Re: back to science

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

Mammals that grow rapidly are usually particularily delicate until
growth stops.
  Case in point: Scottish Deerhounds are big dogs, larger than Great
Danes.
The pups are born at about 6 oz each.  We've measured pups growing at
about an inch a day after the 4th week.  They have to be supplemented so
that they don't develop rickets or other dietary deseases as they are
frequently growing too fast for their bodies to keep up. Broken bones
are common.  They slow down their growth at about 4 months and continue
growing in height and weight (primarily weight after year 1) till they
hit about 2 years.  An adult male stands over 7 feet on it's hind legs
and weighs over 140 lbs and they live about 10 years max.
  I have no references for an animal to to grow this large this quickly
that's not a mammal but I suspect that the EXTREMELY large size of
sauropods precludes this rate of growth.  In mammals the growth is
supplemented by calcium and other minerals in the mother's milk, but I
would assume herbivourous dinosaurs such as sauropods had no such
assistance to gain the needed minerals quickly and would have to soley
depend on egg shards and high-mineral content plants such as horsetails,
and perhaps ate dirt in addition to gain needed minerals.
  In other words, where would they find and consume the needed materials
to grow themselves at a very high rate?

-Betty Cunningham

Ralph Miller III wrote:

 Clearly, the passage does not spell out the suspected mode for sauropod
> dinosaurs (perhaps in lieu of some hard evidence), but if you are proposing
> rapid growth in the sauropod chicks, wouldn't this more closely match the
> altricial model?