Elasmosaurus was a large marine reptile in the order Plesiosauria. The genus lived about 80.5 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous. The first specimen was sent to the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope after its discovery in 1867 near Fort Wallace, Kansas. Only one incomplete skeleton is definitely known, consisting of a fragmentary skull, the spine, and the pectoral and pelvic girdles, and a single species, E. platyurus, is recognized today. Measuring 10.3 meters (34 ft) long, the genus had a streamlined body with paddle-like limbs or flippers, a short tail, and a small, slender, triangular head. With a neck around 7.1 meters (23 ft) long, Elasmosaurus was one of the longest-necked animals to have lived, with the largest number of neck vertebrae known, 72. It probably ate small fish and marine invertebrates, seizing them with long teeth. Elasmosaurus is known from the Pierre Shale formation, which represents marine deposits from the Western Interior Seaway.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmosaurus

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1939:

During the excavation of a 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, archaeologists discovered a helmet that probably belonged to King Rædwald of East Anglia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A6dwald_of_East_Anglia

1945:

A B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 14 people and causing an estimated $1 million in damage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash

1995:

Two followers of Rajneesh were convicted of conspiring to assassinate Charles Turner, the U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Rajneeshee_assassination_plot

2005:

The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced the formal end of its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland and create a united Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

brawl: 1. (intransitive) To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel. 2. (intransitive) To create a disturbance; to complain loudly. 3. (intransitive) Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise. 4. (transitive) To pour abuse on; to scold. [...] 5. (intransitive, obsolete) To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brawl

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There are all kinds of sources of our knowledge; but none has authority … The fundamental mistake made by the philosophical theory of the ultimate sources of our knowledge is that it does not distinguish clearly enough between questions of origin and questions of validity.   --Karl Popper https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper