Re: Sinornithoides in DA... the first Sleeping Dragon.

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/14/2005 4:28:46 AM Alaskan Standard Time, 
DragonsClaw@gmx.net writes:

>> Hm, arent both animals members of families known for their cursorial 
adaptions? Isnt "seek a good hiding place/curl up into a "defensive ball" and 
remain like that until the danger is over" a behaviour more common amongst 
animals 
that are not very cursorial in their adaptions? I wouldnt expect such 
behaviour to be part of the standard repertoire for cursorial animals - I would 
rather 
expect them to "run like hell". "The animal was sleeping and got caught by 
some sort of catastrophy" sounds a more likely explanation to me then "The 
animal faced some sort of catastrophy, broke it's usual pattern of behaviour 
and 
subsequently got killed (apparently without making even an attempt to uncurl 
and 
run!)". Sorry, but the latter sounds way more far fetched then the birdlike 
sleeping posture. <<

Actually, what I'm saying isn't far fetched... I never said it was an often 
adopted defensive posture. When it comes to Mei, I'm thinking that the poor 
animal died BEFORE it was entombed in a tuffaceous conglomerate debris flow. 
Being from volcaniclastic beds, you might as well assume that, just like today, 
a 
myriad of wonderful poisons were constantly being belched out of the ground... 
all of which do not require a volcano within sight, nor a full fledged 
eruption for that matter. Gases may escape continuously into the atmosphere 
from the 
soil, volcanic vents, fumaroles, and hydrothermal systems.  Essentially, Mei 
either went to sleep, but never woke up, or, was literally put to sleep. And 
what gas can tire you out so that you stop running, make you feel very ill and 
cause you to completely lose your wits, maybe even make you curl up into a 
ball before it eventually knocks you out and kills you, especially if it's an 
insideous onset??? Carbon dioxide of course... the number two constituent of 
volcanic gas. (Number one is plain old water vapor.) Then here comes the debris 
flow...

The real thing about all of this that puzzles me concerns how Mei was buried. 
What sort of debris flow, especially if it's volcanic, can gently bury 
without tossing you about like a rag doll? In other words, what allowed Mei to 
keep 
it's nice and tidy curled up posture while it was, dare I say, instantaneously 
buried? A landslide-type even would work like a bulldozer, uprooting little 
Mei and tumbling it about. It's almost as if a backhoe dropped it's contents 
right on top of it in one big "Plop!".

Kris
http://hometown.aol.com/saurierlagen/Paleo-Photography.html