- Norwegian researchers on a remote Arctic island have
recovered rare fossil remains of two giant marine reptiles, one of them
reminiscent of the fabled Loch Ness monster.
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- The well-preserved fossils of the extinct ichthyosaur
and plesiosaur were found on the Svalbard islands, north of the Norwegian
mainland.
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- Team member Hans Arne Nakrem said "The find is really
quite unique. What is completely new is that we have the cranium of an
ichthyosaur for the first time."
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- Plesiosaurs were adapted to life in the ocean, with very
long necks and tails, plump bodies and legs that had evolved into flippers.
They could be up to 50 feet long.
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- "They look like we imagine Nessie of Loch Ness,"
said Joern Hurum, a dinosaur expert who led the team. He said with their
huge jaws, they were at the top of the food chain and were the killing
machines of the sea.
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- "Their jaws could cut anything else into small pieces,"
Hurum said from Svalbard.
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- Ichthyosauria, which is Latin for "fish reptiles,"
looked like fish, with a dorsal fin, tail fin and legs that worked like
paddles.
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- The animals lived roughly 160 million years ago, and
became extinct about 65 million years ago.
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- +++
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- Support Cryptozoology Daily!
-
- Buy or Gift a Copy of
-
- The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and Other
Mystery Denizens of the Deep (NY: Tarcher-Penguin, 2003)
-
- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1585422525/cryptozoologi-20
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- http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3444256
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