What kind of animals did the Elasmosaurus eat?

Elasmosaurids probably ate small fish and marine invertebrates, seizing them with their long teeth, and may have used gastroliths (stomach stones) to help digest their food. Elasmosaurus is known from the Pierre Shale formation, which represents marine deposits from the Western Interior Seaway.

1. Is Elasmosaurus a carnivore or herbivore?
2. Did the Elasmosaurus have predators?
3. Is an Elasmosaurus a dinosaur?
4. What killed the Elasmosaurus?
5. How did Elasmosaurus eat?
6. Why did Elasmosaurus have a long neck?
7. What's the spitting dinosaur in Jurassic Park?
8. Did Elasmosaurus breathe underwater?
9. What dinosaurs had 500 teeth?
10. How did Elasmosaurus go extinct?
11. How fast can the Elasmosaurus swim?
12. How big is an Elasmosaurus?
13. How many teeth did the Elasmosaurus have?
14. What water dinosaur has a long neck?

Is Elasmosaurus a carnivore or herbivore?

A bizarre creature whose body was dwarfed by its long, thin neck and tail, Elasmosaurus swam using four flippers. It was a carnivorous hunter which used its long neck to get close to prey without them noticing.

Did the Elasmosaurus have predators?

Elasmosaurs preyed primarily on fish and prehistoric cephalopods (a class that includes present-day squids and octopuses) such as belemnites and ammonites. Scientists believe that elasmosaurs were relatively slow-moving ambush predators that used their long necks and thin, pointed teeth to catch their prey.

Is an Elasmosaurus a dinosaur?

Elasmosaurus was a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile. It was not a dinosaur, though it coexisted with many dinosaurs. The first Elasmosaurus fossil was discovered in 1868.

What killed the Elasmosaurus?

It died out with the dinosaurs and other prehistoric marine reptiles at the end of the Cretaceous.

How did Elasmosaurus eat?

It ate small bony fish, amonites (molluscs) and belemnites (similar to squid). It also ate small stones to help it digest its food, in the same way that crocodiles, seals and sea lions do today.

Why did Elasmosaurus have a long neck?

Some researchers have also suggested that the long necks of elasmosaurs might have been used to generate lift in a similar way. Their long necks have a slight bend around the middle of their length which could be used like the curved wing of a plane. This would further help with long-distance cruising.

What's the spitting dinosaur in Jurassic Park?

The poison-spitting dinosaur reconstructed in Jurassic Park is Dilophosaurus. At the time the movie was produced, there was no evidence that this or any other dinosaur spat poison or had poisonous saliva of any kind.

Did Elasmosaurus breathe underwater?

Like Other Marine Reptiles, Elasmosaurus Had to Breathe Air

They weren't equipped with gills, like fish and sharks, and couldn't live below water 24 hours a day.

What dinosaurs had 500 teeth?

This bizarre, long-necked dinosaur is characterized by its unusually broad, straight-edged muzzle tipped with more than 500 replaceable teeth. The original fossil skull of Nigersaurus is one of the first dinosaur skulls to be digitally reconstructed from CT scans.

How did Elasmosaurus go extinct?

Elasmosaurus lived during the late Cretaceous period, and went extinct during the K-T mass extinction (65 million years ago). Elasmosaurus lived in the open oceans and breathed air.

How fast can the Elasmosaurus swim?

“Studies have shown an optimal swimming speed for plesiosaurs of about 0.4 m/s (1.44 km/h) to a maximum sustained speed of about 2.5 m/s (9 km/h) (like today's dolphins), depending on joint movement of the limbs and specific species.

How big is an Elasmosaurus?

classification and characteristics

For example, Elasmosaurus, a plesiosaurid, had as many as 76 vertebrae in its neck alone and reached a length of about 13 metres (43 feet), fully half of which consisted of the head and neck.

How many teeth did the Elasmosaurus have?

Elasmosaurus can be distinguished by its six premaxillary teeth and 71 cervical vertebrae.

What water dinosaur has a long neck?

Swiss paleontologists have solved a 242-million-year puzzle of the mysterious Tanystropheus dinosaur, whose extra-long neck has previously baffled experts. Advanced scanning techniques have shown the creature was adapted to the water rather than land.