Re: WWD Allosaurus

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Brian Choo wrote:

<Seriously though, there are a couple of examples where both
sexes display a similar high-degree of ornamentation. They seem
to be mostly monogamous breeders in which the pair stake out and
jointly defend a territory. Two examples off the top of my head
- Guatopotes cichlids (ex-"Cichlasoma" spp.) and Loria's Bird of
Paradise (Loria loriae) in which both sexes have attractive
beak-wattling.>

  In examples like this, I note that the primary means of
courtship and differentiation is either scent or behavior, not
visualization, so that ornament is contributing to another
aspect of their ecology. It did seem bizarre that the female was
as fleshly ornamented as the male, and Brooks' (or whomever you
get in your country) narrative attempted to suggest that the
reddening of the crest was a sign of fertility.... When this
happens, as I note, it's usually in just one gender.

  What I noted that really smacked was the elongated neck of the
*Othneilia*, given that the shoulder girdle was horribly
caudally displaced....

  Otherwise, the most awesome thing about the show (well, one of
the two most awesome) was the scene of the *Diplodocus* hunt,
using some effective non-attack herding behavior in securing a
member from the herd.... Really well done. Numero Zwei is Willo
was shown, and not just the skeleton, but the head.... The first
complete institutionalized cranium of a thescelosaur, and they
don't even think twice about it.... :)

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhr-gen-ti-na
  Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Pampas!!!!

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