RE: Two quick questions

["Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

Tom:

As regards your 2 questions:

1)      The recent work (mentioned earlier today), shows that a 12 foot long 
croc
has a bite-force of over 1 ton (2000 lbs). And the 'SuperCroc' had a
bite-force of 9 tons (18000 lbs).  [I think we need some details, such as:
Is that per square inch, or is it the summation over the entire mouth?]
A large theropod could likely exert as much or even more force (especially
_T. rex_).  As to how much it could pick up, that would depend on the
strength of the neck and back.  I would imagine that _T. rex_ and
_Carcharodontosaurus_ could pick up a greater weight (by their jaws) than
_Spinosaurus_; due to the size of their jaws, the size of their heads, and
the thickness and shortness of their necks - in comparison to _Spinosaurus_.

2)      A normal tropical storm probably wouldn't bother most of the large
animals, unless there was lightning and thunder associated with it (which is
NOT necessarily the case in tropical storms).  Most animals will wait-out
the storm under the forest canopy (or some similar cover).  It is possible
that severe thunderstorms could cause stampedes of the larger animals (most
likely trampling many of the smaller animals - hard to find in the fossil
record [i.e. pre-squashed bones, which are then squashed and preserved by
the normal taphonomy].  In some areas where tropical storms occur, but the
likelihood  of lightning is low, people and animals just continue what they
were doing - because they know that in a few more minutes, it will be warm
enough to dry them nearly completely!

Allan Edels

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
dexter dexter
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 5:29 PM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Two quick questions



1-How much a big jawed theropod could've lifted with it's jaws ?
Y'know, maybe use crocs as an example or such ... ? I'm
curious ...

2-How do you think dinosaurs, especially large ones, would
react to a tropical storm ?
I don't have the smallest idea how large modern animals like
Elephants react to it ...
Otherwise, I wouldn't bug anyone with it :)

 Tom Miller

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