Posted on 12/04/2007 12:49:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge
OSLO, Norway - Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric "monster" reptile found on a remote Arctic island may be a new species never before recorded by science, researchers said Tuesday.
Initial excavation of a site on the Svalbard islands in August yielded the remains, teeth, skull fragments and vertebrae of a reptile estimated to measure nearly 40 feet long, said Joern Harald Hurum of the University of Oslo.
"It seems the monster is a new species," he told The Associated Press.
The reptile appears be the same species as another sea predator whose remains were found nearby on Svalbard last year. His team described those 150-million-year-old remains as belonging to a short-necked plesiosaur measuring more than 30 feet "as long as a bus ... with teeth larger than cucumbers."
The short-necked plesiosaur was a voracious reptile often compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex of the oceans.
Mark Evans, a plesiosaur expert at the Leicester City Museums in Britain, said he not know enough about the Norwegian find to comment on it specifically. But he said new types of the sea reptiles are being found regularly.
"We are regularly seeing new species of plesiosaurs popping up in a way because, in the past 10 or 15 years, there has been what we call a renaissance in plesiosaur research," Evans said by telephone.
Hurum said the team had only managed to excavate a 3-meter (yard) area of the find. The Norwegian-led team plans to present more detailed findings early next year, and return to Svalbard, 300 miles north of Norway's mainland, to excavate further next year.
Reptile = cold blooded, ie, can’t live in a cold climate.
Global warming or cooling?
http://www.nhm.uio.no/pliosaurus/english/index.html
NATURHISTORISK MUSEUM
Leviathan, is that you?
It’s an old species that died out. It’s what happens in nature. It wasn’t hit by an SUV!!
Start the Teddy and Helen Thomas jokes.
more than a year ago..
Remains of Ancient Reptile Are Found [size of a bus] ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1714245/posts
Posted by null and void
On News/Activism ^ 10/05/2006 8:36:14 AM PDT · 20 replies · 867+ views
MyWay via Drudge ^ | Oct 5, 7:59 AM (ET | Not attributed
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Researchers on Thursday announced the discovery of the remains of a short-necked plesiosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile the size of a bus, that they believe is the first complete skeleton ever found. The 150 million year old remains of the 33-foot ocean going predator were found in August on the remote Svalbard Islands of the Arctic, the University of Oslo announced. Fragments of plesiosaur have been found elsewhere, including in England, Russia, and Argentina, but researcher Joern Harald Hurum said the partially fossilized Svalbard find appeared to be the first whole example. “We are quite sure...
‘Monster’ fossil find in Arctic (First complete pliosaur and ichthyosaur skeletons ever found) ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1714208/posts
Posted by DaveLoneRanger
On News/Activism ^ 10/05/2006 8:03:56 AM PDT · 31 replies · 1,268+ views
BBC ^ | October 5, 2006 | Paul Rincon
Norwegian scientists have discovered a “treasure trove” of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles that roamed the seas at the time of the dinosaurs. The 150 million-year-old fossils were uncovered on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard - about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. The finds belong to two groups of extinct marine reptiles - the plesiosaurs and the ichthyosaurs. One skeleton has been nicknamed The Monster because of its enormous size. These animals were the top predators living in what was then a relatively cool, deep sea. Palaeontologists from the University of Oslo’s Natural History...
remains found?
Was it lost? Just the way I read the head line.
“It seems the monster is a new species,” he told The Associated Press.
The reptile appears be the same species as another sea predator
Sounds like the journalist may be confused.
(2) The reptile appears be the same species as another sea predator whose remains were found nearby on Svalbard last year.
The AP employs the finest writers on earth.
Evidence abounds that these animals lit all their Menorah candles and ate too much starchy beans which added to their flatulence!!!
AKA the flora fossils show a tropical setting during the time these animals roamed the wild. So the shift of the axis and plate techtonics are considerd the main factor in the remains being where they wwere found!!!
Forensic scientists speculate that Godzilla woke one morning, hit the snooze, and just didn’t get up again. The Japanese flag will be at half mast for the remainder of December.
Yeah, Darwin’s “tree of life” turned upside down -
Cambrian explosion of species, followed by extinction of most of them.
Yeah, I read “remains found” as in
they found it, so, it’s “found”, and they didn’t lose it again, so, it “remains found”.
Best I can figure they weren’t able to identify the first specimen completely and now find it matches the second specimen.
thats the way i read it, too.
Ever hear of the H.A.B. theory?
In short, since the poles are always sub-freezing and therefore precipitation never melts, it accumulates.
Since the Earth rotates on an axis that is not perpendicular to the Sun, every 15,000 or so years the Earth "wobbles" onto it's side (like top).
So almost instantiously, the poles are moved to the equator and the equator becomes the poles.
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