Laelaps
Musings on evolution, the fossil record, and our place in nature
Profile
Laelaps is the blog of freelance science writer Brian Switek. This blog frequently features his musings on paleontology, evolution, and the history of science. Switek also blogs for Smithsonian magazine's Dinosaur Tracking, and he is a research associate at the New Jersey State Museum.
Switek's first book, Written in Stone, will be published on November 1, 2010 by Bellevue Literary Press.
Search
Recent Posts
- This Blog Has Moved
- A Pepsi-Induced
HiatusExodus - Funky Worms Cause Ants to Mimic Fruit
- Photo of the Day #953: Collared brown lemur baby
- Pleased to meet you
- Photo of the Day #952: Bryce Canyon
- Photo of the Day #951: Dinosaur toe
- What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
- Eureka!
- Deceitful Male Topi Raise False Alarms to Keep Females Nearby
Recent Comments
- markoting on Poor, poor Ida, Or: "Overselling an Adapid"
- dan on Have the hunting habits of leopards shaped primate evolution?
- geraldine on John Daniel, the civilized gorilla
- hastaneotomasyonu on Book Review: A History of Paleontology Illustration
- Artikelkatalog on What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
- konteyner on Tyrannosaurus yeck?: Another look at preserved proteins
- Darryl on Book Review: Richard Owen: Biology Without Darwin
- Mr. Turd on How sucker-winged bats hang on
- Mr. TurD on How sucker-winged bats hang on
- hava perdeleri on What's eating you? - Bugs, bacteria, and zombies
Archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
Blogroll
Paleo
- Dinosaur Tracking
- The Coastal Paleontologist
- Aquatic Amniotes
- SV-POW!
- Afarensis
- The World We Don't Live In
- Paleo Errata
- Archosaur Musings
- Chinleana
- Ediacaran
- The Life of Madygen
- Dracovenator
- The Ethical Palaeontologist
- Bond's Blog
- Paleo Dude
- Dinochick
- The Open Source Paleontologist
- The Disillusioned Taxonomist
- Everything Dinosaur
- Hairy Museum of Natural History
- John Hawks
- Mark Witton
- microecos
- The Dragon's Tales
- When Pigs Fly Returns
- Self-Designed Student
- Palaeoblog
Zoology
- The Loom
- Photo Africa Blog
- Mainly Mongoose
- Catalogue of Organisms
- Endless Forms
- Rigor Vitae
- The Lord Geekington
- The Daily Coyote
- Cephalopodcast
- The Other 95%
- Deep Sea News
Ecology
History of Science
- A Simple Prop
- Evolving Thoughts
- Skulls in the Stars
- Archy
- Ether Wave Propaganda
- FCD: The Red Notebook
- Millard Fillmore's Bathtub
- The Dispersal of Darwin
- Thoughts in a Haystack
- The Beagle Project Blog
- Transcribing Tyndall
Geology
Miscellany
- The Sandwalk
- Migrations
- Gurney Journey
- Skepchick
- Dispatches from Carbon Nation
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Peculiar Beauty
- The Digital Cuttlefish
- The Flying Trilobote
- The Panda's Thumb
- RedMolly Picayune Democrat
Fellow Sciblings
« Book Review: Richard Owen: Biology Without Darwin | Main | Photo of the Day #804: Xiphactinus »
Photo of the Day #803: Ceratosaurus
Category: Dinosaurs • Paleontology • Photography
Posted on: December 25, 2009 8:15 AM, by Brian Switek
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
Life ScienceTrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/127887
Comments
I think we should be glad to date involved.
Posted by: internetten para kazanma | December 25, 2009 9:16 PM
What was the original generic name of that taxon again?
Posted by: Lars | December 25, 2009 11:29 PM
I remember as a child some scientists making the laughable claim that Ceratosaurus was actually an Allosaurus with an abnormal growth, and that the differences in the skeleton were due to an arthritic condition!
Posted by: Raymond Minton | December 27, 2009 12:08 PM
Ceratosourus Nose Horn - the reason for it!
As an engineer, the reason for the nose horn appears very obvious to me, and I am surprised that this has been overlooked. The teeth are narrow in profile and blade-like, therefore have very little structural integrity side to side. The skull below the horn is reinforced to allow for pressure exerted at the apex of the nose horn, and there is only one reason for carrying this additional bone mass along with the horn. The additional energy expenditure required to carry it is exceeded by its return in energy. The horn is simply to increase the arc of the circumference of snout. Allowing the head to be used like a claw hammer, drawing the teeth through the flesh of the prey. This requires no energy to extract large portions as the weight of the ceratosourus is used to push the head forward (the whole skull acting as a lever (handle of the claw hammer)) allowing the snout to rotate the jaws and the cutting edge of the teeth through the arc against the side of the prey. The narrow profile of the horns would reduce side slippage; helping to protect the vulnerable teeth from lateral forces from still struggling prey that could snap them off.
Look at the positioning and size differential of the teeth, the rows create a scimitar profile with the smaller teeth at the front being shorter and stronger to reduce the risk of breakage when the head is used in the claw-hammer mode. it all comes down to leverage and returns.
Posted by: Chris Jackson | April 28, 2010 4:11 PM