Re: Submitting new artwork to the wrath of the DML

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

"Tracy L. Ford" wrote:

> "Dann Pigdon" wrote:
> If tyrannosaur intraspecific combat was anything like that of crocs,
> then perhaps they sidled up to each other and swung their heads sideways
> and down slightly, rather than risk using those jaws on each other. This
> might also explain the hypothetical hornlet on the jugal. I've seen a
> painting of ceratosaurs doing this, fighting giraffe-style (although
> they were facing head-to-tail rather than both in the same direction).<<
> 
>> There is one major flaw in this and that is the bit marks on the skull.
>> Tyrannosaurids were very vicious, very aggressive animals. Sure, they may
>> have also done what you suggest, but the evidence is for more aggressive
>> behavior.

I'm not saying they didn't fight ever. Hippos will fight to the death,
but for the most part a simple open-mouthed bluff will suffice to deter
rivals. Any animal capable of killing will usually opt for a non-lethal
method of intraspecific combat to begin with. If no-one backs down, then
it can get ugly. I doubt tyrannosaurs solved all of their minor
squabbles by running head-long at each other open-mouthed (as many art
work seems to suggest they did).

Even crocs will eventually tire of thrashing heads together. If two
animals are evenly matched, one will eventually turn on the other,
influcting potentially fatal wounds with the very jaws they were
previously reluctant to bring into play. Life is hard enough without
being fatally attacked by your own species on a whim (there's a lesson
of humans there!).

Tyrannosaur non-lethal head butting would explain the rugosities along
the snout, the orbital horns, and the proposed jugal hornlets. Plus they
had the robust skull and neck to pull it off.

Allosaurs seem to have none of these things. Their cranial ornaments
seem to be more fragile, and their skull and long neck don't seem to be
all that robust. Perhaps they used visual bluff most of the time,
opening their mouths as wide as possible, flaring their jaws outwards
where the skull and jaw seams allowed, to fully display their array of
slashing teeth, with their high (and perhaps brightly coloured)
pre-orbital horns and paired nasal ridges (that is, higher than in
tyrannosaurs) adding to the effect. Tyrannosaurs, expecially T.rex, seem
better equipped to handle the stressed of non-lethal head butting than
Allosaurs.

Of course, everything I just said about dinosaurs is pure speculation,
so it's certainly nothing to get worked up about (not that HP Ford did -
THIS TIME - but based on past experience, I know how passionate he can
get about his beloved archosaurs).  :)

-- 
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Dann Pigdon                   Australian Dinosaurs:
GIS, Archaeologist          http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.alphalink.com.au/~dannj/
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