Re: Feathery Symposium (long)

[HPB1956@aol.com]

Luis Rey wrote:
>>
Czerkas also let us scrutinize that new tiny mistery maniraptoran hatchling 
wonder with a third extremely elongated digit ...
It has been acknowledge the first 'official' arboreal dinosaur (Greg Paul 
compared it at first sight to a lemur) with a curious mixture of primitive 
and dervived characters.
<<

Reminds me of a recent eMail by Dann Pidgon dated 02 February, 2000
>>
... pioneering days of Victoria, Australia (1830s) ... In the absence of the 
usual infrastructure (ie. chicken coops) and in an almost completely wild 
environment with numerous predators, the chickens tended to roost high in 
trees during the night. Apparently they encouraged hatchlings to scrample 
their way into trees for the night quite soon after hatching (within a few 
days).

I wonder whether any small theropods took shelter in trees as juveniles (just 
as young cheetahs spend more time in trees than their mothers do)? Could the 
first flight characteristics have been juvenile traits retained into 
adulthood? Do juvenile small theropods have different forelimb propotions to 
their adult forms (perhaps indicating a scansorial phase while young)? 
Certainly Hoatzin loose their climbing equipment as they get older.
<<

A maniraptoran hatchling would nicely help to answer this question posed by 
Dan Pidgon.


Cheers

Heinz Peter Bredow

BTW: Many thanks to Luis Rey for his report of the Florida Symposium