----- Original Message -----
From: "Roberto Takata" <rmtakata@gmail.com>
To: <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>
Cc: "dinosaur" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: Pterosaur diversity (was: Re: Waimanu)
Fortunately today there is no such thing like _Quetzalcoatlus_ flying
above us - it would be a hard time to clean the car after parking
bellow a tree on which a bunch of gigantic pterosaur was hanging down.
I wish they were still here -- it's a sacrifice that I'd happily make.
However, Quetz wasn't adapted for hanging from trees, or climbing in them
either. Even if they had been, it would have taken a biiggg tree -- hanging
from their pes, it'd be roughly about 23 feet vertically down to the tip of
their snout, and their excreta would have run down their torsos, necks, and
heads. Yuck. Like most pterosaurs, I'd expect their excreta to be both
fluid and oily, reminding me of the old poem, "Little bird up in the sky,
you just did something in my eye. But I won't fuss, and I won't cry -- I'm
just thankful that cows don't fly".
JimC