Re: Lack of Running Giant Theropod Tracks

[Don Ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

It can logically be assumed that small theropods ran, and in fact there 
examples of running tracks preserved.

Relative to a given body-style, as size increases, the frequency and 
relative speed of running generally decreases.

Huh, et al., in Cretaceous Research Volume 27, Issue 1, February 2006, 
Pages 123-138, present evidence that "small" (<2m hip height) 
individuals were "trotting" and "large" (2.6m maximum hip height) 
individuals were "walking" (according to the abstract). [I note in that 
the abstract, they do not make any specific claims relative to size 
scaling.]

All this begs the question, as Holtz implies -- why would a giant 
theropod species need to run?

That said -- maximum gait data from (e.g.) roadrunners, wild turkeys and 
ostriches could generate a curve that correlates stride frequency and 
length with size, and be combined with the data from Huh, et al., to 
provide yet another basis to 'guess-timate' the gait of the giant theropods.