Prehistoric Whale Lizard Is Contender For Largest Animal To Ever Live

Ichthyosaurs were a huge group of marine reptiles that thrived during the Triassic and Jurassic periods, sticking around until the beginning of the Late Cretaceous epoch. Their success was mostly due to their streamlined bodies, giant eyes, and generalist evolutionary strategies. Their origins remain elusive, with some researchers finding them in their own group of diapsid reptiles, or various places amongst the archosaurs or Archelosaurs. Their mysterious origins may even stretch back into the Permian period as advanced forms have been found in the earliest Triassic rocks. Though they were largely generalists, going after fast-moving prey with their shark-like tails and dorsal fins, plenty diverged to perform narrower jobs in their respective ecosystems - whether that be robust apex predators, filter-feeding weirdos, or, as it turns out, potentially being the largest animals ever to swim the oceans.
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Art in Thumbnail belongs to - Mark Witton
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✅Tyler Addison ✅
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✅Adam Midzuk ✅
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Intro - 00:00-00:14
Ichthyosaur Evolution 00:00-01:46
Largest Ichthyosaurs 01:46-03:17
New Study On New Giant 03:17-04:23
Lilstock Monster 04:23-05:43
Aust Colossus 05:43-08:13
Blue Anchor Titan 08:13-09:38
Ichthyotitan 09:38-11:20
Size Comparison 11:20-13:10
Biology 13:10-15:23
End Credits 15:23-16:43
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✅ RESEARCH ✅
Galton PM. Bones of large dinosaurs (Prosauropoda and Stegosauria) from the Rhaetic Bone Bed (Upper Triassic) of Aust Cliff, southwest England. Revue de Paleobiologie, Genève. 2005; 24: 5174.
Lomax DR, De la Salle P, Massare JA, Gallois R (2018) A giant Late Triassic ichthyosaur from the UK and a reinterpretation of the Aust Cliff `dinosaurian' bones. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0194742. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....
Lomax DR, de la Salle P, Perillo M, Reynolds J, Reynolds R, Waldron JF (2024) The last giants: New evidence for giant Late Triassic (Rhaetian) ichthyosaurs from the UK. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0300289. doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0300289
Perillo M, Sander PM. 2024. The dinosaurs that werent: osteohistology supports giant ichthyosaur affinity of enigmatic large bone segments from the European Rhaetian. PeerJ 12:e17060 doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17060
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✅ Hashtags ✅
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[@rileyernst9086]

When you're large enough to choke down your nearest mammalian and shark competitors for largest macro predator of all time... and you're skeletally immature.

[@Paralititan]

Yeah.. about that.. I don’t buy any of that crap. The histological features they base this on (lack of an EFS, high cortical vascularity) are also found in other clearly adult ichthyosaurs. I mean they might have continuous growth, but I think these animals were at least close to asymptotic growth. Growth records are never stored in ichthyosaur histology instead they have constant bone remodelling and high vascularity as adaptation to diving.

[@diegoestradahernandez2728]

​@@Paralititan I share your opinion

[@varanid9]

@@diegoestradahernandez2728 I don't.

[@ianmorris4922]

What about linguistically immature? Who gives a fuck guys,it's immaterial currently one way or the other and only time will tell.IF this proves to be ineffectual,then just wait longer continuing to study about it.

[@phoboskittym8500]

In ancient days, the seas were full of dragons...

[@ravagerlizard9800]

Dragons of the air, land and sea! 🦖🐉

[@Mr.MasterOfTheMonsters]

@@ravagerlizard9800 Underground too! (mole lizards and similar)

[@ianmorris4922]

Oh to see it! Thinks:🤔;would the higher amounts of Oxygen then in the atmosphere mean we wouldn't be able to stay conscious for long or would be be almost super powered??

[@iedgi3434]

Presently my ass is filled with ass.

[@joebrat6809]

While the Jurassic is generally known as 'the age of giants' due to being the sauropod golden age, the Triassic should not be underestimated. Something unique for the Triassic is that both the largest terrestrial and largest marine animals seemed to be hypercarnivores, as it is usually plant eaters (or well on land, it was the land crocs until the emergency of Prosauropods).

[@jurgen1395]

So basically ichthyosaurs in the Triassic were blue whale sized but the Jurassic ichthyosaurs got smaller because of plesiosaurs and pliosaurs

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Then went extinct and Mosasaurus take their place.

