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Why the Loch Ness Monster is no plesiosaur
New Scientist ^ | 02 November 2006

Posted on 12/06/2006 10:27:08 AM PST by presidio9

It has been described as a snake threaded through the body of a turtle, and some imaginative people think there's one living in Loch Ness.

The plesiosaur, a marine reptile that lived 160 million years ago, looked like nothing alive today, with a neck that was some 2 metres long, the length of the body and tail combined. Why it needed such a long neck has been a mystery, but now Leslie Noè of the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, UK, has an answer.

Plesiosaurs used their long necks to reach down and feed on soft-bodied animals living on the sea floor, Noè told the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Ottawa, Canada, last month. He examined fossils of a plesiosaur called Muraenosaurus, and by calculating the articulation of the neck bones he concluded the neck was flexible and could move most easily when pointing down. "The neck was a feeding tube, collecting soft-bodied prey," he says. The small skulls of plesiosaurs couldn't cope with hard-shelled prey.

He also has some disappointing news. "The osteology of the neck makes it absolutely certain that the plesiosaur could not lift its head up swan-like out of the water," Noè says, ruling the reptile out as a candidate for the Loch Ness

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Pets/Animals; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: batboy; callingartbell; cryptozoology; lochnessmonster; napoleandynamite; nessie; plesiosaur

1 posted on 12/06/2006 10:27:10 AM PST by presidio9
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To: pcottraux

ping


2 posted on 12/06/2006 10:29:55 AM PST by presidio9 (Tagline Censored)
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To: presidio9

I don't know about that but my 6 year old loves that truck ad.


3 posted on 12/06/2006 10:31:45 AM PST by SF Republican
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To: presidio9

It's a Pelosi-saur


4 posted on 12/06/2006 10:34:00 AM PST by NeoCaveman (I support our troops when they open fire on our journalists (and all other times too, of course))
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To: SF Republican

The important thing here is that we have a legitimate scientific journal discussing Nessie as if she may actually exist.


5 posted on 12/06/2006 10:35:45 AM PST by presidio9 (Tagline Censored)
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To: presidio9

Did they have gills, or breathing holes on top of their heads? Otherwise, how would they breathe?


6 posted on 12/06/2006 10:43:05 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( Vote other in the poll.)
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To: presidio9
The important thing here is that we have a legitimate scientific journal discussing Nessie as if she may actually exist.

Legitimate? Not after posting that story.
Which grocery store gossip rag are they trying to compete with?

7 posted on 12/06/2006 10:43:23 AM PST by cuz_it_aint_their_money
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To: presidio9

you are joking - I hope


8 posted on 12/06/2006 10:49:47 AM PST by SF Republican
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To: presidio9

Last week, Japanese scientists explaced... placed
explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to
blow Nessie out of the water. Sir Godfrey of the Nessie
Alliance summoned the help of Scotland's local wizards to
cast a protective spell over the lake and its local
residents and all those who seek for the peaceful
existence of our underwater ally.

9 posted on 12/06/2006 10:50:00 AM PST by SquirrelKing
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To: cuz_it_aint_their_money
Weekly World News - Home of Batboy!

Headline. Rally for Mermaid Safe Tuna!

10 posted on 12/06/2006 11:07:39 AM PST by Young Werther
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To: Young Werther

No referrences to Batboy without a picture.

11 posted on 12/06/2006 11:14:50 AM PST by presidio9 (Tagline Censored)
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To: SF Republican

Are you saying that literally dozens of crackpots over the years are ALL lying?


12 posted on 12/06/2006 11:14:51 AM PST by presidio9 (Tagline Censored)
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To: presidio9

A Coulterism?


13 posted on 12/06/2006 11:29:02 AM PST by Young Werther
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To: presidio9
Guess we'll have to get rid of a bunch of those pictures that show what the plesiosaur might have looked like...


14 posted on 12/06/2006 12:22:42 PM PST by Sopater (Creatio Ex Nihilo)
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To: presidio9
Some other discussion on Nessie and plesiosaurs at "The Plesiosaur Site".
15 posted on 12/06/2006 12:24:47 PM PST by Sopater (Creatio Ex Nihilo)
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To: Angelas; presidio9; Idisarthur; Hegemony Cricket; A knight without armor; new cruelty; SunkenCiv; ..
I agree, although that doesn't mean there isn't SOMEthing in the water.

Image hosting by Photobucket

16 posted on 12/06/2006 1:23:33 PM PST by pcottraux (It's pronounced "P. Coe-troe.")
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To: Jedi Master Pikachu
Did they have gills, or breathing holes on top of their heads? Otherwise, how would they breathe?

They were reptiles which have lungs.

17 posted on 12/06/2006 6:18:36 PM PST by curmudgeonII (One man...and the Lord...are a majority.)
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To: presidio9
The important thing here is that we have a legitimate scientific journal discussing Nessie as if she may actually exist.

Thank you. A voice of sane intelligence in a world of mocking disbelievers, most of whom have probably spent little time in the real outdoors and don't understand the mysteries of the animal kingdom.

18 posted on 12/06/2006 9:09:39 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (If you don't want people to get your goat, don't tell them where it's tied.)
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To: presidio9

Well said!


19 posted on 12/06/2006 10:14:22 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Thursday, November 16, 2006 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Inyo-Mono

a couple of college students actually found a very large tooth in the carcass of a deer on the bank of the Lockness a few years ago. It was found to be from the eel family and given the size of the tooth it had to come from one about 50 feet long and with a very big head!
This is for real...coasttocoast did a show on it and photos of the tooth were shown. They sold it for a pretty large sum of money.


20 posted on 12/06/2006 10:56:01 PM PST by fabian
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