Re: Dr. Spotila's talk - 6/28/2001 - DVPS (Phila.)

["Patricia Kane-Vanni" <pkv1@erols.com>]

Allan:
    I arranged for Dr. Spotila's talk at DVPS (his title was: The Cold Truth
About Hot Blooded Dinosaurs - They Weren't!   cute huh?) and I am forwarding
your question on to him and will make sure his response is put on the list.
    Thanks
    Patti

Patricia Kane-Vanni, Esq.
119 Bryn Mawr Ave.
Bala Cynwyd, PA  19004
610-667-4593, 215-898-8784
pkv1@erols.com  or  pkvanni@sas.upenn.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>
To: "Dinosaur Mailing List" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 4:20 AM
Subject: Dr. Spotila's talk - 6/28/2001 - DVPS (Phila.)


> On Thursday, June 28th, 2001 - Dr. James R. Spotila (Drexel University -
> Phila., PA) gave a talk to the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society
> (DVPS), held at the Academy of Natural Science of Phila. (ANSP).  The
title
> of the talk was "Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs? They're Not!" [Admittedly, this
> title was created by the DVPS events department (or was it just you Patti?
> :-)  ].
>
> Essentially, Dr. Spotila presented his evidence supporting the idea that
> dinosaurs (especially the ones that most people think of) were not
> "warm-blooded" (endothermic). The main point was the larger the animal -
the
> less the need for the endothermic type of metabolism. This was based on
> experiments with leatherback turtles and American alligators.
>
>   He is a good speaker, and there was little to fault in his presentation.
> HOWEVER, I did ask him whether any of these points applied to animals less
> than 2-3 meters long.  He replied that "anything goes" under that size in
> terms of metabolism and thermoregulation.  This obviously allows for
> smaller, endothermic dinosaurs; so the supposed premise of the talk is
> disproved.
>
> I neglected to ask him about large, hairy mammals (such as
> _Indricotherium_ - which we all agree were endothermic); and whether
> smaller, feathered dinosaurs (which might be endothermic) might increase
in
> size and still maintain their integument and the endothermy.
>
>
> Allan Edels
>
>