Tipsy punters: sauropod dinosaur pneumaticity, buoyancy and aquatic habits.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Henderson DM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1810024 | biostudies-literature | 2004 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Tipsy punters: sauropod dinosaur pneumaticity, buoyancy and aquatic habits.
Proceedings. Biological sciences 20040501
Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals to have ever existed, and are difficult to interpret as living animals owing to their lack of living descendants. With computer models that employ the basic physics of buoyancy and equilibrium, it is possible to investigate how the bodies of these animals would have reacted when immersed in water. Multi-tonne sauropods are found to be extremely buoyant and unstable in water when aspects of their probable respiratory anatomy are considered, ...[more]
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