Re: Dromeo Danger

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

As a shy and sensitive type, I've always observed
nearby teeth w/ some interest, and listened carefully.

Serrated teeth say, "Hi, I have to cut my food up
before I eat it, and further, my food is not
necessarily dead when I do so (unlike a lion, for
example). Nor do I spend a lot of time eating bones,
even small ones." When the teeth are serrated AND
recurved, I seem to hear them say, "Whatever part of
you I manage get in my mouth, I will keep. Even if we
part ways, you will leave it behind."

Do you think this hallucination, er, I mean
observation, uh, speculation re behavior is
reasonable? 

In the dromeo case, the rear claws are perfect for
providing traction when grabbing a mouthful and
pulling back really hard when attacking a larger
animal (ala Manning et. al). 

I've spent a lot of time working on vertical surfaces
(ie, tree trunks), and I can testify that to pull back
(as on a hand saw, or a rope) you MUST have a firm
foothold.

Don

--- Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au> wrote:

> don ohmes writes: 
> 
> > Heh. I live in a place that has coyotes aplenty. I
> > hear them several times a week, and can find fresh
> > scat w/in 100m of the house easily. Unless I work
> at
> > it, I see ZERO coyotes. On the other hand, I get
> > attacked by mockingbirds pretty regular, in
> season.
> 
> Being small, volant, quick and very manouevrable
> tends to 'embiggen' the 
> smallest of creatures. :) 
> 
> Here in Australia the boldest bird would have to be
> the willy wag-tail 
> (Rhipidura leucophrys) - a tiny insect eater that
> will gladly take on a 
> magpie or a crow (known nest raiders) in single
> combat despite mass 
> diffences of several orders of magnitude. Their
> aerial agility makes them 
> almost immune to reprisals, so most of their victims
> don't bother making the 
> effort anyway. 
> 
> If willy wag-tails will attack magpies, and magpies
> will themselves attack 
> wedge-tailed eagles (as my mother witnessed in her
> own front yard; the 
> aftermath including a lot of damaged and destroyed
> potted plants), then that 
> would seem to make the willy wag-tail the baddest
> mo-fo on the block. Look 
> upon it's fearsome visage with awe:
> http://thumbs.photo.net/photo/2879863-sm.jpg 
> 
> > Another point; sharks don't necessarily packhunt,
> but
> > they do tend to gather at the site of a ruckus.
> 
> Great Whites have been known to hunt in pairs on
> occasions, but in many 
> respects they're more like a mammal than a fish.
> Reef sharks will hunt 
> together in groups, but it's not what you'd call
> cooperative hunting (more 
> like an angry mob). 
> 
> > BTW -- Sharks are the best extant velociraptor
> > 'tooth-analogue' I know of. 
> > Are there any other candidates?
> 
> Monitor lizards come to mind. 
> 
>
___________________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> Dann Pigdon
> GIS / Archaeologist             
> http://geo_cities.com/dannsdinosaurs
> Melbourne, Australia            
> http://heretichides.soffiles.com
>
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>