Did you know that? While Albertonectes has the most well-known neck bones of any animal, that doesn’t mean it has the largest neck either. That distinction belongs to Mamenchisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur whose neck reached 12 meters. In comparison, Albertonectes’ neck was 7 meters. However, apart from their many neck bones, what set Albertonectes and other Late Cretaceous elamosaurs apart from sauropods is that their necks were longer than the total length of their bodies and tails, giving them their distinctive appearance . Plesiosaurs, including Albertonects, evolved from land-dwelling reptiles during the Late Triassic period (237 million–201.3 million years ago). Much of their anatomy shows their terrestrial origins. For example, the same bones found in the hands and feet of land-dwelling reptiles—including five fingers and five toes—were all present in each plesiosaur fin, hidden beneath the skin. Similar bone structures are found in the flippers of some modern animals, for example whales and seals, which also had terrestrial ancestors.
Mountain range and habitat
The only known Albertonectes specimens are from southwestern Alberta and date between 78 and 72 million years ago. They were found in the black shale of the Bearpaw Formation. The rocks of the Bearpaw Formation record the presence of an inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway, that ran along the eastern side of the newly developed Rocky Mountains. At its greatest extent, this seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. It was a real marine environment. In addition to plesiosaurs like Albertonectes, paleontologists have found fossils of giant clams, starfish, lobsters, ammonites, nautiloids, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, and mussaurus. Fossils of Albertonectes were found in rocks deposited far from shore, indicating that it was adapted to living in open water.
Reproduction and Development
With only one nearly complete specimen and a few isolated rows of vertebrae from other specimens, paleontologists do not know much about the reproduction and development of Albertonectes based on its fossil record. However, based on its anatomy, it is clear that the animal could never have come on land. This means that females must have given birth to live young in the sea, bypassing the egg-laying stage of terrestrial reptiles. There are fossils of embryos developing in the body of Polycotylus, another Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, providing further evidence that Albertonectes would have undergone the same reproductive process.
Diet
Unfortunately, no one has found an Albertonectes head, so nothing can be said directly about its teeth and jaws, and what it ate. However, all known elasmosaurs had relatively small heads with long, thin teeth. The upper and lower sets of teeth meshed together when the mouth was closed. These small teeth and thin jaws mean that Albertonectes does not attack and dismember large prey. Instead, it must have collected small fish and crustaceans from the water column. He may also have collected invertebrates from the seabed.
THE BEHAVIOR
Elasmosaurs were very large animals, and large animals are rare in any environment. This means that Albertonectes were solitary hunters, except during the breeding season. A large collection of stomach stones was found in the body cavity of Albertonectes. There are two main theories as to why Albertonects and other plesiosaurs are often found with stones in their stomachs: for ballast or for digestion. However, both ideas have problems. First, the stones found with plesiosaurs are too small to affect buoyancy. For example, Albertonectes weighed 4.8 tons, but only 9 kilograms of stones were found with the fossil. Regarding the second theory, all plesiosaurs are interpreted to have been strictly carnivorous, but the only living animals that use stomach stones to aid their digestion are herbivores (for example, birds like chickens). Paleontologists continue to develop theories about why plesiosaurs are found with stones in their stomachs.
Discovery and Naming
The remains of Albertonectes were found by chance. For many years the commercial fossil company Korite International has been searching for gem-quality ammonite shells in the Bearpaw Formation south of Lethbridge, Alberta, and uses augers to excavate them. Occasionally, they exhibit a mosasaur – a type of sea-going lizard related to living lizards like the Komodo dragon. It was a great and welcome surprise to come across the remains of what would eventually be named Albertonectes – an elastosaur – at the Korite excavations in 2007. The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of six to collect the remains. The job took them three weeks. The founder of Korite International was a businessman named Rene Vanderveld, and the species’ full name, Albertonectes vanderveldei (“Van der Veld’s Alberta swimmer”), honors his efforts on behalf of paleontology in Canada.
