Re: Bloody feathers & flicky tails (was: Feathers as fossilizedbehaviour)

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flying-goat.com>]

when I roll on the ground my vertebrae do not break.  Horses out-weigh
me by as much as 10 times and they don't break vertebrae when they roll
either (they scratch this way). Living feathers have blood in them up to
a certain part of the quill.  They break when bent after this point. 
They bend and sometimes tear below this point.  When birds dust they
scrape feathers along the ground however so living feathers can take
some abuse before breaking.  Anyways I'd expect bending and tearing
feather damage from a combat roll (because the feather bent the wrong
way) before I expected vertebrae damage.

What sort of body feathers did the Moa and such have?  Since they
weren't flyers, were meat eaters, and were in the weight catagory of
some of the middle sized theropods this becomes an interesting
question.....Ostriches have fluffy, bristly, and hairy feathers, Emus
are bristly and hairy. 

-Betty

Richard W Travsky wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 19 Feb 1999, Betty Cunningham wrote:
> > A deinonychus rolling on it's back and breaking (theoretical) display
> > feathers is not as dangerously fatal to the deinonychus than when a bird
> > of prey breaks any feather that affects it's flight dynamics.  Just
> > something to think about.
> 
> Rolling on the ground? This brings up the possibility that vertrebral
> processes might break or show damage. (Do lion vertrebrae show this?)
> Or possibly also show damage to clavicles.


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