Sauropod dinosaurs could not support their own weight on land and required water buoyancy to survive.
Skeletal biomechanical analysis shows sauropods possessed robust columnar limbs, reinforced vertebral columns, and stress-resistant bone architecture optimized for terrestrial weight-bearing. Trackways demonstrate sauropods walked across dry landscapes leaving clear footprints without buoyancy assistance. Their bone density and internal architecture mirrors modern land animals like elephants scaled to enormous size. The outdated water-dependency hypothesis reflected misunderstanding of reptilian locomotion and ignored clear terrestrial evidence. Modern understanding confirms sauropods were fully terrestrial, though they may have frequented water for feeding and thermoregulation.