GODZILLA’ BONES DISCOVERED
It looks like a movie monster, so it’s no wonder that scientists christened the beast Godzilla.But unlike the gigantic star of Japanese horror films, this terrifying creature actually existed.And 135 million years ago,it was king of the oceans.
Godzills had the head of a dinosaur, the body of a crocodile and fins of a fish and measuredup to 13 feet from nose to tail.Its 30-inch jaws were armed with interlocking serrated teeth up to four inches long.Fossil remains of the predator.Dakosaurus andiniensis, were founding P)atagonia,Argentina,in aregion that was once a deep tropical bay.Scientistswere struck by the bullet shaped skull and massive jaws.
It was a marine crocodile but unlike any of its relatives.Diego Pol, from Ohio State University, told the journal Science.This species maws very unusual.Other marine crocodiles that were around at the same time had very delicate features—long,skinny snouts and needle-like teeth for catching small fish and mollusks.But this croc was just the opposite.It had a short snout, and large teeth with serrated sdges.It was definitely a predator of large sea creatures.Everyone already knows about dinosaurs ruling the earth millions of years ago.But in the same period, alarge group of reptiles occupied and even dominated the oceans.
Professor zulma Gasparini, who discovered the fossils,tells in December edition of National Geographic: this sea croc reminded me of the famous Godzilla coming out of the sea.It ambushed large prey.It was a top predator.No other crocodile livi8ng towards the end of the Jurassic period was larger than dakosaurus andiniensis,or as robust.unike modern crocodiles,it lived entirely in the waterand had fish-like fins instead of legs.
Palaeontologists from the national university of La Plata in Argentina discovered the fossil bones of three specimens in 1996.to start with, the unusual fossils presented a puzzle.then pol used computer software to map the features of the bones and determine the creature’s lineage
The teeth,like serrated steak knives,resembled those of terrestrial dinosaurs and marked Dakosaurus andiniensis out as a hunter of large marine reptiles rather than fish..