Dinosaurs in April Discover Magazine

[MKIRKALDY <MKIRKALDY@aol.com>]

The April issue of Discover has a couple of worthy dino articles.
The first is in "Breakthroughs in Science, Technology, and Medicine"
(p. 12), entitled ?Humpbacked Dinosaurs.?  The article reports
that Jack Bailey of Western Illinois University claims that dinosaurs
with what appear to be sails or crests really had humps in the style
of buffaloes.  His study indicates that the spinal struts ?were weight-
bearing attachments for muscles and ligaments.?  He speculates
that the humps were stored fat for use in migration and then ?the
remaining fat could be used to produce eggs.  ?Dinosaurs in
general are viewed now as long-distance travelers, as extremely
mobile creatures, so you expect to find adaptations for a high
degree of mobility.? ?

?King Claw," by Shanti Menon, (page 30) has a great picture of
_Megaraptor_?s potentially 16 inch killer claw (which attached
to the second digit of the foot), with an accompanying article on
the background of the find and speculation on differences between
_Velociraptor_ and _Megaraptor_ and the evolution of South
American dinosaurs.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com