Re: Sauropod gastroliths

[Erik Boehm <erikboehm07@yahoo.com>]

>From my quick read through of the linked paper, accidental swallowing sounds 
>more likely, given the small amounts of "gastroliths" found.
And of course, mineral uptake does also make sense.

I have a hard time picturing such a long necked animal eating large amounts of 
rock...

But I suppose if the turnover rate was low it would be feasible.

For that matter... the throat of such a long necked animal probably had some 
very special adaptations for getting food from the head to the body, that we'll 
never see unless a "dino-mummy" is found preserving soft tissue - which should 
also answer the gastrolith question.

--- On Tue, 12/1/09, Dan Chure <danchure@easilink.com> wrote:

> From: Dan Chure <danchure@easilink.com>
> Subject: Re: Sauropod gastroliths
> To: afragome@nhm.org
> Cc: "DML" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:49 AM
> Spencer Lucas referred to sauropod
> gastroliths as gastromyths which is pretty accurate. 
> There are reputable gastroliths in some ornithischian
> specimens, but none convincingly in sauropods, or maybe even
> saurischians.Ashley
> 
> Dan
> 
> Fragomeni wrote:
> > Good morning, all! 
> > 
> > I was reading Robert Bakker's "Dinosaur Heresies"
> today and am curious
> > about the Sauropod gastrolith issue.
> > Bakker, as well as many other Paleontologists,
> theorize that the giant
> > megaton Sauropods purposely ate stones to help aid in
> the digestion of
> > tough plants. However, I stumbled across this article
> online from 2007:
> > http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2197205/
> > 
> > What is the most accepted theory today about Sauropods
> and the use of
> > gastroliths? 
> > 
> > 
> > Ashley Fragomeni
> > Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
> > Los Angeles, CA 90007
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >   
> 
>