PARTICULAR sauropods aquatic?

[Jeffrey Willson <jwillson@harper.cc.il.us>]

The 30 Aug 1999 post from "Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu> 
"Sauropod nostrils (was RE: joke........)"     inspired a thought --

>Breathing while most of the body is underwater (okay, does not work for
sauropods, as established long ago, but in vertebrate history >this seems
to be the main factor in narial retraction)


My understanding is that it was "established" that this "does not work"
based primarily on the observation that a sauropod's lungs would have been
multiple meters below the surface, water pressure prevents the beast from
inhaling, etc.

Has anyone ever speculated that perhaps *juvenile* sauropods were aquatic
(I.e., that the juveniles' lungs *weren't* far beneath the surface), and
adults terrestrial, with the position of the nostrils a juvenile
characteristic retained in adulthood?

This doesn't strike me as particularly likely, but I throw it out for
consideration.


Jeffrey Willson <jwillson@harper.cc.il.us>