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Re: Sauropod drinking
Richard W Travsky wrote:
> What's the largest contemporary animal that obtains its water this way?
>
> rich
The largest contemporary animal I know of that gets all it's water needs
from vegetation is the Gorilla (in the wild - NOT in a zoo environment.)
Adult Male Gorilla's eat 40-50 lbs of vegetation per day, using the
moisture contined therein to satisfy their water needs. However, this
represents a mammalian metabolism, probably far distant from what we
might conceive for a sauropod. Water/Food requirements would of course
depend on metabolism, a subject much debated on this list and elsewhere.
Without metabolic data, no real valid estimate of water needs can be
made, but it's always fun to speculate.
Bill Hinchman