RE: Lack of Running Giant Theropod Tracks

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of Martin Baeker
>
> BTW, the leg proportions of ornithopods seem to be less 
> well-adapted to fast running than those of T rex, so even if 
> T rex was not a super-sprinter, it may still have been fast 
> enough. 

Indeed!! Every challenge that has been proposed to T. rex being a runner is 
even more challenging to big ornithopods (much less
ceratopsians). But try telling reporters that... (Okay, I *DO* tell reporters 
that, but they typically leave that part out...)

> (And of course there are scenarios where the 
> juveniles do the running, and at 2 tons of mass the pciture 
> changes quite a bit.) If anybody has reasonable measurements 
> and estimates for muscles in ornithopod legs, we could easily 
> run them through our software...

Cue the Open Dinosaur Project folks: http://opendino.wordpress.com/

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA