“Shocking Facts About the Ancient Marine Reptile Mosasaurus”

The facts about the ancient marine reptile Mosasaurus are surprising. This ancient marine reptile named Mosasaurus has an unusual fact. These ancient animals lived millions of years ago.

All living things that exist today are the result of evolution from ancient animals that lived millions of years ago. Some of them evolved and some also became extinct.

Mosasaurus is an ancient animal in the reptile class. Experts found this Mosasaurus fossil and then examined it.

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The results of research on the Mosasaurus fossils turned out to bring up many interesting facts. What are they?

Shocking Mosasaurus Ancient Marine Reptile Facts

Researchers found a skeleton in the form of ancient sea monster fossils. This sea monster is a Mosasaurus that comes from the Tylosaurus type.

Tylosaurus itself is an ancient marine reptile whose life span coincided with that of the dinosaurs. Even very large size, as well as dinosaurs.

According to existing estimates, the length of this ancient reptile is about 6 to 7 meters. The mosasaurs lived about twenty million years ago, and researchers estimate that Tylosaurus had smooth, non-rough skin.

Here are some interesting facts about Mosasaurus, a terrifying ancient reptile.

Body Bigger than T-Rex

Maybe most people know the big and scary dinosaur type T-Rex. Who would have thought that Mosasaurus was bigger than T-Rex during his lifetime.

In fact, this reptile is also a carnivorous predator. With its large size, of course Mosasaurus became one of the sea monsters of its time.

The type of Tylosaurus that has been found is currently stored in the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in full. All parts of the skeleton were successfully preserved by the researchers, except for the missing fin.

The skeleton was even intact, but its position had changed from its original shape. However, the fact that this ancient marine reptile, Mosasaurus, still appears to have a large size.

Has Many Species

The name Mosasaurus comes from a lizard in the Meuse river, a river in the Netherlands where the Mosasaurus fossil was first identified.

Mosasaurus is the name for ancient water reptiles from the Mosasauridae family. So, Mosasaurus was not just a single species.

At least there are more than 40 species included in the type of Mosasaurus. For example, in the film Jurassic World, there is a species of Tylosaurus proriger.

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Currently, the fact is that this ancient marine reptile, Mosasaurus, has descended from monitor lizards and snakes.

Carnivorous Species

Mosasaurus was an all-eating or carnivorous species. During his life, Mosasaurus will hunt fish as the main food.

However, the fossils found show that they also ate birds, sharks, turtles, and also small Mosasaurs.

This reptile has conical teeth but lacks cutting edges, like sharks do. According to estimates, Mosasaurus ate its prey much like snakes.

Various sizes

The fact is that most of the ancient marine reptiles of Mosasaurus were very large. However, each species is different.

The size of Hainosaurus Bernardi is the largest. Hainosaurus could reach 17 meters in length. Meanwhile, the smallest species is Dallasaurus with a length that doesn’t even reach 1 meter.

Fossils Around the World

Interestingly, fossils of these ancient marine reptiles are found all over the world. In fact, Mosasaurus fossils have also been identified in Antarctica, which has extreme temperatures.

It can already be seen that this Mosasaurus reptile was a predator that lived like a monster. In fact, Mosasaurus can also live in fresh water.

For example, like Pannoniasaurus which was identified in Hungary and Goronyosaurus in Africa. Both are species of Mosasaurus that likely lived in fresh water.

Mosasaurus actually could not swim fast or jump high because of its very large body.

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When swimming, Mosasaurus also relied only on its tail. Meanwhile, fins tightly against the body.

The existence of the fins on this Mosasaurus is not very functional because it is only to stabilize the body, so it is not for swimming.

The body of the Mosasaurus was slender with a dark upper surface. Meanwhile, the bottom is lighter which will disguise its presence in the water so that its prey is not fooled.

From the facts of the ancient marine reptile Mosasaurus, this is one of the ancient sea monsters. It looks like a crocodile but is very large and also a powerful predator in the ocean. (R10/HR-Online)