Plesiosaurus Fever is Back with Norway Find Announced Today

According to the University of Oslo website, a team of scientists found a new Plesiousaurus skeleton in the Svabard Islands of Norway. It is a new finding amongst a series of findings from the area. According to Wikipedia.com, a Plesiosaur is an aquatic reptile superorder that lived during the early part of the Jurassic and thrived until the K-T extinction (when a meteor crashed into the ocean near Mexico). Scientists classify animals in the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Superorder, Family, Genus. Species system.

A Plesiosaurus is:

* Kingdom-Animal

* Phylum-Chordata(Vertebrates-meaning has a backbone)

* Class-Sauropsida (Giant plant eaters)

* Order-Plesiosauria (long-necked, flippered sea creature with the head of a lizard, teeth of a crocodile and body of a snake[3])

* Superorder-Plesiosauroidea

* Family--Plesiosaurus

* Genus-Plesiosaurus

Part of the popularity of Plesiosaurus is it is the Genus that defined the entire order when it was found by Mary Anning in the early 1800's. The order was officially declared in 1825 by Gray. Plesiosaurs are found around the world in areas that were flooded Kansas, Germany, England, in areas where clay was later covered by limestone called lias, according to Wikipedia.com. With the bones many Jurassic repile fauna are also found according to Plesiosaur.com.]

See a video of a simulated plesiosaurus. Good examples of the bones structures are found on the Plesiosaur.com website and on the University of Oslo website.

The scientists believe the skeleton found may be a new species[ according to the University of Oslo website. Superorder, Family and Genus differences in the Plesiosaurs vary by neck length, tail length, jaw size and type, head size and abdomen area and overall size. The Plesiosaurs with long necks are from Family Elasmosauridae, short necks are Elasmosauridae.

A plesiosaur's head is smaller than a crocodiles, with teeth set in separate sockets with breathing aperatures behind the orbits. The head is extremely small, about 1/4^th the length of the the neck which has almost 40 vertebrae, with the body and tail having an equal amount.The paddles have fewer and more fragile bones of the later, Icthysaurus family. A plesiosaur most likely ate clams and other bottom dwelling seafood, digesting it with the aid of inner stones.

The Jurassic was when dinosaurs flourished. It was a time when Pangaea--what the combined landmass of the continental plates is called-- split into the continents of Gondwanaland and Laurasia, the sea levels rose and the climate was warm and moist. A time that resembles what many expect the world to look like again if global warming continues.

Global warming is one reason everyone is interested in Plesiosaurs. Global warming may well be the reason so many skeletons are now being found in the Norwegian Arctic.

Plesiosaurus fever is fed by the hope of actually finding live dinosaurs. According to the GenesisPark.org website, reports of Globsters washed up in Malaysia, an unidentified carcass washed up in Japan in 1972 started popular interest in Japan. Another reason is the romance of the many sea serpent sightings in lagoons. Popular myths place plesiosaurs in Scotland Loch Ness' "Nessie", US Lake Champlain's "Champ", Canada Lake Okanagon's "Ogopogo", Argentine Nahuel Huapi's "Nahuelito", Vermont-Quebec Lake Memphremagog's "Memphre" and others. What is more fun than to hope to see a long neck rising above the foggy surface of a wintry lake?

[1] Ultimate Visual Dictionary, DK Publishing Corp, www.dk.com
[2] Visual Dictionary of Animals, Weldon Owen, Barnes and Nobel Books
[3] The Medals of Creation: Or, First Lessons In Geology and the Study of Organic Remains, by Gideon A. Mantell