Someone on Facebook asked whether sauropods had subcutaneous fat, and by the time my answer hit five paragraphs I thought, “The merciful thing to do here is blog this and link to it.” So here are some things to keep in mind regarding the integumentary systems of sauropods.

{.size-large .wp-image-14823 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14823” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/03/20/cervical-vertebrae-of-suuwassea-on-display-at-the-academy-of-natural-sciences-in-philadelphia/suuwassea-cervicals-at-the-academy-of-natural-sciences/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/suuwassea-cervicals-at-the-academy-of-natural-sciences.jpg” orig-size=“2400,1200” comments-opened=“1”

By contrast to the very delicate pelican humerus and ulna in the previous post, here is the left femur of Aepyornis OUMNH 4950 — an “elephant bird” from Antolanbiby, Madagascar.

Here are the humerus and ulna of a pelican, bisected: {.alignnone .size-full .wp-image-14798 loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14798” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/03/17/bisected-pelican-arm-bones-of-the-oxford-museum-of-natural-history/img_0904/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/img_0904.jpg” orig-size=“4000,3000” comments-opened=“1”

{.size-large .wp-image-14789 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14789” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/03/14/the-mounted-mamenchisaurus-at-wollaton-hall/m-hoch-from-below-at-wollaton-hall-2017/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/m-hoch-from-below-at-wollaton-hall-2017.jpg” orig-size=“1500,2000” comments-opened=“1” image-meta=“{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone

{.size-large .wp-image-14783 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14783” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/03/09/bibe-45854-the-giant-alamosaurus-cervical-series-from-big-bend-texas/alamosaurus-bibe-45854-right-anterolateral-with-wedel-for-scale/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/alamosaurus-bibe-45854-right-anterolateral-with-wedel-for-scale.jpg” orig-size=“2272,1704” comments-opened=“1”

{.size-large .wp-image-14770 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14770” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/03/02/the-pneumatic-tail-of-the-field-museum-apatosaurine-fmnh-p25112/dscn7510/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/dscn7510.jpg” orig-size=“2272,1704” comments-opened=“1”

{.size-large .wp-image-14776 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14776” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/02/26/off-topic-what-will-happen-to-my-tungsten-cube/tungsten-1-5-inch-cube/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/tungsten-1-5-inch-cube.jpg” orig-size=“3024,3024” comments-opened=“1”

{.size-large .wp-image-14753 .aligncenter loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“14753” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2018/02/20/distinguishing-cervicals-of-apatosaurines-and-camarasaurus/distinguishing-cervicals-of-apatosaurines-and-camarasaurus/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/distinguishing-cervicals-of-apatosaurines-and-camarasaurus.jpg” orig-size=“1200,1200” comments-opened=“1”

Open-access journalist Richard Poynder posted a really good interview today with the Gates Foundation’s Associate Officer of Knowledge & Research Services, Ashley Farley.