Re: Cursorial adaptations (was T.rex and elephants)

[Chris Campbell <sankarah@ou.edu>]

Michael Teuton wrote:
> 
> > > Why would prey necessarily be slow?  Rhino are not slow nor unagile
> > > and are comparable in size to triceratop(what's the plural?).
> >
> > How many thirty foot rhinos have you run into lately?  Estimates I have
> > handy on its weight put it at around 10-11 tons; given that it's a big,
> > wide, graviportal animal (I think?  Someone correct me here . . .)
> 
> I'd say 2 tons for a centrosaur and 5 for triceratops.  That puts them
> in rhino and hippo league roughly.  They have the bone and tendon/muscle
> attachments to run, IMO.

Hmmm.  I'm not sure about your estimates, but then any weights we toss
around are pretty speculative to begin with so I guess yours are as good
as any.  Looking at some physical characteristics has left me wondering
whether the comparisons to rhinos are even warranted; they really aren't
built the same.  For one thing, rhinos have fore and hind limbs which
are about the same size; the ceratopsians' fore and hind limbs differ in
size by as much as 70%.  That does not a good runner make.  That
design's too funky for me to seriously speculate on, but I would think
that if they could run they probably couldn't run very fast; certainly
not as fast as a rhino.  One of Greg's elephants, maybe.  :) 
Regardless, I don't think your typical _triceratops_ was any good at
outmaneuvering a big ol' therapod with mayhem on its mind.

Chris