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

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Fri, 19 Feb 1999, Jaime A. Headden wrote:
> Betty wrote:
> 
> <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).>
> 
>   In both humans and horses the neural spines are buried medially
> between the rib heads, and for the most part are not exposed laterally
> in horses except towards the flanks and withers, and this was covered
> in huge masses of muscle, and in humans they are not exposed at all
> except in the anteriormost dorsals (thoracic) and cervicals, so the
> risk is negligible.

I should have left more of the original context in.

Not mere rolling on the ground, I had more in mind the image of the
predator hanging onto its prey, and both rolling together. That's a lot
of weight and momentum, esp with big prey.

Rich