Re: [dinosaur] Spinosaurus controversies + tiny theropod arms + marching dinosaurs to scale + more

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

On Fri, 4/1/16, Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:

Spinosaurus Controversies and mysteries
 
http: //
www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/saga-of-the-spinosaurus/476286/
 
Breath-hold time (BHT) is proportional to bodymass -- given their size, 
spinosaurids could have exceeded the BHT's of modern crocs and turtles. It 
follows that a head-down paddling/wading/swimming posture would not be 
presumably maladaptive in a massive, carnivorous shallow-water forager (or an 
herbivorous one, for that matter).

Further -- sails are unlikely to be functional as heat collectors, but are 
practical as heat dumpers -- eg, cold-adapted mammoths have small, insulated 
ears (retaining heat), while African Elephants have large, hairless fans with 
adaptations to increase and decrease blood-flow (bio-radiators). 

Given a warm, deltaic habitat filled with large prey and predators, the 
reconstruction of Sereno and company seems quite reasonable from an ecological 
perspective, if one takes a largish standard theropod as ancestral...