Trump did it

Smithsonian Magazine’s website is reporting on a “217-million-year-old murder mystery” at Nevada’s Icthyosaur State Park.

Paleontologists are at the park trying to determine why the bones of about 40 icthyosaurs are at the single site, similar to a Cerro Ballena, Chile, grouping of the seagoing mammals.

Until now, “Some sort of deadly algae bloom seemed like a good candidate,” the magazine reports. “And more recently, one researcher jumped into the deep end of speculation to suggest the ichthyosaurs had been killed by an enormous squid, which carefully arranged the bones in its lair. All the while, the true story of what happened has remained in the rock.”

“We have some good preliminary clues and ideas … but we are still actively debating and discussing this and still investigating the date,” said National Museum of Natural History paleontologist Neil Kelley.