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DINOSAUR ANATOMY AND BEHAVIOR

General Anatomy

Size

Teeth

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Offense

Defense

Reproduction, Nests & Eggs

Blood Pressure

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Tails

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Skin

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Hot or Cold Blooded?

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

The heads (and brains) of the long-necked dinosaurs were held high above their hearts. In the larger sauropods, the head could be up to 26 feet (8 m) above the heart! This presents a problem in blood-flow engineering. Paleontologists use giraffes as models to estimate Brachiosaurus blood flow. Brachiosaurus' neck articulation was more vertical (giraffe-like) than a lot of other sauropods, and could feed at heights of about 30 feet.

In order to pump enough oxygenated blood to the head to operate a Brachiosaurus' brain (even this tiny sauropod brain) would require:

A large, powerful heart - A heart weighing about 880 pounds (400 kg) would be needed to pump blood up the huge blood vessels at high pressure.
Tremendous blood pressure - It has been estimated that large sauropods needed a pumping (systolic) blood pressure of over 600 mm of Hg (Mercury). In contrast, most mammals (including people) have systolic pressure of about 100 - 150 mm of Hg. Even the giraffes only have a systolic pressure of about 300 mm of Hg.
Huge, muscular blood vessels - Very wide arteries would be necessary to contain neck blood flow. These vessels would need many one-way valves to keep the blood from flowing back down again before reaching the top. Also, when the neck bends downwards, too much back-flow of blood to the head would necessitate one-way valves in the veins.

ZoomDinosaurs.com
DINOSAUR ANATOMY AND BEHAVIOR
General Anatomy Size Teeth Herds, Packs Offense Defense Reproduction, Nests & Eggs Blood Pressure
Skeleton Tails Brains Male or Female? Skin Diet Locomotion Life Span Hot or Cold Blooded?

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