David wrote:
>I agree - I thought reduction of surface area to volume ratio was
something every large animal strived >for. BTW - Does anyone think
sauropod necks and tails would have helped them for the same >reasons
(this sounds familiar, forgive me if somebody's asked this before)?
It could have served that purpose, but why did they
evolved different design in neck-structure, one for the lower plants and the
other for the higher trees and where is the sail often accompaniing for
heat-gain and heat-loss? These necks probably served as giant bill-boards
during mating, when you have such long things sticking out of your body, why
not use it to impress other members of your genus? Alright, this does not
corrolate with the relatively short neck in Dicraeosaurus and Amargasaurus,
of which the latter was for defensive purposes, but this was compensated
with the high cervicals, enlarging the space they could use for showing
of.
Rutger Jansma