Western University of Health Sciences

Matt Wedel

I just got word from the History Channel that their documentary "Evolve:
Size" will air Saturday, Nov. 8. Kent Sanders, Brooks Britt, and I
filmed a long segment for this back in May, covering pneumaticity in
sauropods. Hopefully it didn't all go to the cutting room floor! With
any luck, you'll see the results of this:

[![sauropods-the-next-generation-4801](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/sauropods-the-next-generation-4801.jpg?w=480&h=359 "sauropods-the-next-generation-4801"){.aligncenter
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Check local listings for showtimes.

UPDATE: IMMEDIATE REACTION

Hey, not bad. Good stuff:

- I especially liked that they ascribed the evolution of large size in
  sauropods to several factors--high plant productivity, efficient food
  gathering (just biting, no chewing), and, yes, pneumaticity. But
  pneumaticity was at best an accessory adaptation for large size, and
  not a prime mover. I was worried that its importance would be
  overstated--"AIR-FILLED bones made these GIANTS into the HUGEST
  creatures EVAR!!1!" That's some impressive restraint for a documentary
  these days.
- The bit about pneumatic bones being light but also strong is great.
  I'm glad they worked in the pneumatic horns of bighorn sheep.
- I'm really happy that they showed the process of CT scanning the
  vertebra, partly because It's never been shown before on TV (to my
  knowledge), and partly for purely selfish reasons: it's just cool. Too
  bad they didn't have time to show Kent Sanders discussing the results
  of the scan.

Some clarifications:

- Brooks Britt is not a grad student now, he's an Associate Professor of
  geology at BYU. He pioneered the use of CT to study pneumaticity in
  dinosaurs when he was a grad student at the University of Calgary
  (Britt 1993). I am glad that they got the bit in about Brooks first
  suggesting to me that I should CT scan sauropod vertebrae. He got me
  into this, and it's nice to have that recognized.
- At one point the narrator says, "Wedel suspects that the bones were
  not only light and easy to lift, they also helped get oxygen directly
  to the muscles, fed by a system of air sacs throughout the neck,
  similar to birds today." Woof--I didn't say that! They got the
  ventilatory air sacs in the thorax and abdomen--the ones that blow air
  through the lungs--confused with the pneumatic diverticula up in the
  neck. There is no evidence that diverticula play any role in gas
  exchange for the tissues they are adjacent to, and there is strong
  contrary evidence. Physiologists have measured how much gas exchange
  goes on in the avian respiratory system, and where that gas exchange
  occurs. Ninety-five percent of the gas exchange happens in the lungs,
  and almost all of the remainder happens in the abdominal air sacs,
  which are immense and fairly convoluted because they enclose the
  viscera like a nut-shell (thanks to Wetherbee \[1951\] for that
  wonderfully accessible image). It's a fairly minor thing, I guess,
  it's just frustrating to spend so much time working on this and then
  have an obvious mix-up like that sneak in.
- In the space of about ten minutes, sauropods are described as "freaks
  of nature" twice! This is a bit irritating--they are only freaks of
  nature from our limited, human point of view. Big sauropods had
  appeared by the late Triassic and huge ones by the Early Jurassic, and
  they stayed huge and successful through the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
  For all that they were immense and morphologically derived, sauropods
  were also just critters. They weren't mutants, they were functioning
  and apparently successful members of their ecosystems for a long time,
  like any other organisms. Possibly, though, long exposure has
  acclimated me to the just-critters aspect of sauropods more than most
  folks. 🙂

It seems churlish to write so much about a segment that was actually
pretty great and right on target except for a few, comparatively minor
missteps. Overall I'm thrilled that it turned out so well. See it if you
get a chance--your own thoughts are welcome, good, bad, or otherwise.

**References**

- Britt, B. B. 1993. Pneumatic postcranial bones in dinosaurs and other
  archosaurs. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Calgary, Calgary, 383
  pp.
- Wetherbee, D. K. 1951. Air-sacs in the English sparrow. Auk
  68:242--244.


I just got word from the History Channel that their documentary “Evolve: Size” will air Saturday, Nov. 8. Kent Sanders, Brooks Britt, and I filmed a long segment for this back in May, covering pneumaticity in sauropods. Hopefully it didn’t all go to the cutting room floor! With any luck, you’ll see the results of this:    Check local listings for showtimes. UPDATE: IMMEDIATE REACTION  Hey, not bad.

Breaking news: sauropod pneumaticity on TV

[![](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/paleobloggers-with-haplo-480.jpg?w=480&h=360 "paleobloggers-with-haplo-1000"){.aligncenter
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sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/paleobloggers-with-haplo-1000.jpg)

Just got back from SVP, the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology. SVP is always a blast; beyond the inherent coolness of
four solid days of intense paleo-everything, I get a chance to catch up
with my "SVP friends"--the pool of friends, some of them close, that I
only see for a few days each year.

