Re: Oversized Coelurosaur in Scientific American

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, majestic_cheese@yahoo.com wrote:

> Greg Erickson authored an article in this month's (September's) 
> SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN summarizing current hypos about 
> _T. rex_'s lifestyle.  
One of the points that Dr. Erickson makes in "Breathing Life
into _Tyrannosaurus rex_" regarding _T. rex_ biting behavior 
is that it used the "puncture and pull" strategy and also the 
"nipping approach in which the front (incisiform) teeth grasped 
and stripped the flesh in tight spots between vertebrae, where 
only the muzzle of the beast could fit."  (p. 47)  If I recall,
Dr. Bakker in "When Dinosaurs Ruled" said that these teeth
were used for grooming other _T. rex._

> There's also a related article on _T. rex_ teeth 
This article "The Teeth of the Tyrannosaurs" by William L. 
Abler was interesting in its discussion of septic bites, which
the dino list chewed on a few months ago.  In the "now and
later" scenario, Dr. Abler theorized that "the cellae appear to
make excellent traps for grease and other food debris.... Such
food particles are receptacles for septic bacteria--even a nip from 
a tyrannosaur, therefore, might have been a source of a fatal 
infection." (p. 51)

> and a
> book excerpt from Simpson's THE DECHRONIZATION OF SAM
> MAGRUDER, which is, er, kind of hard to briefly
> summarize.  Just buy the magazine.
A good read in both a dramatic and historical way.  The magazine 
is well worth acquiring.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com