Posted on 10/17/2005 7:25:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Tracks of a previously unknown swimming dinosaur have been found along the shores of an ancient sea in Wyoming, scientists announced today.
The tracks reveal an event 165 million years ago when a six-foot-tall, two-legged dinosaur waded into the inland sea and gradually lost touch with the ground.
"It was about the size of an ostrich, and it was a meat-eater," said Debra Mickelson, a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student. "The tracks suggest it waded along the shoreline and swam offshore, perhaps to feed on fish or carrion."
Mickelson was scheduled to present her team's findings at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting this week Salt Lake City.
This is the first evidence for a swimming dinosaur in Wyoming, and also the first evidence for any dinosaur in the state during the middle Jurassic period, Mickelson said.
The search is on for bones, and no name has been issued yet.
"It is a dinosaur with bird-like characteristics and is a possible ancestor of birds," Mickelson said. "It lived in a much earlier time period and was very different from larger dinosaurs like T. rex or Allosaurus."
The tracks are embedded in ancient tidal flats of what's dubbed the Sundance Sea, which is thought to have covered Wyoming, Colorado and other parts of the western United States. It might have been warm and relatively shallow, much like the Gulf of Mexico is today, scientists say.
"The swimming dinosaur had four limbs and it walked on its hind legs, which each had three toes," Mickelson said. "The tracks show how it became more buoyant as it waded into deeper water -- the full footprints gradually become half-footprints and then only claw marks."
The tracks were found among traces of ancient crocodiles and marine worms.
Maybe the ground subsided as one advances from point A to Point F after a large birdlike creature was lifting its prey from the ground to feed its young.....
I tbhnk it's just my sister in-law.
Based on the evidence presented, I think the plumage was a very pale yellow, with faint reddish streaks. :-)
Or maybe it could fly itself.
Of course, the tell-tale sign of the hypothesis is in the evidence provided that the animal swam. If I ever left footprints while being taught to swim, I would have been told I wasn't really swimming and to move to deeper water.
The professor must've have been given a timeout when he took swimming lessons, instead of a swat.
I think it's an interesting find. The projections are a little over the top, given the amount of information available, though.
Perhaps it was being lifted by a flying predator? heh
And even if they did find the tracks, how would mere tracks tell them the thing was a "meat eater", and that it was 165 million years old? I think what they found was some good ghanga and smoked a little before writing this hillarious sci-fi crap.
Somehow I knew that someone would mention the Norwegian Blue, with its beautiful plumage. Just couldn't bring myself to do it at the time. /grin
Yeah,,,this one has me really puzzled...how does one
leave tracks in wet seabottom anyway......?
Is this a real report?
Did you manage to make it as far as the second line of the story? Or, if reading comprehension was too much, did you manage to notice the accompanying illustration?
how would mere tracks tell them the thing was a "meat eater", and that it was 165 million years old?
The size and shape of the foot would tell you approximately how large the creature was. The shape of the foot, and the presence or absence of features such as talons, would tell you whether or not it was a carnivore. The age of the sedimentary rock in which the tracks were found would tell you that they were laid down 165 million years ago.
I think what they found was some good ghanga and smoked a little before writing this hillarious sci-fi crap.
There is always the faint possibility that, unlike you, they actually have some idea what they're talking about.
Might have been clay/mud...
Maybe it was trying to escape a landslide or lava flow by running into the water? Something had to have come and preserve those underwater tracks pretty soon afterwards.
If there are tracks underwater and they are preserved doesn't that suggest a catastrophic event that would have chased this poor dino to his death in the water?
Interesting that the story mentions Ostriches, because Ostriches actually have remnants of claws underneath their wings. They're the largest living birds, and they actually hiss at a perceived threat.
Beats me, to both questions. Heck, almost any animal can swim and most of them are certainly not built for it. (Except me.)
Not being able to swim, that is.
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