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Study: Ancient Mosasaurs Gave Birth In Open Sea

Posted by samzenpus on from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-doula dept.

An anonymous reader writes A new study published in the journal Palaeontology finds that Mosasaurs, the large marine lizards that once populated the waters about 65 million years ago, gave birth to live young in the open ocean. "Mosasaurs are among the best-studied groups of Mesozoic vertebrate animals, but evidence regarding how they were born and what baby mosasaur ecology was like has historically been elusive," said Daniel Field, lead author of a study published online April 10 in the journal Palaeontology. Field is a doctoral candidate in the lab of Jacques Gauthier in Yale's Department of Geology and Geophysics."

24 comments

  1. And now it's extinct. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lesson: Don't give birth in open sea.

    1. Re:And now it's extinct. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A good majority of the american public these days looks like they should be giving birth at sea...

  2. Stuff that matters? by manu0601 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Indeed news for nerds, but very specialized nerds...

    1. Re:Stuff that matters? by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is there any other kind?

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    2. Re:Stuff that matters? by dreamchaser · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Truly spoken by someone with a seven digit ID. Anything about dinosaurs or related kin is definitely News for Nerds and as such is Stuff that Matters to many of us who wouldn't have seen it otherwise. Now, get off my lawn.

  3. Slow day you said ? by nomad63 · · Score: 1

    Sundays are definitely slow days on the tech & science news front. It is amazing what makes it to the front page on Sundays.

    --

    __________
    The more I know people, the more I love animals
  4. But, the alternative was.. by See+Attached · · Score: 2

    The alternative for them was on land? I dont get the mysery of this one. Did hey have nests? Were they territorial? news that matters. please.

    --
    Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
    1. Re:But, the alternative was.. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The alternative for them was on land?

      No, the alternative would have been coastal waters, or an estuary. But there are fewer predators farther out at sea, so they baby would have been safer. The trade off is that there isn't much food out there, so the baby mososaurs would soon have to swim back towards shore, unless the mom could feed them somehow, maybe by regurgitation.

    2. Re:But, the alternative was.. by youngone · · Score: 2

      The alternatives were land, or coastal waters, as the comment below. Seals and turtles among other mostly marine animals lay eggs or give birth on land, so it may have been possible for Mosasaurs. Except that these researchers are saying that it wasn't.

    3. Re:But, the alternative was.. by Chuckstar · · Score: 4, Informative

      Previously, there had been a dearth of evidence of very young (i.e. newborn) Mosasaurs in both open ocean and coastal deposits. That made people think perhaps they used land nests far up rivers, such that newborns would be found in riverbed/riverbank deposits instead of ocean deposits. And that we simply haven't found the right river fossil bed locations for them, yet.

      This new study shows that some skeletons that had originally been thought to be birds, were in fact young Mosasaurs. This reverses the whole thought process, as they now have evidence of very young individuals being found out in the open ocean. Young enough individuals, and far enough out in the deep ocean, that the most likely explanation is that they were born there.

    4. Re:But, the alternative was.. by See+Attached · · Score: 1

      Thanks all for the education... I always dug the mosasaurs at the museums. There seemed to always be bigger ones around the corner! having critter that big give birth in the skinny waters I guess could have been an option... but ... good to know how they lived. Frightening beast that they were. Any chance we could get enough DNA to remanufacture one?

      --
      Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
  5. Damn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There goes my theory that Mosasaurs made their way inland to give birth. 20 years of research down the drain.

    1. Re:Damn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There goes my theory that Mosasaurs made their way inland to give birth. 20 years of research down the drain.

      This is what happens when researchers like you are selected not by merit but by affirmative action.

    2. Re:Damn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The scientist who wrote the article was also black...

  6. "Ancient mosasaurs" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    As opposed to all the modern mosasaurs.

  7. Nice by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

    A lab with my last name on it.

    1. Re:Nice by itzly · · Score: 1

      No, it's a lab with Jacques Gauthier's last name on it.

  8. Interesting but by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

    This is interesting, but what we all really want to know is if they've made and discoveries elucidating the financial borrowing habits of the aforementioned sea monsters.

    1. Re:Interesting but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What we really want to know is: will they become leather covers?

  9. Never Happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    God created the world 6,000 years ago. Watch Kent Hovinds movies.

  10. And on the same day Hillarrhea! announced her run? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Coincidence?

    I think not.

  11. Water Births by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mosasaurs found giving birth in water was more relaxing and less stressful than on land.

  12. Puh-lease. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Study: Ancient Mosasaurs Gave Birth In Open Sea

    Did you mean Mosessaurs?