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

["Larry Dunn" <larrydunn@hotmail.com>]

Reply-To: monte@gmx.net

>Yeah, female _Homo Sapiens_ usually has a smaller brain than a male of
>that species

Case closed.  :)

>> My analysis includes
>> all extant vertebrate predators.  This is precisely why I suspect 
that=20
>> dromaeosaurs were not pack hunters -- because most extant 
vertebrate=20
>> predators are not.
>
>But what if Deinonychus was one of those rare cases?

But what if Tenontosaurus was?  What if sea scorpions were? What if 
Indricotherium was?  Are you willing to throw all rational discussion of 
extinct animal behavior out the window because any given animal  may 
have been radically more intelligent (or less so) than is hinted at by 
it's fossil remains?

Why, with thousands of fossil species to investigate, are we now 
adopting this "surprising intelligence" theory with respect to 
Deinonychus? 

> Or was pack hunting
>`invented=B4 by mammals?

Why is that hard to believe?  Well, what other vertebrate predators do 
it now?  That's a good place to start in answering your question.

(I obviously like dinosaurs, and am a big ant fan, and am really warming 
up to naked mole rats as well (I have some in a Habitrail in my office 
now), but mammals are very effective in their own way too, ya know.  
They do have some unique capabilities (and concomitant stresses to deal 
with).)

>> Note that there is no consensus=20
>> on the use of the digit II claw -- some think it wasn't used for=20
>> predatory purposes at all.
>
>But again, what is the most likely purpose to have such a claw?=20

Personally, I think in all likelihood predatory, but who knows?  Hard to 
say.  Is it a "pack-hunting" claw though?  If yes, what makes it so?  

Larry

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