The Extinct Dinosaur's Saving Grace

Too Late for Dinosaur’s? Or do they have One Last Saving Grace?

It’s pretty much agreed upon that dinosaurs, at one point in history, did exist and walk this Earth just as easily as you and I can today. While the Tyrannosaurus rex and brontosaurus are obviously no longer walking around the streets of New York, perhaps dinosaurs are still there but just doing something a little differently: maybe they’re swimming.

The Plesiosauri lived alongside dinosaurs in the Jurassic Age entirely in the water, and some think these Jurassic creatures could still be swimming around today. Evolution has proven time and time again that life forms are more than able to adapt to changing environments in order to survive. Grace Zhang, a good friend of mine and a junior in MCB, has the beginnings of a theory  that underwater Jurassic creatures never went extinct, but instead took on a slightly different way of life in the ocean. For whatever reason, be it an asteroid, climate change, early humans or lack of food, land dinosaurs as we are familiar with perished beyond reasonable doubt. But maybe the Plesiosauri that called the ocean their home were not affected by these factors and continued to live undetected in the depths.

A rare type of fish known as the coelacanth (meaning ‘hollow spine’ in Latin) offers some interesting evidence to support the theory so fondly knighted “The Conservation of Underwater Dinosaurs” by Ms. Zhang. The coelacanth was believed to be extinct as early as the Late Cretaceous period but was rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. If a fish (one that can get up to nearly 200 pounds and six and a half feet long) once thought to be extinct by the best of scientists for over 65 millions years can elude us all, why can’t the Plesiosauri? For all we know these delicate creatures are hiding at the bottom of the ocean and living out their days peacefully undetected.

source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/coelacanth/

Researcher Brian J. Ford goes so far as to argue that all dinosaurs were underwater creatures because an aquatic environment would make more sense with the shape of their bodies. Ford suggests that it would have been nearly impossible for dinosaurs to balance on land with larger than life tails, but underwater those same tails would have provided the Jurassic creatures with an exceptional rudder tool. On top of that, fossil footprints of dinosaur tracks are never found with the mark of a two ton tail dragging behind the dinosaur, and it is unlikely the dinosaur would be able to lift his tail up in order to walk, furthering the evidence that the tail was indeed being supported by water.

source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/03/dinosaurs-lived-underwater-british-scientist-claims/

The depths of the ocean are some of the most mysterious and least-traveled areas in this universe. Who knows what could be down there? With the support from our friends, readers like you, the underwater Jurassic creature can literally come to surface and have a name for itself. No longer hiding from the world, aquatic dinosaurs will become a part of our everyday life, and undoubtedly provide essential uses like the transportation of goods or finally a decent replacement for Shamu at Sea World. Please support Ms. Zhang’s theory by sharing this knowledge, and let’s work together to bring these creatures back to life.

-Nicole Moore

April 7th, 2013