Plesiosaurs, which lived about 210 million years ago, adapted to life underwater in a unique way: their front and hind legs evolved in the course of evolution to form four uniform, wing-like flippers.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Between the later part of the Triassic and ...

Plesiosaurs are characterized by four uniform flippers. It was possible to reconstruct whether they used these in a rowing or flying motion underwater thanks to a combination of paleontological and ...