Tanystropheus' Pain in the Neck!

[Crackington]

Amazing research into Tanystropheus fossils reveal the risks in having such a long neck:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/19/fossils-long-necks-prehistoric-reptiles-targeted-predators

I like Steve Brusatte's Superman analogy, I'd never have compared having a vulnerable long neck with Kryptonite!

[andrewsaurus rex]

despite having a seemingly vulnerable long neck, Tanystropheus was very successful, lasting for over 10 million years and covering a wide range.  So, whatever the disadvantages of its neck my have been, the advantages clearly outweighed it or were not as dire as they appear..   Afterall, what selective pressures would cause an animal to develop a vulnerable feature?   It may just appear vulnerable to us; seeing the living animal may inform us how it worked around it.   Perhaps they reproduced in enormous numbers.  Or maybe they had spikes covering the neck making it an unappealing target for a predator.  Maybe they  tasted bad or were poisonous.   Who knows.  As it says in the article "The value of a long neck must have generally outweighed the costs".   This is clear given the fact long necks evolved over and over again.

[Halichoeres]

Well, evolution is full of trade-offs. If a neck is a good hunting weapon and also a huge vulnerability, its advantage for hunting only needs to be 1% greater than the increased risk of mortality from its own predators to be favored overall.

[Faelrin]

Incredible find. It's not often the fossil record preserves evidence of cause of dearh. Like think of the Xiphactinus that died with another fish inside (Gillicus I think it was?).

[DinoToyForum]

This reminds me, I need to take a closer look for bite marks in the neck vertebrae of plesiosaurs...