An incomplete cranium. That’s it? How do they know it was reptilian?
Too bad they didn’t find a tooth, so they could tell us what kind of music the beast liked (probably hip hop).
Because they studied paleontology, you can't do this by just reading Free Republic
“How do they know it was reptilian?”
Process of elimination. They ruled out Grays and Zeta Reticulans.
>> An incomplete cranium. That’s it? How do they know it was reptilian? <<
It’s not. It’s mammalian. Mammals and their branch of the amniote* tree have one hole on each side of their jaw, allowing jaw muscles to slip through the hole, creating the ability to move the jaw side to side, thus allowing mammals to chew food much better.
Not sure why they call it “reptile-like,” since they seem to suggest it was hairy and suckled its young.
*amniotes include mammals, birds and what you probably learned to call reptiles. Although now, the reptiles on the mammalian side, which are all extinct, are called “synapsids,” referring to this jaw structure.