{"id":8562,"date":"2025-03-18T10:40:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T09:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/?p=8562"},"modified":"2026-05-06T12:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:18:17","slug":"it-had-an-extraordinarily-long-neck-and-an-apparent-preference-for-what-is-now-poland-researchers-are-still-asking-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/it-had-an-extraordinarily-long-neck-and-an-apparent-preference-for-what-is-now-poland-researchers-are-still-asking-why\/","title":{"rendered":"It had an extraordinarily long neck \u2013\u00a0and an apparent preference for what is now Poland. Researchers are still asking: why?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tanystropheus<\/em> lived around 240 million years ago. It remains one of the great enigmas of the Triassic period. Although paleontologists have had access to complete skeletons of Tanystropheus<\/em> for over a century, its lifestyle is still unclear. For decades, researchers have also debated the function of its extraordinarily elongated neck. Scientists from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw \u2013 Dr. Mateusz Ta\u0142anda and Adam Rytel, MSc \u2013 have joined this discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Tanystropheus<\/em> was not the only reptile to evolve a long neck, it stood out because of how this feature developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout evolution, we see strong selective pressure to elongate the neck. But Tanystropheus<\/em> faced constraints similar to those seen in modern mammals,\u201d says Dr. Ta\u0142anda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that mean? With few exceptions, mammals have exactly seven cervical vertebrae \u2013 the bones that make up the neck. They can\u2019t change that. Attempts to increase it during evolution tend to cause severe developmental problems, often resulting in death before birth. A similar limitation may have applied to Tanystropheus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding more vertebrae was not an option<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey couldn\u2019t change the number of cervical vertebrae, but they still had to lengthen the neck. Giraffes did this by elongating individual vertebrae. Tanystropheus<\/em> did the same \u2013 but it also incorporated some vertebrae from the torso into the neck,\u201d explains Dr. Ta\u0142anda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the extreme neck length in Tanystropheus<\/em> resulted from a combination of two processes: the elongation of individual cervical vertebrae and the transformation \u2013 or functional reassignment \u2013 of some dorsal (back) vertebrae into the cervical region. Other reptiles typically evolve longer necks simply by increasing the number of cervical vertebrae. Tanystropheus<\/em>, by contrast, stretched them to an extreme. This unique structural solution makes it difficult to find any modern equivalent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its distinctiveness becomes even clearer when compared with related reptiles. Research shows that although Tanystropheus<\/em> and other tanystropheids shared a broadly similar arrangement of neck vertebrae, Tanystropheus<\/em> underwent a significant expansion of the front part of the neck, leading to its maximum elongation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe vertebrae of Tanystropheus<\/em> were extremely elongated. They resemble a long tube and are hollow inside. A hundred years ago, when researchers didn\u2019t yet have complete skeletons, they mistook them for long bones. They were so altered that they no longer looked like vertebrae. Some even thought they were finger bones from a flying animal. Tanystropheus <\/em>pushed its anatomy to the extreme \u2013 and we still don\u2019t know why,\u201d says Dr. Ta\u0142anda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The reptile was about 6 meters long, with its neck making up nearly half of its body length. Source: Spiekman et al., 2020 \/ Beat Scheffold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What was such a long neck for?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are several hypotheses. The elongated neck may have served important adaptive functions, crucial for survival \u2013 perhaps aiding in hunting or other specialized behaviors. Fossilized remains of fish and cephalopods have been found near the abdominal regions of Tanystropheus<\/em> specimens. However, this does not necessarily mean the animal was fully aquatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTanystropheus<\/em> likely obtained its food from the water, but when you look at its limbs, you don\u2019t see clear adaptations to an aquatic environment. That\u2019s surprising,\u201d Dr. Ta\u0142anda notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because no modern animals have necks elongated to this extent \u2013 or in quite the same way \u2013 it is difficult to determine exactly how Tanystropheus<\/em> functioned or why its vertebrae were modified so dramatically. Several interpretations have been proposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne hypothesis suggests the animal could reach far using its neck like a fishing rod. Another proposes that it held its neck away from its body, making fish \u2013 which detect disturbances in the water \u2013 perceive the threat as more distant. A third idea is that Tanystropheus<\/em> kept its head motionless in the water and ambushed fish. At this point, we can\u2019t determine which is correct,\u201d explains Dr. Ta\u0142anda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The cervical vertebrae of Tanystropheus were extremely elongated. They resemble a long tube and are hollow inside. Source: Adam Rytel, based on Spiekman et al., 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Individual Tanystropheus<\/em> fossils have been found in China, Switzerland, and Italy. In Poland, however, researchers have uncovered remains of some of the largest known individuals \u2013 reaching up to seven meters (about 23 feet) in length. Moreover, in Miedary (a village in southern Poland, in the Silesian region), where excavations are ongoing, bones belonging to multiple animals have been discovered in one location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Tanystropheus<\/em> seems to have favored the area of present-day Poland is yet another piece of the puzzle. For now, like much about this extraordinary reptile, it remains an open question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tanystropheus drinking water. Photo by dottedyeti\/Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The text was originally published in Polish on the Serwis Naukowy UW <\/em>website <\/em><\/a>on March 18, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This reptile reached proportions unlike those of any other animal. The neck of a 6-meter-long Tanystropheus made up nearly half its body length. Scientists have described this remarkable feature and explained how such an unusual anatomy evolved. Yet key questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[74,1394,1397,336,1393,1395,1387],"class_list":["post-8562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-biology","tag-biology","tag-excavations","tag-faculty-of-biology","tag-miedary","tag-tanystropheus","tag-triassic-period","tag-university-of-warsaw"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8562"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9105,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8562\/revisions\/9105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}