Re: The absurdity, the absurdity (was: Cooperating theropods?)

[Jack <jconrad@lib.drury.edu>]

On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Larry Dunn wrote:

> It makes more sense to me to adopt the most rational and likely 
> hypothesis.

Indeed, but it also depends upon how you define rational and likely.  The
evidence does not give any conclusive proof that _Deinonychus_ preyed upon
the _Tenontosaurus_, but there cannot be proof that it didn't.  I just
don't feel that it is healthy to completely disregard the idea.  

> The only evidence purportedly supporting the hypothesis that 
> dromaeosaurs were pack hunters is a site with a tenontosaur and three 
> dromaeosaurs preserved.  Is there any evidence that the animals were 
> involved in a predatory event?  No.  Deinonychus teeth found with 
> tenontosaurs prove only that Deinonychus ate Tenontosaurus, not that 
> they were preying upon tenontosaurs.

This is true as well.  However, this case can be made for virtually any
extinct animal.  We find _T. rex_ teeth in ceratopsian bone as well, but
there is currently no data supporting _T. rex_ as a predator of
ceratopsians.  If owls should happen to go extinct in the future and a
paleontologist digs up owl coprolites with small mammals bones in them,
there will be no _conclusive_ proof that owls preyed upon small mammals.
(How could they without teeth?)

> In the lack of *any* proof, is it *likely* that Deinonychus actively 
> preyed upon (or "predated", if you prefer!) Tenontosaurus?  Given 
> present weight differentials between *mammalian* pack hunters and their 
> prey, it seems very unlikely to say the least.
> There is no evidence that dromaeosaurs were pack hunters.  We have to 
> let go of that Bakker-inspired construction.  Because it's sexy does not 
> mean that it's right.  

The last is true again, but you go about it differently than I would.
In several million years there may be no conclusive evidence that wolves
or lions or hyenas are pack hunters either.  Now whether or not that is
sexy...

> And let's leave hive insects and microbes out of this please!  They have 
> precious little to say about vertebrate behavior.

Actually that was a joke.  I took your little ruse about beetles and
elephants (which I also interpreted as a joke) and applied it to a more
broad sense.  I thought that was one way to keep this light-hearted, sorry
for any inconvenience.  

Jack