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Paul 'Bear' Bryant now has an ancient shark species named after him (al.com)
By Dennis Pillion
dpillion@al.com
About 83 million years before Paul "Bear" Bryant coached his first football game at the University of Alabama, a shark that now shares his name was tearing into defenseless fishes in the shallow seas of central Alabama.
Paleontologists working at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham and the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa have found at least 33 individual teeth from a previously unknown species of shark that they are naming Cretalamna bryanti, or the Bryant shark.
Jun Ebersole -- director of collections at the McWane Center and lead author of the paper describing the new species -- said the shark was named the Bryant shark in honor of the family of the former Alabama football coach to recognize their contributions to education in the state.
"Everybody is familiar with 'Bear' Bryant, but it's actually for the entire Bryant family," Ebersole said. "The members of the Bryant family have been long time supporters of not only McWane Science Center, but also the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama.
"This new species honors the Bryant family's long-standing commitment to education in our state."
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more: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/bryant_shark_new_species_after.html
