RE: Ouranosaurus (but we saw a spinosaur?) (joke)

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Dann Pigdon wrote:

>I imagine fooling predators into thinking you are a spinosaurid would be
>advantageous for a nesting ouranosaur. How many predators would risk
>disturbing a spinosaur protecting a nest?

Good ol' Batesian mimicry, huh?

Of course, being a sail-backed ouranosaur could be an enormous disadvantage
during the spinosaur mating season.  From the ouranosaur viewpoint, a hungry
spinosaur is bad enough - but wait until a sex-crazed _Suchomimus_
introduces himself.

{Think Pepe LePew x 1000.}

>On a related note, how would "Ouranosaurus" be pronounced? The original
>arabic word for monitor lizard seems to be pronounced "warren" (as in a
>rabbit's home), yet is spelled "Ouran". That's where we get "monitor
>lizard" from - the German translation of the Arabic word was then
>translated into English; from Ouran ("warren"), to a German word
>that I believe meant "warning" or something similar, to the English word
>"monitor".

These etymological Chinese whispers remind me of the possible derivation of
"secretary bird" (_Sagittarius serpentarius_).  From the South African
Museum website: "The popular name of secretary bird is [traditionally
thought to be] derived from the fancied resemblance between the long lax
feathers of its crest when raised to the quill pens worn behind a
secretary's ear in the last century.  A modern theory is that the name comes
from the Arabic _saqu ettair_ meaning 'hunter-bird', translated into French
as secrétaire."



Tim

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Timothy J. Williams 

USDA-ARS Researcher 
Agronomy Hall 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50014 

Phone: 515 294 9233 
Fax:   515 294 3163