zakur
2nd November 2003, 06:54 PM
Mashed fossil might be vampire; experts scoff (http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7122145.htm)
A fossilized Chinese pterosaur – one of those flying reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs - was a blood-sucking vampire, according to a St. Louis artist.
More than 100 million years ago, he believes, the monster would have alighted on dinosaurs much like a mosquito, piercing thick skin with its ghastly fangs and lapping up blood with its tongue.
"It's like a Hieronymus Bosch nightmare," said David Peters, who works in advertising by day.
By night, Peters has made a hobby of computer-enhancing photos of fossils, then reinterpreting the bones in ways that often rile professional pterosaur experts. But at the biggest fossil forum of the year - the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, held this month in St. Paul, Minn. - Peters had a captive audience.
[...]
A pterosaur expert who heard his talk called it "fun but unconvincing."
"It is interpretation, there's no doubt about it," Peters says. "Whether I've interpreted it correctly is up to the next graduate student."I'd like to see Peters' rendering of the creature.
A fossilized Chinese pterosaur – one of those flying reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs - was a blood-sucking vampire, according to a St. Louis artist.
More than 100 million years ago, he believes, the monster would have alighted on dinosaurs much like a mosquito, piercing thick skin with its ghastly fangs and lapping up blood with its tongue.
"It's like a Hieronymus Bosch nightmare," said David Peters, who works in advertising by day.
By night, Peters has made a hobby of computer-enhancing photos of fossils, then reinterpreting the bones in ways that often rile professional pterosaur experts. But at the biggest fossil forum of the year - the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, held this month in St. Paul, Minn. - Peters had a captive audience.
[...]
A pterosaur expert who heard his talk called it "fun but unconvincing."
"It is interpretation, there's no doubt about it," Peters says. "Whether I've interpreted it correctly is up to the next graduate student."I'd like to see Peters' rendering of the creature.