Re: How did Tyrannosaurus sleep?

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

In PDW, Paul has a drawing of a theropod, laying on its side, grooming
itself of parasites (I presume).  It too looked quite "natural", although
its semblance to the behavior of a house cat did not escape me.

Small dinos probably wouldn't have health complications by laying on
their sides for extended periods.  High mass dinos may suffer a collapsed
lung/air sacs.  It wouldn't be particularly smart for even a tiny dino to
sleep on its side, because it is a two step process to get up (roll onto
stomach; stand up).  There is only one step involved in arising if one
sleeps in a squatting position (simply stand up).  Predation pressure
probably drove the sleeping style of many large dinos.

<pb>
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On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 08:26:26 -0800 (PST) Vlad Petnicki
<bucketfoot-al@justice.com> writes:
> Episode 6 of BBC's series Walking With Dinosaurs gives
> one answer to your question.
> 
> The Tyrannosaur is shown sleeping with its belly on the
> ground, its head on the ground and its legs folded up
> on its sides (much like an Ostrich folds its legs to
> sit down).
> 
> Given its bird-like anatomy this seems to be logical.
> 
> Sleeping on its side isn't out of the realm of
> possibility either.  
> 
> If you go to Mike Keesley's http://www/dinosauricon.com
> and look up "Saurophaganax" you'll find a very good
> drawing of this Tyrannosaur-sized Allosaur resting on
> the ground in a similar pose. A memorable drawing
> because it is the only one I have ever seen depicting a
> large Theropod in this position.  The first thing that
> crossed my mind when I saw it was how natural it seemed.
> 
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