RE: Dino feathers

["Cunningham, Betty" <Cunningham@sega.com>]

Paul Davis wrote:

>> The specimen is preserved in exactly the same attitude as the Solnhofen   
>> Compsognathus.

Peter Buchholz wrote:

>Any ideas as to why all known Compsignathid specimens died in the
>exact same pose?  That strikes me as very odd.

We have not yet proved it died in any particular position.
It has, however, ended up being dead in this position.  Small, light   
wieght hollow bones and non-resistant dead muscles might not be enough to   
counter a spinal column that shrinks when death occurs, when it sits with   
rapidly changing moisture content in the tissues, when it, basicly curls   
up into a window-smacked road kill after it's dead.  I see no problem   
with similar sized dead animals having similar death poses.  Dead baby   
birds tend to have similar poses to other dead baby birds, especially if   
they have similar life styles. You fall out of a tree and die, and your   
remains are very similar to someone else that falls out of a tree and   
dies. Or not falling out of a tree, if that's how these things happened.
Sorry I'm rambling.......It doesn't seem al that weird

 -Betty