Re: Sprawl, speed etc

["Nicholas J. Pharris" <pharrinj@PLU.edu>]

On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Rob Meyerson wrote:

> I suggest that the
> ceratopians were simply more *efficent* at high speeds, due to their inherent
> stability.

Your argument might gain some weight if your hypothetical sprawling 
ceratops could actually *attain* high speeds, doesn't look very likely to me.


> I'm afraid that dune buggy manufacturers disagree.  Tires on these vehicles 
> only
> make contact with the ground at four relatively small points (relative to
> vehicle size).  I simply make the suggestion that the two morphologies are
> analogous to each other, evolving/designing to overcome the same conditions.

That might make some sense if the ceratops had *angled* arms, with 
straight elbows, but your idea of holding the humerus horizontally seems 
exceedingly unlikely.


Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(206)535-8204
PharriNJ@PLU.edu

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -- Harry S. Truman