“The Monster”: This Dino Could Bite A Car in Half!



Scientists had uncovered a 150-million-year-old fossil "treasure trove" in an Arctic island chain of Svalbard.

Among the find is an immense sea creature 50 ft (15 m) long, a new species of pliosaur aptly nicknamed "The Monster":

"These animals were awesomely powerful predators," said plesiosaur palaeontologist Richard Forrest.

"If you compare the skull of a large pliosaur to a crocodile, it is very clear it is much better built for biting… by comparison with a crocodile, you have something like three or four times the cross-sectional space for muscles. So you have much bigger, more powerful muscles and huge, robust jaws.

"A large pliosaur was big enough to pick up a small car in its jaws and bite it in half."

Link (Photo: Tor Sponga, BT) - Thanks Justin!

Previously on Neatorama: Strangest Dinosaur Names


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Posted on February 27, 2008 at 6:55 am by Alex
Category: Animal, Science & Tech



7 Comments to "“The Monster”: This Dino Could Bite A Car in Half!"

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