RE: More on the baby Triceratops

[dannj@alphalink.com.au]

On Wed, 08 Mar 2006 09:30:26 -0700, Ken.Carpenter wrote
> No parental attention required. If we look at dinosaur trackways, the
> smallest footprints are HALF adult size, implying segregation of adults
> and juveniles.

Or some sort of marsuplal-like pouch. :)

Seriously though - aren't most prints actually underprints? If so, the juvies 
may not have been heavy enough to make prints of sufficient depth to be 
preserved. 

Alternatively, the sort of muddy areas where prints would be best preserved 
may have been avoided by the juveniles (with perhaps a small number of adults 
as chaperones). They may have gone around those areas, while adults and sub-
adults plowed straight through.

A third option: if juvies were kept in the middle of the travelling group, 
their tiny prints might have been obliterated by larger animals walking 
behind them.

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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
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