Re: Sauropods and lung development

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

As I recall it sparrows have MORE neck vertebrae than either giraffes or
elephants for all their size, and sauropods have MORE neck vertebrae
than sparrows.  Could robustness simply be structural requirements when
you span a long area with more pieces?  Rather like am arch is more
stable with bigger rocks in it than smaller rocks?

How does the vertebrae count of long-neck plesiosaurs compare to
sauropods?

-Betty Cunningham


Scott A Hartman wrote:
> Indricotherium and Mammuthus grow to average sauropod sizes, and neither
> shows any tendancy toward the enginnering marvels that sauropod vertebrae
> became (has anyone besides Greg Paul taken the time to compare the dorsal
> vertebrae of sauropods and mammals of equal mass?  The sauropod verts are
> faaarrrrrr more robust.