Re: Phytodinosaur stance

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

On Fri, 19 Jan 1996 Stang1996@aol.com wrote:

>  I think that, because they were so large and had such small mouths they
> needed to eat almost constantly, and any time not spent feeding (i.e.
> sleeping) was in a way wasted.

I think sauros would have needed sleep as much as anyone else.  I imagine 
they would have stripped vegetation all day and let their gizzards grind 
away through the night.

> Some other candidates for sleeping while standing up are stegosaurs.  All
> other dinosaurs (yet discovered; though that's implied) have perminently
> flexed knees and elbows that would be dislocated _a lot_ if they tried to
> straighten them, so I doubt any of them slept while standing.

An animal doesn't need to straighten its knees to lock them.  All 
ungulates (hoofed mammals, which started this discussion in the first 
place) have flexed knees and elbows.

> 
> Peter Buchholz
> Stang1996@aol.com
> 

     Nick Pharris