Re: Horner's JP3 interview

[JAMES ARONIS <Apollo@MLink.net>]

Here's the interview in question:
http://www.ingennet.com/media/jp3/clips/spinopart.mpg

This is what he says in another interview:

"We do know that [the spino] had a skull that was eight feet long, and a body 
that
was about 60 feet long," Jack Horner [said]. "If we base the ferocious factor on
the length of the animal, there was nothing that ever lived on this planet that
could match this creature. Also, my hypothesis is that T-rex was actually a
scavenger rather than a killer. Spinosaurus was really the predatory animal."


Josh Smith wrote:

> Jordan Mallon wrote:
>
> > I couldn't agree with you more, James.  If you ask me, it would seem that
> > Horner has (dare I say it?)... sold out!  Making claims that _Spinosaurus_
> > could have measured up to 60 feet long is fine with me, since we don't have
> > a whole lot of evidence either way.  But saying that we do have evidence to
> > support such a claim is wrong.
> > I also find it interesting that Horner, too, now subscribes to
> > "Brontosaurus."
> >
> > -Jordan Mallon
> >
> >
> > >
> > >This may or may not have been posted previously on the list. (If so,
> > >disregard this post)
> > >
> > >I recently downloaded one of the JP3 movie trailers which features an
> > >interview with renown paleontologist, Jack Horner. The short interview
> > >dealt primarily with the _Spinosaurus_ model used in the movie, and
> > >how realistically it's apparently portrayed based on current
> > >paleontological data. What puzzles me is his mentioning that
> > >_Spinosaurus_ is the largest carnivore that ever walked the earth, and
> > >more specifically, that the largest specimens (only one, AFAIK...)
> > >were ~60ft. in length in possession of 8-ft. skulls!!  FWIK, even the
> > >skull this species may have actually had is in dispute, is it not?
> > >Where did he obtain information that correlates with these claims?
> > >Isn't Horner a specialist in hadrosaurine dinosaurs? I find it very
> > >disconcerting (to say the least) that a famous paleontologist would
> > >indulge in such erroneous/exaggerating statements, especially
> > >regarding genera that are not within his specialization.
> > >
> >
>
> I don't know why Jack's behavior would be termed "selling out," but if that
> trailer actually quotes him as saying those things, it IS a bit unsettling.
> Since the only known reasonably complete specimen of this beast was probably a
> sub-adult, it reasons that _S. agyptiacus_ (I presume this is what they are
> taking about here...) was certainly probably ONE of the largest predators
> known to date.  I don't know where the hell that 60 foot long specimen with an
> 8 foot skull is though...too bad, I would like to measure its teeth...  It is
> possible that extrapolations from within the Spinosauridae were being made
> using other, related taxa.
>
> -jb
>
> --
> Josh Smith
> Department of Earth and Environmental Science
> University of Pennsylvania
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