the.com/sauropod
nature's longest argument for why bigger was, in fact, better.
means A sauropod is any of the giant long-necked, long-tailed, four-legged plant-eating dinosaurs — like Brontosaurus and Diplodocus — that ranked among the largest land animals ever to live.
from From Greek 'sauros' (lizard) plus 'pous, podos' (foot) — literally 'lizard-foot.' It belongs to the great family of dinosaur names minted by 19th-century naturalists who reached for Greek to christen the bones surfacing from the rock. The 'sauros' is the same 'saur' lurking in 'dinosaur' ('terrible lizard') and 'Tyrannosaurus' ('tyrant lizard') — though, ironically, sauropods weren't lizards at all.
- heart power
- Pumping blood up that neck demanded brutal blood pressure.
- tiny brain
- Some had brains barely the size of a tennis ball.
- hot growth
- Hatchlings ballooned to multi-ton adults in decades.
- second brain myth
- No hip 'brain'—just a nerve bulge near the spine.
- all neck
- Mamenchisaurus carried a neck nearly fifty feet long.
argentinosaurus — largest land animal ever, up to 100 tons, found in argentina 1987
brachiosaurus — iconic long-necked dinosaur, morrison formation, north america, jurassic period
diplodocus — 90-foot long sauropod, morrison formation colorado, most complete skeleton known