Did sauropods suckle? Re: Yahoo news: Study: Dinosaurs Gained Weight Fast

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Donald Lamson wrote: 
> See:
> 
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010725/sc/fast_growing_dinosaurs_2.html
> 
> Partial story:
> 
> Wednesday July 25 2:41 PM ET
> 
> Study: Dinosaurs Gained Weight Fast
> 
> By MATT CRENSON,
> 
> The biggest dinosaurs reached their enormous proportions by growing faster
> than almost any animal that has ever lived, a new analysis of fossilized
> bones indicates.
> 
> In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, paleontologists estimate that the
> giant apatosaurus, formerly known as brontosaurus, put on more than 30
> pounds a day at the height of its adolescent growth spurt.
> 
> Argentinasaurus, perhaps the heaviest dinosaur that ever lived, would have
> gained more than 100 pounds a day during its most rapid period of growth.
> [...]

What kind of diet could result in such a weight gain? The little thing
woud have to be continuously eating Mass Quantities. I mean without
breaks. The food would have to be really nutritious or the digestion
really efficient.

Can you do that on plant stuffs? What's an equivalent/comparable weight
gain for, say, cattle? Percentage wise or whatever.

Dare I say it - did they suckle? The only thing I can think of is whales.
Doing a quick web search:

 http://www.learner.org/jnorth/1997/critters/gwhale/857579145.html
 
 First, before that baby gray whale gains any more weight let's answer
 last week's Challenge Question! 
                      
 "Gaining at a rate of about 1.2 pounds per hour, how much total weight
 has the calf gained since her arrival at Sea World on January 11?" 
                      
 Let's calculate the estimated weight gained by February 19th (the date of
 the last report). That's 40 days at 24 hours per day and weight gain of
 1.2 pounds per hour = 40x24x1.2 =1,152 pounds. If she continued at
 that rate until today she would have gained a total of 54 days x 24 hours
 per day x 1.2 pounds per hour = 1,555 pounds! 

The per day figure is 24 * 1.2 = 28.8 pounds a day.

How the heck was it done?