16 March 2009

I heart predatory sea creatures


They discovered a fossil of a huge predatory sea creature in Norway. (It's cold up there so I hope it had a sweater on.)

My favorite thing about the discovery of these creatures is that it highlights how much we don't know about life as it existed before humans arrived. We plod along and try to piece the puzzle together but the truth is we can only guess, we can't really know. On the upside we get some really cool "artistic renderings" but those have only slightly more scientific value than the drawing that you see here. The guy that drew the fancy one over on the Guardian is definitely a more qualified artist, but we have both seen exactly as many living pliosaurs as you have: zero. Just sayin'.

I'm fond of my own rendering. He's having a Galapagos tortoise for a snack. Grrrrrrr...

Special bonus: the fossil-hunters called in the wonderfully named Dr. Frank Fish, who is an expert on the biomechanics of cetacean flippers. And his last name is Fish. And he's an expert on fish. Hello? Is this thing on?

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