Re: Dakota the Dinosaur Mummy

[Ottawa Paleontological Society <paleo@ncf.ca>]

Well,

It is quite possible that the researchers have well preserved ligament 
structure which could lead to an up estimation for maximum speed. Muscle 
mass isn't always reliable (after all who can say at what endurance scale 
hadrosaurs were optomised for? Tyrrannosaurids would have been fairly 
effecient walkers and you can often out walk prey that you can't out run)

But, as the specimen isn't published, we're going off of National 
Geographic... which isn't a good thing. Basically, most of us don't know 
what is going on.

What concerns me more is the assertion that webbing on the hand (more like 
syndacty) would lead to improved swimming and ease the consumption of 
aquatic plants...

-Jonas Weselake-George
(Ottawa Paleontology Club)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "franklin e. bliss" <frank@blissnet.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 7:23 PM
Subject: Dakota the Dinosaur Mummy


> Delurking for a moment.
>
> None of the posted links seem to work for me so speaking from only the 
> posts so far......
>
> Notable indeed!
>
> How does a "big ass" translate into the animal moved more quickly? 
> Besides, filling a skin capsule could be with fat or fat marbling  muscle 
> instead of pure muscle.  Iguanas et al use their hind ends/ tails to store 
> fat for instance.  I ask, is there a likely possibility  other than the 
> obvious inverse relationship that one would expect  (that adding mass 
> decreases speed)?  Having a "big ass" certainly  could lower the center of 
> gravity but that doesn't make a Ferrari out  of a LandCruiser.  The 
> biggest horses are not the fastest ones by any  means.  That is why the 
> Clydesdales pull beer wagons and don't go out  jogging at the race track 
> every day.  I'll place my wager on the T-rex  (assuming they were hunters 
> and not just overgrown vultures) against  the "fat ass" (ed) hadrosaur any 
> day and take odds on the bet.
>
> Frank (Rooster) Bliss
> MS Biostratigraphy
> Weston, Wyoming
> www.wyomingdinosaurs.com
>
>
> On Dec 2, 2007, at 1:38 PM, MKIRKALDY@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 12/2/2007 3:16:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> > jeff@jeffhecht.com writes:
> > <I suspect this is an embargo break of a story  the National  Geographic
> > Society has embargoed until closer to the time the  television show 
> > airs. News
> > Agencies may distribute the news earlier, but papers  are supposed  to 
> > honor the
> > embargoes. >
> >
> > Possibly--there's more of the story on the National Geographic   website:
> > http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/dinosaurs/scanning-a-dino-mummy .
> > html
> >
> > Notable  quote:
> > "Based on the dimensions of Dakota’s skin capsule, paleontologists   have
> > calculated that the duckbill’s posterior was 25 percent more massive 
> > than
> > expected. Manning puts it a bit crudely: 'This animal had a big  ass.' "
> >
> > Mary
> >
> >
> >
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