Re: Sufferin' Sauropods!

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> And what about the danger inherent to them tipping on land - as a
> result of high winds,

IMHO they were much too heavy to worry about that. :-)

> stumbling

Why should they have been in more danger of stumbling than elephants?

> or attack?

That risk can't have been much greater than that of a mammoth in an area
full of saber-tooth cats.

> This is a very serious consideration, given the way sauropods
> are currently depicted; they'd go crashing sideways to the ground
> if they were so much as a few inches off balance.

I don't see that. Just as I don't see it in an elephant.

> Nevertheless, elephants swim well with columnar legs.

But they don't swim for a living.

> Are hippo legs too short to be considered columnar?

No, too bent. Hippo legs are "permanently flexed" like those of rhinos and
all smaller mammals except bears and humans (...and extinct dwarf elephants
:-) ).

> Again, hippos and elephants (especially the Asian varieties).

Hippos, yes. Elephants are good swimmers, and like to swim, but don't live
in the water.

> Indian Rhinos, as well as the Sumatran & Javan (if there are any left).

So far, still... but their legs aren't straight. And I wouldn't consider
them "large" when we're talking about sauropods.

> Tapirs and capybaras.

For a sauropod, there's not much difference between a capybara and a mouse.
Both are tiny and almost cursorial (their legs aren't columnar). Tapirs
aren't much bigger, and their legs aren't straight either. (A skeleton is
exhibited in the biocenter of the university here.)

> Indricotheres may well have indulged in a semi-aquatic
> existence if the conditions were there.

They lived in quite dry habitats. And even their legs weren't straight. :-)

> The proclivity of water buffaloes is
> self-explanatory.

Rather small, and their limbs aren't straight either.

> And seacows, whales and seals are large-to-huge mammals
> that enjoyed the aquatic life so much, they moved in permanently
> (as to how columnar the legs of their ancestors were, I
> couldn't say for sure).

:-) Now ( = since November 2001) that animals like *Rodhocetus*,
*Artiocetus* and *Pezosiren* are sufficiently known, I can say for sure that
their legs weren't straight. And all those animals were rather small, too.