'Bridging' the gap on sauropods

[Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu (Rob Meyerson)]

=46inally, a dino-post;-)

I finally got my copy of Lost World (now I'm only a few months behind on my=
 reading, as opposed to a few eras:-).  I noticed something about the=
 sauropod description that I thought was odd: the claim was that these=
 beasts never raised their necks very high, because the blood pressure would=
 cause the neck to burst.  How then, do we explain Brachiosaurus which *had*=
 to hold it's head straight up, due to the arrangment of the spinal collumn?

=46urther, it seemed that Crichton's (sp?) explanation on the long necks of=
 sauropods was wierd.  He claimed that the neck was so long because it acted=
 as a counterbalance for the tail, using the analogy of how bridge supports=
 work.  It seems to me that this is putting the Thagomiser ahead of the=
 Stegosaurus, wouldn't the sauropod tail make more sense as a counterbalance=
 for the head???

Comments?

Rob

***
Aveichthies: The flying fish!