[@jurgen1395]

@@ExtremeMadnessX yes

[@widodoakrom3938]

Not only that in Jurassic era they were marine crocodilian called plesiosuchus family

[@DreadEnder]

Or we just haven’t found them yet

[@Monchegorx]

Rather the opposite: Plesiosaurs and Pliosaurus became so large because the giant Ichthyosaurs had died out, enabling other groups to fill their niches.

[@leot.4220]

Babe wake up a new whale sized animal just got officially named.

[@penguinfromtheholy]

Aaah FINALLY a nonAI video with some legitimately authentic tone! Very apparent you care, as a self proclaimed overenthusiastic nerd 😅 Love it, subbed 😊

[@unclemiguel4221]

god i kinda wish marine reptiles like this still existed

[@scottthesmartape9151]

they would probably eat you since they're dumb and shit

[@fabianeweil192]

Do marine turtle and sea snakes not count? They deserve recognition

[@YoutubeWatcher264]

But then humans would have fished them to extinction.

[@sussekind9717]

That would be one a hell of a fight on a rod and reel.

[@justinianthegreat1444]

They would get outcompeted by cetaceans

[@mrsanity]

I love how non-Brits can never pronounce Gloucestershire.

[@Valerio_the_wandering_sprite]

Glow-stir-shire, right?

[@mrsanity]

@@Valerio_the_wandering_sprite Gloss-tur-shur

[@IsaiahYoung-mu1zh]

Love how non-Americans can't pronounce Ashwaubenon.

[@mrsanity]

@@IsaiahYoung-mu1zh I'd wager most Americans can't either 🤣

[@Lotan_]

@@IsaiahYoung-mu1zh As a non-American, that word is not hard.

[@Planetsandminecraftfan]

Ayy that’s the lilstock monster

[@AntoniusTyas]

It is the Lilstock Monster and Blue Anchor Monster, aka. _Ichthyotitan severnensis_

[@maple22moose44]

And potentially also Aust Colossus, which would make it a contender for the largest animal to ever live, and still have more growing to do

[@DreadEnder]

@@maple22moose44the larger aust specimen was subadult still in its fastest stage of growth and has a minimum estimated length of 35 metres and mass of 220 tonnes.

[@mintriver6971]

Bro just casually listing off the channels I watch lol 3:27

[@Dell-ol6hb]

I feel like the size of this animal is going to decrease a lot as more remains are found and more study is done on it, but it should still be massive

[@TheAnticlinton]

Minimum weight estimate is still larger than the 2nd largest macropredators to ever exist, livyatan and the sperm whale,.

[@irenafarm]

[@Dell-ol6hb]

⁠@@TheAnticlinton so? Minimum weight estimates have been wrong many times before even with more complete remains, all we have for this animal are very fragmentary remains, it’d be crazy to assume that just with that we can definitively say with confidence the size of this animal.

[@sheehase]

Could just be a fluke. Gigantism is a radical change that can happen to any individual organism and same happens to dwarves

[@samuelmeier1617]

That's what usually happens, yea

[@megumin-staff6937]

Its awesome to think that icthyosaurs first evolved in early triassic period and within that period, they reached such huge sizes. They are soo fascinating

[@kingcosworth2643]

Size is often driven by sexual evolution considering in pretty well all higher order animals males fight for mating rights, and limited by food supply and in mammals, temperature as well, the colder, the bigger, there is less food available in cold climates, that means the population is lower, bigger bodies retain temperature better due to the mass/surface area ratio, meaning bigger animals are more efficient at burning calories. I've always found that quite fascinating.

[@Jackson-xl7sv]

They probably evolved in the Permian period Kear 2023

[@Eshkanama]

You’re seriously amazing. Subscribed as hell, and I’m signing to your Patreon. Informative, entertaining and colorful.

[@sussekind9717]

Fish-lizard? It would be more akin to a dolphin-lizard. Neither have gills, both breathe air, they are both built like marine torpedoes (the ones of similar size, not the giant sea blimps), both bear live young (which is very unusual for a reptile), both evolved from land animals that returned to the ocean, both have a beaked head with similar style teeth, and both probably held the same ecological niche.

