If Jaws Was A Reptile

you like many others might be hesitant to venture into the ocean and for good reason knowing that sharks questionable fish seapods stinging jellyfish and other things lurk at every level of the Abyss however present day waters for the most part are nothing compared to those that existed during the mesic especially the Jurassic period back then sharks were still present in widespread yet they weren't the top dogs nor were they even close to it and actually may have been a welcomed sight when compared to the other inhabitants as lurking in the waters you not only have

the carnivorous osaurus everywhere but also in my opinion the most terrifying group of aquatic animals ever the pliosaurus this family of predatory marine reptiles were members of the plesiosaur order and were distinctive due to the possession of massive heads streamlined bodies and short necks during the Jurassic they were without a doubt the Undisputed Kings of the waters with many of them ending up as their environment's respective Apex Predator but of course like every group of animals there were levels to this and some pliosaurs were simply more successful and deadlier than the rest and approximately 155

million years ago during the late Jurassic the world saw the emergence of one of the biggest and baddest pliosaurus to ever live who might as well be called the jaws of the Jurassic the pliosaurus now if you watched Walking with Dinosaurs as a kid you may be wondering at this point why I didn't say lopon instead a 25 M or 82 ft Titan weighing it at 150 tons at least according to the documentary and this size would definitely make it a contender for the title however this brings me no joy to say but since the

release of the documentary it turns out the lopon was Far Far smaller than originally stated with the largest known specimen being estimated to have been 8 m or 26 ft and weighed 7.8 tons at this size it was still a giant aquatic creature that you would not want to mess with but it was perhaps not the Supreme Being that it was painted out to be and within its own environment it wasn't even the biggest predator around with that title actually go into the pliosaurus who thus ultimately makes for a much better candidate of being the

true jaws of those times and finnally enough despite having less Fame the pliosaurus was actually described decades earlier than the lopon when Richard Owen who also happened to be the first person to coin the term dinosaur named the pliosaurus in 1842 after finding a partial skull lower jaw and several limbs Owen was correctly able to tell that despite its strange body proportions this new creature was both Giant and a type of plesiosaur but where he was wrong was that he mistook it for being closely related to crocodiles due to its somewhat cck-like body and skull

thus leading to its name which means more lizard however years after with more research paleontologist would find that the plaur closest living relatives were not crocodiles or any crocodilian for that matter but really Turtles of all things see the resemblance the additional research carried out also LED scientists to create an entirely new family within the plesiosaur specifically for pliosaurus and those more like it than the other long necked species they dubb this new family ploor and since its creation around 31 species have joined its rank who together span an existence stretching 139 million years from

the late Triassic to late Cretaceous and a range that encompassed water on every continent except for antar Artica Asia and Africa among the group there was quite a high level of diversity despite them all sharing certain general characteristics and ultimately different subgroups were formed with pliosaurus again getting its own group composed of those more closely related to it than the marmor nectis a fellow plaur and the group was ultimately lovingly named the lasonia meaning the sea murderers this gives you a small idea of just what kind of animal pliosaurus was and should make you wonder

why exactly that name well it was a reflection of their exceptionally giant skulls and in turn Jaws that could account for 25% of their entire body length and while not as much of a strict definer those plac in this group were also some of the largest plaur and Marine predators to have ever lived and actually some paleontologists think that certain specimens of pliosaurus may represent the biggest of its kind overall but not every individual is made equal when it came to length or mass for over the years multiple different species have been Unearthed and named

and even now there are still some undergoing approval with the total number of species possibly reaching up to 12 depending on who you ask each one differs a bit in their own way with size being the biggest difference though all retains seven distinctive characteristics only seen in this genus which include a certain number of teeth specific vertebrae proportions and most importantly teeth that are triangular at the cross-section of all the kinds identified the most famous and iconic are arguably the species pliosaurus braider and pliosaurus fun who is more commonly known as Predator X and as

far as many paleontologist are concerned it was the king of its genus when it came to size and ferocity with a length between 10 and 12 M or 33 and 39 ft while its weight could have been more than 12 tons making it larger than two normal sized orcas combined together and while not confirmed there is some very strong evidence that it got even bigger as in 2023 scientists revealed a giant vertebrae had been Unearthed in the Kimmer clay formation of England that dwarfed anything found previously and based on other plaur it's thought that the

