Re: Re: DEFENSIVE RINGS AGAIN

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

On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, th81 wrote:

> >
> >Too, in the presence of small fast carnivora like those of the upper 
> >Mesozoic, undefended hatchling ceratopsians would have been topsy 
> >mcnuggets if their parents simply ran away every time something Ogly 
> >showed up.  
> 
> CARNIVORA?!?!? Since when did any ceratopsian have to deal with the
> Carnivora?  These johnny-come-lately theropod wannabes weren't much of a
> threat in the Mesozoic...
> 
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.

Maybe Thos. here thinks by "carnivora" that I mean the mammalian order 
Carnivora, a Meateater-with-a-proper-name, as opposed to the generalized 
"meat-eater" with a lower-case c.

I meant a meat-eater with a lower-case c, which in upper Mesozoic times 
would be a theropod of some sort, rather than a cat, dog, hyaenid, etc.  
If one uses a capital C here, one means a mammalian meat-eater of a 
certain order.  

There were no such animals in the Mesozoic, but there were plenty of very 
efficient carnivora, believe you me!