Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Fossil of 'ultimate predator' unearthed in Arctic

Predator X would have normally used its two front flippers to swim, save the rear two for bursts of speed on the chase (Illustration: Atlantic Productions)

Predator X would have normally used its two front flippers to swim, save the rear two for bursts of speed on the chase

(Illustration: Atlantic Productions)

Fossil remains of a huge and fearsome marine predator, dubbed "Predator X", have been discovered in Svalbard, a remote Arctic archipelago.

About 15 meters long and weighing 45 tons, the creature is a new species of pliosaur, and ruled the Jurassic seas some 147 million years ago.

Predator X had a head twice the size of Tyrannosaurus rex and its bite had four times the force, at around 33,000 pounds. Its teeth were each around a foot long.

The remains were discovered in June 2008 during a two-week expedition led by Jørn Hurum of the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo.

Read the rest at LiveScience.


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