Re: plesiosaur offspring (weak necks?)

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Dann Pigdon wrote:
> Danvarner@aol.com wrote:
> >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's to the vertical.
> 
> Who'd have thought that a multi-tonne elephant seal could move so fast
> on land - or at all for that matter? Nature has a way of surprising you.
> 
> Although that said, having such a long neck as an elasmosaur would seem
> to preclude them from trips on land. Perhaps smaller pliosaurs were not
> as restricted though.

The long neck by itself seems no different than the long neck of a
sauropod. However, the long neck and "flippers"-on-land would seem
to make them more vulnerable to predators.