RE: JP3 Thoughts (frilled Dilophosaurus revisited)

["Tracy L. Ford" <dino.hunter@home.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
Dinogeorge@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 11:52 PM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: JP3 Thoughts (frilled Dilophosaurus revisited)

In a message dated 7/19/01 11:20:25 PM EST, theclaw10@home.com writes:

<< Before everyone starts thinking I'm completely insane: no, I don't
necessarily
 think that _Dilophosaurus_ had a neck frill. However, I honestly did not
know
 that enough fossil evidence existed to completely rule it out in known
species
 of _Dilophosaurus_. If all anyone could present were reasons related to the
 animal's  size or place in the food chain, that to me isn't good enough to
 completely rule out the neck frill-type structures. But if such a structure
 would show evidence of muscle attachment scars on the bones supporting the
 frill, and none exist...well, that still makes me wonder; how do we know
that
 _Dilophosaurus_ specimens have preserved all of the muscle attachment scars
 without any being eroded into obscurity? I would imagine that the muscle
 attachment scars for a neck frill would not be very large. >>

I can hardly believe my eyes. Some writer decides to stick a crazy neck
frill
on what he or she called a Dilophosaurus in a Hollywood movie eight years
ago, and now we have this wacky debate? Has the world gone mad? We can't
rule
out that dinosaurs had pink and blue polka dots, either, but should we waste
bandwidth debating this? <<

And the big come back from them is 'How do you know, you weren't there back
then, they could have had frills'. Gawd, give me a break. This ridiculous
debate has been run into the ground, 8 years ago!!! Check the archives. We
are forever at the mercy of TV and Movies. We can bang our heads against the
wall with them, and they will still insist that what was written or shown on
the big screen is true. Just stand behind people looking at fossils in a
Museum and you'll get some very off the wall comments, stated as fact, by
the parents trying to explain to their knowledge seeking children, things
they don't understand and won't read about to tell them the correct things.
What was in those shows and documentaries is taken as truth by the layperson
(many of which couldn't find the United States on a Globe or know how many
stars are on a flag). We are indeed doomed. (Gee, I'm starting to rant like
Dennis Miller!)


Tracy L. Ford
P. O. Box 1171
Poway Ca  92074

PS. Don't get me wrong. I do like the movies and enjoy them for what they
are, just Monster Movies. It's the rest of the public that takes it for
fact.