title: “Albertonectes The Canadian Encyclopedia Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-28” author: “Christine Armstrong”
Did you know that? While Albertonectes has the most well-known neck bones of any animal, that doesn’t mean it has the largest neck either. That distinction belongs to Mamenchisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur whose neck reached 12 meters. In comparison, Albertonectes’ neck was 7 meters. However, apart from their many neck bones, what set Albertonectes and other Late Cretaceous elamosaurs apart from sauropods is that their necks were longer than the total length of their bodies and tails, giving them their distinctive appearance . Plesiosaurs, including Albertonects, evolved from land-dwelling reptiles during the Late Triassic period (237 million–201.3 million years ago). Much of their anatomy shows their terrestrial origins. For example, the same bones found in the hands and feet of land-dwelling reptiles—including five fingers and five toes—were all present in each plesiosaur fin, hidden beneath the skin. Similar bone structures are found in the flippers of some modern animals, for example whales and seals, which also had terrestrial ancestors.
Mountain range and habitat
The only known Albertonectes specimens are from southwestern Alberta and date between 78 and 72 million years ago. They were found in the black shale of the Bearpaw Formation. The rocks of the Bearpaw Formation record the presence of an inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway, that ran along the eastern side of the newly developed Rocky Mountains. At its greatest extent, this seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. It was a real marine environment. In addition to plesiosaurs like Albertonectes, paleontologists have found fossils of giant clams, starfish, lobsters, ammonites, nautiloids, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, and mussaurus. Fossils of Albertonectes were found in rocks deposited far from shore, indicating that it was adapted to living in open water.
Reproduction and Development
With only one nearly complete specimen and a few isolated rows of vertebrae from other specimens, paleontologists do not know much about the reproduction and development of Albertonectes based on its fossil record. However, based on its anatomy, it is clear that the animal could never have come on land. This means that females must have given birth to live young in the sea, bypassing the egg-laying stage of terrestrial reptiles. There are fossils of embryos developing in the body of Polycotylus, another Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, providing further evidence that Albertonectes would have undergone the same reproductive process.
Diet
Unfortunately, no one has found an Albertonectes head, so nothing can be said directly about its teeth and jaws, and what it ate. However, all known elasmosaurs had relatively small heads with long, thin teeth. The upper and lower sets of teeth meshed together when the mouth was closed. These small teeth and thin jaws mean that Albertonectes does not attack and dismember large prey. Instead, it must have collected small fish and crustaceans from the water column. He may also have collected invertebrates from the seabed.
THE BEHAVIOR
Elasmosaurs were very large animals, and large animals are rare in any environment. This means that Albertonectes were solitary hunters, except during the breeding season. A large collection of stomach stones was found in the body cavity of Albertonectes. There are two main theories as to why Albertonects and other plesiosaurs are often found with stones in their stomachs: for ballast or for digestion. However, both ideas have problems. First, the stones found with plesiosaurs are too small to affect buoyancy. For example, Albertonectes weighed 4.8 tons, but only 9 kilograms of stones were found with the fossil. Regarding the second theory, all plesiosaurs are interpreted to have been strictly carnivorous, but the only living animals that use stomach stones to aid their digestion are herbivores (for example, birds like chickens). Paleontologists continue to develop theories about why plesiosaurs are found with stones in their stomachs.
Discovery and Naming
The remains of Albertonectes were found by chance. For many years the commercial fossil company Korite International has been searching for gem-quality ammonite shells in the Bearpaw Formation south of Lethbridge, Alberta, and uses augers to excavate them. Occasionally, they exhibit a mosasaur – a type of sea-going lizard related to living lizards like the Komodo dragon. It was a great and welcome surprise to come across the remains of what would eventually be named Albertonectes – an elastosaur – at the Korite excavations in 2007. The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of six to collect the remains. The job took them three weeks. The founder of Korite International was a businessman named Rene Vanderveld, and the species’ full name, Albertonectes vanderveldei (“Van der Veld’s Alberta swimmer”), honors his efforts on behalf of paleontology in Canada.
