Re: Weak Necks?

[Danvarner@aol.com]

Retry: 
I'll leave it to experts like Dr. Carpenter to comment on the myology of 
plesiosaur necks. It is my "gut feeling"(which gets bigger with each passing 
day) 
that there is a concensus of opinion that the old-style restorations of 
long-necked plesiosaurs lifting their heads high above the waves ALA Knight, 
Zallinger and Burian and even as recently as Sibbick are highly unlikely (but 
those 
images sure were cool!). I'm certain they were happier in the nearly weightless 
conditions underwater where only nostrils would need to be poked above the 
surface. What is amazing to me is that such pinholes as plesiosaur nares were 
able to deliver enough air to those enormous bodies. Mosasaurs, in contast, 
have 
relatively huge nasal openings.
      Some of my first attempts at drawing prehistoric animals (age 5) 
involved recreating the "Rite of Spring" sequence in Disney's "Fantasia" 
wherein 
plesiosaurs magestically lifted their heads high above the surface of the 
languid 
Cretaceous sea. DV