Penguins and plesiosaurs share a similar swimming style

Little was known about the movement of the group of marine reptiles which were apex predators for around 135 million years during the time of the dinosaurs.

By designing computer simulations based on the anatomy of a species of plesiosaur that lived 180 million years ago, called meyerasaurus, scientists were able to identify the best swimming strategy for their body shape.

Using new computer simulations, a team of scientists led by Greg Turk from the Georgia Institute of Technology discovered these super predators of the dinosaur era likely swam like penguins underwater.

The plesiosaurs – which resembled Scotland’s mythical Loch Ness monster, with its four large flippers and long necks – was unlike any modern-day swimming animal. They then simulated thousands of different swimming motions to see which ones would have been the most effective, given the plesiosaur’s unique body plan.

Researchers found that the most effective swimming motion for the plesiosaur is flapping the two front flippers in an underwater flight motion, similar to that of a penguin.

In the end, the scientists found that the plesiosaur was swimming mostly with its forelimbs; surprisingly, the hindlimbs didn’t generate much thrust and likely were used for balance and steering. According to paleontologist Adam Smith, the front limbs provided a powerhouse for propulsion while the back limbs were more passive.

New experiments detailed in a study published in PLOS Computation Biology indicate that the Meyerasaurus “flew” under water in much the same way penguins do. Based on their findings, he and his colleagues concluded that the rear flippers were probably used only to help the plesiosaur steer and to keep it stable while it was traveling through the water.

Scientists have tried all kinds of ways to model the animals’ swimming behavior, from using experimental robots to testing out human swimmers using paddles.

Utilizing pc modelling scientists declare to have lastly discovered the reply – the creatures “flapped” their 4 flippers like penguins. With the help of a beautifully complete Meyerasaurus fossil in a German museum, the researchers built a digital version of the animal and ran computer simulations to divine the animal’s most efficient swimming style.

The new computers models showed that Meyerasaurus had the ability to swim fast if its basic motion was an up-and-down flap with its large flippers. At the time even the name dinosaur had not been invented.

Instead, researchers believed that the back limbs were only used for steering or stability, like a rudder. “But it turns out that it’s the front limbs that seem to do all the work”.

“Maybe the rear flippers moved together with the front flippers occasionally to provide an unsustainable burst of thrust, to lunge at a prey, for example”, said Turk’s co-author Adam Smith, a paleontologist at Britain’s Nottingham Natural History Museum-Wollaton Hall, via email.