Re: [dinosaur] Submerged sauropods

[Gregory Paul <gsp1954@aol.com>]

I am currently working with a colleague on the specific gravities of organisms including dinosaurs. The below question may be moot in that because of their highly pneumatic bodies they may not have been able to sink below top of shoulder level -- the opposite of hippos which are so dense they apparently cannot swim at the surface, they bottom walk (if anyone knows of easily accessible images especially videos of hippos clearly surface swimming over a sustained distance please let me know.)

(And while I'm at it, if anyone knows of images of giraffes clearly unambiguously actually swimming in water too deep to pole off the bottom in please let me know -- and no this does not qualify https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjcPyaGvog. I know about the paper that simulates swimming giraffes, I want to see the real deal.)

GSPaul

-----Original Message-----
From: Poekilopleuron <dinosaurtom2015@seznam.cz>
To: dinosaur-l <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Sent: Thu, Oct 10, 2019 7:39 am
Subject: [dinosaur] Submerged sauropods

Good day to all listmembers,

I would like to ask what is the general current opinion on the hypothesis that sauropods could not submerge themselves completely under water (except for their heads), as it would definitely kill them - because of the hydrostatic pressure. Is it possible that despite this argumentation, some sauropods could enter the water "up to their shoulders" for at least some time? Thank you in advance! Tom

See e. g.: Kermack, K. A. (1951). LXXX.âA note on the habits of the Sauropods , Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 4(44): 830-832. doi: 10.1080/00222935108654213.