Re: a really big bite

[Espen Madsen Knutsen <e.m.knutsen@nhm.uio.no>]

Reply to John Hunt and Colin McHenry:

I am trying to get a paper out later this year, describing both pliosaur 
specimens.
They are unfortunately, like most other pliosaur skeletons, incomplete 
so we have tried to keep the length estimates conservative. Estimating 
size of a new animal based on incomplete material will, obviously, 
always be difficult when we know little or nothing about the animals 
body proportions (neck-length, skull-length etc.). Extrapolating from 
existing material is definitely not the best way go by it, but has been 
the only way for now. So if we do assume that this animal had similar 
proportions to /Pliosaurus/ then we are looking at an animal with a 3 
meter skull! (Based on front paddle size and lower jaw parts).

More about the weight and bite force estimates will be revealed in the 
upcoming documentary on History Channel US. BBC has also bought it and 
will show it sometime during this year.

If you haven't read the full press release or been to our web pages, go 
to http://www.nhm.uio.no/pliosaurus/english/
Here you can read more about our fieldwork, what we have found and so on.

Espen

--
Espen M. Knutsen
PhD student
Natural History Museum, Oslo, Norway
Mail address: Box 1172 Blindern, 0318 Oslo
Visiting address: Sars gate 1 Tøyen, 0562 OSLO
E-mail: e.m.knutsen@nhm.uio.no
Phone: +47 93037396