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

Mosasaurs 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

(Suspenseful music) (Water gurgling)

  • [Narrator] During the Cretaceous period, Mosasaurs were among the oceans most fearsome and successful predators. Mosasaurs were marine reptiles that are thought to be closely related to snakes and monitor lizards. They were highly adaptable and many different species evolved and came to dominate ocean habitats worldwide. Some even took to fresh water rivers to hunt. Many prowled the open ocean, devouring fish, sharks, plesiosaurs, sea turtles, sea birds, and sometimes even smaller mosasaurs.

Mosasaur size varied greatly. Two of the largest mosasaurs were Mosasaurus and Tylosaurus. Each stretched 30 to 50 feet, longer than a T-Rex. Meanwhile, many smaller mosasaurs were no larger than a dolphin. Yet most species, no matter how large or small, could be characterized by a long serpentine body with a powerful tail which they moved side to side as they slithered through the water. They had paddles that were likely used for stability and large heads that had powerful, flexible jaws.

Their jaws contained two rows of conical teeth, designed to chomp and hold prey before swallowing it whole. The top marine reptiles since the Triassic had been ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, but they were in decline when mosasaurs came onto the scene during the Cretaceous, leaving room for a new apex predator. According to theory, mosasaurs evolved from terrestrial lizards that adapted to the oceans by the middle of the Cretaceous.

Then, during the 20 to 30 million years leading up to the extinction of the dinosaurs, mosasaurs rapidly adapted to ocean habitats the world over. We know this because fossils have been found on every continent, including Antarctica. When dinosaurs became extinct some 65 and a half million years ago, mosasaurs vanished from the fossil record as well. While it's not known whether they died off instantly or gradually, one thing is for certain: the ocean has never again seen marine reptiles as massive and as great as mosasaurs.

(Gentle cinematic music)

More Articles

View All
The Child Mind Institute on supporting children during Covid-19 | Homeroom with Sal
Hi everyone, welcome to the daily homeroom! Uh, for those of you all who aren’t familiar with what this is or might just be showing up off of Facebook or YouTube, uh, this is Khan Academy’s way of making sure that we all stay connected during school clos…
Sparks from Falling Water: Kelvin's Thunderstorm
So the people from the Hunger Games came to me and they asked me if I wanted to do an experiment that would be related to power generation. And strangely, there is this one idea that I’ve been thinking about for years, and now finally I have the chance to…
Best Ways to Get SMARTER Online - Best Self Improvement Websites
Never before in the history of the world have we had such an opportunity to become knowledgeable with the Internet. There is an infinite amount of knowledge that you can soak in. You can become super humanly intelligent; yet for some reason, most of us sq…
China Is About To Cause A Global Recession
Two of the world’s biggest economies, the United States and China, are struggling. Business activity in Shanghai was brought to a standstill for weeks. Disastrous. I think there is no other word for it. What’s up guys? It’s Graham here. Throughout the la…
Dian Fossey Narrates Her Life With Gorillas in This Vintage Footage | National Geographic
[Music] [Laughter] [Music] We leave civilization behind us and go into the heartland of the mountains. [Music] [Applause] [Music] To build the nests may take up to five minutes. Carefully selected vines and stalks are bent around the animal’s body to make…
15 Skills That Pay Off Forever
The skills that we’re talking about here today have the largest impact on both your personal and professional life. They stick with you for your entire life and will continuously improve the quality of your existence. Most of them are a bit difficult to m…