Re: Camouflage

[Anguillas@aol.com]

Steve Jackson writes:

> We can't assume that, just because modern crocs are not well
>"camouflaged" from above, that Cretaceous ones did not possess such
>coloration. 

Ummm...

All this depends on how you define "camouflage."  The grey/green color,
common in crocodilians, would blend in to the river/marsh bottom
rather well.

[ NB: the above is a naive statement about color and its importance
  for animals.  You simply cannot assume that because two things look
  similar to you (e.g. a crocodile and a river bottom) that they look
  similar to another animal.  Human eyes (let alone the eyes of other
  animals) are not spectrometers, and IMHO anyone making statements
  about visual ecology ought to be cognizant of that fact. -- MR ]

 Also, the traditional alligator-as-a-floating-tree model would effectively
conceal the animal.

Rob Meyerson
Orphan Vertebrate Paleontologist

***
"You have stuck you thumb in the Christmas pie of my mind and pulled out the
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