Re: Armoured Spinosaurus?

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

     Good questions.  I think smaller theropods would have depended more on 
agility and speed to escape from bigger theropods (and of course, just being 
vigilant and avoiding them).  Defensive body armor would probably affect 
their agility and therefore their ability to capture prey.
    Big therizinosaurs (like sloths) probably used avoidance and perhaps 
cryptic coloration most of the time.  However, sloths will defend themselves 
with their claws if they have to, so I think a therizinosaur would do the 
same thing with their big claws if confronted by a theropod.  A healthy 
adult therizinosaur would almost certainly not be an easy, risk-free meal, 
and would have put up a bloody fight.
           ------ Ken
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Steve  Brusatte wrote:
> Actually, although this conversation has skewed toward Hollywood (ugh) it 
> actually does bring up a good point.  Are there any non-avian theropods 
> that have been found with purely defensive armor?  I wouldn't "count" the 
> "horn" of Carnotaurus (or probably the dermal ossicles of Ceratosaurus, 
> although they may be a possibility).  I don't know how common defensive 
> armor is in modern carnivores, so I can't really comment, but certainly 
> some smaller theropods were preyed on as well as herbivores (ankylosaurs, 
> stegosaurs, and other forms with defensive armor).  And, there are also 
> some theropods that were likely not carnivorous (therizinosaurs and 
> ornithomimosaurs).  Just curious...what have the bizarre claws of the 
> therizinosaurs been reconstructed as?  Could they have been a possible 
> defensive weapon for protection against carnivorous theropods?



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