Re: plesiosaur offspring (weak necks?)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

 jedimr_thomas@hotmail.com (Thomas de Wilde) writes:

<<  Since pregnant females came to land to lay their eggs (as turtles still 
do). >>

       It's important to remember that plesiosaurs only very superficially 
resembled marine turtles. Their locomotory anatomy was quite different. Forget 
the "snake through a turtle deal". I suggest a visit to oceansofkansas.com and 
compare the limbs of turtles and plesiosaurs. I have difficulty visualizing an 
elasmosaur hauling its great bulk onto a sandy beach and even more trouble 
visualizing it digging a hole for its eggs. 
       Also, as I understand it, elasmosaur necks had a greater range of 
movement in the horizontal plane as opposed to the vertical. DV