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Re: New findings Support Spinosaurus Sail as thermal regulator (My own theory)

No, the observation was just about Alligator being able to thermoregulate to some degree without getting out of the water. I am agnostic on sail function(s) in anything. It would not be surprising that after evolving such a structure it might be adapted to serve several other functions, even to the extent of losing (or downplaying) it's original function. The trick might be to figure out what the original function was 

Dan

On 9/14/2014 7:40 AM, Michael OSullivan wrote:
The problem here is that you now need to explain the sail in Ouranosaurus.
On 14 September 2014 13:46, Dan Chure <danchure@easilink.com <mailto:danchure@easilink.com>> wrote: 

    I recall reading, many years ago, a paper in a herpetology journal
    reporting that Alligator did flush blood into its dorsal scutes
    (they seem to be heavily vascularized) and by lying in the water
    with just its dorsal surface exposed to the sun could use the
    scutes to thermoregulate.

    Dan

    On 9/13/2014 8:14 PM, Vlad Petnicki wrote:

        I'll throw something out to the professional scientists out
        there that dawned on me today:

        The sail could not only have been added ballast, it may indeed
        have served a heat regulatory purpose. I think this is doubly
        likely since the new findings establish that it was skin
        covered rather than a hump - the easier to warm the blood that
        courses through the vessels just under the skin.

        Think about this: Crocs need to get out of the water to sun
        themselves (yes, I KNOW that Spinosaurus was most likely NOT
        (as) cold-blooded as Crocs are), but regardless of how
        "warm-blooded" it was, if the water ever got too cold, the
        swimming/wading Spinosaurus could just turn the sail towards
        the sun - and voila - thermal regulation that does not require
        it to leave the water.

        Make sense?

        --- DINOSAUR@usc.edu <mailto:DINOSAUR@usc.edu> wrote:

        From: DINOSAUR@usc.edu <mailto:DINOSAUR@usc.edu>
        To: Dinosaur Discussion List  <DINOSAUR@usc.edu
        <mailto:DINOSAUR@usc.edu>>
        Subject: DINOSAUR digest 1678
        Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 00:04:05 PDT


                                    DINOSAUR Digest 1678

        Topics covered in this issue include:

           1) Spinosaurus proportions/limbsize/exploding head quotient
                by "Vlad Petnicki" <bucketfoot-al@justice.com
        <mailto:bucketfoot-al@justice.com>>
           2) RE: Spinosaurus proportions/limbsize/exploding head quotient
                by "Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu
        <mailto:tholtz@umd.edu>>
           3) RE: Spinosaurus proportions/limbsize/exploding head quotient
                by "Mallison, Heinrich"
        <Heinrich.Mallison@mfn-berlin.de
        <mailto:Heinrich.Mallison@mfn-berlin.de>>
           4)
        =?UTF-8?Q?Australian_dinosaurs_=2B_Ricardo_Mart=C3=ADnez_=28news=29?=
                by Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com
        <mailto:bcreisler@gmail.com>>
           5) Re: Spinosaurus redescribed as giant semiaquatic theropod
                by Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com
        <mailto:bcreisler@gmail.com>>




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Michael O'Sullivan

Palaeobiology Research Group
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