Re: paleonet RE: mosasaurs

["N. MacLeod" <N.MacLeod@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dave is on the right track. At the risk of getting too obvious, could 
the fact that T. rex walked around terrestrial landscapes on two legs 
(kind of like we do) have anything to do with it? Shamu and flipper 
are popular, but mostly for their perceived intelligence (again, kind 
of like us) than for their morphology, or ecology (other than they 
like to frequent seaside vacations spots, kind of like us). Moreover, 
if you believe the JP series (which I don't), T. rex also cares for 
it's young (kind of like us). If you want mosasaurs taken seriously 
as a cultural icon you're going to have to give them some human 
morphological, behavioral, and ecological traits.

Norm MacLeod

P.S. It also might help if you get mosasaurs to destroy Tokyo every 
now and then too.


>Mike Everhart said:
>
>So, you ask, what's my point? .... Well, for two creatures that were
>"Kings" of very different worlds, they don't seem that much different
>from each other.  But, mostly I'm wondering why mosasaurs are so easy to
>ignore when they were probably the most successful group of predators
>ever to inhabit the oceans of the Earth. It can't be just because they
>lived in the ocean.  I mean, "Shamu", "Flipper" and "Free Willie" are
>doing okay. Even sharks get more respect!  Gotta find a better press
>agent!!
>
>Tongue in cheek,  :-)
>
>I think it is because mosasaurs didn't look weird enough. Plesiosaurs, T.
>rex and others look alien; mosasaurs look like a cross between a lizard and
>a fish. They don't have any outre body parts to marvel over, at least to
>the casual observer. They're big, but we have big sea creatures now;
>they're dangerous, but ditto. Nothing makes them stand out and capture the
>imaginations of the average person. History may have something to do with
>it too. If someone had ever tried hard to make the public excited about
>mosasaurs, the way Cope and Marsh and contemporaries did about large
>dinosaurs (and many others since about various creatures), maybe mosasaurs
>would get more respect today. Just my 2 cents.
>
>David C. Kopaska-Merkel
>Head, Ground Water Section
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>420 Hackberry Ln. [no USPS delivery]
>PO Box 869999
>Tuscaloosa AL 35486-6999
>(205) 349-2852
>FAX (205) 349-2861
>www.gsa.state.al.us
>
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-- 


___________________________________________________________________

Dr. Norman MacLeod
Associate Keeper
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD

(0)20-7942-5295 (Office)
(0)20-7942-5546 (Fax)

Web Page: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/a&ss/nm/nm.html

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