Re: Gastric stones of dinosaurs were not for milling food !

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

I'm sure this was meant for the list. If so, please forward it with my 
reply.

----- Original Message -----
From: "don ohmes" <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>
To: <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 4:48 AM
Subject: Re: Gastric stones of dinosaurs were not for milling food !

> > > Heh.  _Average_ 4 bites per minute. For 10 hours. No chewing time 
> > > figured
> > > in. Chewing takes a _long_ time.
> > >
> > > [BTW-- cows don't really chew
> >
> > They do -- just later.
>
> ? What is your point?

When cows have a full mouth, they can't take anything additional into their 
mouth. Sauropods never had a full mouth for any relevant timespan, so they 
can be safely assumed to have done as you describe:

> > > Open mouth-- 1 sec. Inhale leaf cluster-- 1 sec. Close mouth-- 1 sec. 
> > > Pull
> > > head back to "strip'-- 1 sec. Swallow-- 1 sec. That is 12 bites per 
> > > minute

> > At average sauropod size you're way beyond the point where, according to
> > Marx, quantity changes into quality and... ;-) Seriously: the bigger an
> > animal and the longer its gut, the worse the quality of food it can 
> > afford
> > to live off. If cows can afford to live off grass, surely sauropods can
> > afford living off conifer needles? Let alone fern or cycad fronds.
>
> Sorry. Foraging quality, not nutritional value. As in how difficult it is 
> (ie, how long it takes) to get a mouthful.

Assume a forest. 10 bites per minute? 9? 8?

> BTW, I encourage you to harvest a few conifer needles, so that you can a 
> feel for the reality of the task.

Could kill me. What do I know how thick and hard the oesophagus walls of a 
sauropod were.

> > Do you really think they can average 8 bites per minute over the course 
> > of
> > a day?
>
> Of course. I repeat: with these mouthparts they didn't chew.
>
> Lol. Who said they did?

You failed to notice the difference in food intake speed this produces.

> So anyhow, how much forage are they acquiring per mouthful from this 
> conveyor belt of browse you got running out there in the sauropod woods? 
> After all, you are the one who said "problem solved".

So you still haven't searched the archives?