Re: 'Kitchen science' reveals dinosaurs died in agony

[Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com>]

I haven't had a chance to read the paper yet either.
Paleobiology has been slow to update their site. If
anyone has a pdf of it handy, I'd love to snag a copy.

That said, I am in agreement with Jerry in that there
are opisthotonic fossils that aren't
dinosaurian/avian/mammalian (though I don't think I've
seen any mammalian ones).

Along with the aforementioned fish, there are also the
multitudes of _Hyphalosaurus_ and _Keichousaurus_
fossils; many of which show these agonized poses.

Some examples:

http://www.piinc.biz/images/Vertebrate%20fossils/Hyphalosaurus1BL.JPG
http://www.cretaceousfossils.com/images/dinosaurs_and_nondinosaurian_reptiles/hyphalosaurus_lingyuanensis_1.jpg
http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/04apr/dragontheories.jpg
http://pharyngula.org/images/keichousaurus.jpg

Jason


--- "Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu> wrote:

> Uh...?!?  Unless those are warm-blooded fish, fig.
> 6.4 (pp. 94-95) in:
> 
> Barthel, K.W., Swinburne, N.H.M., and Morris, S.C.
> 1990. Solnhofen: A Study 
> in Mesozoic Palaeontology. Cambridge University
> Press, Cambridge, 236 pp.
> 
> ...should be enough to show that it ain't just
> "warm-blooded" animals that 
> can attain this position in death...  'Course, I
> hain't read the Padian & 
> Faux paper yet, either; maybe they address this...
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Jerry D. Harris
> Director of Paleontology
> Dixie State College
> Science Building
> 225 South 700 East
> St. George, UT  84770   USA
> Phone: (435) 652-7758
> Fax: (435) 656-4022
> E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
>  and     dinogami@gmail.com
> http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/
> 
> "Trying to estimate the divergence times
> of fungal, algal or prokaryotic groups on
> the basis of a partial reptilian fossil and
> protein sequences from mice and humans
> is like trying to decipher Demotic Egyptian with
> the help of an odometer and the Oxford
> English Dictionary."
>                -- D. Graur & W. Martin (_Trends
>                    in Genetics_ 20[2], 2004) 
> 
> 


"I am impressed by the fact that we know less about many modern [reptile] types 
than we do of many fossil groups." - Alfred S. Romer


       
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