Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World Page #3

stones they swallow

in order to help their digestion.

- What do they actually eat?

- Molluscs and a lot of fish,

judging from their long, sharp teeth.

I believe

that's the male Liopleurodon

that was wounded some time back.

(JULIE) Oh, yes.

With one eye missing, it's not easy.

From the deep bite marks

on Elasmosaur bones

made by larger relatives,

it would appear that

other Liopleurodon were luckier.

30 million years later, Kronosaurus

took Liopleurodons' place

at the top of the marine food chain.

Kronosaurus remains

were first discovered

in Australia during the 1 930s.

A 1 3-foot-long skull

with 1 0-foot jaws,

armed with dagger-like teeth.

To tell us more about Plesiosaurs,

here's Dr Benjamin Kear,

an Australian expert

on these animals.

Marine reptiles' remains have been

found on every continent,

particularly those of Plesiosaurs.

Up to 46 feet in length, they were

magnificent ocean-dwelling reptiles

that flew gracefully through the water

with four massive paddles.

The order Plesiosauria

was large and varied.

It has been broadly divided

into two superfamilies,

based on

their overall body structure.

Some of them, thanks to their large

heads and powerful, short necks,

were the superpredators

of their time, like Kronosaurus.

Others were the complete opposite,

with tiny heads

at the end of extra-long necks,

such as Elasmosaurus.

Plesiosaurs lasted as long

as the dinosaurs,

until the end of the Cretaceous,

65 million years ago.

The Late Cretaceous is the very last

period of the Mesozoic Era,

and it is the age of Mosasaurs.

The land masses of the Earth

have nearly reached

their present positions.

The interior seas

of the Americas retreat

but Europe is still partly covered

by shallow waters.

(JULIE) And what about the climate?

Very comparable to the climate

of today, but warmer.

A beautiful day for a dip in the

Cretaceous ocean, don't you think?

As has been the case

for millions of years,

molluscs are still a favorite meal

for most predators.

So, the Plesiosaurs are still around

in the Cretaceous?

Indeed, there are some.

But they are no longer at the top

of the ocean's food chain,

a place now disputed by the two

greatest predators of this era.

In this corner, the largest fish

of the Cretaceous,

a 23-foot-long shark.

And in this corner, the most powerful

marine reptile, the Prognathodon,

a 40-foot Mosasaur.

(JULIE) lt looks just like

a great white of today!

Indeed, just larger.

(JULIE) But the shark is never going

to measure up to that!

We can't be too sure. You see, it has

a distinct edge over its opponent.

The shark doesn't need to come up

to the surface to breathe, so...

Oh, well.

(JULIE) l told you

the Mosasaur was going to win.

This time, yes.

But it wasn't always the case.

We've even found shark teeth

embedded in Mosasaur bones.

So the sharks did get their teeth

into them from time to time.

By the way, wasn't it a Mosasaur

that was found in a mine

back in the 1 8th century?

Here we are, very close to the mine

where the famous "unknown animal

of Maastricht" was found around 1 770.

Like all palaeontologists, Olivier

Rieppel knows this story very well.

In 1 795, when the fossilised Mosasaur

of Maastricht arrived in Paris,

Georges Cuvier was a young,

26-year-old anatomist,

who had just started working there

at the Museum of Natural History.

This skull was the first great fossil

ever to be thoroughly studied

by scientists,

who found it quite difficult

to classify this creature.

But it was Georges Cuvier

who would provide the solution

based on comparative anatomy.

The reptile from the Meuse River,

the Mosasaur,

was a giant sea lizard,

a close relative

of the monitor lizards.

But this species became completely

extinct before the dawn of time.

And so the Mosasaur helped

to support Cuvier's hypothesis

that several universal cataclysms

occurred on Earth

in the distant past.

And thanks in part

to this large animal,

Georges Cuvier is recognised today

as the father of palaeontology.

At the end of the Cretaceous,

the interior seaway running

through the middle of North America

had not yet completely disappeared.

So, there are sharks on the

other side of the Atlantic as well?

In addition to marine reptiles,

they are found in all the oceans.

Contrary to dinosaurs, marine animals

don't have any borders.

These are young, 1 3-foot-long sharks.

After hours of laying her eggs on

the beach, this turtle is exhausted.

(JULIE) Easy prey for starving sharks.

Ah, but they are not alone.

(JULIE) A Mosasaur.

This large predator truly is

the marine equivalent

of the famous T. rex.

The Mosasaur will become

the last ruler of the ancient seas.

(GEORGES CUVIER)

This is one of its teeth. It's for you.

"Without fossils,

no one would have ever dreamed

"that there were successive epochs

in the formation of the earth."

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