Why is the plesiosaur important?

Plesiosaurs were very strong swimmers. This meant that they could swim all around the world. They were able to survive the end Triassic mass extinction that happened 200 million years and wiped out over 70\% of all species on earth! They finally became extinct 66 million years ago alongside the dinosaurs.

Was the plesiosaur a predator?

All plesiosaurs – so far as we know – were predators, the shapes of their teeth and jaws indicating that they preyed variously on swimming and benthic invertebrates, on fish, and also on other aquatic reptiles.

Are plesiosaurs aggressive?

Behavior. Plesiosaurs swim around in groups of two or three in the depths of the ocean, never surfacing. They are aggressive and have a fairly large aggro distance. They start to attack and will follow them for a short distance; they lose interest if it swims too far up.

When did plesiosaur die out?

66 million years ago
Plesiosaurs thrived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some evolved into the short-necked, large-headed pliosaurs, such as the enormous Predator X. They died out 66 million years ago, along with the dinosaurs.

Is the Pliosaurus still alive?

Pliosaurus (meaning ‘more lizard’) is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages (Late Jurassic) of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles.

How did plesiosaurs survive?

“Plesiosaurs evolved warm-bloodedness, enabling them to live in the open ocean, removed from the bad environmental conditions that made life difficult in shallow, coastal waters at the end of the Triassic,” he said.

Why is a plesiosaur not a dinosaur?

Marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs are not dinosaurs. Nor is Dimetrodon or other reptiles in the same group (previously called ‘mammal-like reptiles’ and now called synapsids). None of these other extinct groups shared the characteristic upright stance of dinosaurs.

How did the plesiosaurs eat?

They ate fish, squids, mollusks and other small sea creatures. Recently, scientists have found evidence that the Plesiosaurs may have also been “bottom-feeders”. That is, they would feed from the bottom of the sea – on things like clams and snails.

Can plesiosaur walk land?

The fossil’s abdominal cavity contains tiny bones—parts of a plesiosaur that hadn’t been born by the time its mother died. “Scientists have long known that the bodies of plesiosaurs were not well suited to climbing onto land and laying eggs in a nest [like dinosaurs].

How did plesiosaurs breathe?

Plesiosaurs breathed air, and bore live young; there are indications that they were warm-blooded. Plesiosaurs showed two main morphological types. Some species, with the “plesiosauromorph” build, had (sometimes extremely) long necks and small heads; these were relatively slow and caught small sea animals.

Why did Pliosaurus go extinct?

They were also more vicious animals. This was just enough of an edge for them to out-compete Pliosaurus for fish. Second, water temperatures began to change during this time and this creature may not have been able to adapt quickly enough. Which is probably why this animal went extinct some 145 million years ago.

Is Pliosaurus a dinosaur?

Pliosaurs were aquatic carnivorous reptiles, not dinosaurs, that lived between 220 and 70 million years ago. This pliosaur has not yet been named scientifically but may be a specimen of Yuzhoupliosaurus chengjiangensis.