bones belong to a specimen that measured as long as 14.4 M or 47 ft which is seriously massive when considering the fact that pliosaurs have shorter necks and not particularly long tails but because only vertebrae were found it's not crystal clear in what genus the specimen belonged to but the researchers heavily favored the idea that it was applied by source with fun being the likeliest species it's possible that an adult this size would weigh well over 15 Tons which would render it the biggest fish so to speak in its environment and very likely the entire

world during its existence however to be the jaws of the Jurassic you can't just rely on size you need the well Jaws as well and in this department pliosaurus came more than prepared with individuals regularly yielding skulls longer than the average NBA player is tall and inside these Titanic Jaws dozens of large highly serrated teeth were situated tightly next to one another that also retained very pronounced cutting edges which allowed this Predator to take gargantuan chunks out of prey with ease causing forcible amputations a major blood loss leading to shock and death and it wasn't

just the sheer sharpness of the teeth that made each bite extremely lethal as P Sour's teeth also had highly unique angles that led to each one overlapping with the others as the Jaws came down CA them to create a chopping or giant scissor-like cutting effect that just added more problems for any victim the design of the teeth alone most likely meant that even swimming into them at a snail's pace would cut you up but just for pure Overkill sake the pliosaurus developed an extremely powerful bite force as well thanks to its deep and robust jaw

bones that would have housed large muscles and its sturdy powerful neck back in the day it was said that Predator X could have bitten down with a force of 33,000 lb per square in equivalent to 16 tons which is six times greater than the compressive strength seen in most concretes although this number was only provided informally based on its original size estimates which turned out to be a little gratuitous so its bite may not have really been this powerful that being said another smaller species the pliosaurus Cavani did undergo a more detailed study which found

that upon maximal exertion its back teeth could have generated forces up to 49,000 Newtons three times more powerful than the bite of a saltwater crocodile and depending on which study you look at could also arguably be stronger than the bite of the king himself the Tyrannosaurus Rex who mind you could literally tear through a car with a single bite and given that the species wasn't as large as the fun it's assume that at the very least Predator X could match its power and most likely exceed it meaning if something got caught by its jaws it

wasn't getting out alive or in one piece and this something is believed to have been virtually every animal that Liv alongside it seeing that the pliosaurus size and bite force alone meant that nothing was too big or too well defended to be off the menu but of all the animals seapods large fish and marine reptiles are thought to have been the most important part of the pliosaurus diet a hypothesis backed by the stomach contents seen in other pliosaurs which showed the presence of large squid fish and reptilian teeth and not to mention others of its

own kind may have gotten the axe from time to time as well as fossil records show that ply sources were extremely abundant within their environment so fights over resources territory and mates were probably quite frequent and interestingly several Stones were discovered in ply sore stomachs as well suggesting that they routinely consume them in order to help grind up food given its nightmarish appearance bone pulverizing bite and large size every animal that knew what was good for it probably did their best to avoid this creature but this was definitely easier said than done considering that pliosaurus

had a build specifically designed for catching prey having been equipped with four large and Powerful flippers that could each be 3 m or 10 ft long helping to generate immense thrust while flapping up and down and when all four flippers were working together the pliosaurus achieved remarkable speeds that was mainly used for ambushes as it required large amounts of energy and wasn't the most sustainable way of swimming with studies finding that on the regular only the front flippers were used when cruising along with immense speed another area that ply Source seemed to be exceptional in

was diving again like in the case of the diet this thought originates from what's seen in other pliosaurs as numerous specimens are known to Bear damage to their bodies that is in line with de compression sickness such as necrosis to the skull suggesting that they often travel to deep depths perhaps in order to pursue prey or stage attacks From Below yet while deep diving was likely a big part of its life specimens for the most part are found in areas more associated with shallow warm Waters as in the kimid clay formation for example it appears

