Re: A matter of scale?

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/18/01 2:10:40 PM EST, ptnorton@msn.com writes:

<<  If its apparent size in the film turns out to actually be within the
range of scientific possibility....well, it boggles the mind! >>

Also mind-boggling: In Spinosaurus most of the dorsal vertebrae were strongly
opisthocoelous (true to some extent of other kinds of theropods, too). That
is, the vertebrae formed ball-and-socket joints (with the ball on the front
of the vertebral body, or centrum, and the socket in the back of the body;
opisthocoelous: backward-cupped). This suggests a certain amount of
up-and-down (dorsoventral) intervertebral mobility or flexibility in the
Spinosaurus back--a feature I interpret as permitting the animal a few (3-4)
degrees of rotation between the vertebrae to arch the back. This movement
would be exaggerated by the elongated neural spines, which would spread
apart, something like the fingers of one's hand, as animal's back arched
(e.g., in a display versus another Spinosaurus; lowering the head and
spreading the sail at the same time). Any skin between the spines would open
up and stretch out; it would look spectacular on a 60-foot-long, 20-foot-tall
theropod, particularly if the skin between the spines were a different color
from the rest of the body. Dorsal ligaments would limit the amount of
sail-spreading (and keep the animal from falling apart at the vertebrae!),
but owing to the length of the neural spines (almost 2 meters) >any< amount
of spreading would work.