Written by Richard Forrest A few reasons why the Loch Ness Monster can't be a plesiosaur Loch Ness can't support a population of large carnivorous animals Loch Ness is a cold, deep lake, and has steeply sloping shores. This means that most of the water is cold and dark, and does not…
A review of the evidence for living plesiosaurs One of the topics I'm most frequently asked about as a plesiosaur palaeontologist is my opinion on the Loch Ness Monster and other monsters purported to be present day plesiosaurs. In this review I'll cast a critical eye over the evidence for living plesiosaurs.…
So, time for more Planet Dinosaur plesiosaurs... In part 1 of we familiarised ourselves with the taxonomy and appearance of the plesiosaurian stars of the fourth episode of the BBC's Planet Dinosaur, 'Fight for Life'. Now we're all set up to pick apart, with ruthless abandon, the animators' painstaking efforts to bring…
Astute viewers of BBC's plesiosaur-fest on Planet Dinosaur this week may have spotted my name dash across the screen at the end credits. 'Fight for Life', the fourth in the series, was the first episode, and so far as I'm aware only episode, to plunge us into the Mesozoic oceans and introduce…
During the past decade several dramatically named giant pliosaurs have hit the mainstream media, many claiming to be the biggest yet discovered. But only a trickle of peer-reviewed literature has been published to accompany these news stories. The lack of published data makes it really difficult to sift the facts from the…
Monstertalk is a new sceptical podcast focussing on all things cryptozoological. The most recent episode (episode 004) delves into the idea that plesiosaurs may still be alive today, lurking in lochs and lakes around the world - the so called Plesiosaur Hypothesis. I was interviewed as a guest on this episode and…
I recently read and reviewed Mike Everhart’s new book for the online Journal Palaeontologica Electronica, I reproduce it here: Sea Monsters - Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, is the official companion to the recently released IMAX movie of the same name. As Everhart explains in the preface to this book (and in…
Another giant pliosauroid plesiosaur fossil from Arctic Svalbard Islands appears to represent a new species. The specimen was discovered and initial excavations took place in Summer 2007. The treasure trove of marine reptile fossils were first discovered in 2006 by a team from the University of Oslo, Natural History Museum, led by…
The newest film offering from National Geographic opened to 78 IMAX theaters across the United States, the largest ever opening for an IMAX movie. ‘Sea Monsters’ is set in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Sea, and follows the journey of a growing Dolichorhynchops. The official website is now complete and up and…
A total of 22 plesiosaurs have been discovered during an expedition to the Arctic island of Spitzbergen by the University of Oslo, Natural History Museum. The team led by Dr. Jørn Hurum and Hans Arne Nakrem also discovered ichthyosaurs - but the majority of the fossils await excavation when the team return…
A series of plesiosaur vertebrae has been found on the shore of Loch Ness and hailed by some monster hunters as 'proof' of the existence of a living plesiosaur in the Loch. So what do we know about this find? Firstly, although it has been confirmed as plesiosaurian by staff of the…