• Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Sunday, August 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
UK Herald
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    England rugby stadium Twickenham given new name after more than 100 years in shock new deal

    England rugby stadium Twickenham given new name after more than 100 years in shock new deal

    Peter Morgan dead at 65: Former Wales and Lions rugby star who became a politician passes away as club pays tribute

    Peter Morgan dead at 65: Former Wales and Lions rugby star who became a politician passes away as club pays tribute

    Horse racing tips: Unexposed Group 1 contender can stun the big guns at 14-1

    Horse racing tips: Unexposed Group 1 contender can stun the big guns at 14-1

    Woman ‘raped seven times by two French rugby stars who left her riddled with bite marks & with horror injuries’

    Woman ‘raped seven times by two French rugby stars who left her riddled with bite marks & with horror injuries’

    Horse racing tips: Gary Moore’s charge can gain revenge after falling last time out

    Horse racing tips: Gary Moore’s charge can gain revenge after falling last time out

    Ian Buckett dead at 56: Former Wales rugby star who was ‘admired and feared equally’ dies as tributes pour in

    Ian Buckett dead at 56: Former Wales rugby star who was ‘admired and feared equally’ dies as tributes pour in

    Horse racing tips: Bash the bookies with these longshots including 9-1 fancy

    Horse racing tips: Bash the bookies with these longshots including 9-1 fancy

    Shayne Philpott dead at 58 – New Zealand All Blacks rugby legend dies after suffering ‘medical event’

    Shayne Philpott dead at 58 – New Zealand All Blacks rugby legend dies after suffering ‘medical event’

    Horse racing tips: This 7-1 chance appears to have been laid out for race he won last year

    Horse racing tips: This 7-1 chance appears to have been laid out for race he won last year

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Health
    • Travel
    The UK’s £12 train journey where you can see polar bears from your seat

    The UK’s £12 train journey where you can see polar bears from your seat

    ‘Europe’s Hawaii’ that’s often dubbed a ‘Canaries alternative’ is having a record-breaking year

    ‘Europe’s Hawaii’ that’s often dubbed a ‘Canaries alternative’ is having a record-breaking year

    I’ll never go on another slum tour after speaking to a local

    I’ll never go on another slum tour after speaking to a local

    This ‘incredible’ road will leave you both amazed and terrified

    This ‘incredible’ road will leave you both amazed and terrified

    The world’s funniest country revealed — and Brits are way off the mark

    The world’s funniest country revealed — and Brits are way off the mark

    Wizz Air launches 5 new Spanish routes from the UK – but not everyone is happy

    Wizz Air launches 5 new Spanish routes from the UK – but not everyone is happy

    I flew 4,600 miles to a Jamaican resort that offers more than just ‘fly and flop’

    I flew 4,600 miles to a Jamaican resort that offers more than just ‘fly and flop’

    I was Jet2 and Virgin cabin crew – here’s 3 ‘secret’ European destinations

    I was Jet2 and Virgin cabin crew – here’s 3 ‘secret’ European destinations

    British airport announces ‘major redesign’ including new restaurants and runway views 

    British airport announces ‘major redesign’ including new restaurants and runway views 

    ‘Like the Caribbean’: Ibiza’s quiet little sister with lunar beaches and turquoise oceans 

    ‘Like the Caribbean’: Ibiza’s quiet little sister with lunar beaches and turquoise oceans 

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Health
  • Opinion
  • Science
  • Tech
  • Crypto
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Sports
  • More
    • Press Release
UK Herald
No Result
View All Result

Giant 23ft polar sea beast savaged prey with razor teeth 246 million years ago and its remains just broke a world record

by Justin Marsh
June 21, 2024
0
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterReddit

THE REMAINS of an ancient sea-dwelling reptile have been declared the oldest of their kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

A paper published Monday in the journal Current Biology identified a nothosaur vertebra discovered nearly five decades ago as a record-breaking fossil.

arctic island spitsbergen northwestern north 910786503
Benjamin Kear/Uppsala University

Scientists have identified a spinal fragment belonging to a nothosaur as the oldest known fossil of any marine reptile in the Southern Hemisphere.[/caption]

arctic island spitsbergen northwestern north 910786501
Johan Egerkrans/Uppsala University

The beast lived nearly 250 million years ago and is thought to have grown to seven meters long with a mouthful of cone-shaped teeth.[/caption]

At roughly 246 million years old, it predates the previously oldest-known fossils in the region by more than 40 million years.

Clues about the nothosaur's life were held in a weathered fragment of its spine. The beast's dorsal vertebra was excavated from a boulder in a stream bed on New Zealand's South Island.

Researchers determined that the polar sea giant may have grown up to seven meters, or 23 feet, long. It would have paddled through the water with paddle-like limbs as it hunted for squid and fish.

Nothosaurs were characterized by flattened skulls and a mouthful of thin, cone-shaped teeth.

It was a promising find, but the fossil's significance only became clear once paleontologists from Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Australia and East Timor banded together to conduct an analysis.

The scientists examined the vertebra and related fossils and realized the fragment belonged to one of the earliest-known marine reptiles.

“We show that these ancient sea reptiles lived in a shallow coastal environment teeming with marine creatures within what was then the southern polar circle,” said Dr. Benjamin Kear, the paper's lead author.

POLAR PLUNGE

Nearly 250 million years ago, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of an enormous universal ocean called Panthalassa.

