Re: Gastric stones of dinosaurs were not for milling food !

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

Did that before I asked. As far I can tell, bounds have not been set on leaf 
mass/time in the manner I describe (that seemed unlikely to me; which is why I 
asked for the ref). As sauros were obviously not limited by reach, or probably 
locomotion, the limit on leaf-mass/time is (IMO) the jaws/teeth.

Assuming .25 kg per bite, average of 4 bites/minute, gives 600 kg/10 hours. 
Given ideal type and density of foliage, seems doable. Given a requirement of 
100 kg/day for elephant, 600 kg doesn't seem totally unreasonable as a daily 
ration for a large sauropod (informed opinions, please?). 

Real world, seems a little stretchy to me. Don't know any horses that can grab 
a quarter kilo of clover in one bite, or even close. Also, as one who has 
gathered various kinds of biomass w/ various tools, I can tell you that ideal 
conditions are rare.

Perhaps someone has a ref that contains the data necessary to build a cheap jaw 
model for a large sauropod? Lower jaw dimensions and a good picture of 
teeth/tooth placement would do.

Don

----- Original Message ----
From: David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>
To: DML <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 9:10:09 AM
Subject: Re: Gastric stones of dinosaurs were not for milling food !

----- Original Message -----
From: "don ohmes" <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 2:57 AM

> Yeah it matters... Build a set of model jaws, see how much leaf mass you 
> can strip off of various types of branches in a day.

That's not what I meant. I quote:

> >> ---------- By who?
> >
> > Does that matter? Try GSP.

I think it's obvious what "that" refers to.

> I haven't seen where anyone has done that and concluded it was a slamdunk 
> to gather several hundred kilos of leaves every day, but I am sure I 
> missed something. You got a ref, I would really appreciate it.

I don't, as far as I know, but AFAIK it has been calculated. In any case, as 
I wrote, it has been discussed onlist several times, so burrow through the 
archives.