The largest dinosaur in the world underwater. The largest dinosaurs known to science

In previous publications we have already touched on the topic of dinosaurs. Then we were talking about the ten largest species known to science. Today we want to introduce you to the list of the ten most ferocious sea dinosaurs. So.

Shastasaurus - a genus of dinosaurs that lived at the end of Triassic period(more than 200 million years ago) on the territory of modern North America and possibly China. His remains were discovered in California, British Columbia and the Chinese province of Guizhou. This predator is the largest marine reptile ever found on the planet. It could grow up to 21 meters in length and weigh 20 tons.

In ninth place in the ranking is Dakosaurus - saltwater crocodile, who lived in the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous period (more than 100.5 million years ago). It was a rather large, carnivorous animal, adapted almost exclusively to hunting large prey. It could grow up to 6 meters in length.

Thalassomedon is a genus of dinosaur that lived in North America about 95 million years ago. Most likely, he was the main predator of his time. Thalassomedon grew up to 12.3 m in length. The size of its flippers reached about 1.5–2 meters. The length of the skull was 47 centimeters, the length of the teeth was 5 cm. It ate fish.

Nothosaurus (Nothosaurus) is a sea lizard that lived 240–210 million years ago in the territory modern Russia, Israel, China and North Africa. It reached about 4 meters in length. It had webbed limbs, with five long fingers, which could be used both for movement on land and for swimming. Probably ate fish. The complete skeleton of Nothosaurus can be seen in the Museum natural history in Berlin.

In sixth place on the list of the most ferocious marine dinosaurs is Tylosaurus, a large marine predatory lizard that inhabited the oceans at the end of the Cretaceous period (about 88–78 million years ago). It was the dominant marine predator of its time. Grew up to 14 m in length. It ate fish, large predatory sharks, small mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and waterfowl.

Thalattoarchon was a large marine reptile that lived more than 245 million years ago in what is now the western United States. The remains, consisting of part of the skull, spine, pelvic bones, and parts of the hind fins, were discovered in Nevada in 2010. Thalattoarchon is estimated to have been the apex predator of its time. It grew to be at least 8.6 m in length.

Tanystropheus is a genus of lizard-like reptiles that lived in the Middle Triassic about 230 million years ago. It grew up to 6 meters in length, and was distinguished by a very elongated and mobile neck, which reached 3.5 m. It led a predatory aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle, probably hunting near the shore for fish and cephalopods.

Liopleurodon - a genus of large carnivores marine reptiles who lived at the turn of the middle and late Jurassic period(approximately 165 million to 155 million years ago). It is assumed that the largest known Liopleurodon was just over 10 m in length, but typical sizes for it range from 5 to 7 m (according to other sources 16-20 meters). Body weight is estimated at 1–1.7 tons. These apex predators likely hunted from ambush, attacking large cephalopods, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and other large animals they could catch.

Mosasaurus (Mosasaurus) is a genus of extinct reptiles that lived in the territory of modern Western Europe and North America during the Late Cretaceous - 70–65 million years ago. Their remains were first found in 1764 near the Meuse River. The total length of representatives of this genus ranged from 10 to 17.5 m. In appearance they resembled a mixture of fish (or whale) with a crocodile. They were in the water all the time, diving to a considerable depth. They ate fish, cephalopods, turtles and ammonites. According to some scientists, these predators are distant relatives modern monitor lizards and iguanas.

Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon) is an extinct species of prehistoric shark that lived throughout the oceans 28.1–3 million years ago. It is the largest known predatory fish in history. Megalodon is estimated to have reached 18 meters in length and weighed 60 tons. In body shape and behavior it was similar to a modern white shark. He hunted cetaceans and other large sea animals. It is interesting that some cryptozoologists claim that this animal could have survived to the present day, but apart from the huge teeth found (up to 15 cm in length), there is no other evidence that the shark still lives somewhere in the ocean.

10. Shastasaurus(Shastasaurus)

Ichthyosaurs were marine predators that looked like modern dolphins and could reach enormous sizes and lived during the Triassic period about 200 million years ago.
Shastasaurus, the largest species of marine reptile ever found, was an ichthyosaur that could grow to more than 20 meters. It was much longer than most other predators. But one of the largest creatures to ever swim the sea was not exactly a fearsome predator; Shastasaurus fed by suction, and ate mainly fish.

