In 2016 and 2020, two fossil discoveries were made involving the remains of possibly the largest dinosaur to ever live. Now experts say those fossils did in fact belong to an incredibly massive marine reptile which could change the way we think about dinosaurs.
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00:00Back in 2016, a fossil was found on a beach in the UK.
00:07One researcher believed it was unusual, because the animal that once possessed it would have
00:11had to be huge.
00:12Then, in 2020, while walking along a beach in Somerset in the UK, 11-year-old Ruby Reynolds
00:17and her father, Justin Reynolds, discovered another part of a jaw which likely belonged
00:21to the same creature.
00:22Now experts say those fossils likely belonged to the Ichthyotitan Severnensis, a marine
00:27reptile that swam around the ocean some 202 million years ago.
00:31Paleontologists say the behemoth swam around the United Kingdom in the Triassic period.
00:36No other marine reptiles, and you can include turtles and crocodiles, no other marine reptiles
00:42got as large as these animals did.
00:45That's Dean Lomax, lead author on the recently published study naming the new creature.
00:50He says that it likely would have grown to a length of up to 85 feet, making it the largest
00:54reptile to have ever lived.
00:56For reference, the blue whale, the largest creature in history as far as we know, can
01:00reach lengths of 100 feet.
01:02What's more, Lomax adds that this creature is also the last to be dated within its family,
01:06meaning it lived 13 million years later than any others of its kind.