that pliosaurus lived at depths no deeper than 200 M or 650 ft which is quite similar to the usual Max living depths seen in modern great whites and this is an interesting coincidence seeing that the two also share another similarity brains specifically skull scans of the pliosaurus show that proportionally speaking the brain apply sorus was equal in size to that of a great white and was of a similar type too leading to paleontologists Sometimes using the great white as a basis for how smart this sea murderer would have been and while some may assume that

great whites are not the most intelligent animals around they are definitely not dumb and are known to time their strikes on prey down to the exact second be highly curious and inquisitive and can even display certain levels of coordination all things that paleontologists now think thatly Source was capable of two additionally based on the brain shape and the structure of their skulls it's thought that pliosaurus had Keen senses as well with eyesight and smell likely being the most refined which allowed it to track prey through areas of poor visibility smell carcasses miles or kilometers away

and see up to 10 times better than humans can underwater with such an arsenal of tools combined with its offensive capabilities there was truly nothing around that came even close to the dominance of the pliosaurus and even if a competitor was close to its size it didn't matter much as pliosaurus was surprisingly durable on top of being lethal because while it did not boast any obvious external armor its skeleton was sneakily Compact and robust with its trunk in particular being quite sturdy allowing it to tank and shake off an impressive amount of damage there's also

the indirect evidence that pliosaurus possessed remarkable bone healing capabilities as well which would further help it to survive and persist in a world already overran by Marine predators and speaking of surviving one aspect of the ply source that might invol some Envy was its longevity naturally no one knows for sure just how long these creatures lived but some estimates paint a lifespan of up to 100 years such a long lifespan granted extended domineering rules for individuals and along with all the other traits LED them to being absolute units in nearly every way and throughout their

existence ply Source was able to achieve quite a wide and diverse distribution with fossils being known from throughout Europe and South America which also indicate that it lived in both in now exting teas Sea and the still existing Pacific Ocean within these areas it showed a heavy preference for tropical shallow Waters near land masses where life and therefore food would have been absolutely abundant and this is reflected by the large amount of marine and terrestrial animals found within and around its habitat which included Rin fish LED fish cartilagenous fish various Turtles orians parasaurs sods small

and mediumsized Ias asurs mollusks seapods and arthropods and as you probably noticed the animals found on land included a few different dinosaurs and while direct evidence of interaction is not known some speculate that those who venture too close to the water or traveled between islands may have suffered the pliosaurus Wrath if extremely unfortunate and along with dinosaurs and the other mentioned animals there was also a bunch of marine Predators lurking around too that were within their own right as scary as could be this included a mix of other Plesiosaurus such as the lopon itself pachic

costasur and pelones an abundance of thasians who are literally Marine Crocs that were both extremely diverse and giant being able to grow up to 7 m or 23 ft and then of course there are multiple sharks as well of all these Predators the ones that gave pliosaurus the best run for its money were other pliosaurus however not even them could reach its sizes making fully grown pliosaurus the true Kings of the waters back then and the most worthy of the title jaws of the Jurassic and plaur held this title for 8 million years existing from

155 to 147 million years ago during the late tassc yet no matter how strong or powerful a ruler may be his Reign must eventually come to an end and by the time the Jurassic gave way to the Cretaceous the pliosaurus was no more despite of being a prominent and important plaur we really don't have have any good idea on why it disappeared though its Vanishing does seem to correlate with a sudden decrease in plaur diversification overall indicating that the trouble was not just limited to it for now the only ideas that really exist in the

matter is that there was a potential decrease in prey or that some climatic change brought too much stress upon them and thus leading to a gradual decline for a while certain paleontologist believed that they have been outcompeted by other Predators yet there isn't really a great candidate for this hypothesis however there is one thing that's certain there are probably many animals back then that would have been absolutely ecstatic that the plya surus was no more unfortunately for them though nature had another group of super Predators up its sleeve so to speak ready to unleash upon

the world not so long after the mosasaurus and that about wraps up this episode but quick self-plug if you didn't know I have another channel that focuses on living animals which I creatively named living zoo and we actually already have a bunch of videos up there including the most recent one about another animal which you likely haven't heard of but definitely do not want to run into so if that sounds interesting feel free to check it out link will be in the comment below thanks for watching and until next time onx Zoo