title: “Albertonectes The Canadian Encyclopedia Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Isabelle Federick”
Did you know that? While Albertonectes has the most well-known neck bones of any animal, that doesn’t mean it has the largest neck either. That distinction belongs to Mamenchisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur whose neck reached 12 meters. In comparison, Albertonectes’ neck was 7 meters. However, apart from their many neck bones, what set Albertonectes and other Late Cretaceous elamosaurs apart from sauropods is that their necks were longer than the total length of their bodies and tails, giving them their distinctive appearance . Plesiosaurs, including Albertonects, evolved from land-dwelling reptiles during the Late Triassic period (237 million–201.3 million years ago). Much of their anatomy shows their terrestrial origins. For example, the same bones found in the hands and feet of land-dwelling reptiles—including five fingers and five toes—were all present in each plesiosaur fin, hidden beneath the skin. Similar bone structures are found in the flippers of some modern animals, for example whales and seals, which also had terrestrial ancestors.
Mountain range and habitat
The only known Albertonectes specimens are from southwestern Alberta and date between 78 and 72 million years ago. They were found in the black shale of the Bearpaw Formation. The rocks of the Bearpaw Formation record the presence of an inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway, that ran along the eastern side of the newly developed Rocky Mountains. At its greatest extent, this seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. It was a real marine environment. In addition to plesiosaurs like Albertonectes, paleontologists have found fossils of giant clams, starfish, lobsters, ammonites, nautiloids, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, and mussaurus. Fossils of Albertonectes were found in rocks deposited far from shore, indicating that it was adapted to living in open water.
Reproduction and Development
With only one nearly complete specimen and a few isolated rows of vertebrae from other specimens, paleontologists do not know much about the reproduction and development of Albertonectes based on its fossil record. However, based on its anatomy, it is clear that the animal could never have come on land. This means that females must have given birth to live young in the sea, bypassing the egg-laying stage of terrestrial reptiles. There are fossils of embryos developing in the body of Polycotylus, another Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, providing further evidence that Albertonectes would have undergone the same reproductive process.
Diet
Unfortunately, no one has found an Albertonectes head, so nothing can be said directly about its teeth and jaws, and what it ate. However, all known elasmosaurs had relatively small heads with long, thin teeth. The upper and lower sets of teeth meshed together when the mouth was closed. These small teeth and thin jaws mean that Albertonectes does not attack and dismember large prey. Instead, it must have collected small fish and crustaceans from the water column. He may also have collected invertebrates from the seabed.
THE BEHAVIOR
Elasmosaurs were very large animals, and large animals are rare in any environment. This means that Albertonectes were solitary hunters, except during the breeding season. A large collection of stomach stones was found in the body cavity of Albertonectes. There are two main theories as to why Albertonects and other plesiosaurs are often found with stones in their stomachs: for ballast or for digestion. However, both ideas have problems. First, the stones found with plesiosaurs are too small to affect buoyancy. For example, Albertonectes weighed 4.8 tons, but only 9 kilograms of stones were found with the fossil. Regarding the second theory, all plesiosaurs are interpreted to have been strictly carnivorous, but the only living animals that use stomach stones to aid their digestion are herbivores (for example, birds like chickens). Paleontologists continue to develop theories about why plesiosaurs are found with stones in their stomachs.
Discovery and Naming
The remains of Albertonectes were found by chance. For many years the commercial fossil company Korite International has been searching for gem-quality ammonite shells in the Bearpaw Formation south of Lethbridge, Alberta, and uses augers to excavate them. Occasionally, they exhibit a mosasaur – a type of sea-going lizard related to living lizards like the Komodo dragon. It was a great and welcome surprise to come across the remains of what would eventually be named Albertonectes – an elastosaur – at the Korite excavations in 2007. The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of six to collect the remains. The job took them three weeks. The founder of Korite International was a businessman named Rene Vanderveld, and the species’ full name, Albertonectes vanderveldei (“Van der Veld’s Alberta swimmer”), honors his efforts on behalf of paleontology in Canada.
