Attack and Defense Flashcards
What type of defense do horns and spikes provide?
They are deterrents, and discourage predators from attacking
How do oesteoderms provide protection?
They provide the animals with armour
How do cursorial limbs provide protection from predators?
Cursorial limbs allow for quick bursts of speed that prey is capable of using to outrun their predators
What are cryptic adaptations?
Allows prey to blend in and avoid predator detection, camouflage, hiding behaviours, and odor masking chemicals.
Why is it difficult to say for certain that dinosaurs used cryptic adaptations?
Evidence of cryptic evidence is difficult to find in fossil remains
What is finite element analysis?
a technique using engineering technology to assess how stress will be distributed across bones of specimens
How was finite element analysis used?
It was used to determine if ankylosaurs could use their tails to effectively and safely strike another dinosaur
Where do prey usually have their eyes positioned?
On the lateral sides of their heads to have a wider field of view
Where do predators usually have their eyes positioned?
Facing forwards so that they can better see their prey with binocular vision
What type of hunting styles are there?
Ambushing, solo hunting, pack hunting
What evidence do we have of packs?
Monospecific bonebeds, trackways and evidence of agonist behaviour
Why would members of the same species fight?
For mates and resources
What are fighting are aggressive displays between members of the same species called?
Agonistic behaviours
What is it called when two individuals of the same species engage in agonistic behaviour without serious risk of injury?
Ritualized Agonistic Combat
Why are pachycephalosaurs believed to have engaged in Ritualistic Agonist Combat?
The thick protrusion on their skull and finite element analysis
