Re: Jobaria and the Elephant Commit Suicide

[dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>]

>> sauropod would not have to rear up fully for this to be effective.
Consider the relative sizes of the sauropod and the carnosaur. A pushoff
gains height for the sauropod, and this makes for quite a landing. If the
carnosaur had actually tried its entry at this point, the sauropod body
would've come down right on it.

Behaviorally, a  better model, I think, would be a horse. Horses rear, and
can actually go bipedal for a few moments and their rearing behavior is
used for defense.<<

But think of how much larger sauropods are than horses!  When a horse rears, the
worst that can happen to it is it sprains its wrists if it comes down wrong.  A
sauropod, however, would be putting incredible stresses onto its fourlimbs when 
it
came back down.  Could the bones in its arm take the sudden compression?

>>
Don't forget, rearing up gives the impression of being larger. Many
animals do the equivalent - like raising fur or having a mane.<<

As if sauropods needed to be any larger.

Dan