Re: TRICERATOPS v. JUMBO

["Cliff Green" <dinonaut@emerytelcom.net>]

Dear Peter and List,

    In all the years that I have devoted to Ceratopsian restoration, I have
never seen anything that would suggest that thier weight reached the double
digit ton range. The three largest Ceratopsians are all chasmosaurids;
Triceratops Horridus, Pentaceratops Sternbergii, and Torosaurus Latus.They
all maxed out at under thirty feet, and if they where extra chubby, perhaps
weighed eight tons. This includes The so called Triceratops Maximus. Even
with a ten foot skull, it was still no larger than the biggest torosaur and
pentaceratops.
    The thing that people get jammed up on is this. Although Triceratops did
have a short frill, it had a longer face then it's two jumbo relatives. So
saying that a triceratops had a skull the same size as other horned
dinosaurs with longer frills, doesn't mean that a trike is going to have
larger over all proportions.
    Duck bills reached sauropod size, but there is still no evidence that
any species of horned dinosaur was any larger than an African bull elephant.

Cliff
----- Original Message -----
From: <zone65@bigpond.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 2:27 AM
Subject: TRICERATOPS v. JUMBO


>
> On Monday, April 26, 2004, at 05:57  PM, Vlad Petnicki wrote:
>
> > Actually, Dr. Bakker thinks the Tric. Max. might have
> > weighed "more than two elephants". The
> > "run-of-the-mill" Triceratops horridus probably did not
> > weigh (much) more than a large African Bull elephant...
> >
> > I think the average African bull elephant is somewhere
> > around 5-7 tons....although freakish specimens of 10
> > tons are known, they are extremely rare....Raja Gaj,
> > the king of the giant Asian (Nepalese) elephants is
> > estimated to be around 8 tons....but this is an
> > isolated population, comparable in size to African
> > elephants rather than its Indian cousins...
> >
> > So...would 15 tons sound more impresive to you ;0)?
>
> Yes, thank you! Mind you, the record weight I've heard for an
> Afro-elephant is 13 tons.
>
> Peter M
>