Full Belly Fossil! 'Sea Monster' Had 3 Others in Its Gut

[skywizard]

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/058/734/i02/mosasaur-gut-contents-131030.jpg?1383319927
The fossilized skeleton of a mosasaur with the bones of three other species of mosasaur in its gut. The marine monster likely scavenged upon carcasses brought to the west coast of Africa by trade winds.


DENVER — The mosasaur, a fearsome marine reptile that stalked the Cretaceous seas, scavenged its own kin, a new fossil find reveals.

A fossilized mosasaur found in Angola contains the partial remains of three other mosasaurs in its stomach, researchers reported here Tuesday (Oct. 29) at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

"These are three different species of mosasaur inside the belly of a fourth species of mosasaur," said study researcher Louis Jacobs, a vertebrate paleontologist at Southern Methodist University in Texas.



Full Story: http://www.livescience.com/40853-mosasaur-cannibalism-scavenging.html


peace...
skywizard

[Spiral]

These Mosasaurs are enormous, 49 feet long !

http://www.livescience.com/images/i/000/018/497/original/2_tylosaurus_at_Sternbergedited.jpg?1311971775

At a time when dinosaurs ruled the land, mosasaurs, a type of swimming reptile related to modern Komodo dragons, came to dominate the seas. Within the span of roughly 27 million years, these predators transformed from an animal with limited swimming ability and limbs still meant for walking into a sleek, fishlike form.

Now, a new study reveals the evolutionary details behind this transformation, which turned the mosasaurs into swimming machines and fearsome predators, the marine equivalent of Tyrannosaurus rex, that may even have decimated the large ginsu sharks of the time.

http://www.livescience.com/15314-mosasaurs-evolution-swimming-marine-reptiles-predators.html

[lookbeyond]

These Mosasaurs are enormous, 49 feet long !

http://www.livescience.com/images/i/000/018/497/original/2_tylosaurus_at_Sternbergedited.jpg?1311971775

At a time when dinosaurs ruled the land, mosasaurs, a type of swimming reptile related to modern Komodo dragons, came to dominate the seas. Within the span of roughly 27 million years, these predators transformed from an animal with limited swimming ability and limbs still meant for walking into a sleek, fishlike form.

Now, a new study reveals the evolutionary details behind this transformation, which turned the mosasaurs into swimming machines and fearsome predators, the marine equivalent of Tyrannosaurus rex, that may even have decimated the large ginsu sharks of the time.

http://www.livescience.com/15314-mosasaurs-evolution-swimming-marine-reptiles-predators.html

Absolutely amazing- like a cross between a crocodile/komodo dragon/great white/shark- fearsome