been posted on the subject.   (I'm also new to this list and not entirely 
> sure how
> this works.  Sorry if it comes through twice)
> Frank