Re: Sauropod feeding*

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.ATTGIS.COM>]

Kenneth Carpenter wrote: 

 >> I wrote
 > Sorry, but the Canadian Geese out here in the west graze on the ground.

The question is, is the long neck a legacy of their ducky, bottom
feeding, past, or is it a direct adaptation ot its current lifestyle?

 > ... However, note that Stan's examples 
 > consist of selective feeders. Yes, they do have niche partitioning. 
 > However, I have been focusing on one group, Sauropoda, and am pointing 
 > out that Stan has yet explain why diplodocids have a broad, grazing 
 > type muzzle, while camarasaurids, etc. have a narrow, browsing muzzle. 

Actually, that itself can be part of niche partitioning.

An example of this is found in the American mid-west.  In that area
bison and pronghorn coexisted over a wide area.  The bison is a
classical non-selective grazer, the pronghorn is a selective low
browser/grazer. They both feed at the same level (near ground level),
so the main difference is selectivity.

I brought in the wide range of forms because I think the diversity
of sauropods may, in part, have covered some of the same resource
utilization strategies that the various modern groups use in their
own way.

 > >However, there is little (read none) evidence for arboreal leaf eaters
 > >in the Late Jurassic (multituberculates being seed and fruit eaters).
 > 
 > Actually they may have been omnivores, but that is a side issue (see 
 > Clemens and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1979, Multituberculata. IN Lillegraven 
 > et al, Mesozoic Mammals, ...

Yep, but still eating far more fruit and seed than leaf.

swf@elsegundoca.attgis.com              sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.