Re: Peculiar Femoral Feathers

[Waylon Rowley <whte_rbt_obj@yahoo.com>]

Patrick Norton wrote:

> Pulling the legs in towards the body while airborne,
> even briefly, would allow for more control on
> rolling maneuvers.

While that's true, do you think early flyers/gliders
did rolls? Sounds risky. I think that if you let your
legs dangle it would produce turbulence and might make
your body dip down in the front - as would a vertical
pubis (though much less so).

> And if lift and thrust were selected as 
> enhancements for close-quarters combat (I call it 
> the "cock-fighting" model--CFCF?), improvements in >
maneuverability would be highly selective.  Pulling >
the legs in towards the body would also serve to 
> protect the legs during those skirmishes

So they were dogfighting maniraptors, you believe.
Depending on the height they were at when fighting, I
can forsee a nasty outcome when one plucks a feather
out of the other's wing, or simply destabilizes him. 

Cheers,
Waylon Rowley 

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