[@Liethen]

ichthyosaur literally means fish lizard

[@sussekind9717]

@Liethen English or Greek, it's not a correct description. Although, back when it was named, they still thought whales were fish.

[@Liethen]

@@sussekind9717 dinosaurs are not lizards, nor are they sonic vibrations caused by atmospheric electrical discharges. Should they be renamed?

[@sussekind9717]

@Liethen If a correct description would want to be forwarded, then yes. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that something in science was renamed. Especially genus/species. I guess I'm just a stickler for accuracy that way.

[@Liethen]

@@sussekind9717 then we would be calling them by the name they were almost given. And that would be terrible since “pachypodes” doesn’t sound nearly as cool. And do you really want to live in a world that doesn’t run on rule of cool? I think not.

[@tomholroyd7519]

Sea Blimps ... I always liked the term Air Whales for um, air blimps

[@aaronpanietz]

Thank you for offering up other channels that I need to check out because those are always good!

[@Ballistics_Computer]

Aquatic ambience is such a beautiful song thank you for using it

[@pubertdefrog]

14:58 “let me do it for you… kermie”

[@DreadEnder]

5:58 gloster-shire

[@urick15]

Glostershire sauce

[@DakotaofRaptors]

Glossy sir

[@Shadeem]

It is still so strange that as a family they died out, i think we need to understand more on why. you can understand the specialist ones but the general ones too is odd, if anything they seemed far better adapted to the water than other species

[@ThePa1riot]

I love that you use the Most Extreme character model for the size comparison. XD Complete with the narration change.

[@sitarnut]

Loved your delivery, and knowledge...subbing....

[@kaylzshter6153]

Great footage, solid information, and a human narrator? Subscribed.

[@1998topornik]

At this rate every year we will get competitor for blue whale as largest animal ever.

[@thenamesianna]

I am passionately following the updates on the huge Ichtiosaur fossils.

[@thaliazelmer2327]

I love how happy and fun your new episodes sound. I hope that reflects how you are feeling about your work and life in general!

[@JustinDBrandt]

I feel kind of bad for the person who found that fossil, set it down on a rock then presumably forgot it. I wonder if they'll see this. Turned out well though. Also I had to laugh at the use of the water level music from Donkey Kong Country. I love how that song has become legendary

[@sheehase]

Gigantism and hormonal problems aren't just modern day problems. Finding a giant doesnt mean they had whole species of giants. In the last two hundred years we have examples of domestic humans getting up to nine feet tall and living til thirty or so.

[@EDGEscience]

You can usually tell an abnormal individual with gigantism apart from non-gigantism sufferers by the bones themselves. Gigantism leaves its trace in the skeleton. Many pathologies.

[@philipbahr7410]

It seems strange that all ichythosaurs would have went extinct. They were clearly built for speed and open water, a true aquatic reptile never needing to come to land as they were live birthers.

[@johnchenthebest4495]

So nice that the Lilstock specimen now has a name!

[@javi__...]

They have the strangest body shape.

[@Mr.MasterOfTheMonsters]

Good ol´ barrel body. A certified palaeontology classic.

[@patreekotime4578]

Nobody knows for sure what body shape they have, its entirely an inference.

[@rubric-eo5yj]

honestly i would have been surprised if there were no giant icthyosaurs considering how quickly they took over and diversified in the ocean

[@beastmaster0934]

Right!? It only took em around 5 million years or so to grow to gargantuan proportions. To put that into perspective, it took whales around 10-15 million years to grow to gargantuan sizes.

[@christopherholder9925]

Many thanks for this video.

[@George_M_]

Remember dunkleosteus and be cautious when scaling up an extinct animal from partial remains.

[@joshuarayfield7594]

Love the music at the end😂 memories

[@azhdarchidae66]

always funny to see youtubers i watch mention other youtubers i watch

[@Alberad08]

Thank you very much for providing this fascinating video!

[@bedelian]

1:13 The next time I run into someone I don't like, I'm gonna call them a "filter-feeding weirdo."

[@DreadEnder]

6:17 and thecodontosaurus, that one hadrosaur, that one nodasaur, etc.

