Nessie Theory is Knocked on Head by Scientist

[CharlieJ]

Nessie Theory is Knocked on Head by Scientist
CALUM MACDONALD
November 02 2006

For 70 years, it has been the defining image of Scotland's shyest inhabitant: a grainy photograph of a creature with a swan-like neck gliding through the choppy waters of Loch Ness. However, the idea that Nessie is a long-necked living dinosaur has been killed off once and for all by scientists.
Ever since the iconic snap was taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a British gynaecologist, in 1934, Nessie enthusiasts have cited it as evidence that the fabled monster is actually a marine reptile called a plesiosaur that sought refuge in Scotland's largest freshwater loch after most died out 160 million years ago. Not even an admission in 1994 that the photograph was faked could dissuade the theory's most ardent proponents.
However, paleontologists have discovered that the bone structure of the plesiosaur's neck means it would not have been able to lift its head up swan-like out of the water.
Those who believe in the plesiosaur theory insist it is possible that after the last Ice Age some may have been stranded in the loch that was connected to the sea.
The plesiosaur, which means 'near reptile', had a prominent small head on a long neck and a round body and would have been around 20ft in length and about a tonne in weight. It thrust itself through the water with four flippers and steered with its tail. It also had sharp teeth and snapping jaws which it used to catch small aquatic animals. The neck was the same length as that of the body and tail combined. The reason why the plesiosaur's neck was so long has been a mystery until now.
Plesiosaurs were thought to have caught their prey by lashing out with their long necks and then snatching at victims with sharp teeth. They were believed to be hunters of fish, squid and other free-swimming prey, but research has now suggested they fed on bottom-dwelling animals such as clams and snails.
Dr. Leslie Noe, a palaeontologist at Cambridge University's Sedgwick Museum, claims plesiosaurs used their long necks to reach down and feed on soft-bodied animals living on the sea floor. His study of the neck bones of plesiosaurs has concluded that it would not be physically possible for the creatures to protrude their heads above the water.
He told the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Ottawa, Canada: "The neck was a feeding tube, collecting soft-bodied prey. The small skulls of plesiosaurs couldn't cope with hard-shelled prey. The osteology of the neck makes it absolutely certain the plesiosaur could not lift its head up swan-like out of the water."

{Absolutely certain, that is, until scientists come up with another theory or more research.}