9. Dakosaurus(Dakosaurus)

Dacosaurus was first discovered in Germany, and with its strangely reptilian yet fish-like body, it was one of the main predators in the sea during the Jurassic period.
His fossil remains were found over a very wide area - they were found everywhere, from England to Russia to Argentina. Although it is usually compared to modern crocodiles, Dakosaurus could reach 5 meters in length. Its unique teeth led scientists to believe it was a top predator during its terrible reign.

8. Thalassomedon(Thalassomedon)

Thalassomedon belonged to the Pliosaur group, and its name is translated from Greek as “Lord of the Sea” - and for good reason. Thalassomedons were huge predators, reaching up to 12 meters in length.
It had nearly 2 meter long flippers, allowing it to swim in the depths with deadly efficiency. Its reign as a predator lasted until the Late Cretaceous period, until it finally came to an end when new, larger predators such as Mosasaurs appeared in the sea.

7. Nothosaurus(Nothosaurus)

Nothosaurs, reaching a length of only 4 meters, were aggressive predators. They were armed with a mouthful of sharp, externally directed teeth, indicating that their diet consisted of squid and fish. It is believed that Nothosaurus were primarily ambush predators. They used their sleek, reptilian physique to sneak up on their prey and surprise it when attacking.
It is believed that Nothosaurus were relatives of pliosaurs, another type of deep sea predator. Evidence obtained from fossil remains suggests that they lived during the Triassic period about 200 million years ago.

6. Tylosaurus(Tylosaurus)

Tylosaurus belonged to the Mosasaurus species. He was huge size, and reached more than 15 meters in length.
Tylosaurus was a meat eater with a very varied diet. In their stomachs, traces of fish, sharks, smaller mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and even some flightless birds. They lived at the end of the Cretaceous period in a sea that spanned what is now North America, where they sat tightly at the top of the marine food chain for several million years.

5. Thalattoarchon(Thalatoarchon saurophagis)

Only recently discovered, Thalattoarchon was the size of a school bus, reaching almost 9 meters in length. This is an early species of ichthyosaur that lived during the Triassic period, 244 million years ago. Due to the fact that they appeared shortly after the Permian extinction (the largest mass extinction on Earth, when scientists believe 95% marine flora and fauna were destroyed), its discovery gives scientists a new look at the rapid recovery of the ecosystem.

4. Tanystropheus(Tanystropheus)

Although Tanystropheus was not strictly a marine animal, its diet consisted mainly of fish, and scientists believe that most he spent his time in the water. Tanystropheus was a reptile that could reach 6 meters in length and is believed to have lived during the Triassic period about 215 million years ago.

3. Liopleurodon(Liopleurodon)

Liopleurodon was a marine reptile that reached more than 6 meters in length. It primarily lived in the seas that covered Europe during the Jurassic period, and was one of the top predators of its time. Its jaws alone are believed to have reached more than 3 meters - approximately the distance from floor to ceiling.
With such huge teeth, it is not difficult to understand why Liopleurodon dominated the food chain.

2. Mosasaurus(Mosasaurus)

If Liopleurodon was huge, then Mosasaurus was colossal.
Evidence obtained from fossil remains suggests that Mosasaurus could reach up to 15 meters in length, making it one of the largest marine predators of the Cretaceous period. The Mosasaurus's head was similar to that of a crocodile, and was armed with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth that could kill even the most heavily armored opponents.

1. Megalodon(Megalodon)

One of the largest predators in marine history and one of the largest sharks ever recorded, Megalodons were incredibly fearsome creatures.
Megalodons roamed the depths of the oceans for Cenozoic era, 28 - 1.5 million years ago, and were a much larger version of the great white shark, the most feared and strong predator in the oceans today. But while the maximum length that modern great white sharks can reach is 6 meters, Megalodons could grow up to 20 meters in length, which means they were larger than a school bus!

