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Neck posturę

/~\Jj After plugging together sauropod neck bones, some scientists have argued that sauropod necks must have been straight, horizontal, and incapable of much up-and-down movement

r\J) However, living ammals all hołd their necks up, even if their bones suggest a horizontal neck pose. It’s most    -4tfam,

likely that sauropods    mMt JsJyt

had raised necks Łwi and a strongly bent head-neck junction.

/~\Jj Modern

ijj animals show that keeping the neck in a raised posturę is not difficult. Special muscles hołd up the neck with minimal effort—keeping the neck upright uses less energy than holding it out straight.

19

The number of vertebrae in the neck of the Chinese sauropod Mamenchisaurus

26

The average number of eggs in a sauropod nest

30

The age (in years) at which a sauropod reached its adult size

200 ft

(60 m) The likely length of Amphicoelias, the largest-^r known sauropod

f 500-600

The number of peglike teeth in the jaws of Nigersaurus

/^kJJ Computer modeling ^vAr-u/ indicates that bony struts

on the vertebrae helped conduct stress and support the weight of the neck. Hollow air sacs—like honeycomb—also madę the neck lighter than it looked.

was

long

Tell me morę: sauropod necks

Skuli: Diplodocus had a long, shallow snout, but the skuli shape for many is not known

Vertebrae: Were connected by bali and socket joints that allowed movement in all directions

RECORD

BREAKER

No complete Supersaurus

neck is known, but experts estimate that it was morę than 52 ft (16 m) long. An even larger sauropod—the mysterious Amphicoelias — might have had a neck longer than 65 ft (20 m).

Most mammals have seven neck vertebrae. Sauropods were far morę variable. Primitive types had 13 neck vertebrae, others had 15 or 16, and some had as many as 19.

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