Re: Evolution of tyrannosauroid bite power

[ptnorton <ptnorton@suscom-maine.net>]

I agree that we disagree and should probably just leave it alone, but my 
points are worth restating lest they get lost in attempts at refutations 
involving T. rex's complicity in building advanced civilizations.

Carcass lifting is a plausible alternative hypothesis to prey grappling as 
an explanation for forelimb function in T. rex, given the strength 
parameters so nicely described by Carpenter and Smith (2001). Carcass 
lifting is biomechanically possible, consistent with behavioral science with 
respect to the nearly ubiquitous presence of dominance display behavior in 
animals and possibly explains just as well as prey-grappling the evidence 
about pathologies observed in the arms of T. rex arms. Who the heck knows if 
the arms were used for one of these purposes or another, or both, or for 
that matter even for something else. I certainly don't.  But both are 
plausible based on current research (without making a "mockery of science" 
by invoking extraterrestrials), and there are probably a number of other 
plausible explanations as well. The premises in Carpenter and Smith (2001) 
simply do not logically compel a conclusion of predatory behavior. They 
allow it as a possibility, but they do not compel that conclusion. Other 
functions for the forearms are possible given the same evidence, and we 
should be open to them.

PTJN