Re: Hopping Hadrosaurs

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Mon, Dec 14th, 2009 at 10:39 AM, Justin Tweet <thescelosaurus@juno.com> 
wrote:

> Chalk up one for overenthusiastic reporting:
> 
> The article about hadrosaur locomotion is in the most recent Palaeontologia 
> Electronica.  The
> authors acknowledge they got the greatest speeds from hopping, but consider 
> it an unlikely mode
> of locomotion and more likely something that's not being properly accounted 
> for in the model.
> 
> Sellers, W. I.; Manning, P. L.; Lyson, T.; Stevens, K.; and Margetts, L. 
> (2009). "Virtual
> palaeontology: gait reconstruction of extinct vertebrates using high 
> performance computing".
> Palaeontologia Electronica 12 (3):article 13a. 
> http://palaeo-electronica.org/2009_3/180/index.html

That makes a lot more sense.

It's obvious from the movies available that it's a very basic simulator - 
there's a real 'Thunderbirds' 
feel to them. The bipedal run (only the hi-res movie seems to work) looks as if 
the animal falls 
onto it's face at the end. 

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist                Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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