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A giant sea predator that terrorized the seas dinosaur time Fossil teeth found in North Dakota suggest that they may have also hunted in rivers.
Extinct lizard-like reptile grew up 12 meters (40 ft) Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden say it would have been similar in length and size to modern saltwater crocodiles.
Until now, these were considered terrifying giant aquatic reptiles with heavy skulls and powerful jaws. hunters living in the sea, Hunting especially in the oceans.
Now, a 66-million-year-old fossilized mosasaur tooth has been found in the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota, indicating exposure to river water.
Scientists say the discovery “adds to growing evidence that mosasaurs, traditionally considered marine reptiles, could have lived in freshwater environments”.
In a new study published in the journal, researchers have dubbed this species the “king of the riverbank.” BMC Zoology.
In the latest study, scientists found chemical signatures in the fossilized tooth that suggest the mosasaur spent some time in freshwater.
Scientists suspect that the site where the tooth was found was probably a river area connected to an ancient sea known as the Western Interior Seaway.
Analysis of the tooth also suggests that this mosasaur belongs to a member of the group Prognathodontini, as there are similarities between the textured patterns on its surface and the teeth of other members of this group.
The researchers found variants of oxygen and strontium, elements associated with freshwater environments, in the fossil teeth.
He says this may indicate that the mosasaur hunted freshwater animals and was able to live and hunt far from the sea.
The fossilized tooth showed no signs of having been transported, meaning the mosasaur must have lived and died in Hell Creek.
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So far, no other mosasaur teeth from the same period have been found in the region.
Studies of old mosasaur teeth and other animals from the Western Interior Seaway region point to a freshwater habitat rather than a marine habitat, indicating that salt levels in the area gradually decreased over time.
Scientists suspect that the area’s mosasaurs adapted to freshwater environments in response to falling salt levels in the Western Interior Seaway and gradually entered the river channels of Hale Creek.
“This adaptation may indicate that the larger rivers of the Hell Creek Formation paleoenvironment can support larger taxa, yet younger, smaller individuals are more likely to exploit these near-river habitats,” they wrote in the study.
“This adaptability may have been an important factor in their ability to thrive in different ecological niches during the Late Cretaceous,” the researchers concluded.