This year there was an extra bonus, which was making friends with a lot
of paleobloggers that I'd previously only known as e-quaintances. There
was even a [paleoblogger
lunch](http://www.ethicalpalaeontologist.com/2008/10/first.html), which
drew a big enough crowd that people at opposite ends of the table
couldn't effectively converse. That's okay, though. I have a 'critical
mass' theory about shared meals and parties, which is that they are
usually lame unless there are enough people to sustain more than one
conversation at the same time. By that standard, the paleoblogger lunch
was a flying success. Unfortunately there weren't any sauropods at the
lunch, so it's not really germane to our purpose here.

However, I did engineer a photo with a subset of paleobloggers that
would be fair game, and you can see it above. This was at the welcome
reception at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. From left to right
we've got *Haplocanthosaurus* (sauropod vertebra picture of the week:
check), a disembodied floating *T. rex* head (it's an oracle), a
mosasaur, *Megaloceros*, *Mammuthus* (one of the least stinky of the
stinkin' mammals), and *Allosaurus*. Oh, and down in front are Julia
Heathcote ([Ethical
Palaeontologist](http://www.ethicalpalaeontologist.com/)), moi, Amanda
Northrop ([Self-Designed Student](http://www.selfdesignedstudent.com/)),
and Neil Kelley ([microecos](http://microecos.wordpress.com/)). Neil is
the only real paleontologist of the bunch; you can tell because he's
holding a beer.

-----------------

Mike drew the straw for our [first birthday
post](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/a-year-in-sauropod-vertebrae/),
but I didn't want to let it pass unremarked. This blog started as a joke
on e-mail. "We ought to make a blog of nothing but sauropod vertebra
pictures." "Like
[APOD](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html)?" "Yeah, but
weekly so we don't drive ourselves crazy." Next thing I knew, Mike had
set up the blog and registered Darren and me as contributors. Then I
posted a couple of times and BAM! we're a year into it.

At first I thought we'd be struggling to get a year's worth of material.
I even made up a list of stuff I wanted to blog about, just in case I
ever ran out of
[inspirado](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=inspirado&search_type=&aq=-1&oq=).
I won't tell you what's on the list, but I will tell you that there are
27 things on the list and so far I've only gotten to six of them. So the
outlook is good.

I have no idea how long we'll be doing this. It never occurred to me
after about the first month. If there is a Life Lesson (TM) in
paleontology, it's that nothing lasts forever. No sense getting an ulcer
about it. Just enjoy what you have, and have a little fun.

[![](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/ridem-dino-480.jpg?w=480&h=165 "ridem-dino"){.aligncenter
.size-full .wp-image-585 loading="lazy" attachment-id="585"
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width="480" height="165"
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sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/ridem-dino.jpg)

We'll do the same.


Just got back from SVP, the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. SVP is always a blast; beyond the inherent coolness of four solid days of intense paleo-everything, I get a chance to catch up with my “SVP friends”–the pool of friends, some of them close, that I only see for a few days each year.

SVP, our first birthday, the ghost of blogging yet to come

University of Portsmouth

Mike Taylor

What with all [the
fuss](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/the-aerosteon-saga-part-2-overinflation-and-undercitation/)
over
[Aerostron](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/the-aerosteon-saga-part-1-introduction-and-background/),
it seems that we missed SV-POW!'s first birthday. Yes, it's been just
over a year since the very first post, [Hello
world!](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/hello-world/), showed us
the *Brachiosaurus brancai* cervical vertebra HMN SII:C8 that we have
seen so many times since in various ways. Since we kicked off on 1st
October 2007, we've written a total of 82 posts (so more like one and a
half per week than the one a week we advertised), and accumulated 1002
comments. (Congratulations to Andy Farke, who wrote [the 1000th
comment](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/the-aerosteon-saga-part-2-overinflation-and-undercitation/#comment-1625)).

We've covered a lot of ground this year, from the [the
frivolous](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/three-big-dorks/) to
[the ferociously
technical](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/the-astonishing-case-of-hmn-siid8-part-1-the-missing-infradiapophyseal-lamina/),
so it's hard to pick favourites. But from my own very biased
perspective, I particularly enjoyed
[all](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/xenoposeidon-week-day-1-introducing-xeno/)
[eight](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/xenoposeidon-week-day-1-and-a-half-the-media/)
[days](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/xenoposeidon-week-day-2-imagining-the-whole-thing/)
[of](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/xenoposeidon-week-day-3-the-basic-beast-inside/)
[the](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/xenoposeidon-week-day-4-the-question-everyone-is-asking-how-big-was-it/)
[extended](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/xenoposeidon-week-day-5-the-quest-for-glory/)
*[Xenoposeidon](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/xenoposeidon-week-day-6-so-what-is-a-family-anyway/)*
[week](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/xenoposeidon-week-day-7-schools-out/),
a rather exhausting series of posts that may make Xeno the most blogged
dinosaur on the Internet --- or at least, the most blogged
mid-to-posterior partial dorsal vertebra. Also noteworthy was Matt's
flagrant playing-to-the-gallery
["showdown"](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/sv-pow-showdown-sauropods-vs-whales-vs-elephants-vs-pterosaurs-vs-mike-and-me/)
and Darren's observation of [a newly recognised site of
pneumaticity](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/invading-the-postzyg/)
(which I want to cite in a paper but won't be allowed to). \[**Note
added 22 June 2014**: I did indeed [cite it in a
paper](http://svpow.com/papers-by-sv-powsketeers/taylor-and-wedel-2012-on-sauropod-neck-anatomy/ "Taylor and Wedel (2013a) on sauropod neck anatomy").\]

