Re: Hibernating Dinosaurs?

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

I have to admit to a hidden agenda when I asked the question.  I have a
"beef" with Horner's claim that _T. rex_ had enlarged olfactory lobes. 
Enlarged compared to what?  Or is the relative size of _T. rex_'s
olfactory lobes actually typical for coelurosaurs?  For all we know,
their relative size may be typical for theropods in general.

Hence my question about _Leaellynasaura_.


<pb>
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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 15:11:11 -0800 (PST) "Jaime A. Headden"
<qilongia@yahoo.com> writes:
> Phil Bigelow (bigelowp@juno.com) wrote:
> 
> <Enlarged compared to what other species?  Does the paper mention 
> the
> comparison cranial material?>
> 
>   Hypsie skull material is few and far between, *Leaellynasaura 
> being
> among the best preserved for it's "grade" known to date. The 
> material of
> *Orodromeus* underwent monographic study by Scheetz recently, and
> *Thescelosaurus* has been extensively studied, but the authors of 
> the *L.
> amicagraphica* paper chose to make general comparisons rather than
> specific species to species studies, given the paucity of small 
> hypsie
> skull studies at the time (and now!). The frontoparietals of the 
> type
> specimen are, unfortunately, rather unique to *L.* since 
> *Thescelosaurus*
> and *Hypsilophodon* have broader more triangular frontals and a 
> short but
> broad parietal, rather than the hourglass-shaped frontals and long
> parietal of *L.*
> 
>   Cheers,
> 
> Jaime A. Headden
> 
>   Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to 
> making leaps in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard 
> to do.  We should all learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world 
> around us rather than zoom by it.
> 
> "Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)