Re: Dinosaurs in April Discover Magazine

["Berislav Krzic" <veselinka.stanisavac@siol.net>]

>>>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.? ?

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the April issue of Discover (comes
a bit later to Europe).
The idea however, is as old as the fossil finds themselves, and is quite
possible. Some dinosaurs with high spinal struts quite probably fit into the
theory in question(Hypacrosaurus, Altyspinax, etc.),and Ouranosaurus "sail"
indeed looks a lot like camel's or bison's hump. I am not sure about
Spinosaurus - its "sail" is a bit different.
The "true" sails of Dimetrodon and some other pelycosaurs are built
lightly - obviously just to support a flap of skin.

Berislav Krzic
veselinka.stanisavac@siol.net
Beri's Dinosaur World
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1638/index.html
Dinosaur Books
http://www2.siol.net/ext/zza/index.html