Re: DINOSAUR digest 1272

[Martin Human <cockatoo@csi.com>]

> From: Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>

> I like the idea that they were used to help the beast get up. If tyrannosaurs
> spent much time lying around (and that huge pubic boot is obviously there for
> some reason), they may have had to rock forward to get up in order to begin
> straightening their legs. Maybe the forelimbs were still there (rather than
> being lost entirely, or vestigialised like in Carnotaurus) to stop them 
> scooting
> forward on their chests before they could pivot their front section up to

> I don't think much of the idea of the forelimbs being used during mating. 
> Who'd
> want to antagonise a 6 tonne female by jabbing her with meat hooks at the
> critical moment? (please don't answer that question)

Doesn't the latter statement contradict the first? If you want to push
yourself up, or stop yourself slipping forward when rising, why keep
"meathooks" as appendages? A flat strucuture with toes to dig in would
seem a better idea?