A Jurassic Ocean Assassin!
Everyone knows that the Jurassic landscape was full of gigantic sauropods and ferocious killers. But no matter how dangerous it was on land. The last place you wanted to find yourself was in the water.
160-150 million years ago, the iconic Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Ceratosaurus and Brachiosaurus roamed the earth and were the rulers on the land. But any one of these Jurassic gladiators would be helpless against the dangers of deep waters. Top of the list of the oceanic threats was the deadly Liopleurodon. A 28-38 foot long Marine reptile with a skull at least 6 feet long! This aquatic killer had teeth up to 10 inches long and 4 inches thick.
It was a part of the Pliosaur family. Sporting a robust skeletal structure with 4 large fins and a short tail. This animal was made for ocean hunting. Scientists have hypothesized that this ocean giant would have had senses equivalent to a great white and might have be behaved the same way. Sneaking up on its prey and diving to lower depths just so it could approach from below and attack its victims at great speed from below. Just like a modern day great white shark.
It is thought that they would use their 4 fins like a modern day seal. only using the front two to help them glide through the water and then using the back two to kick it into overdive. Liopleurodon didn't have the strongest bite force but that wasn't needed when you have a 6 foot long skull with 10 inch teeth. All it had to do was clamp its jaws around its victim and shake. The trauma inflicted by this animal would be more than enough to at the very least cause its food source to bleed to death. At witch point all the animal had to do was follow and wait.
Scientists have discovered that the bone structure around the back and fins of this animal were perfectly made short bursts of high aquatic speed. So as long as this Jurassic killer could keep out of sight, its prey would have no idea an attack was coming.
Nothing at the time could compete with Liopleurdon. It has been named the Jurassic Assassin!
Its origin comes from a smaller comes from a long range of plesiosaurs that branched off with shorter necks. To this day, the only oceanic animals that have dominated like Liopleurdon have been Mosasaurus and sharks.
One thing is for sure. If you found yourself in a part of the Jurassic ocean that was more than 20 feet deep, there was a very good chance you would have been unknowingly hunted by the arguably greatest killer of the Jurassic!
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