Sauropod Neck Structure

Introduction Sauropods, the large behemoths of their time, have incredible body structures that include massive weight and length. While a lot is known about these dinosaurs from current fossil records, there is still much to learn. The ability to move and support their appendages (primarily the neck and tail) is one aspect of these dinosaurs where research continues to provide new answers. This paper seeks to examine some of the more current research regarding sauropod neck functionality and structure, thus providing a comprehensive understanding of where the scientific world stands regarding this particular topic.
Current Research Often times, when scientists want to better understand the movement and function of extinct dinosaurs, they …show more content…
Due to a lack of being able to recreate this scenario at an osteological level, Dr. Schwarz-Wings and Frey were unable to make any finite conclusions. But their research has provided useful for those looking at pneu supports in sauropod necks. It’s important to recognize that continual examinations and hypothesis today allow for more discoveries in the future. For sauropod neck mechanics, this is an important step in the right direction (Schwarz Wings, D. …show more content…
To do so, they looked at mammals and crocodiles alive today that have similar structures in their physiology and the varying loads that these parts of the animals are capable of sustaining in particular postures. The postures of these animals that are able to sustain a substantial load were deemed as important to the animal’s survival. One of the movements they primarily examined was torsion (being able to twist or bend, one end in relation to the other). This might occur when an animal decides to twist its neck or shake its head. This relies on their oblique muscles being able to act as a counterbalance to these movements. As is mentioned in the other discussed articles, they also believed that many of the tendons eventually ossified into the sauropod’s cervical ribs and concluded that these cervical ribs, at least in mamenchisaurids and brachiosaurs (both members of the sauropod family) were limited in their movement, due to the ribs being greater in length. However, the shorter length of these ribs in Diplodocus would have allowed greater range of motion and flexibility in the neck. As for the tails, they did not noticed any significant signs of torsion being applied, thus surmising that the tails remained in a lateral posture, contrasting to the neck, which would have remained (due to their comparisons and analyses) in an