DR. NICK’S FUN AND AMAZING PALEO FACTZ #3: MESOZOIC MARINE MONSTERS PART 1. By the Late Jurassic period, the terrestrial environment was dominated on a scale never seen before or since by the dinosaurs—referred to as the “Golden Age,” herds of gigantic sauropods were stalked by packs of large theropods, while smaller plant-eaters and carnivores lived on the margins. However, perhaps due to a quirk of reproductive biology (see Jones and Geist, The Complete Dinosaur, 2nd ed), dinosaurs and their relatives never became dominant to that degree in the oceans. Instead, without competition from archosaurs, another group of reptiles filled the role of apex predator. These were the pliosaurs. With paddle-like feet, short, powerful necks, and enormous heads sporting huge sharp teeth, forms like Kronosaurus, Liopleurodon, and the “Monster of Aramberri” (discovered by my German colleague and friend Eberhard “Dino” Frey) reached lengths of at least 40-50 feet (~15 m) and weighed in at perhaps over 40 tons! These beasts were probably more closely related to living lizards and snakes than to archosaurs (crocs, dinos and relatives, and birds), though exactly where they fit in phylogenetically remains uncertain. What is clear is that the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous would have been a really crappy time to take up stand-up paddling…
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 15:23:52 +0000
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