Re: joke........

["Andrew Walters" <andreww@farallon.com>]

Two teensy little thoughts...

Blood carries more than oxygen. It carries nutrients and sugars, and the
brain is a huge consumer of calories, that's why it needs the oxygen. The
blood also carries away waste products. Obviously its possible that there
was some oxygenation of the blood in the skull, but that wouldn't reduce
the need for blood to the head.

Secondly, I won't speak to the orientation of the neck, but pumping blood
vertically does not involve *liting* it. When a litre of blood goes up
another litre is coming down, and if the blood system is sealed (and it
better be) the syphon effect of the blood being pulled down on oneside
pulls blood up the other side. What the heart must work to overcome is the
resistance of the system, the friction of the blood flowing through all the
veins, vessels, and capilaries. This depends on the distance and size, no
the orientation.

Andrew Walters
Not a paleontologist or biologist of any strip.