"Of course I have to clean up this big guy here first." Cao Meili jumped directly into a big pit. The floating soil here has almost been cleaned up. According to the information provided by Han Kongque, at this depth, it is almost as deep as what he said.
Big guy.
"Isn't the little senior sister not interested in this?" A boy who had just been pushed aside by Cao Meili complained.
"It's better than nothing, don't make a fuss, I saw it, but it doesn't look big!" At this moment, Cao Meili said excitedly with a hint of disappointment.
"Very rough." Soon Cao Meili's voice sounded again.
"It's very long." Cao Meili's voice was a little excited this time.
"It's thick, long and big, it's really great." Cao Meili was already a little incoherent.
Many students who were excluded around looked at each other in confusion. This was too ambiguous. What is thick, long and big?
"Ah! Isn't this the neck of a long-necked dragon?" Another girl next to her said.
"Probably so! I can't imagine any other animal with such a long neck."
"Well, it is probably a long-necked dragon. If it is really a long-necked dragon, this will be a major discovery, proving that there are also long-necked dragons in the Americas." The only professor also judged this way, and the only thing he could think of was
This is what a long-necked dragon looks like.
The long-necked dragon is a reptile that lived in the Middle Triassic. It is about 6 meters long. Its main feature is its extremely long neck. The neck is 3 meters long, which is longer than the body and tail combined.
Although the neck is so long, it has only 12 vertebrae, each of which is quite long. Fossils of Glycerosaurus have been found in Europe and the Middle East.
"This is too thick. With such a thick neck, how big must this giraffe be?" Finally, a boy spoke.
"Unlike a long-necked dragon, a long-necked dragon's neck wouldn't be so thick." Cao Meili made a judgment.
"It can't be an undiscovered species, this must be a giraffe. Otherwise, what kind of thing would have such a long neck?" It was the same girl who spoke just now.
And the other boy said: "In this way, it really may be a long-necked dragon. The long-necked dragon lived in the Late White Period. It can grow up to 12 meters long. Three-quarters of the long-necked dragon's body length is spread out.
Its neck and tail, so with this shape, the only possibility is that it was a giraffe."
"If this is the case, in ancient times, this place was probably an ocean." Cao Meili said.
"That's right. Not far away is the Great Lakes region. This was the edge of the Great Lakes region in ancient times, so it's normal for giraffes to appear here." said the professor.
This professor is too young, no more than forty years old, so he doesn't care too much about the students' rebuttals.
"If that's the case, then something is wrong. How could Mr. Han not recognize such an easy-to-recognize dinosaur?" Cao Meili raised her head, trying to find Han Peacock.
"Maybe they are like us. They only saw part of it. If it is a long-necked dragon, you can dig it all out and see if it is a long-necked dragon."
Cao Meili didn't see Han Kongque, and was a little unwilling. She always felt that Han Kongque knew something that she didn't know, but didn't say it.
Giraffes live in shallow waters, but sometimes they also come to the shore. On land, giraffes catch insects and small reptiles to eat, while in the water they eat fish and ammonites.
Long-necked dragons swim very slowly. They like to crawl along the fringing reefs and take advantage of their long necks to bite their prey from a distance without disturbing the prey.
Like some modern lizards, the tail of the giraffe can be disconnected by itself when bitten by a ferocious animal, and the tail will slowly grow back when the animal takes the opportunity to escape.
Cao Meili didn't believe that Han Peacock couldn't recognize such an easily identifiable dinosaur.
"Do you think this could be a snake?" At this moment, a classmate joked.
"Snake? How can a snake be so big?" another classmate joked.
"That's probably a python."
"Did you see it was Titanoboa?" At this moment, Cao Meili said.
"How is it possible? Titanoboa lives in jungles in tropical areas. It is impossible for Titanoboa to appear in the environment here."
"It's not impossible. How do you know this was not a tropical Yulin area in ancient times?"
"It's really possible. Look, the shape hasn't changed much. It's probably a giant python."
"Wow! It really could be a giant python." As the area excavated became larger and larger, more and more of the unknown creature's size was exposed. At this time, it was almost possible to tell that this was definitely not a long-necked creature.
dragon.
Titanoboa belongs to an ancient species of python, the genus name means "Titan's python", and the species name Cerrehon commemorates the place where it was discovered.
Titanoboa fossils were first discovered in the Cerrejón Formation of the Guajira Peninsula in northeastern Colombia, South America, about 60 to 58 million years ago.
Titanoboa belongs to the python family and is the largest known snake species. They are like enlarged versions of modern pythons.
