Re: ANKYLOSAUR CLUBS *

[Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu (Rob Meyerson)]

>I share John McLouglin's apparent skepticism of Rob's claims, so I've
>got to ask Rob (i.e. Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu) for some defense of
>the following statement:
>
>> When a part of an animal evolves some kind of offensive purpose, it
>> usually is for intraspecies combat first.

Consider horns in pronghorn.  Their primary role is for solving territorial=
 disputes.  Yet, some future paleontologist could look at the pronghorn=
 skull and surmise that the horns primarily had an anti-predator function. =
 Whole senarios would be put together on how the horns would be used to=
 skewer a predator.  Now, while the horns are occasionally used for this=
 function, the animal usually chooses too run, showing that this is not the=
 primary reason why horns evolved.

I suspect that the club in ankylosaurs are in the same class.  While they=
 may have had an anti-predator function, the reason why the club evolved was=
 used primarily for intraspecies disputes.

Rob

***
"Don't Panic."
        -HGTTG