Description
Fossilised Mosasaur Tooth in Matrix, Cretaceous, 70 million years old
This fossilised Mosasaur tooth in matrix is a superb composite. Being set in the matrix enables it to be displayed it in an entirely natural way. This tooth is well preserved with superb enamel and in excellent condition. A very useful addition to any collection of marine reptile fossils.
The Mosasaur was a large marine reptile that lived in the late Cretaceous period. Their name is a combination of the latin word ‘mosa’ and also the Greek word ‘saurus’. Mosasaurs were a very sleek shape, with a broad and powerful tail. Their jaws had a double hinge, similar to snakes, so they’re able to swallow their prey whole.
Mosasaurs thrived in shallow inland seas, approximately 80 to 66 million years ago. These weren’t dinosaurs, but air breathing reptiles, also giving birth to live young. These creatures were more closely related to todays monitor lizards and snakes, than dinosaurs. Mosasaurs were carnivorous, with their diet including ammonites, fish, plesiosaurs, and also marine turtles and birds. They grew to a huge size, with the largest specimens so far discovered being up to 15 metres long. Towards the end of the cretaceous period these were the principal marine predators.
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