Re: Spinosaurs ate pterosaurs

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

> > I can imagine _Epidendrosaurus_ leaping from tree branches into the air 
> to
> > snatch flying insects with its jaws, then continuing down to earth.
> > (Assuming, of course, that it was a parachuter or glider.)
>
> (You're assuming it was not a parachuter; because in that case it would 
> have
> needed to climb back up the tree after each and every fly or beetle. :-S )

So?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I'm assuming it was either a parachuter 
or a glider.  In both cases, the commute to earth could be better controlled 
by the animal courtesy of aerodynamic drag or lift, and not simply be a 
'free-fall'.

> I wouldn't rely on that. Not because of the quality or otherwise of the
> description, or the suggested attribution of the lower jaw to a lizard, but
> because the fossil seemingly represents quite a small baby.

Yeah, but baby dinosaurs have to eat too.  Hatchlings may have been fed by 
the mother, but at some stage young dinos had to fend for themselves.

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