[@irenafarm]

I wonder how it would work out, if we started applying the Dunkleosteus metric to size rank all vertebrates. Also I never noticed before how ichthyosaur faces are _kawaii_ from the front? 😂 Tiny mouf and giant eyes. They’re like 🥹 Now I can’t unsee it. UwU

[@DreadEnder]

I have some footage of aust beach if you want it. Vividen asked me to take it but I still have the rights to it so I can share it with anyone if you want it.

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

Super cool! 🤟😎

[@geckotheben447]

Reminds me of how I once speculated that considering how we have no fossils from the open ocean, and just shallow seas, I wondered if Ichthyosaurs got extra big in the deeper parts, and lived longer into the Mesozoic then we currently think, I also wondered if some of these bigger ones were from beachings like how whales sometimes do. (though the whales that do end up beached aren't normally the biggest kinds, or the biggest of their species, like even though sperm whale males can get 70 feet long most of them that get beached are 40 feet or less, thuogh we have found some massive whales beached before.)

[@geckotheben447]

I imagen though a lot of other people have had the same thought

[@cosmicpsyops4529]

*largest animal on Earth to ever have existed.

[@ryugaboumera4490]

imagine if we had an Ichtyotitan replace the Mosa in JW

[@CaveManJohnCarter]

Very informative!!! Just wanna give you a tip.... your human size comparison around 11.45, the human just shrank and disappeared?.... if the figure was white, or black, it could be noticeable enough for a "size comparison " I am color blind, the human just disappears.... but otherwise this was a great video!!!

[@irenafarm]

I have tetrachromy so it’s good to be reminded to run graphics through various accessibility filters! My husband: “Those two blue bars are the same.” Me: “Nu uh. That’s blue-green, that’s blue-violet.” My husband: “Okay but on Earth 1.0, they’re the same.” Best wishes! :)

[@garyproffitt5941]

Gobble up the Pac man, Ichthyosaurs and here comes the ghost...Power pills 🌠

[@brianedwards7142]

Did the histology say anything about them being endotherms?

[@knightsolaire5362]

I love this video but some of the music reminds me of a SFW Ankha dancing video lol.

[@barrybarlowe5640]

I think they may have been related to Pterosaurs. One branch went to the air, one to the sea.

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Why don’t you get to think and make a suggestion creating another KZbin Videos Shows that’s all about the Extinct Prehistoric Amphicyons (Bear Dogs) on the next Edge Science coming up next?!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍👍👍

[@marionicka9053]

Does anyone know which is the largest ichthyosaur of jurassic and cretaceous?

[@precursors]

There was no ichthyosaur in cretaceous, they were extinct by then

[@MrWanapon]

I thought Shasrasaurus was bigger than Shonisaurus Shonisaurus 16 meters long Shastasaurus 21 meters long

[@davisjugroop3782]

They must have been warm blooded

[@stickykitty]

Gloucestershire Pronounced GLOSS TA SHIRE And SHIRE is pronounced SHEAR not SHY AH

[@PaulKapow]

Do I hear ECCHO the dolphin? 🎶🥰

[@mayoite160]

- how would these things have breathed; were they more or less efficient than baleen whales? - were there krill or other similar prey to feed on? - if they were forced to actively hunt then did they have something like sonar or shark-like super smell or electrical sensitivity, since blindly charging with such massive bodies would waste too much energy? - if they were more similar to orcas and sperm whales rather than baleen whales, wouldn't it be more efficient to have a sleeker, more muscular body and possibly an oversized head like the later mosasaurs?

[@SpongeBobButVinceCuh2-zy4hi]

Itchyosaurs are basically cetaceans

[@jurgen1395]

Cetacean sized yes

[@SlothOfTheSea]

If you really think about it… isn’t it the other way around?

[@ecurewitz]

But reptilian

[@sussekind9717]

Well, basically, one is a mammal, and one is a reptile.

[@SpongeBobButVinceCuh2-zy4hi]

@@SlothOfTheSea true

[@danfobb8301]

fascinating

[@ghostshirt1984]

They swam like sharks but came up for air like whales.

[@characterblub2.0]

Ah a fellow gutsick gibbon fan 🎉

[@irenafarm]

Thoroughly modern apes!

[@jamesdarlington8987]

For anyone wondering, it's pronounced "Gloss-ter-sher". No one knows why.

[@tonybatista1928]

Apparently, they were deep sea predators

[@19megamustaine85]

so every year we are going to have an animal bigger than a blue whale ?

