Mechanical analysis of the wide-hipped titanosaur Savannasaurus elliottorum

Abstract

Fossil material of the wide-hipped titanosaurian sauropod Savannasaurus elliottorum from the Winton Formation has been described precisely. The authors, Poropat et al. (2020), reconstruct the original owner of the bones and draw well-founded conclusions about the evolution of Savannasaurus by connecting its body shape with its environment. These conclusions are in the sense of Bock and von Wahlert (in Evolution, 19, 269–299, 1965), on the level of the ultimate “Biological Role”. In fact there are also arguments on the level of the more proximate “Mechanical Function” to strengthen this view. The investigation of the mechanical conditions leads to a confirmation of the conclusions drawn by the authors of the study, now on the proximate level of “Function”. Like each functional analysis it bridges the gap between the morphological trait and the use made of it during lifetime. The mechanical stresses (or internal forces) evoked by forces acting on it from outside (or the external forces) are the immediate causes which dictate its shape; in the case of fossils, the shapes of skeletal elements.