Called plesiosaurs are predatory marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs. The plesiosaur was discovered by the fossil hunter Mary Anning in 1821. Scientists have reconstructed this ancient reptile.
On the last years the scientists tried to know how this reptile moves. The debate has continued until today, because the paleontologists were divided on whether the marine creature used its four limbs for rowing like turtles and penguins or some sort of combination of the two. The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, is based on a computer simulation of a Jurassic fossil from Germany. This simulation suggest that the plesiosaur moved through the water like a penguin, using its front limbs as paddles and back limbs for steering.
Dr Smith and co-researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta say: "We conclude that plesiosaurs were forelimb-dominated swimmers that used their hind limbs mainly for manoeuvrability and stability."
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