Re: sauropod rearing (and sex)

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

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Sim Koning wrote:
> I agree with Greg Paul that all sauropods must have been able to rear up. You 
> see, I used to have pet iguanas, a male and two females. I saw my iguanas 
> mate several times and I noticed that in order to do it, the male had to put 
> one of his legs over the hips of the female while he shifted his tail under 
> hers. The reason lizards do this is because they have to line up their 
> cloacas. When I looked at most restorations of dinosaurs mating, I realized 
> the majority are completely wrong. The one I can think of that was done 
> right, was Luis V. Rey's "Carnotaurus Sex". To get to the point, Sauropods 
> males would not only have to rear up, they would also have to stand on one

What if the female sauropod knelt down?

> leg! Most of the weight would be rested on the female's back of course, but 
> it would still be one heck of a balancing act. The male would have to rear up 
> and come down gently onto the female's back. After this has been achieved, 
> the male would somehow have to raise his leg over the base of the females 
> tail before shifting his own tail underneath to line up their Cloacas.