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Re: MORE ON SAUROPOD FEEDING HIGH & LOW
Relative to sauropods, Nicholas Longrich wrote (03/27/96; 3:55p):
[snip]
>The skulls and necks have been reduced down to the bare minimum
>necessary, so that the amount of bone, muscle and brain supported by
>the skeletal and circulatory systems is minimized. Sauropods
>actually evolved smaller brains to reduce the amount of blood needed
>in the head.
[snip]
Are sauropod brains really smaller than those of their ancestors with
shorter necks? How do we equate brain size vs. body size here (is that
called "encephalization"?)? This is the first place I've ever seen a
discussion of selection pressure for _small_ brains--I mean, pressure to
_decrease_ brain size. It sounds like selection pressure to be stupid.
If sauropod brains were twice the size (or so) they actually are, would
that have made the amount of blood needed in the head prohibitively
great? Are we sure this is WHY sauropod brains are small?
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Norman R. King tel: (812) 464-1794
Department of Geosciences fax: (812) 464-1960
University of Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47712 e-mail: nking.ucs@smtp.usi.edu