Re: Walking dromaeosaurs

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Nick Pharris wrote:

> I'd say front-back head movement is likely, but most birds don't do the 
> tail
> movement:  it's a distinctive feature of this particular group of species, 
> as
> reflected both in the Latin "motacilla" ('moved-tail') and in the
> English "wagtail".

Wagtails (and certain other species of birds) wag their tails to startle 
insects out of shrubbery or off the ground.  They shake their tail feathers 
(so to speak) to flush insect prey out into the open, where they are more 
easily caught by the bird.  In the past I've wondered if this was the 
function of the wings and tail of _Caudipteryx_.  After all, they weren't 
much good for anything else.  Oh, apart from display of course :-)




Tim

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