The Biggest Marine Reptile To Ever Live

237 MYA would not be a time where you would want to go swimming. Yes, the water was nice and warm, however it was home to a less than ideal swimming partner, the Shonisaurus. This was a meat eating ichthyosaur like no other, not because it was particularly fast or intelligent, rather it was huge, huge enough to be considered the largest marine reptile to have ever existed!
Artwork in thumbnail by Johnson-Mortimer
Music:
"Kalimba Relaxation Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

[@ExtinctZoo]

Regarding it being a shonisaurus or ashastasaurus, I said shonisaurus because from everything I was researching it seems that the latest study on the topic said it was closer to being a shonisaurus.

[@ashbiemoon9128]

Will we ever hear the original narrator for videos again?

[@ExtinctZoo]

@@ashbiemoon9128 Perhaps one day, I am the original narrator, I still write the videos and edit, but had to outsource audio for personal reasons.

[@GabrianLpg]

This confused me alot real name of giant species is?

[@TheaSvendsen]

Why? What’s wrong with the narrator? I like his voice a lot.

[@hoaao8147]

​@@ExtinctZoo0p❤

[@bkjeong4302]

Shonisaurus actually had teeth even as an adult; the idea it became toothless was based on nothing.

[@ChicagoScorpion]

So it probably hunted larger animals then.

[@yodasmomisondrugs7959]

I had a dream once about 15 20 years ago I was a baby Ichthyosaur. It was a real quick dream of me not being aware of myself but feeling good and having fun swimming around my mom until I left her and swam out over the reef to deeper waters then got scared and woke up....End of dream. Same kind of dreams with wolves as well.

[@fuzzyboon9069]

Past life dreams in the best manner

[@robinsonray6766]

Maybe your tapping into past memories. Maybe not. I've had dreams that i've seen dinosaurs of anonymous species but they looked extremely real, and not like anything i've seen before. I wake up thinking [wow ive never seen a depiction like this, why did i dream this] unfortunately i forget what i imagined after a day. I do remember the most recent, i was looking at some type of ceratopcian face. It's skin was like a rhino but it was hairy, pretty fluffy especially under the neck. And 1 thing i really remember was folded skin near where the beak ends, the molars were not exposed, covered by cheeks. It was like the hairy sumatran rhino with a partially exposed beak. 1 major difference, of course, was the frill which did have red display with scars.

[@GreenBarsArchives]

​@@robinsonray6766 maybe it was a hairy rhino? Another ancient species that lived during the ice age.

[@robinsonray6766]

@@GreenBarsArchives rhinos don't have frills. Juvenile Sumatra rhinos of today are hairy

[@GreenBarsArchives]

@@robinsonray6766 im tailking about a full grown giant rhino that is full covored in fluff like a mammoth

[@nono9543]

I have no doubt that we've had animals larger than the Blue Whale and we just don't know it yet

[@ogierinho1]

Yup, the process of fosilization is extremely rare and its even more rare when it comes to big organisms... we will never unearth the biggest t-rex ever or the biggest sauropod since a chance for a find like that is like 1 in several billion.

[@francissemyon7971]

Still, growing to blue whale size is simply not something for granted for any life form at any time.

[@ogierinho1]

@@francissemyon7971 Also true, in conclusion we know (and will know) shit... unfortunately xD

[@francissemyon7971]

@@ogierinho1 We know it was relatively shallow bodied so we know 80 tons is highly unlikely.

[@paulspencer5467]

Honestly probably not

[@samuraispeltwrong]

Last upload was only 2 weeks ago. Please stay this consistent, you're my favorite paleo KZbind

[@ingifreyrstefansson3781]

i'm just glad that the current ocean giants are alot more chill

[@beastmaster0934]

I could see an ichthyosaur growing up to the same length as a blue whale. Since there’s so many 25 meter animals, one that can grow up to 30 meters isn’t all that impossible. In terms of weight however, is much more unlikely.

