Posted on 10/18/2005 7:19:16 AM PDT by Junior
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Researchers have found tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur with birdlike characteristics in northern Wyoming and are looking for bones and other remains in order further identify and name it.
"It was about the size of an ostrich, and it was a meat-eater," said Debra Mickelson, a University of Colorado graduate student in geological sciences. "The tracks suggest it waded along the shoreline and swam offshore, perhaps to feed on fish or carrion."
The tracks indicate a dinosaur that was about 6 feet tall and lived about 165 million years ago along an ancient inland sea, Mickelson said in a university news release.
"The swimming dinosaur had four limbs and it walked on its hind legs, which each had three toes," she 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."
Mickelson said research so far by herself and others supports the "conclusion that the dinosaurs were intentionally swimming out to sea, perhaps to feed."
Mickelson was presenting her findings at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting this week in Salt Lake City and was unavailable for comment.
The finding would be significant because so far no one has been able to prove that aquatic dinosaurs existed, Joanna Wright, assistant professor of geology at the University of Colorado-Denver, said Monday. There were swimming reptiles that are now extinct, Wright said.
Wright said she has not reviewed what Mickelson and other researchers involved have found, but she would be interested in seeing photos of the tracks.
The news has perked up the ears of some prominent paleontologists.
"I'm not a trackway specialist, but it sounds pretty cool to me," Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies and one of the nation's leading fossil hunters, said by telephone from Bozeman, Mont.
Horner said he was unaware of any previously discovered dinosaur tracks "where it actually goes from land into the water."
The unique tracks were found at a number of sites in northern Wyoming, including the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area along the Wyoming-Montana state line.
The tracks are embedded in a layer of rock known as the Middle Jurassic Bajocian Gypsum Spring Formation. Geologists believe an inland sea covered Wyoming and a large area of the western United States during the Jurassic period from about 157 million to 165 million years ago.
Mickelson said the unidentified dinosaur tracks are found among tracks left by many animals, including ancient crocodiles and marine worms, and are of different sizes.
The tracks suggest that the dinosaur traveled in packs and exhibited some variation in overall size, she said.
Mickelson collaborated her findings with researchers from CU-Boulder, Indiana University, Dartmouth College, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Massachusetts.
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Yikes. This makes the coyotes around here seem almost harmless. Imagine having one of these running around your yard.
Read 98.
I'm not budging until you answer yes or no on each of these.
Answer the question "Junior"...I'm reading in anticipation, to bad P.H. couldn't stick around to help you out....
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LOL!!
I mean... what are we suppose to take of that? I guess he should have stayed at Ramada Inn instead of Holiday Inn.
The ways these guys play is all the Evo's. gang up and start calling everyone else stupid...Why is P.H. not coming to the aid of "Junior" ?
I amuse you? I make you laugh?
You think I'm some sort of clown, here for your amusement?
http://wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Pesci#From_Goodfellas
(The foregoing quote has been endorsed by 9 out of ten smart****** and has received numerous awards and junk like that, right Wally? ;-)
So you don't think it's a proven fact that a spaceship can orbit the earth?
And since you answered no on the first question.... now I'm really confused..... who first suggested that a space ship could enter into orbit around the earth? And was a theory that this person suggested? A hypothisis? Speculation? Or ... just dumb luck?
I think if you just ask 1000 americans on the street if it is a proven fact that a spaceship can orbit the earth... well I think 1000 of them would say "duh yeah... we've done that". But maybe they're all wrong? And maybe my opinion about all 1000 of them agreeing is just a theory that needs to be evaluated. Can you send me some cash so I can work on the project over the weekends?
BTW, Junior, there are some non-carnosaur three-toed prints -- e.g. iguanodon type -- but they look very different from the carnosaur tracks (e.g. big fat toes with heavy foot pads, claw marks rare, etc).
So are you saying that you are not 100% certain that a space ship can orbit the earth?
Junior: There is only about a 14 percent chance you are right.
Actually you're both WAY off on this one. I have absolute proof that these footprints could not have been made on a Tuesday. Monday is out as well..
I'll explain if nobody can figure it out.
"And since you answered no on the first question.... now I'm really confused..... "
We know.
So are you telling us that you're not 100% certain that a space ship can orbit the earth? What percent might you feel comfortable with as your assurance level?
:') Thanks. Will add to the catalog, but we already have this one:
Tracks of Swimming Dinosaur Found in Wyoming
LiveScience.com on yahoo | 10/17/05 | Robert Roy Britt
Posted on 10/17/2005 7:25:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504309/posts
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