Re: New dinosaur and nature programs from Impossible Pictures (joke)

[Cliff Green <dinonaut@emerytelcom.net>]

Dear Dann and List,

    Bakker addressed this in a very amusing talk at the recent T-Rex
Symposium. He believes, like you do, that A. if rex tried to grab a fleeing
hadrosaur with his arm that it would it rip off ( complete with a graphic
cartoon ) and B. That T- Rexes used thier arms for mating claspers. One of
the many informative and great talks at the symposium.

T-rexerific Cliff
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dann Pigdon" <dannj@alphalink.com.au>
To: "DML" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: New dinosaur and nature programs from Impossible Pictures
(joke)


> Tim Williams wrote:
> > Sure, a skinny Hollywood
> > actress may have slipped through his fingers (and probably were not
worth
> > eating), but the forelimbs of _T. rex_ were probably useful for
embracing
> > *something*.  Maybe they served as grappling devices, to help secure
large
> > prey that was held by the powerful jaws.  Like hadrosaurs, or even
> > titanosaurs (in the American SW, anyway).
>
> I have trouble with this use for the forelimbs. I don't care how strong
> the forelimb muscles of a 'rex were - surely trying to hold back a
> struggling multi-tonne hadrosaur (or worse, a sauropod!) would rip an
> arm from its socket?
>
> I prefer the 'mating claspers' idea myself (as in marine turtle
> 'thumbs'). Or perhaps the forelimbs were of more use as juveniles (when
> they were relatively larger), and the 'rexes outgrew them.
>
> -- 
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Dann Pigdon
> GIS / Archaeologist         http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
> Melbourne, Australia        http://heretichides.soffiles.com
> ___________________________________________________________________