RE: Drinker and Oryctodromeus (was Re: Dinosaurs burrowed to keep warm)

[Dino Guy Ralph <dinoguy@sbcglobal.net>]

Dann Pigdon writes:

Psittacosaurs may also be good burrowing candidates. A spiny tail would also

present an unappealing target for a predator trying to drag one out of a 
burrow backwards (much like spiny-tailed lizards use their tails).

My response:

There is some evidence for a psittacosaur burrow -- the 34 hatchling
specimens associated with the _Psittacosaurus_ adult reported in _Nature_
were situated in a bowl-like depression, and it has been suggested that they
may have been buried alive en masse inside a collapsed burrow.  

See http://dml.cmnh.org/2004Sep/msg00095.html and
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6377 .


Dino Guy Ralph
Docent at the California Academy of Sciences
Dinosaur and Fossil Education
Member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology