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Young World
Arctic monster
The deep sea has yielded yet another huge monster, this time in Arctic Norway (near the archipelago of Svalbard 1,300 km from the North Pole). The sea monster was 50 feet long (about 16 feet longer than the previous record holder found in Australia) and had teeth like daggers in a mouth that could comfortably hold a Morris Minor. It belongs to the pliosaur family, fierce marine reptiles, but is a new species. Pliosaurs were top predators in the Jurassic period and hunted s
quids, fish and other marine animals. The fossil’s teeth were as big as cucumbers, paleontologist Joern Hurum, who led the expedition, told Reuters. Patrick Druckenmiller of the University of Alaska Museum also told the news agency, “The Arctic find demonstrates that these gigantic animals inhabited the northern seas of our planet during the age of dinosaurs.” Further expeditions later this year will excavate another skull and skeleton found near the monster.
COMPILED BY R. KRITHIKA
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