Sea-dwelling reptiles thrived at South Pole due to rising global temperatures.

When a mass extinction event decimated marine ecosystems, this gave way to the age of dinosaurs, known as the Mesozoic area.

The most diverse group of marine reptiles were the sauropterygians.

Despite boasting an evolutionary history over 180 million years long, scientists' knowledge was largely limited to the Northern Hemisphere before the study.

“Using a time-calibrated evolutionary model of sauropterygian global distributions, we show that nothosaurs originated near the equator, then rapidly spread both northwards and southwards at the same time as complex marine ecosystems became re-established after the cataclysmic mass extinction that marked the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs,” Kear said.

The area where the fossil was found is known as New Zealand's Cantebury region. It is teeming with fossils due to an abundance of marine sedimentary rock formations.

arctic island spitsbergen northwestern north 910786506
Stavros Kundromichalis/Uppsala University

The nothosaur fossil predates the previously oldest-known fossils in the region by more than 40 million years.[/caption]

Among the discoveries were the remains of ancient human-sized penguins in 2018.

An amateur paleontologist stumbled upon the bones of Crossvallia waiparensisa giant bird from the Paleocene Epoch, between 66 and 56 million years ago.

Scientists believe there are more clues to uncover.

“Undoubtedly, there are more fossil remains of long-extinct sea monsters waiting to be discovered in New Zealand and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere,” Kear said.

A Timeline of Life on Earth

Source

Tags: 23ftbeastbrokegiantmillionpolarpreyrazorrecordremainssavagedSeateethWorldyears

Related Posts

India again creates history in space: the mission of ISRO-NASA 'Nisar' launches, keeping an eye on Earth

India again creates history in space: the mission of ISRO-NASA 'Nisar' launches, keeping an eye on Earth

by Justin Marsh
July 30, 2025
0

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the Nisar (NASA-ESRO Synthetic aperture Radar) mission today, July 30. Nisar was launched by a GSLV-S16 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center located in Sriharikota,...

Nisar Mission to be launched on July 30: to scan the entire earth in 12 days

Nisar Mission to be launched on July 30: to scan the entire earth in 12 days

by Justin Marsh
July 26, 2025
0

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is preparing to achieve a large landmark by launching the Nisar (NASA-ESRO Synthetic Apply Radar) on July 30. ISRO Chairman and Secretary of the Space Department...

Contraceptive medicine for men, the first Human Test was successful

Contraceptive medicine for men, the first Human Test was successful

by Justin Marsh
July 23, 2025
0

Vaitranas have had great success in the experiment of making contraceptive drugs for men. This new tablet, called YCT-529, has passed the First Human Safety Trial Test. This drug prevents the process...

Shubhanshu Shukla will return to the earth today, said from the space- Jahan Se Achchha….

Shubhanshu Shukla will return to the earth today, said from the space- Jahan Se Achchha….

by Justin Marsh
July 16, 2025
0

After spending 17 days in space, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will return to Earth today, July 14. At this earlier farewell ceremony, he repeated the prestigious dialogue given by Rakesh Sharma, the...

Shubhanshu Shukla returned after staying at the space station 18 days: this specially came out of the dragon capsule

Shubhanshu Shukla returned after staying at the space station 18 days: this specially came out of the dragon capsule

by Justin Marsh
July 15, 2025
0

Three other astronauts of Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and Axiom-4 mission have returned to Earth after an 18-day stay at the international space headquarters. The dragon spacecraft has landed in the sea...

Shubhanshu Shukla, departing on earth: 22.5 hours later astronauts will land at this place

Shubhanshu Shukla, departing on earth: 22.5 hours later astronauts will land at this place

by Justin Marsh
July 14, 2025
0

Another historic moment is to come to India's space mission. Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who spent 18 days at the International Space Station (ISS), has now gone back to Earth. Shubhanshu Shukla...

Next Post
From Chart-Topping Singer to Bestselling Author, Stacey Jackson Tours UK with “Flipside Tour”

From Chart-Topping Singer to Bestselling Author, Stacey Jackson Tours UK with “Flipside Tour”

Popular News

Regent Street Clinic™ reaches one millionth patient and announces further UK expansion

Regent Street Clinic™ reaches one millionth patient and announces further UK expansion

August 16, 2025
UK and US publishers say Google AI is harming website traffic

UK and US publishers say Google AI is harming website traffic

August 15, 2025
Collecting cars sea

Collecting cars sea

August 14, 2025
The UK’s £12 train journey where you can see polar bears from your seat

The UK’s £12 train journey where you can see polar bears from your seat

August 14, 2025
Elon Musk is right and Richard Tice is wrong – batteries are the ‘new oil’

Elon Musk is right and Richard Tice is wrong – batteries are the ‘new oil’

August 13, 2025
What the fca consultation means for eligibility on motor finance payouts

What the fca consultation means for eligibility on motor finance payouts

August 11, 2025
‘Europe’s Hawaii’ that’s often dubbed a ‘Canaries alternative’ is having a record-breaking year

‘Europe’s Hawaii’ that’s often dubbed a ‘Canaries alternative’ is having a record-breaking year

August 11, 2025
UK Herald

All Rights Reserved © UK HERALD - The Voice of UK

Important Links

  • Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise

...

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • UK News
  • Business
  • Science
  • National
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Sports
  • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Food

All Rights Reserved © UK HERALD - The Voice of UK