Sergei Leshchinsky, head of the laboratory of continental ecosystems of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Tomsk state university

For me now is the most interesting topic- problem of extinction mammoth fauna. At the end of the 19th century, two main hypotheses were formed - climatic and anthropogenic. These two versions survived until the end of the 20th century almost unchanged. I have been excavating the remains of mammoths for twenty-five years. In the process of such long-term research, I came up with my own concept - geochemical, based on tectonic changes. Vertical movements of the earth's crust and climate humidification influenced the geochemistry of landscapes that were generally alkaline, and 10 thousand years ago became mostly acidic. According to my hypothesis, mammoths were unable to adapt to the changed (more acidic) characteristics of soils, drinking water and associated food resources. Paleontologically this is proven by a sharp increase in the proportion of pathological changes in bones and teeth.

I have always been interested in science at the intersection of disciplines, broad topics, big problems. When I finished school, I was thinking where to go next - paleontology, geology or archeology, and now I’m doing all of this at once. I study ancient ecosystems, and they include environment and the organisms that existed at that time, the climate and the geological setting. Paleontology is, in essence, a synthesis of biology, geology, and geography. Now science has reached a level where both living and inanimate nature - the entire system - are studied comprehensively.

The longer you work, the more you realize how much is unclear around.

Now my hypothesis has more and more supporters, and it has pushed the development of old ideas. For example, the Americans and the Dutch are reviving the hypothesis about the fall of a comet, explaining that this caused massive fires and formed a large number of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which as a result led to the acidification of landscapes. I explain this oxidation by terrestrial causes - tectonics and climate humidification.

We have much less data and finds on dinosaurs. Mammoths lived by geological standards relatively recently - less than ten thousand years ago, and dinosaurs - more than sixty million years ago. There is no longer any organic matter left from them, only fossils. But it is possible that geochemical factors also influenced the extinction of dinosaurs.

Our group from TSU discovered most of the locations of dinosaur fauna in Russia. Until 1995, only four locations were known in our country, but now there are already twenty. A new dinosaur area in the Kemchug basin between Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk - our finds.

But we are much more active in digging for mammoth fauna. There is a very large location in the Kargat region Novosibirsk region- Wolf's mane. It for a long time remained little studied. We returned to it twenty years after its discovery with new data and knowledge - now it is the coolest locality of mammoth fauna in Asia. There is the highest concentration of fossil remains - in some places more than 130 finds per square meter. There's less rock than bones!

Every season there are several field stories that later turn into tales. Here's a story about folk wisdom. We're digging, and a man drives up on a tractor. “What,” he says, “are you digging?” “We are looking for dinosaurs.” He thought and said: “Your work is interesting, you are looking for something that you haven’t lost.”

Paleontologists are often considered eccentrics. The profession is unusual; in Russia, people generally have little understanding of what paleontologists do. When you come somewhere with excavations, everyone is sure that they are archaeologists, since we are digging. We have long been accustomed to, and even agree to, archaeologists.

However, in our country you cannot distinguish a paleontologist or geologist from a mushroom picker or a fisherman - they all wear the same clothes. But abroad, paleontologists look different, and the format of field work itself is different. Once in America I saw a classic movie character of a paleontologist-geologist - big boots, shorts, a hammer, mustache, hat, glasses, and short height.

Children are always very interested in our work. This is good news, because paleontology is an extremely important science; it has great applied significance, for example, in the study of oil and gas fields, since paleontological remains make it possible to determine the age rocks. Almost every year a lot of new species of plants and animals are discovered that no one knew about before. And of course, we have a romantic profession. You discover the past of the land you walk on, you get to know its origins, you see what no one has seen before.

How did toothy birds grow?

Pavel Skuchas, Associate Professor, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, St. Petersburg State University

There are two questions that I would like to find an answer to. The first question is about the origin of this or that group of creatures. For example, when they learned that modern birds are descendants predatory dinosaurs, it was a breakthrough. But there are still many blind spots. Regarding modern frogs and salamanders, there is still debate about which group of ancient amphibians they descended from. I want to understand this. The second question is the evolution of dinosaurs. I would like to restore the whole picture of the Mesozoic - how dinosaurs changed and how they disappeared.

I decided to become a paleontologist at age five. Children are always interested in unusual things, and here are dinosaurs! It seems to me that people go into paleontology who retain this childhood interest, they want to discover something new. It hasn’t weakened for me, now my area is dinosaurs and ancient amphibians.

I'm also researching how ancient vertebrates grew. I study this using a specific method, similar to the study of tree rings - a thin section of the fossil bone is made and the cut line is studied by analogy with tree rings. You can trace the lines of growth cessation; in winter, growth slows down, then resumes. Amphibians, reptiles, and some mammals have such rings. It is one thing to find and describe a skeleton; it is quite another to understand how an animal grew and developed during its life.

