Re: Sauropod inferences

["Jordan Mallon" <j_mallon@hotmail.com>]

Here's the point: as nice as it is infering dinosaur behaviour from the 
likes of horses, rhinos, sheep, etc., dinosaur science is already up to its 
ears in meaningless, unscientific conjectures and assumptions.  It's easy to 
forget that, when dealing with the likes of dinosaurs, all we really have at 
our disposal are fossils.  And as useful as they can be, there's also only 
so much they can tell us (hmmm... this reminds me of another thread I've 
been following).  Can your ungulate parallels *really* serve as a guide for 
extracting sauropod behaviours?  Can you apply the papers you've 
exhaustingly read over and over again to a pile of bones?  Because, in the 
end, that's what it really boils down to.
Admitedly, I haven't yet read the papers you refer to (it's the weekend, and 
I don't have access to my university's library right now), but I'd be more 
than willing to check them out if you can point out how they might be 
applied to sauropod bones.  But if all this hoopla and banter serves only to 
add to the aforementioned unscientific conjections and assumptions, then 
it's just a waste of time here on this dinosaur science mailing list.  Great 
for story books; bad for science.

Jordan Mallon

Undergraduate Student, Carleton University
Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoecology

Website: http://www.geocities.com/paleoportfolio/
AIM: jslice mallon

> From: StephanPickering@cs.com
> To: j_mallon@hotmail.com
> CC: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Sauropod inferences
> Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 09:15:49 EST
>
> Try reading, try sitting down with an university library computer and
> entering the search terms. Bifurcation theory is a powerful, still 
> >untapped tool for use in sorting out the dynamics of population 
> >extinctions among dinosaurs. A useful introduction would be the works >of 
> V.I. Arnold. If this is daunting, try: Luo Dingjun, Wang Xian, Zhu >Deming, 
> Han Maon, 1997. Bifurcation theory and methods of dynamical >systems. Or 
> any of the fascinating extrapolations of A.S. Kondrashov, >A.I. Khibnik and 
> Yulij Ilyashenko. Game theory. Well, John Maynard >Smith published the 
> first study in 1982 -- dated, but useful. Lee Alan >Dugatkin & H.K. Reeve, 
> in 1998 released a brilliant compendium, Game >theory & animal behavior, 
> which provides one with a wealth of data for >applicability to pre-K/T 
> dinosaurs. I think it disappointing that >Stephen Gould never fully 
> explored evolutionary game theory, and its >absence from discussions of 
> dinosaur behaviour hampers extrapolations. >I'm afraid that, while 
> interesting reflexions of primate behaviour on >the edge of chaos and 
> constipation, children dressed up in costumes >borrowed from the post-Black 
> Death superstitions of eastern Europe
> do not provide one with critical thinking re: dinosaurs.

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