title: “Albertonectes The Canadian Encyclopedia Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Jamie Yang”
Did you know that? While Albertonectes has the most well-known neck bones of any animal, that doesn’t mean it has the largest neck either. That distinction belongs to Mamenchisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur whose neck reached 12 meters. In comparison, Albertonectes’ neck was 7 meters. However, apart from their many neck bones, what set Albertonectes and other Late Cretaceous elamosaurs apart from sauropods is that their necks were longer than the total length of their bodies and tails, giving them their distinctive appearance . Plesiosaurs, including Albertonects, evolved from land-dwelling reptiles during the Late Triassic period (237 million–201.3 million years ago). Much of their anatomy shows their terrestrial origins. For example, the same bones found in the hands and feet of land-dwelling reptiles—including five fingers and five toes—were all present in each plesiosaur fin, hidden beneath the skin. Similar bone structures are found in the flippers of some modern animals, for example whales and seals, which also had terrestrial ancestors.
Mountain range and habitat
The only known Albertonectes specimens are from southwestern Alberta and date between 78 and 72 million years ago. They were found in the black shale of the Bearpaw Formation. The rocks of the Bearpaw Formation record the presence of an inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway, that ran along the eastern side of the newly developed Rocky Mountains. At its greatest extent, this seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. It was a real marine environment. In addition to plesiosaurs like Albertonectes, paleontologists have found fossils of giant clams, starfish, lobsters, ammonites, nautiloids, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, and mussaurus. Fossils of Albertonectes were found in rocks deposited far from shore, indicating that it was adapted to living in open water.
Reproduction and Development
With only one nearly complete specimen and a few isolated rows of vertebrae from other specimens, paleontologists do not know much about the reproduction and development of Albertonectes based on its fossil record. However, based on its anatomy, it is clear that the animal could never have come on land. This means that females must have given birth to live young in the sea, bypassing the egg-laying stage of terrestrial reptiles. There are fossils of embryos developing in the body of Polycotylus, another Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, providing further evidence that Albertonectes would have undergone the same reproductive process.
Diet
Unfortunately, no one has found an Albertonectes head, so nothing can be said directly about its teeth and jaws, and what it ate. However, all known elasmosaurs had relatively small heads with long, thin teeth. The upper and lower sets of teeth meshed together when the mouth was closed. These small teeth and thin jaws mean that Albertonectes does not attack and dismember large prey. Instead, it must have collected small fish and crustaceans from the water column. He may also have collected invertebrates from the seabed.
THE BEHAVIOR
Elasmosaurs were very large animals, and large animals are rare in any environment. This means that Albertonectes were solitary hunters, except during the breeding season. A large collection of stomach stones was found in the body cavity of Albertonectes. There are two main theories as to why Albertonects and other plesiosaurs are often found with stones in their stomachs: for ballast or for digestion. However, both ideas have problems. First, the stones found with plesiosaurs are too small to affect buoyancy. For example, Albertonectes weighed 4.8 tons, but only 9 kilograms of stones were found with the fossil. Regarding the second theory, all plesiosaurs are interpreted to have been strictly carnivorous, but the only living animals that use stomach stones to aid their digestion are herbivores (for example, birds like chickens). Paleontologists continue to develop theories about why plesiosaurs are found with stones in their stomachs.
Discovery and Naming
The remains of Albertonectes were found by chance. For many years the commercial fossil company Korite International has been searching for gem-quality ammonite shells in the Bearpaw Formation south of Lethbridge, Alberta, and uses augers to excavate them. Occasionally, they exhibit a mosasaur – a type of sea-going lizard related to living lizards like the Komodo dragon. It was a great and welcome surprise to come across the remains of what would eventually be named Albertonectes – an elastosaur – at the Korite excavations in 2007. The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of six to collect the remains. The job took them three weeks. The founder of Korite International was a businessman named Rene Vanderveld, and the species’ full name, Albertonectes vanderveldei (“Van der Veld’s Alberta swimmer”), honors his efforts on behalf of paleontology in Canada.
