Re: Dinosaur Planet, parts 3 & 4

["Ken Carpenter" <KCarpenter@dmns.org>]

Sorry, but it sounds like you are grasping at straws to salvage a weak 
hypothesis (parental care). 

Everyone forgets that there is a size continuum between hatchling and adult (or 
half-grown if you prefer). Yet, there is an abrupt cut off point for the 
smallest size. I find it rather incredulous to assume that a 1-2 ton 1/3 grown 
sauropod wont leave prints in sediments where the adult tracks are tens of 
centimeters deep.

Kenneth Carpenter, Ph.D.
Curator of Lower Vertebrate Paleontology &
Chief Preparator
Dept. of Earth Sciences
Denver Museum of Natural History 
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80205

Phone: (303)370-6392
Fax: (303)331-6492
email: KCarpenter@DMNS.org

For fun:
 http://dino.lm.com/artists/display.php?name=Kcarpenter


>>> "David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> 18/Dec/03 >>>

> As for footprints, as I pointed out in Eggs, Nests and Baby Dinosaurs, the
hatchling hadrosaur tracks from Utah do NOT occur with adult tracks.

Are you sure that the following two points are incorrect:
- The hatchlings were so light that they wouldn't have made tracks on ground
that preserves adult tracks.
- The adults were so heavy that they wouldn't have set a foot on the soft
ground that preserves hatchling tracks. (Assuming that any are known. Which
I've forgotten.) This need not mean e. g. staying out of an entire swamp; it
can also mean taking a long step over a puddle through which the hatchlings
have to run.