Stegosaur Plates And Spikes For Looks Only

Science Daily ^ | 5/17/05 | University of California - Berkeley - Press Release

[dhs12345]

What males will do to attract the females of the species. Or scare away other males that might compete for females.

[Larry Lucido]

Stegosaurs were elephantine plant eaters that populated the world during the Jurassic period, about 210 to 144 million years ago

Nonsense, Adam and Eve had one for a pet 6000 years ago. That's why they are mentioned so many times in Genesis.

< /sarcasm>

[ARCADIA]

wouldn't some of these things serve as defensive features in addition to recognition mechanisms?

Academia no longer recognizes the principle of self defense. Now they are trying to re-write pre-history to support their latest crackpot ideas.

[eagle11]

Oh yeah?!? My horn's bigger than yours!

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the ping, but ... I just don't think this is all that big a deal.

[Jim_Curtis]

The evolutionists change their tune a lot. They'll tell you one day that animals develop traits for a purpose and they will tell you the next day that a mutation randomly occurred that would give some animal an advantage over another.

[Larry Lucido]

Like most body parts, things exist for protection....

That does raise one question worth pondering: Why didn't all animals evolve armor plates? If I were a Thompson gazelle, I'd rather have a triceratops horns and tail than the ability to outrun a cheetah with a decent head start.

[ASA Vet]

that is why they are extinct

[Junior]

Seems like they would protect the body from a bigger predators bite.

According to the article, the scutes weren't strong enough to serve as armor.

[Centurion2000]

- the horns of triceratops

Like the rhino, the buffalo and the longhorn .. these horn most assuredly had a function. Disemboweling a T-Rex.

[mlc9852]

But what if they find, say a femur only. Can they still tell?

[Modernman]

They'll tell you one day that animals develop traits for a purpose and they will tell you the next day that a mutation randomly occurred that would give some animal an advantage over another.

Traits come about due to random mutations, but only ones that serve a useful purpose (or that are neutral) survive in a species over the long run, generally speaking.

[Junior]

The pubis in male reptiles, dinosaurs and associated critters differs in size and shape from that of the female.

[Modernman]

If I were a Thompson gazelle, I'd rather have a triceratops horns and tail than the ability to outrun a cheetah with a decent head start.

Then you wouldn't be a Thompson gazelle, you'd be a different species. Defensive weapons are a good survival strategy (look at porcupines) but speed works well, too.

[Junior]

Juvenile dinosaur fossils are fairly common.

[Modernman]

Like the rhino, the buffalo and the longhorn .. these horn most assuredly had a function. Disemboweling a T-Rex.

They probably also served as good deterrence for predators, even if they weren't 100% effective in killing T-Rex's. Predators prefer easy prey. You don't see lions going after rhinos, for example.

[Larry Lucido]

Apparently this one didn't get the memo. :-)

I guess it goes back to the old joke, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you."

[mlc9852]

So in effect a mutation can reverse itself?

[Junior]

It's called "refining the picture as more data becomes available." How do you think science works?

[Modernman]

Apparently this one didn't get the memo. :-)

Hey, nothing works 100% of the time :-)

I saw a group of lionesses take down a porcupine on Animal Planet by outflanking it.