Re: "Digging Dinosaurs"

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Allan Turner wrote:

> others had before him, that it was possible dinosaurs nested in the 
> "uplands."  This made sense because the lowlands would have been too swampy 
> for eggs.

I would have to disagree with this assumption. Wetlands have always been a
haven for egg layers.  They provide great cover at low predator-density.
Mammals hate 'em.  In the Mesozoic dinosaurs may or may not have used them
as a refuge.  It depends on how wet the wetlands are.  It also depends on
the egg layers metabolism.  mammals do not do well  in wetlands because
they wind up heating the whole swamp with their body.  This leads to
hypothermia. Crocs are fine.  How about dinos?  Were they endothermic???
Even if they were endothermic they may have been able to utilize wetlands.
Perhaps bipedalism meant that only a small part of their body was
immersed.  Of course it's all guesswork, but at a minimum, swamp-laying
cannot be ruled out _a priori_.