Re: Charging Triceratops (Behavior Conjecture Alert!)

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

I'm jumping onto the same bandwagon as Mark is with this one. As he correctly 
pointed out concerning the horns of taurine bovids, cervids, and hippotragine 
antelope, we are talking about structures that, though not actively employed 
for the single purpose of defense, are readily available to thwart predator 
attacks, and quite effectively at that. Multiple uses for the same structure... 
fancy that. Granted, no tyrannosaur in its right mind would want go head to 
head (or should that be horn?) with an irate triceratops, attacks with a 
surprise from the rear probably being the better option (less chance for 
predator injury and all of that... same situation today). But when things went 
horribly array, just as they so often do on the Serengeti today, to think that 
those long, pointy objects, maybe not being in the most desirable orientation 
for impaling, but still protruding from already impressive skulls, weren't 
utilized in even a last ditch effort of defense, or at the very lea!
 st!
 intimidation, against powerful snapping jaws, doesn't make a lick of sense. 
Talk about a waste of material. What happens to the lion that attempts to 
attack from the rear, but instead ends up face to face with a disgruntled water 
buffalo?... You can't help but feel the kitty's pain as it's tossed into the 
air like a rag doll by the tip of a horn.

Kris