RE: Dinosaur CD-ROMs

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

AH!  This brings up a somewhat old, but fascinating thread & reminded ME of
something
I have been meaning to query the list about. :-)  Like probably a few of
you, I collect
"museum quality" model dinosaurs.  I own a couple of very nice bronze
sculptures, but most
of my collection are 1/40th scale Bataat & Carnegie pieces.  A friend of
mine told me that the
Carnegie collection is going to come out with updated versions of several of
their "standards",
including Tyrannosaurus rex and Apatosaurus.  Has anyone seen these?  If so;
what is your opinion of these models?

Thanks in advance;
Dwight

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Kendall Clements [SMTP:k.clements@auckland.ac.nz]
        Sent:   Wednesday, April 07, 1999 7:02 PM
        To:     dinosaur@usc.edu
        Subject:        Dinosaur CD-ROMs

        I teach a second year undergraduate paper on animal structure and 
        function. As part of this block I do five lectures on dinosaurs and
one 
        lecture on pterosaurs. Most of these lectures are on functional
anatomy 
        and biomechanics. I run a lab where we use the BMNH models to
estimate 
        dinosaur weight using the water displacement method described in R. 
        McNeill Alexander's book. The weight estimates are then evaluated in

        terms of (a) the quality of the reconstructions, and (b) anatomical 
        features of the dinosaurs that may affect mean body mass. The
students 
        evaluate the quality of the models with reference to books and a
couple 
        of CD-ROMs that are available in the lab. I have Greg Paul's review
of 
        the book, and I know that many of the BMNH models are dodgy - that's

        part of the exercise!


        Thanks

        Kendall Clements

        ----------------------
        Kendall Clements
        k.clements@auckland.ac.nz