Re: Sauropod Trunks: Nuh-uh!

["Ralph Miller III" <gbabcock@best.com>]

> Have any  auditory models of a sauropod skull ever been
> done; similar
>       to the work done on PARASAUROLOPHUS?
> 
>       Dwight  

I don't know of any such studies, although Bakker's illustration on page
145 of THD at least depicts the path the air might take in two sauropod
genera.  _Diplodocus_ has a sealed off chamber which could conceivably be
studied in detail, whereas _Brachiosaurus_ is presumed to have had a fleshy
chamber (which is not "roofed over") which could amplify and control the
sounds.  _Brachiosaurus_ basically has big spaces topped by a bony strut,
so without soft tissue preservation there isn't much to go on here. 
Perhaps the camarasaurs inflated elastic nasal flesh in much the same
manner as a proboscis monkey's proboscis or an elephant seal's nose (one
hesitates to say trunk)!  This same idea has been proposed for the
ornithopod, _Saurolophus_.  Bakker suggests that _Diplodocus_ would produce
a "brassier" sound than _Brachiosaurus_, due to the surrounding bone.

-- Ralph Miller III     gbabcock@best.com