The end product of a paleontologist's work is Research Article. After all, if a paleontologist finds a dinosaur, then this is not yet paleontology, but collecting. Research can be carried out based on the results of your own expeditions, or you can travel to museums, look at collections, and find something new. I go on expeditions and to museums. It’s difficult to look for something new on Russian territory, everything is overgrown with taiga, there are no deserts. So, unfortunately, unsuccessful expeditions do happen.

“Deaf taiga, the ranger guides left us, twirled their fingers at our temples and said: “Two people went to the taiga, one will return.” We worked for three days and hardly slept. On the third evening, a boat with men goes by on the river, shooting at someone on our shore. And five minutes later some aggressive animal begins to walk around the camp.”

A field paleontologist lives two lives - on expeditions and in the laboratory. An expedition is a small life, sometimes you work in the remote taiga, desert, but there are expeditions when you have to work in an active quarry, kneading mud, around a BelAZ, there is no romance in it. When you find something, it’s the first delight. When you start studying a find, you experience the delight of discovery. And the final touch is finished article. That is, our work gives very different sensations: the romance of an expedition, the joy of laboratory discoveries, the satisfaction after the publication of an article.

Looking at the same paleontologist in the field and at a conference, you may not recognize him. The field option is a big beard, boots, an ax, a shovel; during the non-field season these are intelligent people in jackets. And the eccentricity probably remains inside, this is precisely the same childish curiosity that they managed to preserve.

Situations bordering on idiocy often occur in the fields. In 2015, I, along with one student, went on reconnaissance to Nizhnyaya Tunguska, not understanding the features of the area. It turned out there were a lot of bad bears there. And so - the deaf taiga, the ranger guides left us, twirled their fingers at our temples and said: “Two people went to the taiga, one will return.” We worked for three days, burned fires, and hardly slept. Suddenly, on the evening of the third day, a boat with men came past us on the river, they fired four shots at someone on our bank and drove on. Five minutes later, some aggressive beast begins to walk around our small camp. We had a rubber boat, we quickly got into it and sailed 38 kilometers to the nearest winter quarters. An indescribable feeling when you two are scratching along the river on a small rubber boat, running away from a bear, and polar owls are flying around, like in “Harry Potter”! There is no telephone reception there, so upon arrival at the winter hut I had to “write a Tunguska SMS” - go to the bank of the river, where a boat with fishermen or hunters goes about once a day, and give them a note asking them to contact our rangers so that they can come and pick up us. A day later, the rangers arrived, and we, under guard with carbines, were able to finish the job. The most dangerous thing about expeditions is novice scientists and people who are sure that they already know and can do everything.

What microbes know about dinosaurs

Anastasia Gulina, senior researcher at the laboratory of continental ecosystems of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, Tomsk State University

On an expedition, everyone works for the same goal, but everyone has their own area of responsibility. We clear the sections to the level where the finds lie, study the geology of this place and select rock samples. In laboratory conditions, we isolate the organic component from the organomineral fraction and obtain a concentrate, which we study under a microscope - for example, I specialize in spores and pollen. This is called micropaleontology. The microcosm is no less interesting than the bones of mammoths and dinosaurs: it stores a lot of information about the living conditions of these megafauna.

As geologists like to say, it happened historically that I came to paleontology. I studied at the Faculty of Geology and went to my first geological practice with Sergei Leshchinsky, where we were lucky enough to dig for mammoths and wash the bones and teeth of small mammals, crocodiles, and dinosaurs. After practice, he invited me to join his paleontological team, and I’ve been here ever since. Recently, my mother was sorting through old books and remembered that as a child, my favorite book was “Kids about Minerals.” And I realized that my hobbies come from childhood.

I really love field work and hate being stuck in the city in the summer. I like that our work is not routine, not monotonous - every day we learn something new, we are not tied to a strict schedule... The most important thing is the task and the result. On an expedition you feel like you belong to yourself.

Each expedition we have is associated with funny stories. Once we rafted down the Demyanka River for several weeks, it was hot, and for a hundred kilometers there was not a single settlement... The guys wanted beer - we, naturally, don’t take it on the expedition, and there’s nowhere to buy it. We laid out pieces of tree bark on the sand saying “I want a beer” and waved to the passing barges. Usually they just honked at us, but from one barge they offered us vodka.

