Mosasaurus is one of the biggest and most powerful marine predators of all time. It lived in Western Europe and North America in the western interior sea, during the Late Cretaceous period, from about 75 to 65 million years ago. Mosasaurs, like Mosasaurus, are really giant aquatic lizards, and have both a lizard's forked tongue, and, during the mating season, a lizard's colorful skin. They are often described as “upscaled versions” of monitor lizards. It was similar to the North American Tylosaurus, but at 61 feet in length, and weighing up to 15 tons, it was even bigger. It had unusual skull anatomy which is actually double-hinged like a snake (albeit aquatic and with fins). How it did this is when it was biting down on something large, its jaws would dislocate and unhinge so it would be able to take bigger bites. It probably had a strong bite force due to eating prey like giant turtles, such as Archelon, in its time. It also had a fearsome doubled array of 88 teeth. Its fins were probably used for steering and balance when swimming, not like plesiosaurs who used their fins as their primary means of locomotion. It was very elongated and thin in the body so it was more streamlined so it could move faster for longer periods of time than plesiosaurs who could only accelerate for short periods. Mosasaurus is also an intelligent and patient ambush predator. It uses its huge tail to accelerate with astonishing speed. The large, crescent-shaped tails of mosasaurs allow them keep their bodies stiff while their tails propelled them forward with great force that enables them cover a distance equivalent to 75% of their body length. Very useful when hunting down prey like elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, like Elasmosaurus and Tuarangiosaurus, and icthyosaurs. It can accelerate to a top speed of 30 miles per hour in a single second. It more than likely used the same tactics sharks use today to hunt large prey by going down far beneath the prey and getting one devastating surprise attack to avoid injury. To achieve this tactic, It was probably counter shaded so its top was dark to camouflage against the dark ocean below the target and light underneath to camouflage against the sun's bright light. It was also possible that it actively chased down its food by using explosive speed and stamina to hunt prey. It would’ve lived alongside other prehistoric marine reptiles, such as the large prehistoric turtle, Archelon, the plesiosaurs, Elasmosaurus, Tuarangisaurus and Morturneria, and the other mosasaurs, Tylosaurus, Kaikaifilu, Phosphorosaurus and Globidens. From my experience, it is famously known from the three Jurassic World Movies, the educational TV Show, Dinosaur Train (2009), and both seasons of the AppleTV+ BBC Documentary Series, Prehistoric Planet (2022 - 2023), where it appears in the episodes, “Coasts” and “Oceans”. Beyond these, it has also appeared in a variety of the Jurassic Movies’ video games, and Ark: Survival Evolved (2015). Anyways, great to hear from you again, like always, and can’t wait to discuss more Dinosaurs. But, I do have another question though. Will we also still discuss Other Prehistoric Creatures like these too, Logan?
Great to hear from you as well! I'll be releasing a community post early next week giving some details into the future of the channel, but in short, yes.
My favorite prehistoric animal ever
Favorite of mine too, hope you enjoyed!
amazing video
Mosasaurus is one of the biggest and most powerful marine predators of all time. It lived in Western Europe and North America in the western interior sea, during the Late Cretaceous period, from about 75 to 65 million years ago. Mosasaurs, like Mosasaurus, are really giant aquatic lizards, and have both a lizard's forked tongue, and, during the mating season, a lizard's colorful skin. They are often described as “upscaled versions” of monitor lizards. It was similar to the North American Tylosaurus, but at 61 feet in length, and weighing up to 15 tons, it was even bigger. It had unusual skull anatomy which is actually double-hinged like a snake (albeit aquatic and with fins). How it did this is when it was biting down on something large, its jaws would dislocate and unhinge so it would be able to take bigger bites. It probably had a strong bite force due to eating prey like giant turtles, such as Archelon, in its time. It also had a fearsome doubled array of 88 teeth. Its fins were probably used for steering and balance when swimming, not like plesiosaurs who used their fins as their primary means of locomotion. It was very elongated and thin in the body so it was more streamlined so it could move faster for longer periods of time than plesiosaurs who could only accelerate for short periods. Mosasaurus is also an intelligent and patient ambush predator. It uses its huge tail to accelerate with astonishing speed. The large, crescent-shaped tails of mosasaurs allow them keep their bodies stiff while their tails propelled them forward with great force that enables them cover a distance equivalent to 75% of their body length. Very useful when hunting down prey like elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, like Elasmosaurus and Tuarangiosaurus, and icthyosaurs. It can accelerate to a top speed of 30 miles per hour in a single second. It more than likely used the same tactics sharks use today to hunt large prey by going down far beneath the prey and getting one devastating surprise attack to avoid injury. To achieve this tactic, It was probably counter shaded so its top was dark to camouflage against the dark ocean below the target and light underneath to camouflage against the sun's bright light. It was also possible that it actively chased down its food by using explosive speed and stamina to hunt prey. It would’ve lived alongside other prehistoric marine reptiles, such as the large prehistoric turtle, Archelon, the plesiosaurs, Elasmosaurus, Tuarangisaurus and Morturneria, and the other mosasaurs, Tylosaurus, Kaikaifilu, Phosphorosaurus and Globidens. From my experience, it is famously known from the three Jurassic World Movies, the educational TV Show, Dinosaur Train (2009), and both seasons of the AppleTV+ BBC Documentary Series, Prehistoric Planet (2022 - 2023), where it appears in the episodes, “Coasts” and “Oceans”. Beyond these, it has also appeared in a variety of the Jurassic Movies’ video games, and Ark: Survival Evolved (2015).
Anyways, great to hear from you again, like always, and can’t wait to discuss more Dinosaurs. But, I do have another question though. Will we also still discuss Other Prehistoric Creatures like these too, Logan?
Great to hear from you as well! I'll be releasing a community post early next week giving some details into the future of the channel, but in short, yes.
*(Chuckles)* Thanks, Logan.
why does the group squamatta give rise to scaryashellmonsters mosasaurs, titanoboa, megalania, true potential for apex predators
Real alpha energy, for sure