RE: BAKKER'S BRONTOPHAGY

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Darren Naish wrote:

> it is looking more likely that they [sabre-tooths] used their awesome 
> pectoral and forelimb musculature to subdue prey on the ground before 
> administering a carefully placed (and more conventional) 
> throat bite. [snip] The latter observations suggest that sabre-toothed 
> mammals are, again, poor analogues for big theropods.

Whenever I see the term 'brontophagy', I picture Fred Flinstone sinking his
teeth into a Brontosaurus burger.

Anyway, and this is not to contradict Darren... 

Certain carnivorans may offer good analogues for smaller and mid-sized
theropods, like dromaeosaurids - in the sense that both forelimbs and
hindlimbs are used to subdue the prey prior to dispatching it.  Except that
for dromies the weapon of choice for slashing the throat was the specialized
sickle-claw, not the teeth.  

I know that the good Dr Holtz has proposed that dromies attacked their prey
wolverine-style; and the "Fighting Dinosaurs" skeletons shows a
_Velociraptor_ with its sickle-claw poised dangerously close to
_Protoceratops_'s throat.  I'm partial to the idea (inspired by Ostrom's
reconstruction of _Deinonychus_ in the '70's) that dromies leaped into the
air and used all four feet when engaging live prey.




Tim


----------------------------------------------------------------- 


Timothy J. Williams, Ph.D. 

USDA-ARS Researcher 
Agronomy Hall 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50014 

Phone: 515 294 9233 
Fax:   515 294 9359