And one day we were camping on the channel of the Chulym River. My friend and I were on duty. We did all the housework and decided to go for a kayak ride. Half an hour later we returned to camp, everything was upside down! And sticking out of our headquarters tent... is a cow's tail. We drove the cows away and started cleaning. At some point, we looked at the cauldron and realized that the cows had safely eaten the rest of the salad. And in gratitude they licked the cauldron until it shined.

It’s funny when you go on a reconnaissance route through a deep forest and stumble upon, for example, a bed standing there. One day we came across a sofa in the forest, covered from the rain with polyethylene. Who needed a sofa in the forest, and why didn’t this man come back for it?

“The guys wanted beer; naturally, we don’t take it on the expedition. We laid out pieces of tree bark on the sand “I want beer” and waved to the passing barges. Usually they just honked at us, but from one barge they offered us vodka.”

Our areas of interest are not limited to paleontology. What we don’t talk about on the expedition! We work at the excavation site, and play games in the camp Board games, we sing songs with a guitar, we argue about anything. Paleontology is not only male profession: Micropaleontology is mostly done by women, and there are many women working in geology.

When we arrive at a new place, the people living there have a lot of interest in our work. But yes, we are always called archaeologists. They also often ask the question: “Are you looking for gold?”

Why crocodiles don't fly

Alexander Averyanov, Professor of the Department of Sedimentary Geology of St. Petersburg State University, Head of the Laboratory of Theriology of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Of the bones I have personally found, the most important find is part of the skull of a duck-billed dinosaur. But I'm not much of a fan of field work. I prefer to sit in my office and describe bones. Fortunately, my younger colleagues are now carrying out field work much more efficiently than under my personal leadership. I myself often found myself in some kind of story. For example, I came to Buryatia to Gusinoye Lake with a new tent. In the evening a hurricane began, and I managed to install it with great difficulty. By morning, all that was left was scraps of material scattered over a radius of several kilometers across the steppe, and broken iron rods. For the rest of the expedition I lived in a food tent. But it was very funny.

I've always been interested in the past. Without the past, it is impossible to understand the present and predict the future. Actually, the past is the most reliable thing we have. The present is a shaky, unstable film between the past and the future. The future is uncertain and therefore scary. How can we understand why giraffes live in Africa and crocodiles do not fly? These and many other questions can only be answered by the history of life on our planet. It is unique and will not be repeated anywhere else, even if life arises again or has already arisen somewhere. Science fiction writers populate other planets with anthropomorphic aliens, trees, and almost terrestrial animals. How incredible this is can be understood by studying the history of life on Earth.

IN school years I was most interested in genetics and paleontology. I went to the genetics club and the small geological department. Then I realized: to study paleontology, you cannot go to the geological department, since paleontology is a biological science. As a result, he entered the biological faculty of Leningrad University. After the third year, on the advice of my supervisor, I went to the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This is where I work to this day, and part-time at the universities of St. Petersburg, Tomsk and Guangzhou.

Paleontologists are not much different from other people. Of course, sometimes ordinary people perceive scientists as eccentrics because they do not understand what they do. From the point of view of such a layman, success in life is determined by accumulated material wealth. But for scientists, the meaning of life lies in knowledge, and they look at these ordinary people as unhappy people who live their lives mediocrely.

My greatest joy comes from learning new things. First, you learn for yourself what science already knows - this is a learning process. Then you understand something that no one knew before you - and you make your contribution to scientific progress. No more joy than to understand that the bone in your hands belongs to an animal unknown to anyone and you were the first to know about its existence.

There's nothing wrong with living in the past. For example, I don’t want to live in a future where there are no forests and large animals and the entire planet is covered in glass and concrete.

News from the Jurassic period

What have we learned about dinosaurs in the 21st century?

Not all dinosaurs went extinct

Modern classification makes it possible to resurrect dinosaurs. Biologists divide ancient lizards into two groups - ornithischians and lizards. Contrary to the name, it was the lizards (their typical representative is the T-Rex) that became the ancestors of modern birds. It is impossible to clearly distinguish between birds and dinosaurs on the evolutionary tree; birds may well be considered a type of dinosaur. Not all monsters went extinct 65 million years ago, and when you throw crumbs to the pigeons in the park, remember that you are feeding real dinosaurs!

