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IThat seems perfectly reasonable to me. Among
today's animals the largest part of the body often becomes a display device be
it the dewlaps of Anoles or the ears of African Elephants (they also serve to
shunt heat but are definitely for display as well even though they aren't
colorful). What's the largest most obvious part of a Tyranosaur? Its
head. Just as it has been speculated with Ceratopsian frills it would
make perfect sense for T. rex's head to be brightly colored on the outside and
inside.
Interesting fact, some baby birds have markings on
the inside of their mouths that help their parents know where to put the
food.
I think that the healed wounds were just as likely
from adults. Indeed weren't some of Sue's wounds not fully healed?
Tyranosaurs were powerful but I think they had enough control over themselves to
bite things without doing mortal damage.
I had an idea a long time ago for a purpose for
Tyranosaur arms. Its completely unprovable of course but I wonder
what others would think of it. The arms of Tyranosaurs are small but very
powerful. Perhaps like the antlers of deer they were used to judge the
strength of the opposing Tyranosaur in a non violent way. They would stand
side by side facing each other, lock their two fingered hooks, and press against
each other till it was apparent who was stronger.
More likely than the meat hooks theory I
think...
Jonathan
Schmidt. Lurker
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 5:35
AM
Subject: Into the Mouths of
Tyrannosaurs...
So there I was......
staring at my almost completely painted Tony McVey Running
_Tyrannosaurus rex_...... and I had a revelation..... You know,.... one
of those deeply insightful experiences that makes you lose your grip on
reality and freak out for a second when they occur at 4 am.... As I was
looking at the unpainted inner mouth of this tyrannosaurus, the voices in my
head made me say out loud "I bet you this sucker had a multicolored
mouth!".....
Here is the convoluted reasoning behind my madness....
_Tyrannosaurus rex_ had a HUGE mouth.... No one with a shred of sanity
disputes this..... We are pretty much coming to an understanding via a sneaky
bite mark pattern found on these animals that hints that they practiced jaw
grappling like big, mean, ill-tempered, over grown satanic Big Birds on
steroids.... the things that make Groucho shiver in fear at the bottom of his
tightly closed trash can..... Now, many a reptile and bird does this as
well.... Chameleons definitely come to mind... BUT!...... with the chameleons
also comes the added baggage of what they do BEFORE they resort to physical
contact via grabbing each other by the mouth.... The little tyrants hiss and
moan and throw a fit with their mouths wide open.... as if saying "I have a
bigger mouth then you do and if you don't want to get yourself messed up I
suggest you get lost buddy boy!!!!!" The insides of their mouths are
colored..... They usually ! ha! ! ve a combination of a black or dark purple
with a lighter shade of red or something. If I'm not mistaken, I believe
that large-beaked birds sometimes have a combination of a dark and light
canvas to their inner mouths, and like a toucan for example, this is usually
contrasted with a brightly colored outer beak.
Now, what if, since we
are wielding a much more dangerous weapon then a beak here..... tyrannosaurs
in a fowl mood (no pun intended) that came upon each other and felt like
sparing,...... first threw a fit with roaring and hissing and stomping
and dirt kicking and lunging forward at each other with mouths open as
far as they could go, flashing multicolored gums at each other in an attempt
to startle the source of their frustrations??? Think about it.... These
huge monsters..... waking up the entire neighborhood with their temper
tantrums..... squaring off at each other..... sizing each other up..... trying
to scare each other away so as to avoid any type of physical contact which
would undoubtedly result in serious injury or even death because of the
weapons and power that would be wielded here. I'm betting they even kicked
each other like ostriches before resorting to using the jaws.
Since
these tooth puncture marks and scrapes that we find on the faces and jaws of
tyrannosaurs usually show signs of being healed, I'm thinking that they were
not suffered as adults. The consequences of two adults going at each other
with their mouths is just too bloody to think about.... We would have a
serious species survivability problem..... What I'm thinking is that these
healed face bites were actually inflicted early in life during nestling and
teenage disputes over dominance and over food being brought by Mother Dearest.
I'm sure I will chicken out and paint the inside of the mouth of this
guy the same old shades of pink..... But, I just thought I'd share a thought
that crossed my mind at 4 in the morning...... If for nothing but cheap
entertainment for you.
Kris
By the way..... you ever notice
what a lie that statement "chicken out" actually is??? The next time you are
with a live chicken that is not in a cage or something.... Upset it... I
triple dog dare you..... Let me know when you are going to do this.... I want
to video tape it.
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