title: “Albertonectes The Canadian Encyclopedia Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-31” author: “Jerald Lubin”
Did you know that? While Albertonectes has the most well-known neck bones of any animal, that doesn’t mean it has the largest neck either. That distinction belongs to Mamenchisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur whose neck reached 12 meters. In comparison, Albertonectes’ neck was 7 meters. However, apart from their many neck bones, what set Albertonectes and other Late Cretaceous elamosaurs apart from sauropods is that their necks were longer than the total length of their bodies and tails, giving them their distinctive appearance . Plesiosaurs, including Albertonects, evolved from land-dwelling reptiles during the Late Triassic period (237 million–201.3 million years ago). Much of their anatomy shows their terrestrial origins. For example, the same bones found in the hands and feet of land-dwelling reptiles—including five fingers and five toes—were all present in each plesiosaur fin, hidden beneath the skin. Similar bone structures are found in the flippers of some modern animals, for example whales and seals, which also had terrestrial ancestors.
Mountain range and habitat
The only known Albertonectes specimens are from southwestern Alberta and date between 78 and 72 million years ago. They were found in the black shale of the Bearpaw Formation. The rocks of the Bearpaw Formation record the presence of an inland sea, the Western Interior Seaway, that ran along the eastern side of the newly developed Rocky Mountains. At its greatest extent, this seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. It was a real marine environment. In addition to plesiosaurs like Albertonectes, paleontologists have found fossils of giant clams, starfish, lobsters, ammonites, nautiloids, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, and mussaurus. Fossils of Albertonectes were found in rocks deposited far from shore, indicating that it was adapted to living in open water.
Reproduction and Development
With only one nearly complete specimen and a few isolated rows of vertebrae from other specimens, paleontologists do not know much about the reproduction and development of Albertonectes based on its fossil record. However, based on its anatomy, it is clear that the animal could never have come on land. This means that females must have given birth to live young in the sea, bypassing the egg-laying stage of terrestrial reptiles. There are fossils of embryos developing in the body of Polycotylus, another Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, providing further evidence that Albertonectes would have undergone the same reproductive process.
Diet
Unfortunately, no one has found an Albertonectes head, so nothing can be said directly about its teeth and jaws, and what it ate. However, all known elasmosaurs had relatively small heads with long, thin teeth. The upper and lower sets of teeth meshed together when the mouth was closed. These small teeth and thin jaws mean that Albertonectes does not attack and dismember large prey. Instead, it must have collected small fish and crustaceans from the water column. He may also have collected invertebrates from the seabed.
THE BEHAVIOR
Elasmosaurs were very large animals, and large animals are rare in any environment. This means that Albertonectes were solitary hunters, except during the breeding season. A large collection of stomach stones was found in the body cavity of Albertonectes. There are two main theories as to why Albertonects and other plesiosaurs are often found with stones in their stomachs: for ballast or for digestion. However, both ideas have problems. First, the stones found with plesiosaurs are too small to affect buoyancy. For example, Albertonectes weighed 4.8 tons, but only 9 kilograms of stones were found with the fossil. Regarding the second theory, all plesiosaurs are interpreted to have been strictly carnivorous, but the only living animals that use stomach stones to aid their digestion are herbivores (for example, birds like chickens). Paleontologists continue to develop theories about why plesiosaurs are found with stones in their stomachs.
Discovery and Naming
The remains of Albertonectes were found by chance. For many years the commercial fossil company Korite International has been searching for gem-quality ammonite shells in the Bearpaw Formation south of Lethbridge, Alberta, and uses augers to excavate them. Occasionally, they exhibit a mosasaur – a type of sea-going lizard related to living lizards like the Komodo dragon. It was a great and welcome surprise to come across the remains of what would eventually be named Albertonectes – an elastosaur – at the Korite excavations in 2007. The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of six to collect the remains. The job took them three weeks. The founder of Korite International was a businessman named Rene Vanderveld, and the species’ full name, Albertonectes vanderveldei (“Van der Veld’s Alberta swimmer”), honors his efforts on behalf of paleontology in Canada.
