What is Elasmosaurus?
{{italictitle}} {{Taxobox | name = ''Elasmosaurus'' | fossil_range = [[Upper Cretaceous]] <br/>80.5 mya | image = Elasomosaurus Face Clean.png | image_width = 280px | image_caption = ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Sauropsida]] | superordo = †[[Sauropterygia]] | ordo = †[[Plesiosaur]]ia | familia = †[[Elasmosauridae]] | genus = †'''''Elasmosaurus''''' | genus_authority = [[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1868}} '''''Elasmosaurus''''' was a 46 [[foot (unit of length)|foot]] long [[swim]]ming [[reptile]] that lived in the [[North American Inland Sea]]. It was a [[plesiosaur]]. It was first discovered in 1868 by a [[scientist]] named Edward Drinker Cope who accidentally put the [[head]] on the [[tail]]. It had 71 [[cervical vertebrae]].<ref>Sachs S. 2005. Redescription of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'', Cope 1868 (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian) of Kansas, U.S.A. ''Paludicola'' '''5'''(3): 92-106.</ref> It was suggested by D.M.S. Watson that their method was as surface swimmers, mostly eating with their head above water, darting down to snatch smaller fish which were feeding on [[plankton]].<ref>Watson D.M.S. 1951. ''Palaeontology and modern biology''. Yale, CT.</ref><ref>Watson D.M.S. 1958. ''Studies on fossil vertebrates''. London.</ref><ref>Alexander, R. McNeill 1989. ''Dynamics of dinosaurs and other extinct giants''. Columbia N.Y. p137</ref> It is hard to see the benefit of a long neck under water. [[Aquatic]] [[mammal]]s operating under water all have a streamlined [[torpedo]]-shape, as did pliosaurs and [[ichthyosaur]]s. All the longer-necked families were, from the setting of the [[teeth]] and [[jaw]]s, eaters of small fish. The large number of neck vertebrae is probably linked to the modest degree of flexibility between adjacent vertebrae. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Plesiosaurs]]