Re: Meet Triceratops

[Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com>]

> From: Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>

> To: turtlecroc@yahoo.com; Dinosaur Mailing List <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Wednesday, 31 August 2011 4:41 PM
> Subject: RE: Meet Triceratops
> 
> 
> What Heinrich is getting at is that there is an extent of cartilage around 
> the 
> epiphyses that is to some extent _under_ emphasized in modern 
> reconstructions, 
> although some artists (*cough* not me *cough*) take extra care to try to 
> -accurately_ represent this size increase. In sauropods, for example, the 
> amount 
> of cartilage in the limbs and potentially in the vertebrae could have been 
> relatively high, while in smaller animals and avian-stem theropods, likely 
> quite 
> small (depending...). Increasing the cartilage in ceratopsians may alter the 
> active range of motion and the degree of forelimb sprawl while still fitting 
> the 
> limbs into the prints.


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It's also worth pointing out  (via an SVPOWism) that trackways lie.


Carpenter, K. 2009. Role of Lateral Body Bending in Crocodylian Track Making. 
Ichnos. Vol.16:202-207


Jason