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Ancient find evokes the image of a terrifying super-scorpion
| Our wierd animal story of the day |
 The footprints of one of the most fearsome creatures ever found in the British Isles â a water scorpion the length of a person â have been discovered in Scotland.
Tracks in rock on the east coast of Scotland were created 330 million years ago by the six-legged Hibbertopterus, which was 1.6m (5ft 3in) long and 1m (3ft 3in) wide.
| "Honey? Did you remember to feed the six-legged Hibbertopterus?" |
The water scorpion, which is distantly related to its small modern cousins, had two claw-like arms, an armoured exoskeleton and a powerful tail tipped with a large, flat spike â although it was not poisonous. âI think it would have been a pretty fearsome sight,â said Martin Whyte, of the University of Sheffield, a geologist who found the tracks.
| How can he tell it wasn't poisonous if all he found was the tracks? For that matter, how can he tell it had an armored exoskeleton, rather than a thin, pliable exoskeleton? Would the tracks even tell you it had a tail? Why would it necessarily be a fearsome sight, especially if not poisonous? It could be that the beasts went extinct because they weren't armored or poisonous, but had cute little snub-nosed smiley faces. Because they were so friendly-looking, rather like a large puppy only with 700 big brown eyes, and were easy to take apart, they'd have been much like a very large, ambulatory lobster dinner. |
Despite its formidable appearance, the creature would have presented little threat to people.
| That's probably because there weren't many people around 330 million years ago. |
It fed on smaller prey such as water fleas and as an aquatic animal would have been easy to outrun on land.
| Well, I think, having seen similar tracks once in the mud along the Mekong river, that the beast lived on ham sandwiches, sea scallions, and salps, and made noises in a high tenor voice. |
The discovery, published today in the journal Nature, is the first of its kind in the world.
| Marvelously detailed conclusions, based on a set of tracks... |
Posted by: lotp & Anonymoose 2005-12-01 |