Feathered revolution

In 1996, Chinese paleontologist Ji Qiang discovered the remains of a small and very unusual dinosaur: shales preserved imprints of feathers surrounding the skeleton in the form of a halo. Thus began the “feathered revolution” - since then, paleontologists have found dozens of other feathered dinosaurs: predators and herbivores, small and large, flying and terrestrial. In 2012, paleontologists even managed to find a feathered tyrannosaurus. The high preservation of his remains made it possible to restore the structure of the feathers: they were more like down, needed for heating, and not like the flight feathers of birds. Don't believe the old drawings - dinosaurs were furry!

Not so cold-blooded

Since the end of the 20th century, paleontologists began to suspect dinosaurs of being warm-blooded. This was indicated by large blood vessels in the bones and their need for high metabolism, as in modern mammals and birds. Because fossil bones have growth rings like trees, in 2014 scientists were able to determine the type of metabolism from the structure and growth rate of dinosaur bones. It turned out that the ancient lizards occupied an intermediate position of “mesotherms”, that is, the blood in their veins flowed neither cold nor warm. Like warm-blooded animals, they could generate their own heat, but they could not maintain a constant body temperature. 8 mesothermic species still exist today: these are some species of sharks, turtles, tuna and the Australian echidna.

Pregnant dinosaur

In February this year, the first evidence was found in China that some dinosaurs may have been viviparous rather than egg-laying. In the fossil of a female dinocephalosaur, traces of cervical vertebrae and smaller forelimbs were found in the abdominal region. That this was an embryo, and not the last meal of a predator, was proven by its belonging to the same species, the absence of a fossilized shell, and the size and body position of the smaller individual. An aquatic predatory reptile has adapted to viviparity due to anatomical features: the long neck and lobe-shaped limbs did not allow lovely ladies build nests and lay eggs on land.

It's not just the meteorite that's to blame

The disappearance of dinosaurs is often explained by “catastrophic” hypotheses, the most popular of which is the fall of the Chicxulub meteorite, which left behind a crater with a diameter of 180 km at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2016 it was shown that the extinction began long before the asteroid impact, and the gradual “decline of the lizards” lasted at least 40 million years. Probably, the dinosaurs were already suffering from some processes, and the meteorite simply finished off the poor creatures. In addition, the disaster was not as terrible as it is described: if the planet’s atmosphere had actually been filled with sulfuric acid vapor, which reflected light, darkness would have come and photosynthesis would have stopped, the temperature would have dropped and water would have flowed. acid rain- it wouldn’t be good for everyone. So this scenario does not explain the survival of crocodiles, mammals and birds. The investigation into the mysterious death of dinosaurs continues...

Big-eyed lizard

In Jurassic Park, the heroes tried to escape from the Tyrannosaurus rex by relying on its terrible eyesight: “Don't move! He won't see us if we don't move." In fact, the narrow skull and set of eyes the size of tennis balls provided the T-Rex with an excellent sense of depth, a visual range greater than that of a hawk, and 13 times the clarity of vision of humans. In addition, a year ago, geneticists from the University of Cambridge found evidence that dinosaurs had color vision. Researchers believe that they could distinguish red shades thanks to a gene for the synthesis of red pigment in the retina, the same one found in birds and turtles.

Well, where are your hands?

In the Chrome browser, if it is impossible to connect to the Internet, a funny icon appears: a tyrannosaurus, which with its short legs cannot “reach” the globe, the symbol of the world wide web. However, the useless “handles” of the Tyrannosaurus rex are another myth. According to recent studies, T-Rex could lift up to 200 kilograms with one left (or right) one. In addition, paleontologists discovered cracks in the bones of the forelimbs, which indicates their active use. Most likely, tyrannosaurs used their front legs to fight and hunt other dinosaurs.

The biggest dinosaur

On August 9, an article was published in which Argentine paleontologists described the largest land animal that ever lived on the planet. Representatives of the new species Patagotitan mayorum from the genus of titanosaurs reached 37 meters in length, 15 meters in height and weighed about 69 tons. They lived 100 million years ago.

