RE: When Mosasaurs Swam in North America--Jurassic Park IV?

["Jane P. Davidson" <jdhexen@unr.edu>]

Um.. interesting.  I have found it quite fascinating that several of the
mid nineteenth-century paleontologists and/or geologists thought in terms
of marine reptiles coming ashore.  Perhaps because those marine reptiles
which they knew generally did come ashore?  Mid nineteenth-century texts
are filled with pictures of Plesiosaurs basking at the seashore,
seal-like. Mike has some of those at his oceans of kansas site.
Some of Cope's early writing gets pretty fanciful in terms of what he
wrote later and what we think now.  But in his defense, I think he should
get some credit for thinking in terms of paleoecology.
And remember ladies and gents, he did advising for the Jurassic Parks of
his time; the proposed display of prehistoric life for Central Park and
also the exhibition of prehistoric life at the Centennial World's Fair in
Philadelphia, for examples.  So your suggesting that he would have made a
great tech advisor for JPIV  sounds like a great idea actually.  Jane
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


The complete lack of evidence is a sure sign that the conspriacy is
working.
********************************************************************
   Jane P. Davidson Ph.D.  University of Nevada Reno
   jdhexen@aol.com

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   ICQ  2286420

On Wed, 18 Jul 2001 bh480@scn.org wrote:

> From: Ben Creisler bh480@scn.org
> RE: When Mosasaurs Swam in North America--Jurassic Park
> IV?
> If only Edward Drinker Cope were still available to serve
> as a consultant on the next JP movie! With serious
> paleontology out the window and all kinds of genetic
> monsters possible, why not realize Cope's speculation
> about land-living Pythonomorpha, the special order of
> reptiles he created for mosasaurs in 1869? Quoting from
> Cope in my mosasaur guide at Dinosauria On-line:
>
> "In the mosasauroids, we almost realize the fictions of
> snake-like dragons and sea-serpents, in which men have
> been every prone to indulge. On account of the ophidian
> part of their affinities, I have called this order
> Pythonomorpha."..... In a bout of monster fever, Cope
> deemed it probable that: "terrestrial representatives now
> unknown to us, inhabited the forests and swamps of the
> Mesozoic continents, and strove for mastery with the huge
> dinosaurs"--no such land-living pythonomorphs have ever
> been found.
>
>