odd-looking Triassic reptile called Tanystropheus
This animal’s assortment of ludicrously long fossilized neck bones has confused the heck out of paleontologists for nearly 170 years. By using CT scans to unpack the crushed skulls of the reptiles’ remains, researchers finally resolved some nagging questions surrounding this strange animal in August last year.
Specimens of Tanystropheus can reach more than 5 meters (16 feet) in length, with its tail making up roughly a third of its length, and its body maybe a quarter. The rest is all neck.
Not all of the individuals we’ve unearthed are crocodile-sized, either. A number are far smaller, prompting palaeontologists to question whether some of the specimens in their archives belong to juveniles, or represent a completely different species.
Thankfully, such clues can be found deep inside the fossils. Just as the rings inside a tree’s trunk present a record of their age, bones can do the same thing.
The growth rings revealed the smaller Tanystropheus bodies did indeed belong to adults, making it fairly clear that what the researchers had on their hands were two separate species.
To distinguish them, the team named the bigger one T. hydroides, after the hydra in Greek mythology. Its smaller cousin kept the original species name of T. longobardicus.
We can almost imagine the animal’s squat, croc-like body lying against the floor of a shallow coastline some 242 million years ago, its head rising high up to the surface so its nostrils can siphon down air, its bristling mouth slightly agape in anticipation of a stray squid to stumble by.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/techandscience/scientists-finally-know-how-an-ancient-reptile-lived-with-such-an-absurdly-long-neck/ar-BB1fdqNw?ocid=msedgntp