RE: SOME STUFF ON SAUROPOD NECKS

["Tracy L. Ford" <dino.hunter@home.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
Tetanurae@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 12:41 AM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: SOME STUFF ON SAUROPOD NECKS

Tetanurae wrote

>>WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN THOUGH?
Odd you should ask :-)  But I believe that combination of the following
factors:

1) Sauropod biomass was probably too high for diplodocoids to survive on
weeds alone
2) Forests are dense and difficult to move big things in
3) There is little if any variation in the feeding apperati of diplodocoids
4) Diplodocoid necks are not only very long, but differ in length according
to genus
5) Diplodocoids could flex their necks forward so far that if on the ground,
the neck would reach deep into the substrate
6) Among sauropods, diplodocoids have the longest, heaviest, and most
stoutly constructed tails

indicate that diplodocoid sauropods were not only feeding in trees, but
feeding high in trees and avoided directly competing because rearing
sauropods with differing neck lengths would not have been feeding at the
same level.<<

True, but what KIND of forest are we talking about? Surely not a rain forest
(I doubt a sauropod could walk though that dense of one), a pine forest? No.
I don't know the name of the tree off hand, but it is a tall thin tree with
very high branches. Could a sauropod eat from those? I don't know, but the
branches seem to be two tall. We need to not only look at the animal but
what it ate and what kind of plants were available.  From what I understand,
the Morrison wasn't that heavily forested. It had trees, but not a whole lot
(Yea, I've walked in a few, but not a really dense one). And to say all the
low-lying plants were weeds is incorrect. I know Fiorillo et al have written
papers on the tooth abrasions on some sauropod teeth and they seem to have
eaten hardy plants (I think). I'm not saying they couldn't rear up, I just
don't see why they would.

I also wonder how difficult it really would be. I know the center of balance
is at the hips and the tail is the counterbalance for the neck/body, but I
wonder if it would be like me holding a long pole then raising it up with
one end at my stomach and the other end 20 feet away. It'd be hard. But what
about me standing in the middle of a 40 foot pole? Would that be easier? And
what about the tail itself? It has to bend down like the old T. rex mount at
the AMNH, would you then loose leverage or would it matter when the body is
at 45% or more? Things to look into?

Tracy L. Ford
P. O. Box 1171
Poway Ca  92074