Re: read and learn

[Jeffrey Martz <martz@holly.ColoState.EDU>]

> Here's a can of worms I actually would like to open.  On many occasions I
> have heard it suggested that ceratopsians would have turned on their
> attackers and used their horns for defense rather than flee.  Forgive me,
> both those who suggest such a thing do not understand natural selection.
> Let's imagine we have a herd of ceratopsians.  A tyrannosaur shows up.
> Some of the ceratopsians have the "run like hell" gene.  Some of them have
> the "turn and defend" gene.  Now who do you think will be passing their
> genes to the next generation?  Natural selection will ALWAYS favor "run
> like hell."

     Natural selection will NOT favor the "run like hell" gene if the
ceratopsian doesn't have a chance of getting away.  Compare the leg
lengths and limb bone proporations of any late Cretaceous ceratopsian with
those of a large contemporary tyrannosaur and there is pretty good
indication that they may not have been as potentially fast.   So, if a
tyrannosaur shows up and the ceratopsain can't outrun it, will it be more
advantageous to direct the pointy end or the meaty end at the tyrannosaur?

> The wheels of a
> locomoative aren't very sharp, but I wouldn't recommend that you go to
> sleep on the railroad track

    They AREN'T very sharp, but good analogy.  It isn't how keen the edge
is, but the driving force (in the train, mass, in the tyrannosaur, jaw
musculature and body mass).

LN Jeff