[@RobertMurray-wk5ib]

Accidentally top of the list. Not even subscribed. I going to subscribe now. Sorry.

[@LiterallyGoku.]

I love to EDGE to edge science!

[@denizen9998]

Need more bump in the night. I haven't seen that much from you.

[@iain-duncan]

Biggest animal to ever live is the Blue Whale

[@FlamingSwordful]

Ngl arch linux discord mods might also be contenders for the largest animal ever title

[@user-rw4yi2xw5i]

How about you think Hector Ichthyosaur? This titan may can be even bigger

[@craigkdillon]

I thought Tylosaurus was in the 50=60 ft range. Isn't that big enough for you?

[@WangNurMouth]

Mom I want that one!

[@alio6051]

So its bigger than the blue whale? also why do they have narrow snouts do they also eat plankton?

[@irenafarm]

The narrow snout is usually an adaptation to catch fast, schooling critters. The narrowness allows the predator to dart forward while minimally disturbing the school, then sideswipe for the catch. The longer the jaw is, the faster the tip moves. Check out videos of gharials! It’s really cool how they catch fish!

[@ghostshirt1984]

Wrong blue whales are still bigger

[@ianmorris4922]

Is that Blue "An-Chor" then??

[@ohno4458]

holy shit JIMMY and DEAN in the SAME PAPER?? literally was in a documentary with them. Go check out Why Dinosaurs everyone.

[@CarlosGarcia-fi4yu]

If they are designated as dinosaurs then, they cannot be called fish since they're amphibians.

[@DreadEnder]

3:25 Ryan Reynolds

[@robertmiles1603]

For in those days, there were giants in the Earth.

[@UUUERED]

Is it extinc5

[@Macachee]

I love dolphin lizard!

[@Steven-dt5nu]

Just heard this article on NPR today. Interesting stuff.

[@damenwhelan3236]

2:41 nighmare fuel

[@kevinmark072]

I EDGE TO SCIENCE ALL THE TIME

[@mintriver6971]

My sence of humor is broken lol

[@kingcosworth2643]

It has always occurred to me as odd that life on average in the present is tiny compared to pretty well all of life's history, very tiny. The only time historically when life has been small is after a catechism. Throughout history the world has been warmer, meaning more food is available offering the fuel to create these massive creatures. We are still in quite a cool period historically where the tundra is low. Yet the worlds largest animal supposedly exists now, it has never made sense to me

[@EDGEscience]

Makes perfect sense. We killed all the big things.

[@Vexarax]

@@EDGEscienceI think he means like dinosaurs etc - the super-large creatures that were here long before humans

[@MySamurai77]

Calling them "whale lizards" is a very inaccurate description.

[@JavenarchX]

I think that's the point

[@WangNurMouth]

But appropriate for your mother! HEYYYY OHHHHHHH!

[@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753]

Megalodon fan's will 😢 now

[@WangNurMouth]

Megaladon is a chump. Come at me!

[@warbuzzard7167]

Funny. Good science! Entertaining. Thank God you've kept the AI-crumminess at bay.

[@gregcoogan8270]

Is it really accurate to call them "reptiles"? Were they warm blooded. Most, if not all current day marine reptiles live in tropical or subtropical oceans and seas, or they migrate to where the water would be cold during the summer when it is warmer. I'm having a hard time imagining this creature to be an extothermic reptile unless the world's oceans were much warmer than they are today, or their range would have been severely restricted to warm tropical waters. Being that huge would require a huge intake of food that would have to be abundantly avallable. Marine mammals today have either thick fur or a combination of thick fur and blubber in order to stay warm in cold oceanic waters.

[@EDGEscience]

This would've been an endothermic or gigantothermic reptile, just like the dinosaurs.

[@gregcoogan8270]

@@EDGEscience They have apparently changed the definition of what a reptile is then.

[@EDGEscience]

You may be operating under a very old or very rudimentary definition of reptile. Cold or warm bloodedness aren't great terms because it's more about metabolism. Being a reptile (part of the sauropsid order) has to do with genetic heritage, rather than any individual or groups of traits. There are far more than a handful of traits that define members of the sauropsida. The leatherback sea turtle, for example, is a gigantotherm. It's so large that it generates internal "heat" or a high metabolism without actually having to have a real high metabolism. Birds are archosaurian reptilss, after all. Crocs have four chambered hearts and can walk with their limbs under their bodies for a time.

