RE: Spinosaurs as what?

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com> wrote:

> > It reminds me of the discredited
> > "_Seismosaurus_-choked-on-a-rock" idea that
> > was circulating for a while.
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> When was this discredited? I thought Gillette was
> still stating that this was how the beast died.

I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek comment.  Says Gillette:

(from http://www.earthscape.org/r3/gillette/gillette16.html)

"I off-handedly remarked to a reporter that Sam's largest gastrolith, the 
size of a grapefruit, was considerably larger than all the others - and 
maybe it caused Sam's demise by lodging in the esophagus or trachea. This 
tongue-in-cheek (or, stone-in-mouth) remark received considerable publicity. 
Did Sam choke on this giant gastrolith? Maybe. The evidence is far from 
conclusive, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. There is, however, 
evidence suggesting another cause of death: Sam may have been killed by a 
predator."  ["Sam" is, of course, the _Seismosaurus_ skeleton.  The next 
chapter talks about the discovery of an allosaur tooth associated with the 
skeleton.]