Fw: Sauropod Walking and Swimming

["RAY D STANFORD" <STARSONG@prodigy.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: RAY D STANFORD <STARSONG@prodigy.net>
To: tlford@ix.netcom.com <tlford@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 15, 1998 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: Sauropod Walking and Swimming

Fellow dinolisters, sorry, guess I posted this only to Tracy, so here it is
to dinolist(edited only for brevity):


>    Tracy wrote:
>>RAY D STANFORD wrote:

>>>     (4) Roland T. Bird suggested (Sorry no reference at hand.) that the
>>> Texas track-making sauropods almost seem to have been able to vary the
>angle
>>> of their toes (and, hence, claws) at will (maybe as needed).
>Interestingly,
>>> some of the manus tracks found here in Maryland suggest that  the spread
>of
>>> the manus may have been variable (at will?), perhaps by slight
>>> re-positioning of  digits 1 and 5.

>>Do the manus prints for a single trackway change it's width? Interesting
>>indeed.

>    Good question, Tracy.  Thanks.   I should have covered that in my
>original posting, but in the 'wee hours' I cut things short .  Answer:

>    Unfortunately, at this point of discovery we have no sauropod
trackWAYS,
>only twelve (12) Maryland manus impressions which can with reasonable
>certainty be attributed to sauropods, conceivably to Astrodon johnstoni.
We
>have some nice pes tracks, too -- one with marvelous dermal impressions.
>The case for or against an expansible - contractible manus would be much
>better if  we did have good-quality trackways, of course.  [Incidentally,
there are some
>manus impressions -- aside from the twelve -- that might be attributed to a
>nodosaur or maybe even to a cerotopsian of some sort.]

>    Nine (9) of the earlier-mentioned twelve manus tracks record
impressions
>of ALL FIVE DIGITS, being appreciably detailed.  It is from careful
>comparison of the nine, five-digit manus impressions that my idea of a
>variable-width sauropod manus is brought to mind.

>     Incidentally, there is one (1) seeming manus - pes set that is
>complete, but it has the pes placed so close to the posterior of the manus
>that the manus is compressed along its anterior - posterior  axis, taking
it
>out of the group of manus impressions being examined for possible
>expandability.

>    There may be reason to believe that the seeming change of manus width
is
>independent of walking speed.  These tracks are not motion-smeared.

>    Wish there were time to explain more.  Thanks for thinking!

>    Ray Stanford