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In reply to chrissy's comment: As for blood pressure HERE is an example of a giraffes way of coping.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauropoda
Hi Christine,
Thanks for the information. The giraffes have biological means to cope with higher blood pressure. A Sauropod's neck is however significantly longer, say 18 meters (60 ft) compared to a giraffe which is 5.5 meters tall, which would increase the pressure problem by a factor of three.
The question of mass and structural support is interesting. I would be interested to see a scientific paper that addressed that issue. The Argentinosaurus has 10 times more massive than a Savannah Elephant.
From Wikipedia.
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Others, like the brachiosaurids, were extremely tall, with high shoulders and extremely long necks. Sauroposeidon is probably the tallest, reaching about 18 metres (60 ft) high, with the previous record for longest neck being held by Mamenchisaurus. By comparison the giraffe, the tallest of all living animals, is only 4.8 to 5.5 metres (16 to 18 ft) tall.
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Some were almost incredibly massive: Argentinosaurus is probably the heaviest at 80 to 100 metric tonnes (90 to 110 tons), though Paralititan, Andesaurus, Antarctosaurus, and Argyrosaurus are of comparable sizes. There is some very poor evidence of an even more massive titanosaurian, Bruhathkayosaurus, which might have weighed between 175 to 220 tonnes (190 to 240 tons). The largest land animal alive today, the Savannah elephant, weighs no more than 10 tonnes (11 tons).
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