[@5ives_the_penguin]

Hey quick question, Ik back in the 1800s there was a massive vertebrae of an ichthyosaur that wasn’t shonisaurus, estimates say it could have been even bigger than the blue whale yet it was lost and I haven’t heard anything about it yet. I was wondering if u knew any more

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

Dunno about that, but the Aust and Lilstock bones are the most plausible evidence for larger ichthyosaurs if they are in fact jawbones. It’s iffy but possible.

[@soudino2723]

I believe you're talking about hector's ichthyosaur, which, for the record, I highly doubt it reached the estimates it was given considering that monster was given a weight of 200 tons and was 40m in length

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

@@soudino2723 sounds pretty iffy yeah

[@justaneedlessboi6710]

When I was a kid I had a book with this boi in it, and the picture was so terrifying I was scared of flipping to that page

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

I’m unsure if any icthyosaurs could grow heavier than a blue whale, because the feeding method for the blue is more potent and I’d imagine whales will always have more fat on them than marine reptiles, but maybe they could rival in length. Hell if the Aust specimen really is from a Shastasaurus, then maybe that could be the case. I think like the Megalodon being alive today ”theories” you always need to take into account the plausibility based on the biology of the animals. In the case of Icthyosaurs, you need to remember that until the Pliosaurs and Mosasaurs came about, they had almost no competition in the triassic and jurassic oceans. In the triassic they saw a remarkable boost in biodiversity and grew absolutely huge very quickly, dwarfing all other animals to have ever lived up to that point. It could well be possible that Shastasaurids and Shonisaurids grew to humongous sizes we just haven’t found much evidence for yet.

[@widodoakrom3938]

True

[@tm43977]

Shonisaurus a giant ichthyosaur from the Triassic period

[@CaptJohnsen]

Great vid, thank you!

[@kyleellis1825]

I like to wait 20 or so years (from discovery/first paper) before I really form an image for these things in my head. Pretty mch every sincgle thing we find starts out massive and shrinks by 20-40% with the next few papers. I don't doubt things have been bigger than a blue whale. I just don't think a few fragments is enough to conclusively give a size/shape.

[@francissemyon7971]

Actually it is very doubtful something as big or bigger than a blue whale ever existed as blue whales have a far larger feeding apparatus than any marine reptile ever evolved and whales evolved in a particular context, with colder water (so more planktoon) and the extinction of gigantic apex predators such as Otodus or Livyatan which have real counterparts today. Growing to blue whale size is not something for granted for marine organisms like growing to Mesozoic gigapods is not something granted for any land animal. This video fails to note sikanniensis was very slender for example...

[@paulspencer5467]

It's definitely a good idea to be critical, palaeontologist often just give whatever result will support their work best although hopefully most are ok. Idk about 20 years tho cos I haven't even been alive that long😰

[@kyleellis1825]

@@paulspencer5467 I just mean I take the sizes with a few grains of salt until the paper has gone through it's peer review. Usually the discovery happens, we hear the initial estimates, and then it takes 10-20 years for the finished report to be released.

[@EarthshakerOnamazu]

@@kyleellis1825 it isn't super unlikely that there either were or will be creatures larger than the blue whale, even if by a small margin.

[@thefordlord9893]

@@EarthshakerOnamazu It's highly unlikely.

[@crencottrell7849]

Thank you for this video 🙂

[@lbaker3602001]

Kudos to the cameraman that lived 250 million years ago that took those pictures.

[@robinsonray6766]

We really don't know the size of the largest marine reptile, unfortunately fossils rarely fossilize in the ocean, the few fossils we have are from shallow seas that are now in the surface. They found a fossil of an ichthyosaur in England that rivaled the blue whale in both length and mass, but who knows what giants roamed the oceans in the past. What we can speculate pretty accurately is that the largest animal ever was either a titnosaur, cetacean [whale] or an ichthyosaur. Every other clade of animal never got close to this size.

[@LolUGotBusted]

the c in cnidaria is silent. Love the video!

