Sunday, April 16, 2006

 

A Quickie For You

If you're into mastodons, here's an interesting tidbit. Some mastodon skulls show signs of deadly, previously unexplained injuries. The explanation comes from Dr. Daniel Fisher. He demonstrates that the injuries were caused in fights with other mastodons with a short 3D animation of fighting mastodon skulls. Pretty cool. And from Highlights for Children, if you can believe that! The animation is here.

Actual Update: Really, though, they had no idea that the injuries could have come from tusks during fights with other mastodons? I mean, what animal with tusks or antlers doesn't ram them up against others of their kind during spring or whenever. With the exception of Helen Thomas, who is rather long in the tooth. No one wants to ram her.

Actual Update: Thanks to Ace for the link, and to all you AoSHQers stopping by.
Permalink posted by Lord Floppington @ 8:59 AM
Comments:
[[Really, though, they had no idea that the injuries could have come from tusks during fights with other mastodons? I mean, what animal with tusks or antlers doesn't ram them up against others of their kind during spring or whenever.]]

I agree it sounds like an obvious conclusion, but a lot of paleobiologists have a blind spot about this. You see, among now-living animals it's an axiom that dominance battles between males are usually sparring matches that end with the loser retreating, beaten but intact. Only hippopotamus and a few of the larger seals routinely kill their opponents in such fights.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:48 AM, April 18, 2006
 
Good point that I hadn't considered. It's one of the hazards of random comments about a specialized field, perhaps. the nice thing about the internet is that there's always someone who knows more who can contribute to the discussion. Thanks for the tip.
# posted by Blogger Lord Floppington : 5:19 PM, April 18, 2006
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?