Dinosaur tails

[Jonathon Woolf <jwoolf@erinet.com>]

Browsing at the library today, I came across a magazine (I think it was
a recent issue of GEOLOGY) with an article about the astoundingly rich
Chinese fossil sites that have produced so many wondrous fossils in the
past couple of years: Confuciousornis, Sinosauropteryx, etc.  The
article was accompanied by an illustration of a lakeside scene that
included a sinosauropteryx.  This individual was drawn with a long tail
that curled around and nearly formed a loop.

Now, I thought the one thing that dinosaur tails were _not_ was highly
flexible, like a snake.  Sauropod tails, maybe, but I've had the
impression for several years that most theropods, and especially most
coelurosaurs, had tails that were held more or less rigid by a
basketwork of ossified tendons.

So why do so many artists _insist_ on drawing theropod dinosaurs with
highly flexible, snakey tails?

-- JSW.