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Re: Sneak Peak at Yale Torosaurus Sculpture

What are the modern analogues to the cheeky question? Who extant besides the California condor (almost not extant) has cheeks in the reptile/avian community? I always thought that cheeks were mammalian primarily with just a few exceptions. I once owned a Macaw that delighted in tipping a cold one back after he opened the can with his beak. Without cheeky skin behind the beak, most of the brew would have ended up on his feathers and the floor. (Nothing worse than a tipsy macaw!)

Frank (Rooster) Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming


On Sep 27, 2005, at 6:14 PM, Andrew A. Farke wrote:

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
Ken.Carpenter@dmns.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 5:54 PM
To: andyfarke@hotmail.com; dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: RE: Sneak Peak at Yale Torosaurus Sculpture

The whole cheek debate is so fun! It shows the limitations of the
phyletic bracketing to explain novel structures in dinosaurs (like
Stegosaurus tail spikes, like cranial frills in ceratopsians, etc.).

Certainly a fun debate. . .and it illustrates (at least in the case of
ankylosaurs) how real fossil evidence is needed to support many of these
ideas!

Cheek plates are known for several ankylosaurs and the maxilla and
dentary surface textures look just like in ceratopsians and most other
ornithischians.

Interesting about the ankylosaurs. I'll have to take a look at some of those
skulls next time I'm at the AMNH. This would definitely counter my argument
based on bone texture on ceratopsian maxillae and dentaries.

wonder why only Greg Paul has pointed out that the
California condor has cheeks?)

Does anyone know a citation for this? If I (or anyone else) cite it in the
future, it'd be nice to give credit where credit is due. Wonder what the
condor skull looks like. . .

Andy