[@chpet1655]

I find the most unusual thing about this beast is the age in which it lived….we don’t always think of the Triassic as the era with the really big creatures but this Ichthyosaur has always intrigued me thanks for presenting it

[@uhohspaghettios3801]

Good video

[@primed.cynosure.negative3659]

Shonisaurus: Show The Popularity

[@silviagomes3861]

I love wales are so pacific and very beatiful Thank you for this wandfull vídeo ,eyes of The sra and hearts of The oceano!😘😘😘😘😘😘❤️💜

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

No, the Welsh are feisty.

[@seanledden4397]

I think it's interesting how similar the jaws of Shonisaurus are to that of the Sperm Whale.

[@pandemicphilly60]

They might have held the same niche

[@seanledden4397]

@@pandemicphilly60 That's what I'm thinking. 🙂

[@soudino2723]

​@seanledden4397 the diversity and number of cephalopods was at its height during the mesazoic because the oceans were warmer which made the cephalopods rage larger than it is today

[@seanledden4397]

@@soudino2723 Well - there you go! Thanks for the info.

[@johnhanover2229]

Evolution in some cases, can be a radical mutation. The Permian, and Triassic had dying events skipping the Jurassic and finally wiping out species in the Cretaceous. For now it will be the biggest marine reptile, but we can always find new ones.

[@kiyokonkazuhiko2809]

Could you address the triassic kraken they claimed to have found? I tried looking it up but didnt find anything.

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

That's one chonky dolphin.

[@McChickenIsNotReal]

I’m pretty sure there’s a sauropod that’s even larger than a blue whale but not as heavy.

[@fabriziobiancucci7702]

Some sauropods are believed been around 30-35 meters, and so they were bigger than the blue whale, even if they weren't as heavy

[@soudino2723]

​@@fabriziobiancucci7702they weren't bigger as size is determined by weight/mass and not length

[@fabriziobiancucci7702]

@@soudino2723 "Bigger" is quite an axtract concept even in science. Normally it is referred to body mass but it can also be referred to lenght and height. The important thing is make clear what you are talking about with that word and I did this

[@soudino2723]

@@fabriziobiancucci7702 k

[@Fnafcock54]

Bigger means weight not height or length

[@remyromero2613]

Can you do a video on nothosaurus

[@francissemyon7971]

The body mass of 81 tons for S. sikanniensis is based on a far too much voluminous model, S. sikanniensis had à body depth not exceeding 2 m, how do you expect it to reach 80 tons ? Also, the very largest O. megalodon individuals almost certainly rivaled or exceeded that mass.

[@ExtinctZoo]

I was a little bit skeptical of the weight as well, but I found it in a research article from december 2021 that featured some relatively well known paleontologist, its called "Early giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans". I am not sure how they got that weight, but I did not read the entire article, so it may say it somewhere.

[@J.c410]

Megalodons are no near as big as peopme are lead to believe with scyfy movies

[@francissemyon7971]

@@J.c410 Up to 20 m (Perez 2021, Cooper 2022), we don't care about syfy movies here, movie creatures are often inflated, check the latest literature, megalodon was as big as a flesh eating animal could be.

[@blackbaccarabloom]

The Lilstock Monster maybe was an even bigger Shonisaurus species.

[@ootabega8525]

MIND = BLOWN

[@lisadepaoli3170]

It’s terrifying to think that unlike other massive creatures instead of just filter feeding it was actually blood thirsty. Imagine just swimming around and seeing a 70 foot long sea titan just slowly swimming towards you getting ready to chop you in half with its mouth. If they were still alive today I would live in the top of a skyscraper at the tip of Mount Everest

[@liam3104]

They might not even bother hunting smaller prey like us

[@gabrielramirez9102]

I am sure that out there it might be an 80 feet monster waiting to be discover.

[@Sawrattan]

3:06 what is that stripy thing trailing at its rear?

