Re: new

[John Hunt <john.bass@ntlworld.com>]

Thanks for all of the replies.

There was nothing sinister in my warning about internet libel, but the
technology to trace stuff on the internet is getting much more advanced.
This will eliminate one of the problems with finding people that has
prevented policing of the internet.  But then again when your posting
has your name, address and telephone number I guess tracing is not a
problem.

Mary Anning opened what was presumably the worlds first shop selling
fossils.  She was also allegedly the inspiration for the tongue twister
"She sells sea shells on the sea shore" (try saying that after too many
beers), so maybe "Psst, want to buy an ammonite" is not actually far
from the truth. She would have been wearing a bonnet though, as well as
a trench coat.

I did realise the microraptor fossils were dead, fossils normally are.
I did not realise the preservation was not as good as the other Chinese
dino-bird specimens.  I also did not appreciate the tiny size of
Microraptor, so I guess it could have died in the "dead ant" position
and the legs were subsequently squashed down.

There was an exhibition of feathered dinosaurs at the Natural History
Museum a couple of years ago.  Don't know if the items on display were
originals or casts, but it gave the museum an excuse to get one of the
national treasures out of the vault.  There was a specimen shown with
the scientific name of "Dave the fuzzy raptor".  This was labelled as a
juvenile dromaeosaur but was much larger than microraptor, and much
better preserved.  This specimen also showed the curious orientation of
the hind limbs.  Has anyone seen this specimen.

How would anyone come to be buried with their feet over their head
without human intervention?

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: new


> David Marjanovic wrote:
>
> > > The hindlimb may have become dislocated after death,
> >
> >Not at all necessary. In the referred specimens of *Microraptor
zhaoianus*,
> >they were dislocated hardly to not at all. Instead, the ilia (the
long
> >plate-like hip bones) were broken; their upper parts are still
vertical,
> >while their lower parts along with the articulated legs are bent
outwards.
>
> Yes, but the splayed hindlimbs are still not in their natural
position, on
> account of the broken ilia.  My point is that it is unwise to
extrapolate
> the posture of live animals based solely on 'squished' fossil
specimens.
> Before we start speculating too much on sprawling-legged theropods, we
> should first look closely at the morphologies of the femoral head and
the
> acetabulum.  The posture of dead specimens might provide corroborating
> evidence, but not much else by themselves.
>
> >And now imagine what you'd look like if you had been lying in a rock
for
> >125
> >million years. :o)
>
> :-)
>
> If my skeleton was preserved with my feet over my head, would people
assume
> I was a contortionist?
>
>
>
> Tim
>
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