Re: Sauropod Necks

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Matthew Bonnan wrote:
> Bruce Shilling said:
> 
> >Hi, All!
> >     Just a thought - if the neck of an apatosaur couldn't be brought above
> >the horizontal, where does that put the center of gravity? It seems to me
> >that would make rearing __much_ more difficult, as the neck (and to a 
> >lesser
> >extent the head) would be pretty influential 'way out there...
> >             B.
> 
> Now you're catching on! =)  Yet another item to ponder when considering 
> rearing in sauropods.  Maybe they did, but we need to be more like Missouri 
> -- the SHOW ME state. =) =P

Some sort of rearing capability may well have been needed in males
for mating.

(An alternate scenario might be if the female knelt down on her
front legs. Just a thought.)