I think you're exactly right. There isn't some connection. ];-)
Many big lakes, including ones in your country, are reputed to have Gigantic Tourist Draws hidden in their depths. But the large marine reptiles are not denizens of the depths -- like whales, they needed to come to the surface to breathe.
And like whales, we'd have slaughtered them. Note that when whales in the ocean get down to a population of thousands (for a given species) we are alarmed about their chances for survival -- in some cases rightly so.
But supposedly, in these lakes, the big marine reptiles have survived for centuries (not to mention 65 million years) with a population so low that no one has ever gotten a good picture.
Tourists, however, are in no danger of extinction. ];-)
The oceans that supported these reptiles was actually pretty warm -- mosasaurs, for example, inhabited the shallow warm sea that covered a fair portion of North America at the time.
But perhaps the most common misfire is the fact that the puny little skull of the basking shark (a tiny thing in its great head) looks (sort of) like the skull of a pleisiosaur when the flesh has fallen off of it. This mistake has happened many times.
I've had a chance to dig into quite a few of these. As tempting as they are, they always turn out to be insubstantial upon examination.
Many big lakes, including ones in your country, are reputed to have Gigantic Tourist Draws hidden in their depths. But the large marine reptiles are not denizens of the depths -- like whales, they needed to come to the surface to breathe.
And like whales, we'd have slaughtered them. Note that when whales in the ocean get down to a population of thousands (for a given species) we are alarmed about their chances for survival -- in some cases rightly so.
But supposedly, in these lakes, the big marine reptiles have survived for centuries (not to mention 65 million years) with a population so low that no one has ever gotten a good picture.
Tourists, however, are in no danger of extinction. ];-)
The oceans that supported these reptiles was actually pretty warm -- mosasaurs, for example, inhabited the shallow warm sea that covered a fair portion of North America at the time.
But perhaps the most common misfire is the fact that the puny little skull of the basking shark (a tiny thing in its great head) looks (sort of) like the skull of a pleisiosaur when the flesh has fallen off of it. This mistake has happened many times.
I've had a chance to dig into quite a few of these. As tempting as they are, they always turn out to be insubstantial upon examination.
More's the pity.
===|==============/ Level Head
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment