Re: Fw: late night thoughts: misunderstand what?

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2007, don ohmes wrote:
> In the case where the spine is in the 'anvil' between the jaws, I think 
> the pneumaticized vertebrae would crushed and 'instant' incapacitation 
> would result.
>
> Otherwise, I doubt the neck is strong enough to support the weight of a 
> large theropod, much less swing it around, if the hold is away from the

Adrenalin and panic can work wonders.

> shoulders. A good catchdog, using the leverage available in the 
> relatively short bovine neck, can _routinely_ flip a running cow 20-25

A sauropod probably could not run like that but probably could move with
some measure of speed when necesary. A cow does not have pillar like
legs nor a large tail. This changes the dynamics.

> times it's mass end-over-end. Risk to the dog exists, but is minimal.


> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Richard W. Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:04:40 PM
> Subject: Re: late night thoughts: misunderstand what?
>
> On Thu, 14 Jun 2007, don ohmes wrote:
> > "..but looks like an unnecessary risk when the prey is twice as long and tall
> > as the predator." --DM
> >
> > What is risky about reaching up and grabbing a sauropod by the neck, if
> > you match the physical description of a tyrannosaur? If your hold is 2m
> > behind the head, you are 8m away from the front feet. Even that assumes
> > no injury to the spine of the prey item, which would result in instant
> > incapacitation of the prey.
> >
> > It 'looks like' to me like you are characterizing prey/predator
> > interactions on the basis of sheer intuition, and are overly impressed
> > by simple size differential.
>
> That neck is still capable of swinging around and some sort of violent
> motion should be expected in response. Depending on the size of the
> sauropod, incapacitation would not seem like a given. In fact, it might
> even hurt the predator.