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Mesosaurus lived in freshwater lakes and ponds. Elongated and slim, it measured about 1 metre (3.3 feet) long. The skull and tail were both long and narrow, and the animal probably undulated through the water as it fed on small crustaceans and other prey with its jaws, which were full of long, thin, pointed teeth.
- Did Mesosaurus live on land?
- What was the land like where Mesosaurus fossils are found?
- Can Mesosaurus walk on land?
- Did Mesosaurus lay eggs?
- How did the Mesosaurus move?
- What environment did the Cynognathus live in?
- What time did the Mesosaurus live?
- What continents were Mesosaurus fossils found?
- Why are Mesosaurus fossils that once lived together now found in South America and Africa continents that are now thousands of kilometers and an ocean apart?
- How did mosasaurs breathe?
- Do mosasaurs breathe air?
- Did the mosasaurs have any predators?
- How did the Mesosaurus go extinct?
- Was Mesosaurus a fully aquatic reptile?
- How did Mesosaurus fossils get separated?
Did Mesosaurus live on land?
Mesosaurus were among the first reptiles to live in and around water, and they spent most of their lives in the water. However, their bodies weren't built for swimming long distances, so they stayed close to land.
What was the land like where Mesosaurus fossils are found?
Chapter 1: What is the land like where Mesosaurus fossils are found? Students figure out: The Mesosaurus fossils are found in hard, solid rock on two different plates of Earth's surface: the South American and African plates. Earth's outer layer is made of hard, solid rock, and divided into sections called plates.
Can Mesosaurus walk on land?
Mesosaurs have been considered strictly aquatic animals. ... The present study allows us to suggest that whereas well-preserved mesosaur skeletons are mostly represented by juveniles and young adults that inhabited aquatic environments, more mature individuals might hypothetically have spent time on land.
Did Mesosaurus lay eggs?
It is the second largest fossil egg ever found and may have belonged to a mosasaur, a 10-meter-long marine predator. Some snakes and lizards, living mosasaur relatives, lay eggs with thin shells that hatch almost as soon as they are laid. The new find suggests mosasaurs may have, too.
How did the Mesosaurus move?
It probably propelled itself through the water with its long hind legs and flexible tail. Its body was also flexible and could easily move sideways, but it had heavily thickened ribs, which would have prevented it from twisting its body. Mesosaurus had a small skull with long jaws.
What environment did the Cynognathus live in?
Cynognathus, genus of extinct advanced therapsids (mammals and their relatives) found as fossils in Lower Triassic deposits (251 million to 245.9 million years ago) in South Africa and South America.
What time did the Mesosaurus live?
Mesosaurs are lizard-like reptiles that lived at the beginning of the Permian Period (280–290 million years ago) or even earlier. Mesosaurs are known from thousands of skeletons recovered in Uruguay, Brazil, and Southern Africa, including young and adult individuals and even an embryo and a pregnant female.
What continents were Mesosaurus fossils found?
Remains of Mesosaurus, a freshwater crocodile-like reptile that lived during the early Permian (between 286 and 258 million years ago), are found solely in Southern Africa and Eastern South America. It would have been physiologically impossible for Mesosaurus to swim between the continents.
Why are Mesosaurus fossils that once lived together now found in South America and Africa continents that are now thousands of kilometers and an ocean apart?
This means that these plates, and the continents on top of these plates, are moving away from each other. This divergent plate motion explains why the fossil remains of Mesosaurus that were once together are now found on continents thousands of kilometers apart.
How did mosasaurs breathe?
They Breathed Air:
Although mosasaurs were aquatic, they were reptiles, which means they had to surface to breathe air, like a sea turtle today.
Do mosasaurs breathe air?
Mosasaurs breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period.
Did the mosasaurs have any predators?
Diet. were formidable predators that reached apex status after other oceanic hunters declined in population or became extinct. Mosasaurs would have been prey, as well. They were eaten by sharks, a detail established with the discovery of shark teeth fixed into mosasaur bone.
How did the Mesosaurus go extinct?
Mesosaurus lived during the early Permian Period, from 299 to around 260 million years ago. They died out before the massive, end-Permian extinction that killed off a large percentage of marine and terrestrial animals. During the Permian, all of the earth's land mass was combined into the supercontinent called Pangaea.
Was Mesosaurus a fully aquatic reptile?
“Despite being considered the oldest-known fully aquatic reptile, mesosaurs share several anatomical features with terrestrial species,” says Professor Graciela Piñeiro, who completed this research at the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay.
How did Mesosaurus fossils get separated?
How did the Mesosaurus fossils on the South American Plate and African Plate get so far apart? Earth's plates travel at a rate too slow to be experienced by humans. It takes a long time for Earth's plates to travel great distances. The Mesosaurus fossils moved apart gradually over tens of millions of years.