Russian dinosaurs

The most famous and interesting finds

PERM REGION

Small archosaurs, the ancestors of dinosaurs, were discovered here, as well as animal-like lizards that gave rise to mammals, and cheeky lizards that vaguely resembled huge turtles without a shell.

LOWER VOLGA REGION

Complete skeletons of Elasmosaurus, a giant aquatic dinosaur, have not yet been found in our country, but in the Lower Volga region it was possible to discover accumulations of individual bones of this reptile.

PENZA REGION

Not far from the city of Penza in the 1920s, the skull of one of the largest individuals of the Hoffmann mosasaurus was found. The dinosaur that lived in the sea reached 17 meters in length, with 10% of the body length being a powerful jaw.

ORENBURG REGION

Unusually large fragments of plesiosaur bones were discovered in the Orenburg region - largest predator in the history of the Earth. The length of his body was close to 20 m.

CHUVASHIA

Abyssosaurus nataliae lived here - a seven-meter giant with a very long neck, a kind of “water giraffe”. Abyssosaurus translated means “lizard from the abyss”; judging by the structure of his bones, he lived deep under water.

KUNDUR LOCATION

(Arkharinsky district, Amur region)

In the late 1990s, the tail of a hadrosaur was found in construction trenches, followed by the entire skeleton. The lizard, named Olorotitan arharensis, turned out to be one of the last dinosaurs to live on Earth.

LOCATION OF KAKANAUT

(Anadyrsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)

The bank of the Kakanaut River on the Koryak Highlands is the northernmost point where traces of dinosaurs have been found. Egg shells of hadrosaurs and theropods were found here.

NIKOLSKOYE LOCATION

(Sharypovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory)

Near the city of Sharypovo in 2000 it was discovered new class dinosaurs of the titanosaur family. Among the new animals discovered here is the carnivorous dinosaur Kileskus aristotocus, an ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

ULYANOVSK REGION

On the banks of the Volga, scientists discovered the remains of a new species of pliosaur, which was named Makhaira rossica. Pliosaurs were large sea lizards up to 9 meters in length. The “Volga pliosaur” was smaller (up to 5 meters), but judging by the structure of its teeth, it could hunt large prey not only in water, like others, but also on land.

BLAGOVESCHENSKY DISTRICT

One of the most famous " Russian dinosaurs", Ryabinin's Amurosaurus, was discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century. The lizard belonged to the family of duck-billed dinosaurs and had a hollow crest on its head, which presumably served for visual and vocal communication with its fellows.

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrates that inhabited all ecosystems of planet Earth for more than 160 million years - from the Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) to the end of the Cretaceous period (about 65 million years ago). I would like to introduce you to a list of the ten most ferocious sea dinosaurs.

10. Shastasaurus

Shastasaurus is a genus of dinosaurs that lived at the end of the Triassic period (more than 200 million years ago) in the territory of modern North America and, possibly, China. His remains were discovered in California, British Columbia and the Chinese province of Guizhou. This predator is the largest marine reptile ever found on the planet. It could grow up to 21 meters in length and weigh 20 tons.

9. Dakosaurus

In ninth place in the ranking is Dakosaurus, a saltwater crocodile that lived in the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous period (more than 100.5 million years ago). It was a rather large, carnivorous animal, adapted almost exclusively to hunting large prey. It could grow up to 6 meters in length.

8. Thalassomedon

7. Nothosaurus

Nothosaurus (Nothosaurus) is a sea lizard that lived 240–210 million years ago in the territory of modern Russia, Israel, China and North Africa. It reached about 4 meters in length. It had webbed limbs, with five long fingers, which could be used both for movement on land and for swimming. Probably ate fish. The complete skeleton of Nothosaurus can be seen at the Natural History Museum in Berlin.

6. Tylosaurus

5. Thalattoarchon

4. Tanystropheus

3. Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon is a genus of large carnivorous marine reptiles that lived at the turn of the Middle and Late Jurassic period (approximately 165 million to 155 million years ago). It is assumed that the largest known Liopleurodon was just over 10 m in length, but typical sizes for it range from 5 to 7 m (according to other sources 16-20 meters). Body weight is estimated at 1–1.7 tons. These apex predators likely hunted from ambush, attacking large cephalopods, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and other large animals they could catch.

2. Mosasaurus

1. Megalodon

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