Re: Vestigial Arms

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dann Pigdon" <dannj@alphalink.com.au>
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 3:09 AM

> My guess is that most large theropods probably employed a similar
> strategy to komodo monitors and some snakes: take a quick bite, back
> off, and assess the situation.

Can take quite some time, see below.

> A well aimed bite could cripple an animal, of not kill it outright.

A less well aimed bite would require a second bite, and that the prey be
hold in the meantime.

> If it survived the initial hit, the predator can follow the wounded
> animal until it weakens to the point of offering no resistence.

Komodo monitors can follow their prey that way for _15 days_. I don't think
an endothermic tyrannosaur could do that, could it?

-----------------------------------------------
Stephen J. Gould's death is quite a loss indeed. He's still needed.