[@Sawrattan]

@@Sirdilophosaurusthethird2.0 ah that makes more sense thanks!

[@coledavidson5630]

Did ichthyosaurs need to surface for air? I feel like i should know this but never really thought about it

[@breadpilled2587]

Yes, all aquatic reptiles and mammals must surface for air. You can see approximations of its nose holes in the drawings.

[@SirPankake]

the video is great and all but the best part is that you pronounced nevada right

[@stevenfunderburg1623]

I want to make an "in my pants" joke about the title but feel it could easily backfire.

[@Shroomiewitch]

But why and how it get so big ? What kind of food they hunt ?

[@aydemsadventure3752]

the sea blimp

[@michaelsublet3283]

I wish people would stop saying "The Largest to Ever Live". It's the largest "Known" to have lived.

[@user-dk2dh3gf4y]

What about lil stock monster and aust collous

[@5k3m.]

N I C E

[@scott-ex8pv]

what was that strange image at 3.03

[@stiofanloingsigh351]

I saw one of those things once. Asked me for tree fiddy.

[@HassanMohamed-jy4kk]

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

[@andrew6089]

sharks aren't just apex predators

[@SunnyIlha]

That was a *oceanic* *reptile* ??

[@RichterBelmont2235]

3:43 How would you ambush someone while having the size of an actual barn?

[@alessandrotavoliere5256]

Right question... this 25 meters Ictyosaurus actually never existed... and sure not in triassic period cause there was nothing enough big to full fill its stomach

[@RichterBelmont2235]

@@alessandrotavoliere5256 Is it possible for these things to have efficient metabolism or some kind of internal mechanic so they could grow big like modern whale?

[@alessandrotavoliere5256]

@@RichterBelmont2235 you ask me,,, great, thanks for your consideration I'm not an expert on dinosaurs, but using normal intelligence I can tell a predator can grow up until a certain size In some cases can outgrow its preys, but not so much that cant feed anymore Megalodons Leviathan and Mosasaurus at 40-45 feet long could still live on their preys, even if they did outgrow them These 70 feet Ictyosaurus had no preys to full fill its stomach... so could never evolved

[@rowronnie299]

I always wondered why they were superseded by other, less hydrodynamic marine reptiles

[@lahaina4791]

During the period of Winnemucca Man

[@jaidenrios4154]

Shastasaurus:

[@treystephens6166]

T H I C C

[@cooldude1025]

0:11 that’s not a b737 that’s a a320 lol

[@jollycooperation_sun]

mmm sea blimp

[@badlydrawnslide2109]

i clicked purely because i knew the thumbnail was ironic

[@lightning77125]

shonisaurus is usually 90,000 lbs, most great whales, sperm whales, livyatan and megalodon are bigger. Also, it's not the biggest reptile as Argentinosaurus was 120 ft and 125,000 lbs. Still yea it was big. Whales and Meg are still bigger.

[@lightning77125]

170,000 lbs is only the max, it's like saying Meg is 200,000 pounds. it's not.

[@millenniumlaggus5176]

Okay, I know sauropods didn't evolve into birds but I thought they were also more related to birds than reptiles

[@lightning77125]

@@millenniumlaggus5176No they're reptiles. Theropods like t rex are more bird-like

[@codemonkeyslikeme]

Not even the megalodon will fck with this ich

[@bladehunter2747]

anyone else up shoning their saurus

[@genepozniak]

...would have "SWUM"!

[@Shark30006]

It’s actually Shastasaurus sikanniensis

[@thecrimsonfuckeralucard9500]

Probably ate slow moving shit or stuff that is rooted to surfaces which were likely overabundant at the time.

[@Leviathan1000]

How can you be certain it could reach that size? People thought megalodon was the biggest predator until we discovered his rivial, the leviathan, and other predators that could be much bigger than him.

[@andrew6089]

These tack on titans will eat polar bears

[@Shark30006]

Shastasaurus is the largest sea reptile in the Triassic Period

[@pavlovsdogman]

These things might not have been able to beat Megs or Lyvatin but they would have eaten humans like a seagull eating a chip!

