Lack of Sauropod Gastroliths

[Mark Hallett <marksabercat@yahoo.com>]

If true, the lack of gastroliths in almost ANY
sauropod presents quite a conundrum: if there was no
gastric mill, how then did they process massive
amounts of vegetation without any appreciable (except
to a limited extent in some macronarians like
Camarasaurus)oral processing? I suspect that the
taphonomic conditions inherent in known sauropod
preservation presented by O. Wing might habitually
have been responsible for not being preserved in situ:
besides the loss of `liths due to fluvitile action,
the decaying stomach a dead sauropod might have been
too convenient a source of gastrolith replenishment by
others of its kind passing by, as well as perhaps
other dinosaur herbivores.

--Mark Hallett  
Note: forwarded message attached.



                
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