Wiki World: Sauropod

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Sauropods Were Ideally Suited to Grow Large

The largest animals ever to roam the Earth were sauropod dinosaurs in the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. They did not eat meat. Despite having to constantly eat grass and leaves the heaviest reached 50 tonnes.

The periods going back from the present are Cenozoic, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic and Paleozoic. The last four are grouped into the Mesozoic era. It is in this general broad time frame that the gigantic dinosaur arose and died off.

Though for the most part these creatures walked with their heads in an horizontal position, for feeding it is presumed that they reached up vertically to feed on young branches and leaves high in the trees. Other herbivores could not reached up to this rich food source. Mammals had not yet risen. Giraffes appeared much later.

Having plenty of food meant the sauropods could evolve and become very large. Their bones were light and with a small head the neck became long. They swallowed food whole so they had tiny jaw muscles. Food remained in the body a long time. This enabled thorough digestion of leaves and even some wood. Not masticating in itself left more energy to grow bigger.

They were bird-like, having an efficient respiratory system; thus the significant body heat was dissipated. The high basal metabolic rate meant they could live longer and survive to become adults and reproduce. Having many young from eggs maintains a species more effectively than the mammalian way of breeding.

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Science

Sauropods Had Hollow Bones in Their Skin

Long-necked dinosaurs had hollow bones in their skin according to fossils in Madagascar. The animal in question is the giant Rapetosaurus. Hollow bones are found in the skin of reptiles and a few mammals. These skin bones are called osteoderm.

Dinosaurs with hollow skin bones are Titanosaura, a Sauropod, Rapetosaurus, Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus. It is believed that the bones stored mineral for hard times. Rapetosaurus, for example, had only a few bones spread throughout their skin, so the bones were not used for defence or to moderate temperature.

The fossils in Madagascar were of Rapetosaurus. What applies for Rapetosaurus can be used to evaluate the hollow bones of other dinosaurs. It cannot be ruled out that Titanosaura used the bones partially for defence but the main function of hollow bones was to store minerals.

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Paleontology

Dinosaurs Did Not Hold Their Heads Aloft

It seems Dinosaurs had vouracious appetities and went around "hoovering up" all the greenery they could find with their heads close to the ground. Discussed in a television documentary by Phil Manning this is now accepted as fact. The Sauropod did not hold its head up like a giraffe. The head was held horizontally to the ground. There is no way blood could have been pumped up high. The heart would have been impractically huge for that to occur.

University of Adelaide's Roger Seymor has held the horizontal tack for a long time. A British documentary confirmed this. David Wilkinson in England says the neck of the Brachiosaurus, which was 30 feet long, was far too heavy to hold aloft.

The dinosaurs had long necks to conserve energy. The necks could be moved around in the search for food without moving the body. They were as long as was beneficial to save energy grazing. It was not really grazing like a cow, for example. Their neck were long tubes similar to a vacuum cleaner. They didn't do any chewing.

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