00:05Ancient Mosasaur Fossil Reveals 94-Million-Year-Old Sea Monster in Utah
00:09A 94-Million-Year-Old Sea Monster fossil surfaced in southern Utah shale.
00:14The western interior seaway once covered Utah and nearby states with warm water,
00:19muddy seafloor, fish, and marine reptiles.
00:22Paleontologists studied small mosasaur bones in Utah rock,
00:25where gray shale preserved skull pieces, teeth, limbs, and vertebrae.
00:28The new mosasaur, Cerebosaurus dolly, swam with paddle-like limbs, sharp teeth,
00:33and a long body built for chasing fish.
00:36Cerebosaurus dolly lived about 94 million years ago,
00:39making it one of North America's oldest known mosasaurs.
00:42Later, mosasaurs grew into giant ocean predators,
00:45but Cerebosaurus dolly shows an earlier body still adapting to marine life.
00:50The fossil teeth and bones helped researchers compare the Utah mosasaur
00:54with younger mosasaurs from other Cretaceous seas.
00:56Southern Utah's desert rock now holds evidence of ancient fish,
01:00shells, muddy water, and predators from a vanished inland sea.
01:03The discovery shows how one small fossil skeleton can reveal a predator
01:07that swam before the famous giant mosasaurs.
01:10In Utah desert stone, one ancient jaw can bring a lost North American sea back to life.
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