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ConqueredCorn t1_jcdq93x wrote

Reply to comment by sooprvylyn in Sauropod specimen found in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region may have had the longest neck of any known dinosaur — measuring about 15.1 m, more than the height of the Hollywood sign by marketrent

Unless it was going for the giraffe like physique with very high star leafs to reach

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could_use_a_snack t1_jce78s6 wrote

Maybe this wouldn't be a possibility but, since dinosaurs are related to birds, why do we assume they kept their necks stretched out like that. Swans don't. Either do geese.

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ConqueredCorn t1_jcebp8a wrote

I think the tail tells the story. Its all for balance so they have such large tails it has to be a counter weight for something

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could_use_a_snack t1_jcebu92 wrote

I thought the long tails were for sliding down after your shift at the quarry is over.

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spinbutton t1_jcexdpd wrote

The structure of the bones can tell us the shape of the neck. But this reconstruction is not based on the full skeleton just some neck bones and skull. The size estimate is extrapolated from some.pretty meager data. I'd take it with a grain of salt

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soda-jerk t1_jcf23zh wrote

We don't have full skeletons of these animals, so things like how they held their necks is still debated among scientists.

We see sauropods depicted this way all the time, because it's the most widely accepted theory on how they looked, based on the information we do have on them, as well as comparisons with similar modern-day animals.

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