It is said that such a large cold-blooded animal must survive at least at a minimum temperature of 30 to 34 degrees Celsius, so it is consistent with the assumptions of the climate model that determined that in the Neotropical world of the Paleocene Epoch, there was a large amount of carbon dioxide and high temperatures.
Titanoboa can reach an average length of 10 meters and weigh more than 1 ton. These two figures are enough to illustrate how terrifying they are.
Their prey included giant 6-meter-long crocodiles, and Titanoboa became extinct nearly 58 million years ago.
"We'll be digging later. Let's measure it now to see how long it is exposed." At this moment, Cao Meili picked out the excavation pit.
"Yes, measure it, it must be more than ten meters now."
"Ten meters? Almost twenty meters. If it is a python, the length of this python is definitely the largest python in the world, even bigger than Titanoboa."
"Wow! This discovery may shock the whole world. I didn't expect such a big discovery on the first day."
Looking at the chaotic crowd, Han Peacock, who was hiding aside, showed a smile. The discovery here will definitely cause a sensation. This is all free advertising!
Therefore, some plans can be started next.
"Wow, it's over 16 meters. It's definitely the largest python fossil in the world."
"Is it really over 16 meters? The head and tail haven't been discovered yet, right? Is this a behemoth over 20 meters long?"
"Don't think too much, it's difficult to fossilize the heads of snakes."
"Anyway, we might be able to publish a paper, and publish it in Nature."
"Stop dreaming, unless it's really a new species."
Although there are not many such things, they still arouse the enthusiasm of all students.
This time, there was only one professor leading the team. If there was really a big discovery, there would be few people who could snatch the signature rights of students like them.
In 2011, "Nature" magazine published a paper by scientists and others "The discovery of giant pythons in the Paleocene of the Neotropics suggests that the equator was hotter in the past."
The article states that a huge snake fossil was discovered in the Cerrejón Formation of the Guajira Peninsula in northeastern Colombia, South America, which was about 60 million to 58 million years ago. It was named Cerrejón Titanoboa.
Titanoboa is a giant python with a body length of 9 to 15 meters. It is the largest 8 of the 28 snakes and weighs about 2.8 tons.
The largest existing snakes (as of April 2012) include the anaconda (the heaviest existing snake), which is about 13.7 meters long, and the reticulated python (the longest existing snake), which is about 14.7 meters long.
The smallest snake in existence, the blind snake Kalara, is only 10 centimeters long.
The previous longest fossil snake was the African python, which was unearthed from Egypt and was 7-12 meters long.
Now this snake fossil, which has not yet been fully excavated, is over 16 meters long, which shows that it is a big guy even bigger than Titanoboa.
At this time, Cao Meili, who was holding back her excitement, said: "Tell me, are there any giant tortoises found here? Or crocodile fossils? You must know that they are enemies who depend on each other."
"Yes, maybe we can actually find something. Tell the workers below to expand the excavation area. We can't dig according to the size of this big guy. We have to dig out this entire area."
At this time, all the students became enthusiastic. Being able to publish papers on natural impurities was the goal of all scientific researchers, and now, this goal is within reach.
"Mr. Han, I want to know more information. You must know it. Why don't you give me some pointers? You know, the less time we spend, the less labor costs you will save. I am thinking about you."
At that time, Cao Meili grabbed Han Kongque again.
"Not far from the giant python, there should be some discoveries. At that time, I just saw the fossils and didn't recognize what they were." Han Peacock pointed out a place again, but there were fossils there, but the fossils were not
Animals, Han Peacock could only sense that there was something unusual there, but he really couldn't sense anything.
"Okay, then my next excavation site will be right here." Cao Meili looked at Han Peacock with a smile, and he really knew that it was a Titanoboa.
Thinking of this, Cao Meili became excited. You must know that where the Titanoboa lives, there must be crocodiles or giant tortoises.
When it comes to forming fossils, giant tortoises are the easiest to form, so wherever Titanoboa fossils are found, there are almost always giant tortoise fossils left.
Fossils are the remains of creatures that lived in the distant past, or the remains turned into stones. During the long geological time, countless creatures once lived on the earth. The remains of these creatures after their death, or the traces left behind by their lives.
, many were buried by the sand at that time.
In the following years, the organic matter in the remains of these organisms decomposed completely, and the hard parts such as shells, bones, branches and leaves, etc., together with the surrounding sediments, were petrified and turned into stones, but their original shape and structure
(Even some subtle internal structures) are still retained. (~^~) Mobile phone users please visit http://m.piaotian.net