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dinosaur death poses actually predeath poses
There is an implication of the death pose paper that people are missing.
It means that the argument that the strong dorso-flexion of the necks common
to many dinosaur skeletons is a post-mortem effect due to drying of the dorsal
muscles and ligaments pulling the cervical series far beyond that which the
neck could assume in life is apparently incorrect. Instead these poses
represent close the the extreme posture that could be achieved in life. Since a
number
of sauropods have their necks raised far above shoulder level without
indication the cervicals were pulled apart -- the type of Mamenchisaurus youngi
in
which the head is many meters directly over the back at the end of a gently
curved cervical series being an excellent example -- it is probably they could
do
this when alive, especially to reach that especially tasty new growth way up
there on the broad leafed conifer.
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