Scientists are most likely to use instruments such as picks and chisels or powerful high-resolution electron microscopes to make scientific discoveries. Not anyone has ever thought that a selfie stick is given the honor to make such a significant contribution.
Russian paleontologist Nikolay G. Zverkov revealed that while he was at the Natural History Museum in London, he wanted to zoom in closer a fossil of 150 million-year-old late Jurassic ichthyosaur. The tool he used at that time was not an ordinary selfie stick.
Since the glass case was mounted too high, he ingeniously attached his digital camera to a fishing rod to capture some photos of the prehistoric sea monster that resembled a deranged dolphin with bulging eyes and scarier teeth. Zverkov thought that the skeleton, which was in the museum for a century, somewhat looks like a genus of ichthyosaur.
The Huge Revelation
Zverkov pulled his bizarre move to see whether or not the creature at the Natural History Museum in London is the same as the one he has previously seen. He asked paleontologist and Baylor University doctoral candidate Megan L. Jacobs to check on the photos he captured to answer his questions.
After careful checking, Jacobs realized that its skeletal morphology matched that of ichthyosaurs found in the United Kingdom. The two scientists were able to prove that the fossil hanging out in the museum in London for so many years was actually the same kind of the Russian and British ichthyosaur specimens.
Before this revelation, ichthyosaurs are believed to be a rare kind of marine dinosaurs until it was found to be more common because of the photo that the selfie stick has taken. This particular ichthyosaur is called Nannopterygius enthekiodon.
According to Jacobs, The excellent detailed photos that Zverkov has taken significantly expand the knowledge of Nannopterygius enthekiodon.
"Now, after finding examples from museum collections across the United Kingdom, Russia and the Arctic - as well as several other Nannopterygius species - we can say Nannopterygius is one of the most widespread genera of ichthyosaurs in the Northern Hemisphere," Jacobs added.
New postprint: Revision of Undorosaurus, a mysterious Late Jurassic ichthyosaur of the Boreal Realm https://t.co/fhOauCSfDq
Thanks to author Nikolay Zverkov for sharing! pic.twitter.com/uZRYXmvxo5 — paleorxiv (@paleorxiv) February 2, 2019
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A Fearsome Sea Monster
About 76 million years ago, ichthyosaurs were considered to be one of the fearsome marine reptiles that ruled the ocean. The first part of its scientific name Nannopterygius enthekiodon means "tiny wing" and was named as such because of its tiny fins. The animal is said to have measured at about 5 feet long, with its tail taking up half of its body length.
This sea monster can thrive in the warm and shallow waters that covered most of Europe. The second part of its name enthekiodon, which means "sheathed tooth," explains its sharp teeth, which were covered in cementum that prevented them from falling out.
This creature uses its teeth to clamp down their prey that also lived in shallow waters, which they most likely have quickly chased because their bones revealed them to be a fast, torpedo-shaped creatures that ambush its prey across short distances.
Zverkov and Jacobs recently published their findings in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. In their paper, they talked about how Nannopterygius enthekiodon is not nearly as rare as it was once thought, and that another species of the creature named, N. borealis, was discovered while going through Russian specimens.
Both the species were related to a larger ichthyosaur known as Opthalmosaurus, which has saucer eyes that were like night vision goggles that they use to navigate the eldritch depths of the ocean in search for its food.
