Nevertheless, because the first plesiosaur fossils have been found within the early 1700s, the thriller of how they moved by way of the water has puzzled researchers. But the new computer models found that Meyerasaurus could swim fastest if its basic motion was an up-and-down flap with its large flippers.
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However, they look nothing like any other marine creature that is alive today, which is why researchers had trouble with determining their swimming style. They based theirs on Meyerasaurus victor, a Lower Jurassic plesiosaur from what is now Germany that would have stretched about 11 feet (relatively small by plesiosaur standards).
The plesiosaurs were predatory marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs. The researchers also unveiled that the back flippers of plesiosaurs were meant for steering and stability.
The simulations showed that the Meyerasaurus probably propelled itself with a rowing movement or hybrid stroke that looks like a cross between underwater flying and rowing.
According to Gizmodo, Turk and his colleagues selected one particular pleisosaur species called the Meyerasaurus as the subject of their computer simulations.
That would have been easy to figure out if scientists could take a page from “Jurassic Park” and conjure up living plesiosaurs.
The plesiosaur was unlike any modern-day swimming animal.
The 12ft-long animal, which scientists have in comparison with the legendary Loch Ness monster, lived through the Cretaceous Interval and had was tailored to swimming and feeding within the historic seas utilizing paddle-like limbs.
They are unique in the animal kingdom for having two pairs of large wing-like flippers. They utilized this technique to discover the most effective swimming strategy for its body structure. Surprisingly, however, the simulations revealed that the rear flippers would not have substantially increased their forward speed.
“Our results show that the front limbs provide the powerhouse for plesiosaur propulsion while the hind limbs are more passive”, noted study co-author Adam Smith in a press release.
Future computer simulations will be used to find out the degree of agility plesiosaurs achieved from their rear flippers.
New experiments detailed in a study published in PLOS Computation Biology indicate that the Meyerasaurus “flew” under water in much the same way penguins do. Smith said that the seeing the 200 years old mystery on computer screen is like ultimate feeling.
Scientists have worked out how an ancient reptile swam in the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs.
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He said some palaeontologists – who study fossils – couldn’t agree on whether or not the marine creature used its four limbs in a rowing action like the oars of a boat or in a flight stroke like penguins and turtles, or a combination of the two.