[@mandrake6486]

big shonus

[@realcabbagegaming]

at 3:09 there is a sea snake or something going in the shonisaurus' butt

[@mhdfrb9971]

Shastasaurus joined the chat

[@interestingtopics419]

basilosaurs is the same size

[@Doomguyhunter1]

Nope, it weighed much less

[@interestingtopics419]

@@Doomguyhunter1 not talking about the weight class. in terms length they both are same

[@Doomguyhunter1]

@@interestingtopics419 yes, but also, basilosaurus isn't a reptile, but a whale.

[@interestingtopics419]

@@Doomguyhunter1 yeah but it looks like one

[@m.h.4144]

It’s a Whale. If were are talking about whales the Blue-whale or the Perucetus

[@mackanmulle4569]

Chonker

[@kadourimdou43]

Did they have blow holes like whales and dolphins.

[@triumph.over.shipwreck]

Humans have blow holes too

[@EllaKournikova1234]

I wonder if megalodon is still alive? We cant close the door on undetected marine mammals that are believed to be extinct but arent..there is a plesiosaur in wales. Cromwell lake..there has been sightings.

[@breadpilled2587]

Megalodon resided near coastal areas near the surface of the water. It doesn't exist. We would have seen it. It wasn't some deep sea tiny animal.

[@EllaKournikova1234]

@@breadpilled2587 hey ya. Thanks for you reply about the megalodon . That sums it up for me then..I guess you are right. A creature that measured around 60 feet long wouldn't be hard to detect. There still has sharks caught recently that measured 20 metres..scary stuff .case closed.

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@breadpilled2587 either that or it somehow evolved, we just don't know.

[@PowerScissor]

Is that giving birth @3:06 or just a butt parasite, or what?

[@soudino2723]

It's giving birth

[@SepiaChild]

Shastasaurus

[@megathicc6367]

I wonder if they hunted a unknown species of large cephalopod like modern sperm whales do.

[@toraxmalu]

cool you use metric… [so I don't need to do the conversion]

[@PortmanRd]

It's just mind blowing to think that all these creatures lived in the space of 6,000 years. It's just totally unbelievable!! 🤭😂

[@Milo_hAt3r]

Imagine thinking the world is only six thousand years old because a book said so 😂

[@Dogmonkey4]

@@Milo_hAt3rthey saying something else but I don’t know

[@Milo_hAt3r]

@@Dogmonkey4 They are saying the world is 6000 years old, which is stupid

[@DanceFacility]

There's quite a lot of rocks that existed 1 million years ago that were found.

[@PortmanRd]

@@DanceFacility My comment was purely tongue in cheek.

[@robertstone9988]

like a sperm whale. They also live in Deepwater hunt cephalopods and don't have teeth don't have many teeth

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Very similar, actually. 🙂

[@widodoakrom3938]

Both icthiosaurus and sperm whale has teeth

[@flippinekb9271]

No such animal existed, pure nonsense

[@Doomguyhunter1]

Proof?

[@flippinekb9271]

@Doomguyhunter1 if such an animal existed, it would still be here today, facts

[@Doomguyhunter1]

@@flippinekb9271 why would it be here?

[@flippinekb9271]

@@Doomguyhunter1 because there is plenty of food in the sea

[@Doomguyhunter1]

@@flippinekb9271 that's not something that makes something survive. Changes in the ecosystem can kill a lot of things even if there's tons of food.

[@chpet1655]

Why do scientists always insist on downplaying the savageness of animals ? They try to do this with everything unless there’s no why to discount it. They tried to make T-Rex a scavenger. They tried to make many dinosaurs egg eaters or insect eaters rather than active hunters it’s a really weird syndrome.

[@DanceFacility]

There's a lot of dinosaurs that eat eggs. There were also quite a few dinosaurs that ate insects. Not every dinosaur is a carnivore.