re: thoughts on sauropod necks

["Sherry Michael" <MICHAELS@preit.com>]

darren.naish@port.ac.uk  said:
>Sauropod vertebrae and sauropod necks would have been incredibly 
>light when not fossilised. It is reasonable to think that one could 
>actually pick up a very big _Brachiosaurus_ cervical vert with one 
>hand. I was thinking two hands, but Per Christiansen (an expert in 
>mathematical models of scaling in tetrapods) reckoned otherwise when 
>I recently spoke to him at a conference.

 I'll agree with this. Have you ever seen smaller whale vertebrae? They are 
pretty big, and are easily hefted with a hand or two. I'm not saying that 
sauropod cervicals are anything like whale verts- but size can be deceiving! 
The bone on the cervical I'm working on is only about 1/8" thick in places. I 
could lift it with one hand if it was fresh. The weight of the neck would come 
from the impressive muscles, not the bone. 

This is a thread I'm enjoying quite a bit, even if I lurk most of the time...

-Sherry Michael
ANSP