Re: Animal Planet - Giants

["Nick Gardner" <ratites637@hotmail.com>]

James R. Cunningham wrote-
> Quetz didn't stand 30 feet tall.  The
> shoulders were at about 8 feet in a normal stance, the 10 foot long
> neck could add about another 7 feet in height, and the 7-8 foot
> long head, wouldn't usually be extended straight upward (partly
> because the neck couldn't bend into a suitable position to get 17
> feet of head/neck extension above the shoulders).  Standing height would 
> have been about
> 14-16 feet.  A fair bit shy of 30.

Sadly (OR NOT!), I missed this segment.  I'm glad to know this good info 
though on how tall a *Q* could be, out of curiousity, how tall was 
*Daspletosaurus* approximately?  I recall the old GSP painting... I know 
that *Albertosaurus* isn't too tall because I went to the Smithsonian on 
Saturday.  Actually, I was surprised because I expected *Allosaurus* also to 
be much taller...

My comments on the rest of the series (originally intended to be released 
last night, but circumstances prevented this)...

"I just finished watching this, I didn't catch it all, I sort of 
channel-surfed at times, I wasn't too interested or impressed with the 
non-dinosaurian segments of the show.

I was concerned at first with the Tyrannosaurus rex, because it appeared as 
though Corwin was trying to state that collared lizards were good models for 
how T. rex moved, but my fears were gone when he briefly mentions that T. 
rex would have moved more like birds.  I'm glad that it was mentioned that 
T. (and its relatives) were the ancestors of birds, better than what I was 
tentatively wondering would be said, remember The Future is Wild?  I 
disliked the overall design of the tyrannosaur.  It reminds me of one of the 
action figures released for The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  Sadly, Corwin 
seems to support the Scavenger Hypothesis, as opposed to the Predator 
Hypothesis.  He cites the large olfactory lobes that he feels are 
reminscient of vultures.  He also states that the job of scavengers is to 
clean up the kills made by the larger predators.  So, is he suggesting there 
was a gigantic dromaeosaur or late-surviving allosaurine in the Late 
Cretaceous? ;-)  Also, as Corwin is leaving the region, the tyrannosaur by 
the road seems to be dragging it's tail! :-o

I only caught scattered bits and pieces of the rest of the documentary and 
I'm left thinking that overall, the models seem to move too slowly and don't 
necessarily seem as life-like as in some other documentaries.  Also, Corwin 
can't quite seem to pull off acting like something is there when its not.  
One is also left wondering why the "monsters" are not in their proper 
locales... an Arizonan Tyrannosaurus rex?  The Megalania seems to not have a 
very widespread gait, the legs are nearly under the body in the closing 
scenes of that segment.  I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but I was 
secretly hoping through every segment that Corwin might pass on in 
effigy..."

eh... not one of the Discovery networks best...


Nick Gardner



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