Tracy Ford wrote: >The climate of New Zealand at >that time
seems to have been temperate, judging from the dinosaurian and
>plant fossils. [snip] The recovered >dinosaur material shows no
special adaptations to cold climates... Tim Williams wrote: >The
dino material from New Zealand is so scanty and fragmentary that
it >would be impossible to gauge if their owners were adapted to
cold climates >or not. There's no evidence pro or con from that
direction. >The only 'special adaptations' in the anatomy that
might be correlated with >prolonged cold or dark are: (1)
insulative body covering and (2) larger eyes >(e.g.
_Leallynasaura_ - though I'm open to the opinion that its big
orbits >are a juvenile feature). HYPSILOPHODONTIDAE -
Leaellynasaura in particular is an Early Cretaceous Australian
(Otway and Strzelecki Groups) and is NOT a New Zealand per se.
dinosaur. Rifting apart of Gondwanaland had commenced at this
time and for whatever reason Leaellynasaura amicagraphica
apparently did not make it to what was to