[@gregcoogan8270]

@@EDGEscience so what is the foundational definition of a reptile? I don't think I'm operating under an old definition per se, I think rather the definition seemly abruptly changed without any real explanation. Now it sounds like just about every veterbrate is being called a "reptile".

[@EDGEscience]

I don't know off the top of my head because it's a long list of traits used in phylogenetics analyses. You can find them yourself vai research. That being said, your definition sounds like "basic bio" from very old textbooks - cold blooded, limbs to the sides, scales, etc. When all of these are very general traits that can be seen outside of Sauropsida (the valid term for reptile, which is a colloquialism atp). For example, armadillos have keratin scutes, naked mole rats have such a slow metabolism as to be essentially cold blooded, chimps walk with their hindlimbs out to the side. Meanwhile many traits you see in "warm blooded" animals can be seen in various Sauropsid groups. Feathers, high metabolisms, scales, intelligence in birds. Intermediate hips, four chambered hearts, intemligence in crocs. So, what determines whether something belongs to a group has everything to do with ancestry and very little to do with specific traits or abilities. Tetrapods split into amniotes, which split into "amphibians", sauropsids (lizards, snakes, turtles, archosaurs), and synapsids (mammals and kin). Convergent evolution has allowed various groups to evolve traits seen in other groups but they remain linked to the group they diverged from.

[@secularsunshine9036]

*Let the Sunshine In...*

[@rairaizetsu9303]

Ichthyosaur zoomed

[@Fanpry]

Im going to edge to this later but for now imma say that whale is mid size ❤❤❤🎉🎉

[@prodbyskogs4435]

Unfortunate name for a channel

[@EDGEscience]

Entirely intentional

[@salvagemonster3612]

They were tuna

[@GeraldBlack1]

YOMAMASAURUS

[@TheLiamis]

It's rumored to have its own orbit due to its size.

[@g3heathen209]

What the heck was it eating that made it need to be that big?

[@metoo3342]

That's what I always wonder

[@patreekotime4578]

What size of animals do blue whales eat?

[@NomicFin]

@@patreekotime4578 The blue whale (and other modern giant marine animals, aside from the sperm whale which feeds on giant squid) is a filter-feeder, which is an easy way for marine animals to get big because it's an extremely energy-efficient feeding style and also scales very well with size (bigger the animal the larger volume of water it can filter for food). However, the only ichthyosaur with possible filter-feeding adaptions known is one very small species. And with the idea of the large ichthyosaurs being suction-feeders (which is sort of adjacent to filter-feeding) also being out that leaves little options other than them being macroraptorial predators. Probably the closest later analogue would be the macroraptorial sperm whales and the megalodon shark, which were the largest marine animals of their day and fed on smaller whales. So the giant ichthyosaurs probably ate smaller ichthyosaurs and large fish.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

@@patreekotime4578 yea but blue whales can only do that because they’re specially adapted to eating the huge schools of krill, that are unique to the last few million years. This animal wasn’t a bulk filter feeder at all, which begs the question of what the hell was it eating to reach and maintain that size?

[@patreekotime4578]

@@NomicFin Since we have no definite teeth, and indeed no complete jaw from these animals, thats literally just guesswork. For all we know they could have been kelp grazers.

[@adexterwolfe]

Gloucestershire is pronounced GLOSS-TER-SHEER 👍🦖

[@josephmoullay8857]

It's pronounced "Gloster" .. so it'd be "glostershire"

[@davidedens6353]

Glost a shire

[@dagoodboy6424]

I found a dinosaur fossil yd

[@crAZNimal]

i always thought they were like dolphins or whales, not a reptile!🤔 how are they reptiles?

[@EDGEscience]

They evolved from diapsids along with the other marine reptiles (plesiosaurs and the other weird offshoots from the Permian and Triassic periods, like Nothosaurs and Hovasaurs).

[@crAZNimal]

@@EDGEscience so they're lizard like , not dolphin like, every depiction they're body looks streamline just like fishes instead of reptilian

[@EDGEscience]

They're reptiles, but not lizards. They are their own group and left no descendants. They have many features that are convergently similar to whales and sharks but are still reptiles. They were warm blooded, gave live birth, and had smooth scales.