Howdy folks! I hope your week was enjoyable. A lot of
preparation stuff has been going on in the past few weeks. So as usual, updates
come first!
The play I’ve been talking about, “The King on a Cross” is in
what I like to call, the pre-production
stage. The casting call for this play that I wrote will be taking place
tomorrow night! That’s the 25th of this month! I’ve been anxiously
awaiting this night. Even though it’s the day of, that doesn’t mean it’s too
late for you to participate if you’re interested in acting. If you’re NOT interesting in acting, but would
like to help in some other way, we’d be glad to have you! For need-to-know
information, please send me an email to animaladventures@aol.com!
For those of you who are interested in my upcoming
stop-motion series, “Planet of the Dinosaurs,” you would be delighted to know
that things are coming along great! The series as a whole is about 15%
finished. I am completely finished taking pictures for the first of six
episodes, entitled “Out of Africa”. Right at this moment I’m about 35% finished
with the second episode. This second episode had a title change – instead of
the original title: “The Tropical Polar Regions”, I shortened it to: “The
Tropical Poles” since that’s less of a mouthful. I hope to be completely
finished taking pictures for this episode by the 28th of January
2013. As I have said before, this series should (Lord willing) be released
during springtime at the rate I’m going. I can’t wait!
Speaking of prehistoric creatures, crocodiles look VERY prehistoric! Members of the
crocodilian family have been found in many of the ancient fossil layers that
were deposited during Noah’s Flood, about 4,300 years ago. Fossil crocodiles
first appear in the Triassic layer (I am not referring to the fictional time
periods that evolutionists use to refer to the times that layers in the rock
were laid down, I am referring to the name of the layer itself). Crocodiles are
some of the most formidable predators. Today, they are found in a variety of
wet habitats and the largest of them, the saltwater crocodile, can grow 20 feet
in length. Back in the day though, did you know that crocodiles could grow over
40 feet long?!? They also didn’t only live in rivers, lakes, estuaries and
ponds (and in the case of the saltwater croc) with occasional trips into the
sea. There was once were species of crocodile that made their homes in the sea.
Introducing: the Metriorhynchids (Met-ree-oh-rin-kids)!
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| Metriorhynchus, a marine crocodile |
Metriorhynchids are a group of marine crocodiles that lived
in the ocean. While there are different species of these guys that used to swim
through the sea, the three-meter long Metriorhynchus
is the most famous (even though when you ask most people to describe a metriorhynchid, they’ll respond by
saying, “Metra-what-a?”). These were some of the strangest crocodiles that God
had ever assembled! First of all, instead of the flat, paddle-like tails of
modern crocs, God gave the metriorhynchids a shark-like tail and flippers on
their limbs that helped them to effortlessly glide gracefully through the
water.
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| Tyrannoneustes, a recently discovered metriorhynchid (This image came from this link) |
This month, a new species of metriorhynchid was discovered. It is called Tyrannoneustes. This predator and its relative, metriorhynchus both probably lived in
the ancient seas surrounding what would become Europe. The pre-flood oceans
were a dangerous place to be, even for a marine crocodile. Most crocs have
armor, but marine crocodiles lack armor so that they are quicker in the water.
This is a good thing, because these seas were filled with monsters. One good
example would be the large predatory reptile called Liopleurodon. This 7-meter carnivore had a ten-foot jaw with
13-inch teeth! No wonder metriorhynchids
had to be fast! The reason why many of the predators in these European seas
were so large, was probably because the prey was large! Take Leedsichthys for example. Here is a fish
that grew 50, 70, perhaps even up to 90 feet in length (fortunately, it only
ate plankton)!
Metriorhynchids also had a
maw full of sharp teeth. Being a crocodile, it probably would have eaten a lot
of fish and maybe scavenged from other carnivores’ kills (a dying or dead Leedsichthys would have provided food
for weeks, if not months).
The metriorhynchids were
an amazing group of crocodiles God created. But evidently, sometime after the
Flood, these creatures became extinct, leaving only their bones and their
living crocodile relations to tell us that they ever existed.
You probably learned a lot of new stuff today. (I mean, who’s
ever heard of a metriorhynchid besides me anyways?) But that also can lead us to another question: what other strange creatures are
waiting underground for someone to find it? Maybe someone like you! Who knows?
I hope you found today’s reading informative. Be sure to stop by next Thursday
to see what I’ll have in store for you next time. Bye!
PS:
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PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.
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too, this will help me improve them.
Hi that was a nice article you wrote there thank you.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THE FIRST PERSON TO COMMENT ON MY WEBSITE!
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