Metazoica back-up

Did anyone catch the NatGeo programs about dinosaurs that I mentioned last week? I did. Horner mentioned quite a bit on there. He spoke of dinosaur defenses. Triceratops for example may not have used it's horns for defense. You would think they would have, but being the fact that they had the horns on their heads it would be impossible for them to use the horns for defense. Horner stated the last place you ever want any defensive weapons would be on your head. It makes sense, since it would just give the predator an open invitation to bite you on the back of your neck. Though I don't know, maybe that is why Triceratops and all other ceratopsids had those big frills. Though I have seen some modern mammals with horns use them as a defensive device. For instance, one time I saw a gazelle chase away a cheetah with it's horns. And wild boar often use their tusks for defense as well. So, it's not totally unheard of for an animal to use some of it's head dressing for defe...

Horner, who heads up the palaeontology department at Montana State University, will be on 2 different National Geographic programs airing on October 11, 2009. My sis Anna will be going to MSU in Bozeman next year, and I will be going there on a tour of the college myself to see if there's anything that I can get into. I'd love to join their palaeontology club, for the sake of Metazoica, as well as to learn more about dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. I've been an admirer of Horner's for quite a while and this is exciting news! Not that he hasn't been on many programs about dinosaurs before, but this is just exciting news. I will be tuning in, hope you all will be as well. Learning about palaeontology helps a great deal in figuring out what evolution might do in the future. So it's always handy to watch as many of these programs as you can. And Jack Horner is one of the World's foremost authorities on the subject. Horner also lives in Bozeman and also w...