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Fossil 'Suggests Plesiosaurs Did Not Lay Eggs'

Posted by timothy on from the fossil-ventriloquism dept.

thebchuckster writes "Scientists say they have found the first evidence that giant sea reptiles — which lived at the same time as dinosaurs — gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs. They say a 78 million-year-old fossil of a pregnant plesiosaur suggests they gave birth to single, large young."

4 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    More science, please.

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    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. Livebearers by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Informative

    Shouldn't be too surprising- livebearing shows up in all sorts of families that typically lay eggs- especially aquatic animals. Everyone is familiar with the humble guppy. You buy one for your daughter despite your better judgement- one week later you're overrun with the gaudy ugly fish as the live young start popping out everywhere. Many species of snail give birth to live young. Or "nearly so". Malaysian Trumpet snails and Quilted Melania two "cloning" species can pop out up to 9 live babies at a time. Even sexually reproducing snails can give live birth- species of Tylomelania from Sulawesi lay a single egg at a time that disolves before your eyes (if you're lucky) to reveal a minature snail. That doesn't mean live-bearing fish or mollusks are common- and if this dino gave live-birth, it doesn't mean that it was common with dinosaurs either.

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    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  3. upsetting science by macraig · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not good science unless it upsets somebody who dislikes having their gospel (or canon, for the more sociologically correct) challenged. Good science always bruises egos.

    I don't personally get it, though. Do the authors of buggy code that gets patched by others also get upset? They should be happy the code finally works.

    Still, why on earth would it ever upset someone who didn't discover/propose/create what's being challenged?

  4. Re:Plesiosaurs are not dinosaurs by dryeo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was recently reading somewhere that crocodiles (and other Crocodilia) were at one time warm blooded. The evidence being that they have a 4 chamber heart like most warm blooded animals. It was theorized that they reverted to being cold blooded at some point in their evolution.
    Interestingly crocodilia also have a neo-cortex and diaphragm unlike all other extent reptiles.
    As usual Wikipedia has a bit about it, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodilia#Internal_organs

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