Re: Unidirectional gator breathing in Science

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

--- On Sat, 1/16/10, David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:

>> I have an enormous backlog...

Me too. I thought for sure it would get me in the movies, but it turns out that 
is dime-a-dozen in TinselTown. :D
 
> How would it even be possible to underestimate the density
> of the lower limbs? ~:-| They're massive. It's just bone,
> muscle, skin, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and blood. The
> lower limbs are pneumatized in some birds and some
> pterosaurs, but not in any known sauropod, if that's what
> you mean.

I assume the quantification of the percentage of bone vs those other materials 
could entail uncertainty. I hasten to add I have no reason to think nor make 
the claim that Henderson's quantifications are wrong, and I am sure he will 
defend them vigorously. I just point out that uncertainty exists...

More to the point -- is the usual implied assumption in these discussions (that 
air sacs cannot be voluntarily deflated enough to affect buoyancy) a safe one?