Re: Size of *Neoceratodus africanus* and ...

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

--- On Mon, 3/30/09, Raptorial Talon <raptorialtalon@gmail.com> wrote:

> "You could be right.  The cranial adaptations of
> spinosaurs might
> indeed have been geared toward improved piscivory.  But I
> doubt this
> is why spinosaurids got so big."
> 
> I can certainly agree with that. I don't think diet was
> the cause of
> their size. But whatever they were eating had to be capable
> of
> enabling that size, so it must have been pretty readily
> available in
> one sense or another.

Various forms of intra-specific competition have been mentioned as reason for 
Spinosaurus to attain maximal size, so I'll skip those, and go interspecific. 

If, as a biped, you spend a lot of time catching fish, specifically exploiting 
fluvial systems w/ lot of shallow water and fluctuating water levels, you will 
be competing w/ crocs, or just trying to stay off _their_ menu. Especially 
around those drying pools w/ the trapped fish. Reason enough to attain large 
size, as well as maintain a high degree of terrestrial competence.