Scientists Finally Know How an Ancient Reptile Lived With Such an Absurdly Long Neck 1 APRIL 2021 Make a crocodile out of taffy. Take its head and tug on it until its neck extends a good few meters from its body. If you squint, this could be what one odd-looking Triassic reptile called Tanystropheus looked like. More or less.
This animal's assortment of ludicrously long fossilized neck bones has confused the heck out of paleontologists for nearly 170 years. By using CT scans to unpack the crushed skulls of the reptiles' remains, researchers finally resolved some nagging questions surrounding this strange animal in August last year.