Re: T. rex mechanix

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 09:42 PM 3/21/98 -0500, ngear@gvtc.com wrote:
>(Incidental to this, I have occasionally heard it suggested that 
>the rex inhabited forests or jungles.  I've tried to navigate a 30 
>foot beam through a thicket of trees before, and I can assure you 
>it was a major pain.  I have a much easier time imagining the rex 
>inhabiting open range.)

So would I.  But T. rex fossils come from the Hell Creek Formation, and the
fossil leaves there indicate at least a fair amount of forest in the area.
And even the "open" land seems to have been thicket or dense scrub, not
bracken.  (This last is hard to tell for certain, as such habitats away
from the rivers are not well represented in the fossil record - but that
also means the T. rex's we have were in forest areas at the time of death).

The only really open land would have been the lake margins and the like,
with aquatic and semi-aquatic monocots (more or less cattail like forms).
And I find the idea of T. rex clomping around in thick, semi-liquid mud to
be even less likely than forest habitat.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com