An Ancient Sea Monster’s Fearsome Fins

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 8 Comments on An Ancient Sea Monster’s Fearsome Fins
Science

During the Cretaceous, the oceans were ruled not by sharks or aquatic mammals, but by large, predatory marine reptiles. Among these, the dominant ocean predator was the Mosasaur. Mosasaurs emerged in the Early Cretaceous from a lizard-like ancestral squamate. They thrived in warm, shallow seas. Some species could reach up to 17 meters in length. Like modern marine mammals, they breathed air yet had an entirely aquatic life history. Unlike sea turtles and other modern marine reptiles, they gave birth to live young in the water, instead of building nests on land.

Illustration by Stephanie Abramowicz, Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Read More “An Ancient Sea Monster’s Fearsome Fins” »

Shark Week 2010: A big step in the right direction!

Posted on By David Shiffman 26 Comments on Shark Week 2010: A big step in the right direction!
Popular Culture, Science

Disclaimer: Both the Southern Fried Scientist and I received a media care package from the Discovery Channel containing a t-shirt, an adopt-a-shark packet, and DVDs of two of the premieres. While I still have some criticisms, I wanted to start this review by saying that this year’s Shark Week was a lot better than any from the past few years. Before I review each premiere I need to acknowledge that I watched all of them at their later air times, not when they originally aired. The content of each premiere is the same, but I did not see the same commercials as everyone else, I never saw the Oceana PSA, I saw very few Craig Ferguson interludes, and I don’t know if there were any pop-up ads during the shows. This was an unavoidable inconvenience and hopefully doesn’t bias my review too much.

Read More “Shark Week 2010: A big step in the right direction!” »