An ancient reptile that escapes because of its long, giraffe-like neck may have lived in the ocean and not on land, scientists have said.
The findings, published in the journal Current biology, are based on a digital reconstruction of the crushed skull of Tanystropheus, who lived more than 240 million years ago.
Although scientists first described in 1852 debated whether the reptile, which is more than 6 meters long, lived on land or under water, because his “bizarre body” did not make things clear in one way or another. “.
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TanystropheusThe neck was 3 meters long – three times as long as his torso – but not very flexible and had only 13 extremely elongated vertebrae to hold it in place.
The researchers said the reptile’s neck resembled the giraffe’s high neck, which has only seven neck bones. The bone reconstruction, however, turned out to be Tanystropheus to have “several very clear adaptations for life in water”.
The researchers found that their nostrils lay on top of the snout, similar to those of today’s crocodiles.
In addition, the teeth were long and crooked, which would have helped in catching smooth prey such as fish.
Olivier Rieppel, a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, USA, and one of the authors of the study, described the creature as “a blunt crocodile with a very, very long neck”.
He added: “That neck makes no sense in an earthly environment.
“It’s just an awkward structure to transfer.”
Despite being a being of the ocean, the researchers believe Tanystropheus may have been a bad swimmer, due to “the lack of visible adjustments for swimming in the limbs and tail”.
Stephan Spiekman, a paleontologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and lead author of the study, said: “It probably hunted by stealthily approaching its prey in expensive water with its small head and very long neck to stay hidden.”
Tanystropheus lived 242 million years ago, in the Middle Triassic, when dinosaurs just began to appear on land and giant reptiles dominated the sea.
Remains of this creature were discovered at Monte San Giorgio on the border between Switzerland and Italy.
Scientists have also found fossils in the area that resemble them Tanystropheus but are just 1.2 m long.
To find out if these smaller specimens were juveniles as a separate species, the researchers examined the bones to look for rings, which then determined the age of the species.
Analysis showed that the smaller creatures were mediocre, indicating that they belonged to a different species, Tanystropheus longobardicus.
Nick Fraser, keeper of natural sciences at National Museums Scotland and a co-author on paper, said: “It is very important to discover that there were two rather distinct species of this bizarre long-necked reptile that swam and they lived side by side in the coastal waters of the great sea of Tethys about 240 million years ago. “
Mr Spiekman added: “These two closely related species were evolved to use different food sources in the same environment.
‘The small species that are likely to feed on small crustaceans, such as shrimp, as opposed to the fish and ducks that eat the large species.
“This is really remarkable, because we expect the bizarre neck of Tanystropheus to be specialized for one task, such as the neck of a giraffe.
‘But in fact it could lead to different lifestyles. This changes the way we look at this animal. “
Reader Q&A: How do dinosaur footprints become fossil?
Asked by: Rob French, Sheffield
First, the creatures must step through sediment that is sufficient to absorb their footprints, but not so cheerfully it is washed before they are protected by fresh sediment.
Each footprint then has three chances to become a fossil: as the original impression (the ‘real track’), as its bold impression in the underlying layers (the ‘sub-company’), or as a new sediment to fill in the original impression (the ‘natural cast’) and heating. However, as the layers of sediment build up, the pressure turns to rock which – given even more luck – will keep the print intact for aeons.
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