Re: 'Kitchen science' reveals dinosaurs died in agony

[mkirkaldy@aol.com]

Some pictures of a Bactrian camel in the death pose at:
http://www.projectexploration.org/mongolia/u60301_2.htm

"It was a Bactrian camel that died several months ago. Its skin, tanned 
by the wind and sand, looked more like sheet metal, draped over its 
ribcage. Its neck was drawn back to its head, with a wooden nose post 
still in place in its dried muzzle. A spider scurried under the 
carcass, where beetles and other insects gathered in harmony for a 
feast that would last several months."

"This posture - an animal laying on its side with legs flexed and neck 
drawn back - is known as the "death pose." Most relatively complete 
dinosaur skeletons are buried in a similar pose, because the same 
factors were at work after death. An animal dies and falls over; the 
carcass bloats as gasses emerge from the rotting flesh; the carcass 
collapses as the flesh is eaten away; the legs flex and the neck is 
drawn back as the strong tendons and ligaments shorten under the sun."

> From the "Kitchen Science" press release:
<Working with a raptor recovery center, she obtained birds that were so 
badly injured they had to be euthanized - great horned owls, red-tailed 
hawks and falcons - and observed them during rigor mortis, checking 
periodically for eight to 10 hours to see if they moved during the 
process." >

< " In horses and smaller animals, rigor mortis sets in within a couple 
of hours, so I just looked to see if they were moving or not," Faux 
said. "And they weren't moving. They were staying in whatever position 
I'd left them in. I thought, 'If birds aren't doing it, and I'd never 
observed a horse doing it, then why would dinosaurs be doing it?'" >

Maybe the specimens needed to be bloated and out in the sun for several 
months--not just hours or days?  I'm pretty sure the camel wasn't 
transported by water.

Mary
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