Is it a mesosaur? |
Extinct reptile with 'toothy grin' found by fishermen as they rafted in remote
area of the Yamal peninsula.
Is it a mesosaur? Or some other kind of dinosaur? No-one is quite sure yet.
Siberian zoologists are rushing to the site to extract the crocodile-like remains before they are covered by ice and washed away in the spring floods next year.
Siberian zoologists are rushing to the site to extract the crocodile-like remains before they are covered by ice and washed away in the spring floods next year.
Intrepid tourists from the Wild North Fishing Club found fossil as they
rafted on the Ruta-Ru River. 'The boat of our group member Oleg Yushkov bumped against something. It was
not very deep there and he could discern a stone looking like the head of a
prehistoric animal', said the club's chairman Yevgeny Svitov. 'He made a photo
of the discovery and showed it to us. One source claimed it had a 'toothy
grin'.
'We were at first sceptical about his find, saying there could not be any mesosaurs on Yamal,' he said.
However, Yushkov sent his photos to Moscow scientists who confirmed that this
is the fossil of a mesosaur who had lived about 150 million years ago.'
He admitted: 'Research has to be carried out to establish the exact age of
the remnants.'
Some sources say that mesosaurs or 'middle lizards' - inhabited the earth
roughly 299 to 270 million years ago, long before the estimated 150 million
years of this specimen. Intriguingly, he said without further explanation: 'We
have information that in the upper reaches of the (Yamal) river there can be a
dozen such finds.'
Pavel Kosintsev, head of the Zoological Museum of the Institute of Plant and
Animal Ecology in Yekaterinburg, said: 'I was very surprised to receive these
pictures which perhaps shows a dinosaur skull. I cannot yet say, is this really
an ancient reptile. It is necessary to carefully examine the object.
'But, judging by the photographs, I acknowledge that there are dinosaurs with
sharp teeth and a large skull'.
Source - http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/ancient-monster-surfaces-in-siberian-river/
Photos - Wild North Fishing Club
More on the Mesosaurus
Cranial reconstruction of Mesosaurus, from Piñeiro et al. (2012a) Scientific American |
- http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2013/07/03/tet-zoo-guide-to-mesosaurs/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesosaur
Other News from Siberia on this blog
Siberian luminous earth worm
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/07/the-siberian-luminous-blue-earthworm.html
Mysterious hole has appeared in Siberia
The 262ft hole could have been made by a methane explosion or a meteorite crash.
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/07/mysterious-hole-has-appeared-in-siberia.html
More craters appearing in Siberia
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/07/mysterious-craters-appearing-in-russian.html
****************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting my blog. Your comments are always appreciated, but please do not include links.