The Ocean’s Tyrannosaurus Rex

The Star Tribune points us to a new prehistoric discovery;

Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric “monster” reptile found on a remote Arctic island may be a new species never before recorded, researchers said Tuesday.

Initial excavation on the Svalbard islands, 300 miles north of Norway’s mainland, in August yielded the remains, teeth, skull fragments and vertebrae of a reptile estimated to measure nearly 40 feet long, said Joern Harald Hurum of the University of Oslo. It appears to be the same species as a sea predator whose remains were found nearby last year.

Hurum’s team described those 150-million-year-old remains as belonging to a short-necked plesiosaur measuring more than 30 feet — “as long as a bus … with teeth larger than cucumbers.” It was a voracious reptile often described as the Tyrannosaurus rex of the oceans.

CLICK HERE for the project team’s website.

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