"Mosasaur, eh? Cretaceous sea marine predator, ranging from two to twenty meters in length and two tonnes in weight, extinct 65 million years ago"

―Tom^[src]

Home time period	Late Cretaceous period
Creature type	Aquatic reptile
Deaths caused	Anthony Barton One of its own kind
Appearances	Episode 1.1 (picture) Episode 1.3 Episode 2.1 (flashback)

Mosasaurs are serpentine marine reptiles and ferocious predators from the Cretaceous period. They are not dinosaurs, but evolved from semi-aquatic squamates known as the "aigialosaurs", close relatives of modern-day monitor lizards. Mosasaurs breathe air and are powerful swimmers that are well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow epicontinental seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous. They grow up to seventeen meters long, but the longest ever recorded was 17.5 meters long.

Contents 1 Facts 2 In Primeval 2.1 Episode 1.3 3 Other references 3.1 Episode 1.1 4 Trivia 5 Errors 6 External Links

FactsEdit

Mosasaurs were serpentine marine reptiles. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. These ferocious marine predators are now considered to be the closest relatives of snakes, due to cladistic analysis of symptomatic similarities in jaw and skull anatomies. Mosasaurs were not dinosaurs but lepidosaurs, reptiles with overlapping scales. These predators evolved from semi-aquatic squamates known as the aigialosaurs, close relatives of modern-day monitor lizards, in the Early Cretaceous Period. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous Period, with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators, however the extinction could have been caused by them.

In Primeval, mosasaurs attacked aquatic animals for food, but would also attack creatures that were above the surface (such as an unlucky lifeguard) and therefore may have eaten pterosaurs. They would attack and eat smaller mosasaurs as well as other aquatic creatures. Hesperornis was common in the mosasaur's habitat, and therefore the mosasaur may also have eaten these large, flightless seabirds.

In PrimevalEdit

Episode 1.3Edit

A small Mosasaur came through an Anomaly into a Lambeth Baths swimming pool. It attacked a lifeguard, Anthony Barton, and swallowed him whole, killing him. Due to the chlorine in the swimming pool's water, the Mosasaur then returned through the Anomaly before it closed.

The Mosasaur later came through the same Anomaly again into Queen Mary Reservoir when the Anomaly reopened there along a temporal fault line. It regurgitated a bolus of Anthony's undigested remains, then stalked the reservoir. When the Mosasaur came across Connor Temple and Abby Maitland, who had waded out into the reservoir to take water samples, they rushed onto land to a high metal fence. The Mosasaur then leaped partially ashore after the two, but Connor fought it off with an oar. The Mosasaur then retreated back into the reservoir and returned through the Anomaly just before it closed.

After Nick Cutter travelled through the reopened Anomaly looking for his wife Helen, when he tried to return through the Anomaly the Mosasaur attacked him in the oceans. The Mosasaur managed to damage Cutter's scuba gear and was protected against Cutter's spear gun by its thick skin. As the Mosasaur launched its final attack, a full-grown Mosasaur attacked and killed it, then swam off with the smaller Mosasaur's corpse.

Other referencesEdit

Episode 1.1Edit

It is said that a picture of a Mosasaur was visible in Nick Cutter's office at the Central Metropolitan University.

TriviaEdit

• This is the first Cretaceous creature to appear in Primeval, and the first marine reptile to be encountered.
• This is the first creature to kill one of its own kind.
• This is the first creature to kill a human on-screen.

ErrorsEdit

• The Mosasaurs in Primeval were covered in crocodilian-like armour, but in real life, it is believed that Mosasaurs did not have this.
• The Mosasaur in Primeval is shown to be twenty meters in length. However, the biggest Mosasaur specimens in real life are only fifteen meters, about as long as a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• Its head shape in Primeval is incorrect. Real Mosasaurs had narrow, crocodile-like snouts, but the Primeval Mosasaur has a shorter, stockier, somewhat allosaur-esque head.
• Primeval's Mosasaurs lack a fluke on their tail, which was discovered to be on Mosasaurs in 2011.

External LinksEdit

• Mosasaur on the BBC America site
• Mosasaur on the Watch site

Series 1 Main Creatures
Episode 1.1: Gorgonopsid  • Coelurosauravus  • Scutosaurus Episode 1.2: Carboniferous Arachnid  • Arthropleura • Coelurosauravus Episode 1.3: Mosasaur  • Hesperornis Episode 1.4: Dodo  • Parasite • Coelurosauravus Episode 1.5: Pteranodon  • Coelurosauravus  • Anurognathus Episode 1.6: Future Predator  • Gorgonopsid  • Scutosaurus  • Coelurosauravus

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