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2 clusters · 17 sources · 4 days · First seen · Last updated

Jurassic plesiosaur feeding habit discoveries

Overview

Paleontologists have identified fossilized vomit, referred to as ‘regurgitalites’, discovered within drill cores from the North Sea near Norway’s Troll gas field. The findings, led by Dr. Dirk Knaust and published in Geological Magazine, provide new insights into the feeding behaviors of Jurassic marine reptiles, specifically those from the Cryptoclididae family or the genus Cryptoclidus.

Analysis of more than 20 fossilized masses revealed a mixture of bivalve shells, worm tubes, sea lilies, and belemnites. Because these prey species require stable marine salinity but were found in river delta sediments, researchers suggest these long-necked reptiles hunted in deeper, saltier offshore waters before swimming to shallower coastal areas to expel indigestible remains. This purging method, which allowed them to process soft tissues while discarding hard skeletal materials, is noted to be similar to the behavior of modern owls, seals, or saltwater crocodiles.

Entities

Dirk Knaust · University of Cambridge · Equinor · North Sea · Plesiosaur

Timeline

  1. [CULTURE] 3 sources
    Fossilized plesiosaur vomit reveals Jurassic feeding habits

    Fossilized plesiosaur vomit found off the Norwegian coast reveals that these Jurassic reptiles likely hunted in the open ocean before moving to shallow river deltas to regurgitate indigestible prey.

  2. [CULTURE] 14 sources
    Plesiosaurs swam to coastal waters to vomit, fossils reveal

    Paleontologist Dirk Knaust discovered fossilized vomit in the North Sea, revealing that Jurassic plesiosaurs likely hunted in deep waters and swam to coastal deltas to expel indigestible shells.

Sources

allgaeuer-zeitung.de · aventurasnahistoria.uol.com.br · dattelner-morgenpost.de · digitalnewsreport.com · es.gizmodo.com · exame.com · fehmarn24.de · focus.it · knowridge.com · marler-zeitung.de · n-tv.de · recklinghaeuser-zeitung.de · saarbruecker-zeitung.de · sci.news · scitechdaily.com · time.news · wz.de