Re: Sauropod necks

[Jeananda Col <jc@EnchantedLearning.com>]

Larry Febo wrote:

> Sounds like a Good theory to me.....although I favor the horstail thing
> rather than the conifers (for their nutritional value). I don`t know much
> about horstails though. Were they at the proper height at that time?? Were
> they dense enough to prevent a Sauropod from just pushing through?? were
> they tender only at the tips to keep the Sauropods from eating the whole
> stand??

--
Larry,

Horsetails (and all the Pteridophytes) propagate by underground rhizomes, so
even if the dinosaur ate the whole plant above ground, the plant just regrows
(and pretty quickly).  They are VERY resilient plants.  Although they were
short during the Mesozoic, they lived in very moist areas, where the heavy
dinosaurs probably couldn't walk without sinking????  I was thinking that
they stood at a distance (like on the edge of a swamp) and browsed the tender
plants which may have been immersed in water.

Someone just wrote me to let me know that there is no fossil evidence of
horsetails in sauropod coprolites.  This could be a problem.

Best wishes,

Jeananda Col
Enchanted Learning Software
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com
jc@EnchantedLearning.com

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