What was the largest plesiosaur?
Plesiosauroids. The longest known plesiosauroid was Albertonectes at 11.6 metres (38 feet) long.
Can Elasmosaurus go on land?
The fins of Elasmosaurus and other plesiosaurs are so stiff and specialized for swimming that they could not have come on land to lay eggs. Thus it most likely gave live birth to its young like sea snakes.
What is the difference between a plesiosaurus and an Elasmosaurus?
Plesiosaurs were distinguished by their long, narrow necks, small heads, and streamlined torsos. Elasmosaurus had the longest neck of any plesiosaur yet identified, about half the length of its entire body and supported by a whopping 71 vertebrae (no other plesiosaur had more than 60 vertebrae).
Is the Elasmosaurus extinct?
Elasmosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous.
What was the biggest Mosasaur?
Mosasaurus hoffmannii
Mosasaurus hoffmannii, the largest known species, may have reached up to 17 m (56 ft) in length, though conservative estimate suggests a length estimate of 14 m (46 ft). Currently, the largest publicly exhibited mosasaur skeleton in the world is on display at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, Manitoba.
How big was the largest pliosaur?
Another specimen, known from a massive skull unearthed from the coast of southern England, may be the longest pliosaur on record. Extrapolations made from the 2.4-metre (7.8-foot) skull suggest that the specimen ranged from 10 to 16 metres (33 to about 53 feet) from head to tail.
Why did Elasmosaurus have a long neck?
This way the neck could save energy by minimizing movement, allowing plesiosaurs to act like predatory oceanic “grazers.” The neck could even be used to extend into areas out-of-reach of other large marine predators, like inside tight crevices or along narrow reefs.
Why is Elasmosaurus not a dinosaur?
Like most of the so called ‘swimming dinosaurs’, Elasmosaurus wasn’t really a dinosaur at all! It was a reptile. It did breathe air. Their necks were so long they wouldn’t have been able to lift more than its head above the water.
What killed the Elasmosaurus?
Era & Discovery. Elasmosaurus lived in the seas during the Late Cretaceous period 80 – 65 million years ago. It died out with the dinosaurs and other prehistoric marine reptiles at the end of the Cretaceous.
What dinosaur has 72 teeth?
Nigersaurus is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115 to 105 million years ago. It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in the Republic of Niger.
Is a Mosasaurus bigger than a blue whale?
The blue whale is a marine mammal measuring up to 98 feet in length and with a maximum recorded weight of 190 short tons, it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The largest mosasaurs species reached lengths up to 56 feet.
Who would win in a fight Mosasaurus or Megalodon?
While a similar length, the Megalodon had a much more robust body and huge jaws built for devouring whales and other large marine mammals. A Mosasaurus would not have been able to get its jaws around the much thicker body of the Megalodon. It would just take one catastrophic bite for the Megalodon to end the battle.
What is an Elasmosaurus?
Elasmosaurus was one of few plesiosaurs known from the New World at the time, and the first recognized member of the long-necked family of plesiosaurs, the Elasmosauridae.
When was Elasmosaurus platyurus discovered?
Although Cope verbally announced the discovery of Elasmosaurus platyurus in March 1868, he did not publish the “preprint” of his erroneous reconstruction of Elasmosaurus until August 1869.
How many sacral vertebrae did Elasmosaurus have?
Elasmosaurus had four sacral vertebrae (the fused vertebrae that form the sacrum connected to the pelvis), a number typical of elasmosaurids.