Page 39 - Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

Hollowed-out Neural spine
areas lightened (ridge rising
the neck bones from vertebra)

HIGH REACHER OR HEDGECUTTER?
Hollowed-out bones lightened yet strengthened
the immensely long neck of Diplodocus. Some
scientists believe that this sauropod could not
lift its head as high as the treetops, but actually Joint between
swung it from side to side, stripping leaves from two vertebral
low, shrubby vegetation like a hedgecutter. Other centra (cores) Cervical rib
scientists argue Diplodocus was a treetop browser. for muscle
attachment
Strong neck
Upward curve
Neck frill
Downward curve
SHORT AND STRONG
This horned dinosaur’s short neck
supported a head heavier than two men.
For added strength, the first four cervical
vertebrae, or neck bones, were fused. Its
pachycephalosaur relatives
had short necks, too,
which perhaps helped
prevent whiplash
injuries if the dinosaurs
banged heads.

Pentaceratops

Corythosaurus

Braincase
Cervical vertebra
A CURVED NECK
Some dinosaur necks were sharply curved.
Corythosaurus and other hadrosaurs (duck-billed
dinosaurs) had necks that bent down from the
shoulders before turning up again. This is similar
to the way bison necks are kinked. The hadrosaurs
might have fed near the ground. They lived in the
Cretaceous Period, so they may have eaten herbaceous
(soft-stemmed) flowering plants. But they could
rear their heads and also might have munched
on the lower leaves of some trees.

Cervical rib
FLEXIBLE AND POWERFUL
Small theropods uncoiled
their necks like springs
to strike at prey; big
theropods’ necks had
heavier work to do. Supporting
Tyrannosaurus’s huge, but fairly lightweight, head
required a powerful neck. While its muscular Tyrannosaurus
legs supported Tyrannosaurus on the ground, Mandible skeleton
its neck transferred the strength from the
legs to the head as the jaws wrenched
meaty chunks from the body of its prey.

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