RE: Rearing up on hind legs (was Re: Parrish's neck work ...)

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Richard W Travsky [SMTP:rtravsky@uwyo.edu]
        Sent:   Friday, April 30, 1999 11:12 AM
        To:     dinosaur@usc.edu
        Subject:        Rearing up on hind legs (was Re: Parrish's neck work
...)

        This has implications besides just feeding.

        Mating, for example. Some sort of rearing capability is needed here.

        Defense. With the neck always so low, it makes for a critical
        target.

        What does Parrish's work say about side to side motion? One
        consequence of limited mobility is there are places you can't
        go. Like a thickly forested area, since, with their size,
        maneuvering around trees becomes difficult. (I suppose they
        could knock them down, but this won't work in all cases.)
        This scenario really makes them vulnerable to predators, and
        inclines me to think of sauropods as being better suited
        to more open areas.

        So much for necks. What about tails?

        rich

        @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

        All (I think) good points.  I would love to hear from some sauropod
experts out there regarding this,
        because this inferred extreme lack of mobility seems disadvantageous
to me.  Was the goal here
        to make themselves an easier target of predators?  Now, IF rearing
up on their hind legs was possible,
        this seems less mechanically strange.  I will read Parrish's entire
paper and reserve judgment until
        then.    Do the teeth of sauropods support their being low
vegetation browsers?   Very interesting 
        topic! :-)

        Cheers;
        Dwight