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Re: Sex

On Tue, Feb 27, 2001 at 03:27:45PM -0000, Gavin Rymill scripsit:
> > Female dogs appear to undergo hormonal changes when in season, to the point
> > where the tail can lay *flat* against the back, out of the way. Normally
> > they seem unable to do this....
> 
> Yeah, the more I thought about this the more I liked it. I'm not being very
> pragmatic because I simply don't have the knowledge on plate attachment but
> if the plates could simply be flexed so that they lay laterally, either both
> pointing in the same direction or flattened out in opposing directions, then
> I'd hazard that it was possibly a safe platform for the male to rest upon,
> in order to attempt the traditional mount.

I wouldn't think it's the plates so much as the structure of the tail
that's a problem; mammal tails are bitsy things compared to the
structural tails of dinos.

A suggestion I haven't seen is that the tripod stance for high
feeding might also have allowed face-to-face breeding.  That would
seem to go for sauropods as well; if it can stand up to eat leaves,
they could lean on each other for mating.

-- 
                           graydon@dsl.ca
               To maintain the end is to uphold the means.