Comments on: How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?

By: John Nudds

John Nudds — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:31:53 +0000

Actually the third specimen – see Selden & Nudds 2012, fig. 293 !!!

By: albertonykus

albertonykus — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:35:54 +0000

On the resting posture of early dinosaurs, there's also a Guaibasaurus preserved in resting pose.

By: MiddleAmericaMS

MiddleAmericaMS — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:21:39 +0000

I thought it took more than 6-9000 years for fossils to form.

By: James Gurney

James Gurney — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:48:05 +0000

Fascinating, thank you. I just wonder how a dinosaur could sleep through a volcanic ashfall. Doesn’t the idea of the Mei pose as a defensive posture make the most practical sense? The poses of dogs and humans preserved in death postures in Pompeii don’t necessarily correspond with sleeping postures.

Pompeii dog (http://www.dogcollarsboutique.com/skin1/images/doghistoryimages/dc5k2crx_50dbsbm3gx.jpg)

Pompeii human
(http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/282/cache/101102-plaster-body-cast-of-pompeii-victim_28275_600x450.jpg)

By: BJ Nicholls

BJ Nicholls — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:39:19 +0000

I should have mentioned that dinogami is Jerry Harris, Director of Paleontology at Dixie State College.

By: BJ Nicholls

BJ Nicholls — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:35:46 +0000

It appears that there are many ways birds roost and I don’t see anything that would be a definitive roosting pose. Roosting seems to be any quiescent behavior, including but not exclusively sleeping. Many birds turn their heads and tuck their beaks/bills under the edge of a wing, others don’t, or don’t always. Some sleep while standing on one leg or two, perched, or settled down on a surface.

I found a photo at dinogami’s Smugmug site of a Sinornithoides specimen in ventral view:

http://dinogami.smugmug.com/Travel/Dinosaurs-Along-The-Silk-1/28-Sinornithoides-5/583631211_7Q6E8-X3.jpg

Here’s the gallery page with two photo thumbnails of the fossil:

http://dinogami.smugmug.com/Travel/Dinosaurs-Along-The-Silk-1/8812771_DHJHX3/2#!i=583631211&k=7Q6E8

Looking at the Sinornithoides specimen, it’s easier to see a birdlike pose with the head tucked under one folded forelimb. Looking at Mei long, it appears that the head is on top of the forelimb. That curled posture doesn’t strike me as especially bird-like considering that many mammals assume a similar sleeping posture. Witness my cat.