Discovery of a giant lizard that sowed terror in the ocean 66 million years ago!

This giant lizard sowed terror in the ocean 66 million

The remains of a gigantic marine lizard have just been found in Morocco. Reaching more than 10 meters in length, this carnivorous reptile would have reigned over the oceans during the Upper Cretaceous, devouring countless quantities of prey!

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A strange fossil has just been discovered in the basin of Oulad Abdoun, Morocco: a giant lizard! Appointed Thalassotitan atrox, this gigantic reptile sailor, belonging to the family of mosasaurs measured about ten meters long, more than twice the size of the largest current reptiles, the crocodilians. Related to iguanas and monitor lizards, it would have lived for the end of the Upper Cretaceousand even ruled the oceans, according to a study published in Cretaceous Research.

Analysis of the remains found revealed a skull 1.5 meters long with a wide, short jaw with sharp but worn teeth, suggesting a diet of hard-to-chew prey such as sea turtles, plesiosaurs or even other mosasaurs. A hypothesis supported by the other fossils found near the specimen: sea turtle shell, plesiosaur skull, mosasaur bones…, remains probably spat out after a digestion hard.

“Thalassotitan was an amazing and terrifying animalexplains Nick Longrich in a communicatedfirst author of the study and paleontologist at the University of Bath, UK. Imagine a Komodo dragon crossed with a great white shark crossed with a T. rex crossed with an orca. »

Thalassotitan atrox took over after ichthyosaurs and pleiosaurs

It was therefore well placed in the food chain, probably at the very top. Indeed, during the end of Cretaceous higher, between 90 and 66 million years ago, when one or more asteroids hit the Earththem mosasaurs diversified and gradually replaced the ichthyosaurs that ruled the seas until 90 million years ago.

But the team that discovered the other bones cannot yet confirm that it is. Thalassotitan atrox who devoured the other animals whose Leftovers have been found. “But we have bones of marine reptiles killed and eaten by a large predator. And in the same place we find Thalassotitan, a species who fits the profile of the killer — he’s a specialized mosasaur for preying on other marine reptiles. It’s probably not a coincidence.”concludes N.Longrich.

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