RE: Stegosaur display behavior (script question)

[gerarus@westnet.com.au]

   To compare, male robin redbreasts are extremely sensitive to
anything red. Not only will they react belligerently to a stuffed,
dead male, even a bunch of red feathers glued onto a stick will
apparently get a rise.

    Cheers,

        Christopher Taylor

---- Original Message ----
From: kcasino@comcast.net
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: RE: Stegosaur display behavior (script question)
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 11:27:25 -0800

>This is the guy who's writing the script again. Does the following 
>scenario strike you as plausible? (I know it's not likely, but I
>don't 
>want it to be unreasonable.)
>
>The two lead characters are traveling along the edge of a corridor 
>forest when one of their vehicles runs out of juice. These vehicles 
>have international orange pennants on fiberglass poles, so as to
>allow 
>them to keep track of each other in rough terrain.
>
>This has happened near a small group of Stegosaurus stenops. The 
>largest is a female, who is ignoring the other two while eating 
>(feathery-foliaged) cycad fruits. The other two are males in full
>rut. 
>Due to the season, their shields are brightly colored. They are 
>circling each other, head to tail, pausing to shake their tails at
>each 
>other. After a little while, the smaller, less brightly colored male 
>backs down, allowing the other to begin courting the female.
>
>As the smaller male wanders off, he spots the pennants on the
>vehicles, 
>and interprets them -- tall, triangular, brightly colored -- as a 
>challenge. As the lead characters get out of the way, he approaches
>the 
>stalled vehicle, and begins to circle it. Eventually, frustrated by
>an 
>opponent that is both smaller and duller than he is but who still 
>refuses to give way or engage in a display contest, he swings his
>tail 
>at the vehicle.
>
>Thanks in advance for any opinions.
>
>Yours,
>
>Sean Craven
>