Form, Function, and Sauropod

Dinosaurs

The Worlds Largest Dinosaurs

What is a sauropod dinosaur?

Saurischian dinosaurs
Largest terrestrial
animals ever
Herbivorous
Earliest members from
South Africa and
Zimbabwe, e.g.,
Massopondylus

Sauropod evolution 101

Largest land animals ever

And are known from all continents

Columnar limbs of sauropods

Several features of
the limb strongly
suggest slow,
plodding movements
E.g., robust femur,
fibula; longer femur
than tibia; weak
muscle attachments,
etc.

Look carefully at
the foot
Sauropods were
digitigrade?
Wait, that doesnt
make any sense

Elephant hind feet

Elephants look like
theyre plantigrade
from the outside
But the foot bone
posture shows theyre
plantigrade
Sauropods probably
had a big fatty cushion
under their heels

Sauropod front foot

Formed into a
colonnade or a
tight cylinder of
bones with no pad
No modern analogue

Sauropod trackways

Necks of sauropods

Mamenchisaurus

Mamenchisaurus neck
19 cervical vertebrae
31.5 feet long (1/2 of the total length)
Some cervical ribs up to 11 feet long!

Vertebrae

Growth rates of sauropods

How fast did sauropods grow?

Cranial morphology of sauropods

A trunk???

No trunk in this junk!

Facial nerve is far too small to have supported
a trunk

Why are sauropods heads SO small??

Major difference in jaw region

Digestive system of sauropods

Homodont dentition
with no cusps = not a
lot of grinding area

Phylogenetic bracket
Gizzard
Ceca

(Crop???)
Gizzard
Ceca
Crop
Gizzard
Ceca

Gastroliths (gizzard stones)?

Lots of rocks found near
sauropods have been
interpreted as
gastroliths
A recent study shows
that none of them are
So sauropods may NOT
have had gastroliths

How did sauropods digest all that

food??

Big appetites!
Studies (using garbage cans full of ground up
plant matter, bile salts, etc.) have tried to
simulate sauropod digestion
Elephant

Sauropod

300 pounds of plants per

day!
Digestion: two days.

More than 1000 pounds

of plants per day!
Digestion: 2 weeks!

Gasbags!!

50 liters!

Circulatory system of sauropods

Heart rate scales negatively with size
Shrew heart rate = ~1000bpm
Human = ~70bpm
Elephant = ~25bpm
Sauropod = ~5bpm

Heart size:
Giraffe 11kg
Elephant 25 kg
Sauropod 100-300kg
Blue whale 600kg

Heart size

Circulatory problems
Rete mirabile in the
giraffe

Circulatory problems
Blood pooling in the legs

Respiratory system of sauropods

Birds and crocs have
unidirectional air
flow in the lung
Sauropods likely did,
too
How about air sacs?

Air spaces (pneumatization)

Emu

Sauropod

Summing it all up

Final words
Take Palaeo III!
Do Honours youll love it!
From James and Jonah: Thank you!