Scientists have unraveled the enigma of a sea monster reminiscent of the Loch Ness monster – © All rights reserved
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Scientists have been intrigued by the Tanystropheus fossil for over a hundred years. The strange reptile resembling the Loch Ness monster or a prehistoric crocodile crossed with a giraffe.
He had been discovered in 1852 and the skeleton reconstructed in 1973.
Paleontologists have long known that the species once lived in the Monte San Giorgio basin in Switzerland during the Middle Triassic period (about 242 million years ago). They also knew that the strange 20-foot creature had a remarkably long neck that was half of its total length (so 3 meters).
But apart from that, the mystery remained unanswered and many questions remained unanswered in the scientific community: did these animals live on land or in water? What were their young people like? How did they interact with other species in their environment? Here are the answers.
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Scientists have used the computed tomography technology (CT) to digitally reconstruct the crushed skulls of the fossils, which revealed that these reptiles lived in water, as can be read in this new research published today in Current Biology.
“For those interested in Triassic reptiles, this has always been not only an iconic fossil, but also a subject of controversy and discussion“said Olivier Rieppel, paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the study’s authors.”I’ve been studying Tanystropheus for over 30 years so it’s extremely satisfying to see these creatures demystified.“
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An aquatic animal that looks like the Loch Ness watch
Digitally reconstructed fossils show that the anatomy of the skull and the placement of the nostrils of the Tanystropheus had the characteristics ofan aquatic animal. Researchers also found evidence that the Tanystropheus was an “ambush predator” that likely used its long, slender neck to approach prey.
“That long neck was not very flexible, it contained only 13 vertebrae and there were ribs which further limited mobility “, Rieppel explained. “But our study shows that this strange anatomy was much more adaptive and versatile than we thought before. “
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A second mystery solved
Scientists were also able to shed light on questions surrounding the different forms of these animals – a smaller and a larger one – whose fossils are found in the same region of modern Switzerland.
Previously, the smaller fossils were thought to be the baby version of the adult Tanystropheus. The smaller specimens looked very similar, but were only 4 feet tall compared to the 6 meters in ‘adult’ size. The researchers were able to examine the growth rings in cross-sections of Tanystropheus bones to determine that they were in fact two different species.
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“Small individuals are also fully developed, and this is surprising“said co-author Torsten Scheyer, associate researcher at the University of Zurich.”It’s like the growth rings on a tree – from there you can basically reconstruct the history of these animals.“
It means that two distinct species long-necked reptiles lived in the same area. However, fossils also revealed that both species had different types of teeth, which makes it appear that they were using different hunting strategies and therefore did not bother each other.
“Food resources in an ecosystem are limited and animals that resemble each other often develop different strategies … This is called niche sharing“Scheyer told CNN.”So, they shared the same habitat, but didn’t get in the way too much.“
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