Re: new boook on functional morphology

[JCMcL <darwincr@laplaza.taos.nm.us>]

> That aside, it is still true the main use of the horns was probably
> contests *within* the species.  Even well-armed herbivores prefer
> to run away from predators rather than fight.
> 
> 
> swf@elsegundoca.attgis.com            sarima@netcom.com

Wild bovids (muskoxen, Cape buffalo, bison, etc.), which in many ways 
appear to be the ecologic corollaries to ceratopsians, use their horns in 
ring-defense of young, adults facing outward toward predators.  

Just a thought.  I have less confidence than Stan in my understanding of 
the ceratopsian behavior patterns, but know that they shared their world 
with many predators that could easily outrun them.  
A formidable and aggressive familial defense, a prickly ring of adults, 
seems fairly likely to me.  
Again, I speak with less firmness, and no doubt less precise knowledge, 
than Stan, there.
Thanks.
John McLoughlin