yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Ichthyosaurs 101 | National Geographic


less than 1m read
·Nov 11, 2024

  • [Narrator] While dinosaurs roamed the Earth and pterosaurs ruled the sky, sea monsters called ichthyosaurs dominated the world's oceans. Ichthyosaurs were ancient reptilian predators. They first appeared about 251 million years ago during the Triassic Period, 20 million years before dinosaurs came about. True to their name, which means fish lizards in Greek, the earliest ichthyosaurs looked much like lizards with fins.

Over the course of their 100 million year existence, their bodies transformed and became more akin to fish in shape. They had long narrow skulls and jaws that were lined with sharp teeth. These teeth were used to catch prey like fish and squid. Their eyes were the largest ever recorded of any animal, which helped them see through the dark waters of the deep ocean. In fact, one species had eyes that were over 10 inches wide.

Their bodies ranged in size. Some barely reached the length of two feet, while the longest specimen was about 85 feet long. They had paddle-like fins and a vertical tail which helped ichthyosaurs, despite their great size, zip through water at speeds of over 22 miles per hour. All together, these qualities put ichthyosaurs at the top of the marine food chain.

By the late Cretaceous Period, about 25 million years before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs became extinct. Some scientists believe it may have been due to severe climate change. But the exact reason why these early sea monsters died out is still a mystery.

More Articles

View All
Warren Buffett: These 5 Money MISTAKES are Keeping You POOR
But there’s been an American nightmare that has accompanied that. And that’s where people that equally have tried to get educated and worked hard and had good habits have found themselves living a life that’s been on the edge throughout their entire lives…
Translations: graph to algebraic rule | Transformational geometry | Grade 8 (TX) | Khan Academy
We are told Lucas translated triangle ABC to create triangle A’B’C’. So we went from this blue one, or blue-green one, to this burgundy one, or this red one. Write a rule that describes this transformation. So pause this video and try to figure this out o…
Difference of squares intro | Mathematics II | High School Math | Khan Academy
We’re now going to explore factoring a type of expression called a difference of squares. The reason why it’s called a difference of squares is because it’s expressions like x² - 9. This is a difference; we’re subtracting between two quantities that are e…
This one thing happens when you own a private jet...
Whatever you think you’re going to use when you own a plane, you will do it 50 to 80% more when you have that airplane. Cuz it’s just the ease of just calling up and saying, “I want to go tomorrow to such and such a place, and we’ll come back tomorrow ni…
Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic
[Music] We hear it so much that it feels like a buzzword, but it is far from it. Climate change is a real and serious issue. But isn’t the climate always changing? What exactly is climate changing? Why should we care? Well, the Earth’s climate has change…
10 Stoic Principles So That NOTHING Can AFFECT YOU | Epictetus (Stoicism)
[Music] In the chaos of our daily lives, it’s easy to feel like we’re drowning in a sea of stress and uncertainty. Yet, there’s a way to find calm amidst the storm—a path to inner peace that has stood the test of time. Imagine yourself standing firm, uns…