“Late Jurassic Sea Monster: Scientists Discover Fossil of Giant Pliosaur with Dagger Teeth and Bite Stronger than T-Rex”

LONDON – Scientist finds evidence sea ​​monsters Late Jurassic period which can grow as long as 15 meters and has teeth the size of daggers. The creature is believed to be a type of pliosaur, a fearsome predator that had a massive skull, gigantic teeth, and a bite force even stronger than that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Fossil evidence of the existence of Jurassic sea monsters was found by chance in one of the museums English . The four bones are the vertebrae of an unknown Jurassic predator species called a pliosaur.

The fossils showed that the dagger-toothed creature could grow to twice the size of an orca (Orcinus orca) and drastically revised previous estimates for the scale of the prehistoric monster. The researchers published their findings May 10 in the journal Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.

“It’s incredible to prove that there really was a species of really giant pliosaurs in the Late Jurassic seas,” said David Martill, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Portsmouth in England, Saturday (13/5/2023).

Martill found the bones while browsing fossils at the Abingdon County Hall Museum in England. After finding a large vertebra, he was told by the museum’s curator that three more were in storage.

This fossil, which comes from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, was originally discovered during excavations at Warren Farm in Oxfordshire. They were excavated from deposits dated to about 152 million years ago during the late Jurassic.

By laser scanning the fossil, Martill and his colleagues estimated it belonged to a fearsome sea monster that stretched from about 9.8 meters to 14.4 meters in length. This size makes pliosaurs the largest Jurassic-era monsters ever found.

Previously, one of the largest known pliosaurs was Kronosaurus (Kronosaurus queenslandicus), which grew to be between 10 meters and 11 meters long. Pliosaurs were the largest predators of the oceans during the Jurassic period (201 to 145 million years ago).

Pliosaurs hunted their prey by navigating the ocean using four strong, paddle-like flippers. Pliosaurs were likely ambush predators, leaping out of deep, dark water and stabbing with dagger-sharp teeth, and stronger than a Tyrannosaurus rex’s bite.

“We know this pliosaur was a very fearsome animal that swam the seas that covered Oxfordshire 145-152 million years ago. They were at the top of the marine food chain and may have preyed on ichthyosaurs, long-necked plesiosaurs and possibly even smaller sea crocodiles,” said Martill.

(wib)