Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Naga: Science's New Sea Monster


Undated handout shows illustration of a 50 ft long Jurassic era marine reptile crushing a rival plesiosaur in the Jurassic ocean about 150 million years ago. A giant fossil pliosaur reptile found in the Arctic and known as "Predator X" had a bite that would make T-Rex look feeble, scientists said on 3/16/09 (Reuters/Atlantic Zoo/Oslo Univ.).

OSLO (Reuters) – A giant fossil sea monster found in the Arctic and known as "Predator X" had a bite that would make T-Rex look feeble, scientists said Monday.

The 50 ft (15 meter) long Jurassic era marine reptile had a crushing 33,000 lbs (15 tonnes) per square inch bite force, the Natural History Museum of Oslo University said of the new find on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

"With a skull that's more than 10 feet long you'd expect the bite to be powerful but this is off the scale," said Joern Hurum, an associate professor of vertebrate paleontology at the museum who led the international excavation in 2008. More>>

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