A cube, one meter on a side, filled with water, is one metric ton.

Thing of the past, better find a better object!

And a question: what kinds of ground conditions can support a ground pressure of 56 pounds per square inch?

If our new dinosaur weighs 65 regular tons and its foot is about 2 feet long in each direction (rough guess from picture), then a single footprint is 4 square feet. Four feet on the ground = total ground contact area of 16 square feet. 65 tons divided by 16 square feet = ground pressure of 4.06 tons per square foot, or (4.06 x 2000) 8,120 pounds per square foot. One square foot = 144 square inches, so 8,120 divided by 144 = approx. 56.4 pounds per square inch.

So our dinosaur is putting approx. 56 pounds per square inch of pressure on the ground just standing there, and of course when it walks, its point pressure will be momentarily higher on each foot as its weight redistributes while walking.

If a 200 pound human has a foot that measures approx. 12″ x 4″, that’s 48 square inches, so the human is putting 4.16 pounds per square inch on the ground. Our dinosaur’s ground pressure per square inch is approx. 14 times as much as our human’s. The dinosaur is going to be much more likely to sink in soft ground than the human. (Humans, take note: if you have to outrun a dinosaur, head for a swamp.)

As for reproduction, unless the evidence points to large dinosaurs remaining on their feet all their lives, they would have had a way to lie down to rest, and get back up again. Or if they deposited eggs while standing, the actual drop height would have been closer to 12′ (rough estimate from the picture), which is still quite enough to damage an egg falling on solid ground. The dinosaurs might also have laid their eggs on soft ground or in or near water, or built some kind of soft nests into which to deposit eggs, or laid eggs from a lying-down position.

But the more difficult part would be fertilization. Assuming the usual nonhuman animal copulatory posture, about half the weight of the male is distributed onto the female’s back: 32 tons. The total weight of two dinosaurs is distributed to six feet on the ground rather than eight, plus the likelihood of rhythmic increased point-loading of ground pressure during copulation. Alternately the female releases unfertilized eggs and the male fertilizes them in place, in a manner analogous to that of amphibians, plus or minus the difference in the composition of the eggs that might rule out that method.

With all that, the fact that these animals managed to exist at all is somewhat amazing. The sheer quantity of food needed, the risk of sinking into the soil during normal activities, the reproductive issues, etc., are all difficult issues to overcome. But anything that nature doesn’t forbid, nature requires, whether in large measure or small.

Correct!

It could have been an allegory for genetic material????