Re: cause of Gigantism in sauropods

["Habib, Michael" <MHabib@Chatham.edu>]

On Feb 12, 2011, at 10:16 PM, "Augusto Haro" <augustoharo@gmail.com> wrote:

>> 
> Thanks for the physical explanation. Now correct me if I am wrong, but
> would not the neck also suffer a local impact in the point which
> hitted the theropod's head? I would tend to think that the contact
> area at the impact would be the same between both animals, and perhaps
> more local in the larger animal (in this case the sauropod) than in
> the smaller, on which the load would seem to be more distributed. May
> you be meaning sauropod vertebrae are better at transforming these
> impacts into bending loads (which are better dealt with) than theropod
> heads or necks?

Yes, that is precisely the case.  The manner of articulation has a lot to do 
with it, as does the shape of the vertebrae.

Cheers,

--Mike

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