Re: Sauropod necks????

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

Yes, I presume that the presence of soft tissue proteins (or at least, of
amino acids) would be a requirement.  Totally replaced bones wouldn't
work.  OTOH, isotopic studies of nitrogen and carbon have been conducted
on fossil vert. bones, so this proceedure isn't exactly unheard of in
Paleodom.

<pb>
--

On Sat, 28 May 2005 18:20:47 +0200 David Marjanovic
<david.marjanovic@gmx.at> writes:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phil Bigelow" <bigelowp@juno.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 3:09 PM
> 
> > Another avenue of study would involve the analysis of isotopic 
> ratios in
> > sauropod bones.  if the isotopic ratios of nitrogen and carbon in 
> mollusk
> > meat are different from the ratios found in terrestrial protein 
> sources,
> > then it may provide some clues.  That is, assuming the above 
> assumption
> > is true. (a comparative study of the isotopic ratios in sea otter 
> bones
> > vs. ursid bones would be useful).
> 
> Wouldn't this require that proteins would still be preserved?
> 
>