Still, there's no hesitation for me in picking my favourite series: it
would have to be the four posts of axial-anatomy humiliation, [Your neck
is
pathetic](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/your-neck-is-pathetic/),
[Your torso is also pretty
lame](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/your-torso-is-also-pretty-lame/),
[Your sacrum is
negligible](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/your-sacrum-is-negligible/)
and [Your coccyx is
contemptible](http://svpow.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/your-coccyx-is-contemptible/).

A highlight this year was hearing SV-POW! namechecked by John Hutchinson
in his introductory remarks at a workshop on functional morphology at
the Natural History Museum. I also heard a rumour somewhere that Paul
Upchurch tells his students to read this site. I have no idea whether
that's true or not, but I think it sounds pretty awesome so I am going
to assume that it is until I hear otherwise.

I seem to recall when we kicked this thing off that we intended only to
run it for one year, then archive it and shut it down. But it's been
going well enough, and we've enjoyed it enough, that there is no
prospect of our calling it a day for a while yet. One of the reasons for
that, I think, is that sharing a blog between three people has worked
fantastically well. It's meant that we've been able to keep up a
half-decent rate of posting non-trivial articles without the load on any
one of us being too great. (How on earth Darren manages to post daily on
Tetrapod Zoology I can't imagine). And this is my message to the world
on the occasion of SV-POW!'s birthday: shared blogging is excellent, and
I would love to see more team-run palaeo blogs out there. I've joked in
the past about blogs like Basal Ornithopod Third Metatarsal Picture of
the Week, but in all seriousness I would *love* to see people taking on
super-specialised aspects of dinosaur palaeo as we've done here. I would
read such blogs avidly, and our modest-but-non-negligible hit-counts
here at SV-POW! (69,170 hits as I write this) suggests that there is a
hardcore market for this kind of blog. So have at it, people!

As it happens, right around now is also an important time for me, Matt
and Darren because on Friday night we submitted our first joint-authored
paper. I'll say no more about that now, because hopefully before too
long we'll be able to discuss the published version. \[**Note added 22
June 2014**: [we did,
extensively](http://svpow.com/papers-by-sv-powsketeers/taylor-et-al-2009-on-neck-posture/ "Taylor, Wedel and Naish (2009) on neck posture").\]
But making that submission was a landmark moment for The Three
SV-POW!sketeers. Hopefully there'll be more where that came from.
\[**Note added 22 June 2014**: [there
was](http://svpow.com/papers-by-sv-powsketeers/taylor-hone-wedel-and-naish-2011-on-sexual-selection-of-sauropod-necks/ "Taylor, Hone, Wedel and Naish (2011) on sexual selection of sauropod necks").\]

Finally, I give you the actual sauropod vertebra you've all been waiting
for. It is a cast of the 2nd dorsal vertebra (the only one preserved )
of the holotype and only specimen of *Puertasaurus reuili* Novas et al.
2005, with lead author Fernando E. Novas himself for scale. This is one
of those photos that just make you go "Woah!"; or, if you are so
inclined, "Dude!". Enjoy!

::: {#attachment_565 .wp-caption .alignnone shortcode="caption" style="width: 510px"}
[![Puertasaurus reuili, second dorsal vertebra, anterior
view.](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/puertasaurus-dorsal-anterior.jpeg?w=500&h=333 "puertasaurus-dorsal-anterior"){.size-full
.wp-image-565 aria-describedby="caption-attachment-565" loading="lazy"
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image-title="puertasaurus-dorsal-anterior" image-description=""
image-caption="<p>Puertasaurus reuili, second dorsal vertebra, anterior view.</p>
"
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/puertasaurus-dorsal-anterior.jpeg?w=300"
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width="500" height="333"
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sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/puertasaurus-dorsal-anterior.jpeg)

Puertasaurus reuili, second dorsal vertebra, in anterior view, with
Fernando E. Novas for scale.
:::

# Reference

- [Novas, Fernando E., Leonardo Salgado, Jorge Calvo and Federico
  Agnolin. 2005. Giant titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late
  Cretaceous of Patagonia. Rev. Mus. Argentino Cienc. Nat., new series,
  7(1):
  37-41.](http://www.macn.secyt.gov.ar/cont_Publicaciones/Rns-Vol07-1_37-41.pdf)


What with all the fuss over Aerostron, it seems that we missed SV-POW!’s first birthday. Yes, it’s been just over a year since the very first post, Hello world!, showed us the
<em>
 Brachiosaurus brancai
</em>
cervical vertebra HMN SII:C8 that we have seen so many times since in various ways.

Messages de Rogue Scholar

Breaking news: sauropod pneumaticity on TV

SVP, our first birthday, the ghost of blogging yet to come

A year in sauropod vertebrae