Re: How Did T.Rex and other Dinosaurs Sleep?

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

I believe this is entirely correct; I would like to
add that ambush predators can and do combine sleep and
predation. 

This is why they put seatbelts on treestands. }:D

Don

--- GSP1954@aol.com wrote:

> Because they have a lot of free time on their hands
> because they hunt and eat 
> only periodically, large predators tend to spend a
> large portion of the day 
> sleeping, as per dogs and cats, as well as lions and
> crocodilians. Because they 
> spend much of the day feeding herbivores have much
> shorter sleep periods. The 
> issue of sleep variability is important to
> understanding what sleep is 
> actually for, there was a recent paper on this that
> included a plot of sleep time in 
> various animals (cannot remember where). 
> 
> Being gigantic predators there is no reasonable
> doubt that tyrannosaurs et 
> al. spent much time sleeping, probably resting on
> their pubic boots and tails 
> which would allow them to get up quickly if they
> needed to. Resting on the side 
> when sleeping would be less safe, and might impair
> respiration as is true in 
> elephants. 
> 
> G Paul
>