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

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/14/2005 11:21:55 PM Alaskan Standard Time, MariusRomanus 
writes:

>> 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!". <<

Actually, I just thought of something... I'm no fan of burrowing theropods, 
but it could be that Mei was curled up in a burrow. This would actually expose 
it to a greater risk of being exposed to volcanic gases, thereby making the 
little guy incoherent and eventually causing it to be snuffed out. And when the 
debris flow came, it simply filled up Mei's already dug grave.

Of course, Mei might not have been the digger. It could have been hiding in a 
burrow that was actually made by another creature... The home of one 
Repenomamus giganticus comes to mind.

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