Re: Spinosaurs ate pterosaurs

[Amtoine Grant <ajgrant@eastlink.ca>]

> Well said. Jumping up from the ground to catch flying insects would be 
> too
> costly in comparison. So would parachuting from a tree to do the same 
> be --
> not the parachuting itself, but the need to climb back up the tree 
> after
> each insect caught that way.

Hmm, I forget what we were talking about. But on the note of what a 
given predator can/'is designed to' catch, I'd say spinosaurs are the 
most specialized for eating whatever they want, if that makes sense:
1 - Jaw suited to catch fish (or at least bare striking resemblance to 
preators that Do habitually catch fish), that could also wreak havoc on 
most any vertebrate it could come across, barring armor
2 - Foreclaws [I believe] larger than a raptors that could grab, dig, 
or slash through a variety of hides, trees, mounds, etc. that it can 
use without standing on leg to compromise balance
3 - A long tail that could be used like many lizards & crocs use theirs 
today - stun, ward off or possibly cripple
4 - Intimidating size, made even more imposing when you add the spines
5 - And probably a nice speed. I wonder how those back spines would 
affect a spinosaur's balance when running . . .