Re: The bigger they were...

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Peter Markman (zone65@bigpond.com) wrote:

<None taken. Yes, they evolved - to the degree were I feel they needed to
support much of their bulk in water - and to provide balance. Apart from
the internal damage a fall would have caused, the main problem with them
falling is how do they get up again? This also applies to T. rex.>

  A sauropod lacks physical locomortory features to aquatic locomotion, as
much as hippos have more mobile, but shorter limbs, and are generally
wider than tall in the trunk along with other "floating" mammals and
birds. Sauropods are both taller than wide, have columnar limbs which are
ill-suited for aquatic locomotion. The idea of a water-bouyant sauropod to
sustain its weight has fallen by the wayside since studies in the 70s that
supported the biomechanical use of the limbs for supporting the sauropods'
weight on land, so no matter that rare terrestrial winds could have
knocked it over, or that a sauropod should have enough time to find _some_
shelter (like, a tree or two to lean into) as the wind escalated to
hurricane or cyclone force, 100+ knots.

  I think the era of swampy sauropods and floaters should be dismissed,
even if they could swim for their enjoyment, travel, etc. Who knows, maybe
they used the water to mate ;)

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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