Mesosaurs Were Slow Swimmers

Optimal swimming speed estimates in the Early Permian mesosaurid Mesosaurus tenuidens (Gervais 1865) from Uruguay

Authors:

Villami et al

Abstract:

Mesosaurid biology has been subject of continuous debate since the first description of Mesosaurus tenuidens by Paul Gervais in 1867. Controversy surrounds their environmental and feeding preferences. Most studies suggested that mesosaurids were marine reptiles and perhaps piscivorous predators. Nonetheless, recent work suggests that they inhabited a salty, eventually hypersaline shallow epicontinental sea and that pygocephalomorph crustaceans were their preferred food item. Here, we present results of the first biomechanical study about optimal swimming capabilities in Mesosaurus tenuidens, which along with the comparative analysis of the limb morphology support the hypothesis that these animals were slow swimmers living in shallow waters. The study is based on the revision of several almost complete mesosaurid specimens and isolated, well-preserved bones housed in palaeontological collections in Uruguay, Brazil, France and Germany. We studied the relative size and proportions of the bones, as well as their morphology and anatomical position to produce a three-dimensional reconstruction of the original appearance of an undamaged, complete skeleton. Our results suggest a fairly low optimal swimming speed for mesosaurids, which is consistent with capture of fairly slow prey like pygocephalomorphs, possibly by filter-feeding, rather than by active pursuit of fast prey.

Academic Bun Fight: Whether or not There is Archaelogical Evidence of People in Uruguay 30,000 Years Ago

Extraordinary Claim!

Arroyo del Vizcaíno, Uruguay: a fossil-rich 30-ka-old megafaunal locality with cut-marked bones

Authors:

Fariña et al

Abstract:

Human–megafauna interaction in the Americas has great scientific and ethical interest because of its implications on Pleistocene extinction. The Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay has already yielded over 1000 bones belonging to at least 27 individuals, mostly of the giant sloth Lestodon. The assemblage shows some taphonomic features suggestive of human presence, such as a mortality profile dominated by prime adults and little evidence of major fluvial transport. In addition, several bones present deep, asymmetrical, microstriated, sharp and shouldered marks similar to those produced by human stone tools. A few possible lithic elements have also been collected, one of which has the shape of a scraper and micropolish consistent with usage on dry hide. However, the radiocarbon age of the site is unexpectedly old (between 27 and 30 thousand years ago), and thus may be important for understanding the timing of the peopling of America.

Pffle: Bad! Science! Bun thrown!

Archaeological evidences are still missing: a comment on Fariña et al. Arroyo del Vizcaíno site, Uruguay

Authors:

Suárez et al

Extract:

Fariña et al. suggest the possibility of human presence ca 30 ka in the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site (AVS) (southern Uruguay). This is based mainly on the record of cutmarks made by human artefacts on Pleistocene animal bones. They also inform of the finding of a single tiny stone tool and few other possible lithic artefacts. Nevertheless, their research has serious methodological problems and important interpretative errors.

Counterattack! Bad! Paper! Bunn Thrown Back!

Among others, cut-marks are archaeological evidence: reply to ‘Archaeological evidences are still missing: a comment on Fariña et al. Arroyo del Vizcaíno Site, Uruguay’ by Suárez et al.

Authors:

Fariña et al

Abstract:

In Fariña et al. [1], we claimed that a rich fossiliferous locality, Arroyo del Vizcaíno (hereafter, AdV), with marked bones that are much older than widely accepted for human presence in the Americas, deserved ‘to be included in the agenda of early American peopling, either as a not foreseeable discovery … or as an example of natural processes mimicking human presence’. The comments by Suárez et al. [2] fail to offer a hypothesis of such a process. Instead, they mention we incur in ‘serious methodological problems and important interpretative errors’ that remain mostly unexplained.

Evidence People Hunting Giant Sloths in South America 30,000 Years Ago

Arroyo del Vizcaíno, Uruguay: a fossil-rich 30-ka-old megafaunal locality with cut-marked bones

Authors:

Farina et al

Abstract:

Human–megafauna interaction in the Americas has great scientific and ethical interest because of its implications on Pleistocene extinction. The Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay has already yielded over 1000 bones belonging to at least 27 individuals, mostly of the giant sloth Lestodon. The assemblage shows some taphonomic features suggestive of human presence, such as a mortality profile dominated by prime adults and little evidence of major fluvial transport. In addition, several bones present deep, asymmetrical, microstriated, sharp and shouldered marks similar to those produced by human stone tools. A few possible lithic elements have also been collected, one of which has the shape of a scraper and micropolish consistent with usage on dry hide. However, the radiocarbon age of the site is unexpectedly old (between 27 and 30 thousand years ago), and thus may be important for understanding the timing of the peopling of America.

Noel! Wish Granted! Remember Panic Attack?

A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m (£18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film.

The movie will be sponsored by director Sam Raimi, whose credits include the Spiderman and Evil Dead films.

Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

It is 4 mins 48 seconds long and was made on a budget of $300 (£186).

So far it has had more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

"I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios," he told the BBC's Latin American service BBC Mundo.

"It was amazing, we were all shocked."

The movie Mr Alvarez has been asked to produce is a sci-fi film to be shot in Uruguay and Argentina. He says he intends to start from scratch and develop a new story for the project.

Noel: Movie to be made!

Montevideo Destroyed (sfnally)

(more properly titled, Panic Attack)