Re: Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-06-13 03:01:09 EDT, bettyc@flyinggoat.com writes:

<< Does this actually mean what I think it means? That a juvenile sauropod
 has a different number of vertebrae than an adult?  How do you figure? >>

Only those vertebrae that are actually joined to the ilia are counted as
sacrals. As the animal aged, one or two more vertebrae--from the posterior
back and/or anterior tail--would join to the ilia and thus become sacrals. So
it would gain sacral vertebrae and simultaneously lose back and/or tail
vertebrae. Thus the >total< number of vertebrae didn't change.