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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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