The Flexibility and Musculature of the Ostrich Neck: Implications for the Feeding Ecology and Reconstruction of the Sauropoda (Dinosauria:Saurischia)

The Sauropoda were the largest terrestrial animals ever to have lived on this planet. As their nutritional requirements were so huge, their diet holds sway over the ecology of many Mesozoic herbivores. The diet of the sauropods is limited by their feeding envelope, which in turn is governed by the posture and flexibility of their elongate necks. Yet the exact nature of the flexibility and posture of the neck has been a contentious issue. Previous studies have utilised computer models of dry bone, mechanical principles or the flexibility of the necks of extant animals. However, the effect of the musculature of the neck has yet to be investigated. Through measurements of the flexibility of the ostrich neck after cumulative tissue removal, analyses of the muscle attachment sites of the ostrich and sauropods, and testing of the Osteological Neutral Pose model, this study attempts to rectify this situation. The ostrich neck was shown to have three sections of flexibility; a slightly flexible anterior section, a very flexible middle section and a stiff posterior section. The Osteological Neutral Pose did not show these sections, and was shown to potentially overestimate and underestimate flexibility. It was also found that the inter-vertebral space could account for varying estimates of flexibility, and that sauropods would have proportionally more muscle mass at the base of the neck in relation to the ostrich. Ultimately, it was shown that the tissues of the neck place the limits of flexibility, and that zygapophyseal overlap does not indicate the flexibility of the neck. Should the Osteological Neutral Pose affect sauropod flexibility estimates in the same manner as that of the ostrich (a general overestimate), then the sauropods would have a more limited feeding envelope than previously thought, allowing for greater niche partitioning between groups.