Antiguos monstruos marinos
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A prehistoric leviathan that represents the largest known sperm whale on Earth once hunted smaller whales around 12 million or 13 million years ago, researchers say. Fossils of the whale's skull and foot-long teeth found in Peru suggest the monstrous sperm whales ranged in size from almost 43 feet to 59 feet, or longer than a school bus. Just the skull alone reaches a length of almost 10 feet. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/30/gigantic-prehistoric-whale-hunted-whales/"><b>Read more. </b></a> (C. Letenneur (MNHN))
Representación artística de un pliosaurio de 45 toneladas -apodado Depredador X por su tremendo tamaño- atacando a un plesiosaurio. (Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oslo, Noruega)
Fossils from a real-life sea monster -- a massive crocodile-like species -- were unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina. The animal likely measured 13 feet long from nose to tail. <a target="_blank" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/photogalleries/godzilla/index.html">Read more at National Geographic</a>. (National Geographic)
Computer images of the skull of the crocodile-like marine reptile show how the massive predator might have looked. The researchers who made the discovery say <i>Dakosaurus andiniensis</i>, nicknamed Godzilla, lived about 135 million years ago. <a target="_blank" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/photogalleries/godzilla/">Read more at National Geographic.</a> (National Geographic)
Un pliosaurio aplasta a un plesiosaurio más pequeño, gracias a su mordedura de 33.000 libras. Los plesiosaurios, que existieron hace entre 210 y 65 millones de años, utilizaban poderosas aletas para volar por el agua. Los miembros de otro grupo de plesiosaurios, conocidos popularmente como pliosaurios, tenían cuellos cortos pero cráneos relativamente macizos. (Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oslo, Noruega)
Interpretación artística de un pliosaurio -apodado "Depredador X" cuando se encontró por primera vez su cráneo en Oslo- atrapando a un pterosaurio. Los pliosaurios probablemente comían cualquier cosa que tuvieran a mano. Algunos tenían cabezas de hasta 3 metros de largo y una boca llena de dientes del tamaño de un pepino que podían desgarrar casi cualquier cosa en la que se hundieran. (Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oslo, Noruega)
Interpretación artística de los ictiosaurios cazadores de monstruos. (Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oslo, Noruega)
Los plesiosaurios eran un grupo de reptiles marinos que evolucionaron a partir de reptiles terrestres en el periodo Triásico, hace unos 210 millones de años. También ellos, como los ictiosaurios, tenían cuatro aletas, un vestigio de sus antepasados terrestres. (Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oslo, Noruega)
An artist's illustration depicts <i>Guarinisuchus munizi</i> going after a tasty nautilus, a still-existing form of cephalopod related to octopuses and squid, 62 million years ago. (Rio de Janeiro Federal University)
A fossil of a prehistoric crocodile species, <i>Guarinisuchus munizi, </i>during a press conference at National Museum of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in Rio de Janeiro in 2008. Brazilian scientists say they have found a prehistoric crocodile species that inhabited the Earth's oceans some 62 million years ago. (AP)
A model of a prehistoric crocodile species, <i>Guarinisuchus munizi, </i>during a press conference at National Museum of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in Rio de Janeiro in 2008. Brazilian scientists say they have found a giant prehistoric crocodile species that inhabited the Earth's oceans some 62 million years ago. (AP)
A fossil of a new prehistoric crocodile species, <i>Guarinisuchus munizi, </i>during a press conference at National Museum of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in 2008. Brazilian scientists said they have found a prehistoric crocodile species that inhabited the Earth's oceans some 62 million years ago. (AP)
This pointy-nosed prehistoric crocodile species inhabited the Earth's oceans 62 million years ago. Brazilian scientists unveiled a model of the three-meter 9 foot long <i>Guarinisuchus munizi </i>in 2008. Scientists say the discovery sheds light on the evolutionary history of the extinct group, a predecessor to modern crocodile species. (Rio de Janeiro Federal University)