Page 25 - DINOSOUR ATLAS
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reptiles in the sea
d elasmosaurus
Long-necked plesiosaurs were common in
Jurassic and Cretaceous oceans. The 46-ft
(14-m) Elasmosaurus had the longest neck of
all, at up to 16 ft (5 m) long. It may have
used it to gather shellfish from the sea floor.
archelon u Long neck was
Turtles appeared in the Triassic, supported by 72 neck
but marine turtles like Archelon bones, or vertebrae—
more than any
evolved in the Cretaceous. Archelon other animal
resembled a modern leatherback,
but was twice as long.
Long, fLattened taiL
swept from side to side
to drive the animal wingLike fLippers
through the water enabled pliosaurs and
plesiosaurs to “fly” through
the water, like giant,
d mosasaurus prehistoric penguins
Like Tylosaurus, this fearsome
marine predator was a Late
Cretaceous mosasaur. But it was
much bigger, growing to more
than 59 ft (18 m) long—making it
one of the most powerful oceanic
hunters that has ever lived.
enorMous curved teeth
made short work of fish, squid,
and probably smaller mosasaurs
and other marine reptiles
u Kronosaurus
One of the pliosaurs—short-necked
relatives of plesiosaurs—Kronosaurus
was a powerful hunter with a big
head and huge jaws. Judging by its
fossilized stomach contents, it ate
any animal that it encountered.
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