[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
Re: FEATHERS FOR T-REX
Ken Kinman wrote:
> I suspect adult tyrannosaurs (and a lot of other early coelurosaurs)
> probably took "dust baths". And maybe an occasional wallowing in the mud if
> the insects were tormenting them. If tyrannosaurs did have something like a
> protofeather crest (on the head, spine, and/or tail; or even sparsely on
> other areas), I think dust baths would have sufficed. Precision preening or
> oiling would probably have been unnecessary.
> paleo_mont wrote:
> >3. In present day situations there is no animal that loses its fur or
> >feathers as it grows.
The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest, hairiest, and most endangered
rhinoceros in the world (with perhaps 300 left in the wild). It is hairier as a
newborn calf, and becomes less hairy as it matures. It takes mud baths more
frequently than other rhinos. A Sumatran rhinoceros pair gave birth to a calf
just last year at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Some people are known to lose hair as they age, too. (The truth hurts)! I am
unclear on the adaptive value of this trait in humans, unless it is to advertise
one's advancing age, suggestive of superlative survival skills. Perhaps it is a
display feature that plays a part (or at one time played a part) in mate
selection, Rogaine commercials notwithstanding.
Whether this has applications to _T. rex_ integument is anybody's guess.
----------Ralph W. Miller III
ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu
"Hey fella -- nice genes!"