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Skeleton of Earth's Largest Predator

Posted by michael on from the not-cowboyneal dept.

angkor writes "A COMPLETE skeleton of the largest predator of all time, a Jurassic sea monster that made tyrannosaurus rex look like a featherweight, has been discovered in Mexico. /. needs more dinosaur articles..."

8 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Ah fuck by PD · · Score: 5, Informative

    No pictures.

    here's one

    here's another

    --
    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  2. A bit disappointed. by mcgroarty · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was sure that Rush Limbaugh held top honors here.

  3. Earth is mostly ocean by josephgrossberg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is it just me, or does everyone else wonder what kind of awesome fossils lie on the ocean floor, given that:

    (1) most of the earth's surface is covered by ocean, and that's likely been the case for quite some time
    and
    (2) the largest contemporary vertebrates (whales) live in the water, where gravity is less of a factor

    --

    Joe
    http://www.joegrossberg.com
    1. Re:Earth is mostly ocean by Simon+Field · · Score: 2


      It looks to me like about half of the ocean floor is too young to have dinosaur fossils.

      But that is still a lot of territory.
      Most of the old stuff looks pretty deep.
      Given the typical paleontologist's budget, it is easy to see why they pick places like Montana and the Gobi Desert over the deep ocean.

      --

      Free book: Science Toys You Can Make

    2. Re:Earth is mostly ocean by tsa · · Score: 2

      Luckily parts of ancient oceans are dry land now. That makes discovering the fossils of extinct species that much more comfortable.

      --

      -- Cheers!

  4. Some cool art by fredrikj · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can be found here:

    http://www.oceansofkansas.com/varner.html

  5. Not technically a dinosaur... by Paul+Burney · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Editor said:

    /. needs more dinosaur articles...

    The skeleton they found isn't technically a dinosaur. My background is Physics, not Biology, but it has something to do with which Order or Class these creatures fit into.

    I only found this out when my daughter was studying dinosaurs in school. I told her that there were dinosaurs that lived in the oceans and she told me they weren't really dinosaurs! I google'd it and sure enough, she was right. Doh!

    --
    <?php while ($self != "asleep") { $sheep_count++; } ?>
  6. Re:Biggest Carnivore??? by geoswan · · Score: 2

    Yes, it certainly would. Now if they had said, "the world's largest fearsome carnivore..." Blue whales can grow as large as 120 tons, according to this site. (Compared to this beast's measly 50 tons.)