Re: Question regarding allosaur saltation??

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Fam Jansma wrote:
> Kent wrote:
> >I was just thinking about a scene in the WWD episode
> >"Time of the titans" in which an Allosaurus is shown
> >leaping onto the back of the Diplodocus...
> >How feasible would a movement like that be for a 1.5
> >tonne allosaur? I really don't doubt that it had the
> >power to jump like that, but I wonder how well it
> >could have withstood the stress of a landing.
> 
> Even if the Allosaur had the chance to land properly on the back (which
> maybe resulted in the breaking of it's shin or toe-bones) of a Diplodocus,
> the chances that it would actually stay on it is a different story. Look at
> the dorsal skeletal recontruction by Greg Paul in the "Scientific American
> Book of Dinosaurs" of this behemoth, the body is nearly cilinder-shape in
> it's form. Round surfaces give very little grip, possibly resulting in that
> the poor Allosaur would slide of the Diplodocus and have the chance it head
> could be squashed by a hindlimb.

Funny you should mention broken toe bones, Big Al exhibits just such an
injury:

 http://w3.uwyo.edu/~rtravsky/alfeet2.gif

(one of his many little boo-boos...)