Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nessie's Grandma?


I have long been a fan of "Nessie" The Loch Ness Monster.Saw this recently:

" The remains of a Loch Ness-style creature that lived in the English Channel 200 million years ago have been found on a beach.

The remains were discovered by Tracey Marler under rocks on Monmouth Beach near Lyme Regis, Dorset.

She first found a single bone in limestone. She and partner Chris Moore, an expert in fossils, returned to the scene and they found four more bones....


Archaeologists have spent months piecing together dozens of old bones found encased in limestone on Britain’s Jurassic Coast by a fossil hunter.

After nearly completing the jigsaw-like puzzle they have disclosed that the skeleton, which is 70 per cent complete, is that of a 12ft long plesiosaur.


The marine reptile resembled the Loch Ness monster with its long thin neck and tail, four large flippers and razor-sharp teeth.

Plesiosaurs existed during the Jurassic period 150 to 200 million years ago when what is now the Channel was a shallow, tropical sea.

Detailed examination of the bones revealed teeth marks from where a predatory dinosaur would have feasted on the carcass of the “lake monster”.



“Some of the back bones were completely in place where they should be and the neck bone was there as well. You could see some of the bones had actually been chewed up a bit.

“There are teeth marks and you can see how the skeleton had been torn apart by some other nasty marine reptile.

“Plesiosaurs lived in shallow, warm tropical seas. They had long necks and sharp teeth and would have chased after and eaten fish.

“Their predator would have been the ichthyosaur which was carnivorous.”


Source: sanfranciscocronical Fill article:

http://monstersandmyths.com/

5 comments:

Kim Caro said...

im always scared at the lake by my aunts...i wont go in cause of critters.
circlesareforever.etsy.com
circlesareforever.blogspot.com

Christie Cottage said...

When I was a child, I wanted to go se the lochness monster for vacation. :-)

mermaiden said...

i'm going on vacation to the beach tomorrow, but all i expect to find is shells- one can dream, though!

UniqueNurseGranny said...

Thanks for the comments.Have to watch the warer...

Beth Howard said...

I have to say, Nessie has always been my favorite of all the mythical, unsolved mystery creatures - probably due to a lifelong love of dinosaurs :) Very interesting!