Re: Sauropod Necks As Weapons

[aegyptiacus@aol.com]

You said :

>John Cooper wrote:
>> 
>>It seems preposterous to me, because it posits a transitional >>sauropod that 
>>was out of balance, with a long tail and a neck >>inadequate to 
>>counterbalance it. I don't think animals evolve >>unwieldy appendages and 
>>then >evolve a correction.

You wrote :
>If sauropods were descended from prosauropod-like animals, then they
>tended to have larger tails that necks; if not longer, then certainly
>heavier. 

>If they began as smaller animals capable of rearing bipedally to >feed, and 
>gradually attained greater body size, 

<snip>

Funny, see

http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Aug/msg00047.html

I still think prosauropods are basal to true sauropods and theropods, that is, 
close to dinosauriforms. They're so primitive in some ways and advanced in 
others (provided that prosauropods are monophyletic, which is far from true, 
IIRC), like direct descendants of Herrerasaurs and other primitive dinosaurs. 

Don't fire too much at me :p

Cheers, 
Jean-Michel