Re: sauropod arm articulations

[John R Hutchinson <jrhutch@stanford.edu>]

GSP says:

" A chronic problem with the supposed science of
paleobiomechanics is that people are doing lots of analysis and coming to
lots of conclusions about fossil taxa without out first doing basic 
research to
see what is actually going on in living animals, work that should have been
done long ago."

This holds for paleontology as a whole, including comparative 
anatomy/traditional approaches.  Just replace "paleobiomechanics" with 
"paleontology" for a more well-rounded assessment of the situation.

My opinion is that everyone who is interested in doing functional work with 
fossils should be doing hands-on publishable work with _living_ (breathing) 
animals (and dead ones too of course).  You learn a lot that way.  If you 
don't know how to do it or lack the equipment, there are tons of functional 
morphologists/physiologists/biomechanists out there who can 
collaborate.  That's what I've done, and I've learned plenty that is 
applicable to paleontology, because fossils were once living, breathing 
organisms too.


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John R Hutchinson
Biomechanical Engineering Division
Stanford University
Durand 209, BME
Stanford, CA 94305-4038
(650) 736-0804 lab
(650) 725-1587 fax
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