The posture of long-necked dinosaurs is completely wrong

Famous images of the largest known dinosaurs, from film to skeletons in the museum, mostly have the wrong posture, according to a new study.

Sauropod is a symbol of prehistoric creatures. They are 30 meters long, weigh about 10 elephants, and can be easily recognized with long necks and small heads. They are usually located at the center of most natural history museums around the world.

Recent illustrations such as the BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs show these dinosaurs with their necks horizontal and head close to the ground. But scientists argue that sauropods with a low head posture are a mistake: new evidence suggests they lift their necks high like giraffes and terrestrial vertebrates, making them tall. 15 meters.

Dr. Mike Taylor and Dr. Darren Naish of the University of Portsmouth, along with Dr. Matt Wedel, of the University of California Medical School, argue that although sauropods can bring their necks down, it is not a natural posture. of them.

They studied X-ray images of members of 10 different vertebrate species and discovered that the necks of salamanders, turtles, lizards and crocodiles were slightly tilted, while the necks of animals and mammals were vertical. - the only modern animal group that has a straight-up leg-like appearance of dinosaurs.

Dr Taylor said: 'Like today's animals, most of the time they lift their necks high, except when drinking water or looking for food below.'

Modern vertebrates, from cats to humans to the closest relative to sauropods, birds, raise their necks vertically or vertically.

Dr. Wedel explained: 'We cannot rely solely on fossil skeletons. To understand the dinosaurs' lifestyles, we need to look at animals today. In this case, our evidence shows that the present is the key to the past '.

Illustrations of sauropod dinosaurs with correct posture. (Photo: Mark Witton)

The neck bone of sauropod is connected mainly by bridge joints and telescopic joints. In addition, the top part of the bones has a pair of joints, two in the front and two in the back, sliding off each other when their necks bend.

Dr Taylor said: 'Scientists think that the joints always overlap 50%, but looking at ostriches and giraffes, we see that their joints can slide farther away, until they are almost no overlap. This means that sauropods have a much wider neck movement than previously thought.

" Unless sauropods are completely different from today's vertebrates, we do not think that the ancient part of this animal circles upwards. In some sauropods, this means that the neck is shaped like a letter. S is like a swan, and looks quite different from the reproductions we often see today '.

Sauropod's low neck posture has been used in many plastic toys and has become a part of mainstream culture, thanks to the Walking with Dinosaurs program of the BBC as well as museum displays such as American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Professor Mike Benton of the Department of Earth Sciences - Bristol University, said: 'Understanding the function and operation of sauropod dinosaurs is very important. They are huge - 10 times the size of an elephant - and they were successful and popular animals at the time. This study provides evidence that sauropods put their necks high, not horizontal. '

'Research is based on modern animals, but the next step is to conduct studies of the location of the neck in relation to energy efficiency. If you have a long neck weighing tons, then you have to put it in a suitable position so that the pressure is minimal. '

References:
Michael P. Taylor, Mathew J. Wedel, and Darren Naish.Post and neck posture in sauropod dinosaurs inferred from extant animals.Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 54 (2), 2009: 213-220