re: Long Bone Scaling in Neosauropod Dinosaurs

[Guy Leahy <xrciseguy@sbcglobal.net>]

So what about those titanosaurs which possessed armor?
 Would they have needed armor if they were immune to
attack by predators by size alone?  Would titanosaur
scaling depart from isometry as a result?

Guy Leahy


--- Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com> wrote:

> Colin McHenry writes:
>  > That's just so wierd.  If I didn't know any
> better, I'd say that
>  > the isometric scaling strongly suggested an
> aquatic habit....
>------------------------------------------------ 
> And yet isometry or near-isometry is much more
> common in limb bones
> that we'd naively expect.  McNeill Alexander, for
> one, has repeatedly
> made the point that the long bones of elephants are
> proportionally
> more gracile than those of much smaller rhinos and
> hippos.  The
> interpretation seems to be that large animals simply
> move much more
> carefully than smaller ones: they don't need to be
> athletic since they
> don't need to deal with all that dangerous messing
> about with predator
> avoidance that constrains smaller animals. 
> Likewise, perhaps, with
> sauropods (despite that fascinating thread a few
> months ago about big
> theropods attacking their necks).
> 
>  _/|_ 
>
___________________________________________________________________
> /o ) \/  Mike Taylor    <mike@indexdata.com>   
> http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
> )_v__/\  "Hardware is just the same as in 1990, but
> faster.  Software is
>        just the same as in 1990, but slower" -- Ed Avis.
> 
>