Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort MyersThe Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics
FORT MYERS Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort Myers The Lee County GOP is hosting the Trumparilla Boat Parade in support of the Republican nominee.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner charged for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
FORT MYERS Trumparilla Boat Parade kicks off in Fort Myers The Lee County GOP is hosting the Trumparilla Boat Parade in support of the Republican nominee.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Hot temperatures, rain, and we’re watching the tropics Get ready for a typical Southwest Florida weekend. It’s going to feel like the triple digits before rain rolls in and we’re watching the tropics.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner charged for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). Paleontologists in southwestern China recently discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a prehistoric marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur. But they also found something completely unexpected — a well-preserved, extremely long reptile inside that creature’s belly. Ichthyosaurs were giant, dolphin-like carnivores that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, thriving during the Mesozoic era. In a study published Thursday in the journal iScience, researchers documented finding one with a fossil in its stomach belonging to a four-meter-long, lizard-like aquatic reptile called a thalattosaur. It’s one of the longest fossils ever found in the stomach of a prehistoric marine reptile. Researchers said the predator likely died soon after ingesting its prey, which could be why it is so well preserved. This last meal back took place back in the Middle Triassic period, roughly 237 million to 247 million years ago. It’s quite rare to find fossils within the stomach of other fossils, so researchers typically rely on tooth and jaw shapes to deduce the diets of prehistoric species. While apex predators tend to have large, sharp teeth, those of ichthyosaurs were blunter, leading researchers to believe they mostly fed on small prey like cephalopods. “If you look across all the similar marine reptiles that lived in the age of dinosaurs, we’ve actually never found something articulated like this in the stomach,” study co-author Ryosuke Motani, a professor of paleobiology at the University of California, Davis, said in a press release. “At first, we just didn’t believe it, but after spending several years visiting the dig site and looking at the same specimens, we finally were able to swallow what we were seeing.” Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). This image shows a closeup of the ichthyosaur’s stomach area. This image shows the ichthyosaur’s teeth. The new discovery could reclassify the species as “apex megapredators” — predators at the top of the food chain. “Now, we can seriously consider that they were eating big animals, even when they had grasping teeth,” Motani said. “It’s been suggested before that maybe a cutting edge was not crucial, and our discovery really supports that. It’s pretty clear that this animal could process this large food item using blunt teeth.” It’s still unclear, however, whether the ichthyosaur killed the thalattosaur or simply scavenged it. “Nobody was there filming it,” Motani joked. But researchers doubt that this was a case of scavenging, given how intact they found the fossil of the thalattosaur. If it was a case of scavenging, they said, its limbs would have decayed; however, its limbs were at least partially attacked and it appears its tail was ripped off. Researchers said that, regardless of how exactly the ichthyosaur consumed its final meal, the discovery marks the oldest direct evidence that the species ate animals larger than modern humans. “We now have a really solid articulated fossil in the stomach of a marine reptile for the first time,” Motani said. “Before, we guessed that they must have eaten these big things, but now, we can say for sure that they did eat large animals. This also suggests that megapredation was probably more common than we previously thought.” Researchers have been studying the quarry where the pair of fossils was found for more than a decade. It has been opened as a museum, but the excavation projects are still ongoing. “Still, new things are coming out,” Motani said. “At this point, it’s beyond our initial expectations, and we’ll just have to see what we’ll discover next.”