Re: Oviraptor

["Allan Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

Tracy:

    Not to disagree with you about _Protoceratops_, but other ceratopsians
are also usually portrayed with sprawling fore-limbs.
    I know that when Ken Carpenter originally tried to assemble the copy of
Chasmosaurus here at the Academy of Natural Sciences (back around
1984-1986), he wanted to place the fore-limbs directly under the centerline
of the animal.  He was unable to do so, because the 'elbows' would bang into
the rib cage if the animal would gallop.  It seems that the fore-limbs need
to 'partially' sprawl to allow for the most complete movement of the limbs.
As I said, I haven't checked the _Protoceratops_ skeletons lately with this
idea in mind.

    Allan Edels
-----Original Message-----
From: tlford@ix.netcom.com <tlford@ix.netcom.com>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 19, 1998 2:19 AM
Subject: Re: Oviraptor


>On 03/17/98 17:27:36 you wrote:
>>
>>It  is quite possible that Protoceratops was a nest robber, too and that
the
>>fabled fossilized fight with Velociraptor resulted from Velociraptor
>>defending its nest. As far as I know there is no material proof that
>>Protoceratops was a pure herbivore (only deduction from the shape of its
>>teeth). Pure herbivores are in fact quite rare among modern reptiles. On
the
>>other hand omnivorous reptiles, birds and mammals are common. In recent
>>times a taste for meat (and eggs) was discovered among some animals that
>>were previously thought were on strict vegetarian diet.
>>
>This something that I've asked paleontologist for the past few years. I
think people think that
>just because it was a plant eater it was a passive animal. But I think an
aggressive Protoceratops
>isn't something that is far fetched. When museum's reconstruct a
protoceratops they have it's legs
>sprawling. This is far from the truth. Their legs should be directly under
them. This also means
>they were swifter then orginally thought.
>
>Tracy
>
>
>