Great Physical Mass of Brachiosaurs and Leg Structure
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Nearly all organic materials have densities relatively similar to that of sea water.
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Declarative statement. Also wrong when applied in this manner. Aircraft are made of steal and aluminum. If I measured an F-14's dimensions and use their logic, I come up with about 300 tons. I could be wrong.
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As an example, fossils of Brachiosaurus seem to imply that its trunk was around 12 feet in diameter and 20 feet long. Using the method suggested above, and thinking of its trunk as a cylinder, the volume V is given by (PI)*D2/4 * L or about 3.14 * 144/4 * 20 or about 2,260 cubic feet. At 64 pounds per cubic foot (the density of nearly all biological material, essentially that of water), that gives about 145,000 pounds.
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Not allowing for lungs, pneumatic bone and digestive system which is mainly full of gas.
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Such scientists may be overlooking the fact that the mass we are talking about is equivalent to about 50 automobiles! The leg bones and muscles necessary to support and move this huge weight on dry land would necessarily be near the absolute limits of cell and bone and muscle fiber strength. The estimated mass of the brachiosaurus is on the scale of 20 elephants.
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Or 5 indricotheres. 10 to 20 ton rhinos that lived in Asia 30 million years ago.
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Existing fossils do not support such extremely thick legs. The fossils of leg bones are certainly thick, but they are not four times as thick. It is far more likely that the swamp hypothesis has more validity, and that these extremely large dinosaurs would have been susceptible to broken leg bones if they would ever attempt to walk on land. (Medium and small sized dinosaurs did not have this limitation and DEFINITELY were land creatures.)
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Pneumatic bones! Look up pnuematic bones! There were no borophagic dinosaurs! Why? Because almost no dinosaurs filled their bones with fat and marrow!
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If such a huge animal had a leg bone break, its possibility of survival would drop to nearly zero. It would no longer have the mobility to go to food sources and it would be immobile and easy prey for many carnivorous predators to attack and kill.
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What kind of a statement is this? Does he see horses getting their legs fixed? Good Lord, even bunny rabbits die when they get a broken leg. Who wrote this? A ten year old?
Do you people know what the terrestrial version of blood in the water is?
A limp.
A predator's eye is automatically drawn to a limp. You move differently than the herd and this indicates you are easier to run down than your non-limping brethren.
William, just to let you know, none of my above posts mean I wouldn't give you ice water on a hot day or that I wouldn't go fishing with you. It just means I wouldn't let you teach paleontology that's all.