Re: dinosaur behaviours

["T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>]

> 3) Penises. I guess the majority of male dinosaurs would have a pair of
> hemipenes, the system as in crocodiles. However, in birds the penis has been 
> lost, and only a few species have a functional male copulatory organ. (In 
> most birds, copulation involves a 'cloacal kiss')So is it okay to assume 
> that while most dinosaurs had the crocodilian system of having 2 hemipenes, 
> the more derived maniraptorans may have lost the penis altogether?

My understanding is that hemipenes are a lepidosaurian synaopomorphy, not
present in archosaurs. Male crocodylians and non-neoavian neornitheans (e.g.
ratites, tinamiforms, anseriforms, galliforms) have penes. Thus it would seem
most parsimonious to assume that all male non-neoavian archosauromorphs had a
penis, not hemipenes, and not just a cloaca.

Correct or refine this if it is wrong, please.
 
> 4) Sense of touch. Touch is an important sense in most mammals. Most 
> dinosaurs, with their scaly skins, don't seem too suited to be very 
> sensitive to tactile stimulation. But is it possible that touch may have 
> played an important factor in activities like social contact, social 
> grooming, mating rituals etc? And is it possible that many of the feathered 
> dinosaurs may have had 'whiskers' or vibrassae around their muzzles?

Are these known in any modern-day dinosaurs?


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=====> The Dinosauricon <http://dinosauricon.com>
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