Prehistoric 'Sea Monster' may be the Largest Animal that has ever lived.
The claim that modern blue whales are the largest animal ever lived could soon be challenged with the latest fossil findings that hint towards even bigger creatures to have existed on planet Earth.
While combing the beach at Lilstock, Somerset in May 2016, self-taught fossil hunter and study coauthor Paul de la Salle came across a fossil bone which he suspected to be that of an Ichthyosaur.
Ichthyosaurs were ocean-going contemporaries of the dinosaurs, with body shapes superficially similar to dolphins.
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An artist’s impression of an Ichthyosaur
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Paul de la Salle sent images of this fossil bone to marine reptile experts Dean Lomax at the University of Manchester in the U.K. and Judy Massare at SUNY Brockport in New York. Further searching revealed five fossil pieces that fitted together to form a 3.2-foot-long bone, which the scientists identified as being from the lower jaw of an Ichthyosaur. Comparing the new fossil to the same bone in the jaw of Shonisaurus Sikanniensis, a 69-foot-long Ichthyosaur found in 2004 revealed that the new bone is 25 percent bigger. Accordingly scaling up the animal’s full body gave the team a 85-foot size estimate.
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| Reassembled jawbone of the newly found Ichthyosaur fossil discovery |
Such a discovery has led the scientists to re interpret a whole series of isolated bones found near the village of Aust in Gloucestershire, England, which had long been interpreted to be that of dinosaurs but it never made any sense.
Post Written By - Manash Hazarika
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