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

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