Mosasaurus: Lizard King of the Ancient Ocean

Don’t believe everything you see in the movies. Mosasaurs were huge marine reptiles that lived in the Late Cretaceous, alongside dinosaurs–but they were not dinosaurs themselves.

Find out all about mosasaurs—including what scientists are still trying to learn—from Museum graduate student Amelia Zietlow, who recently scanned two mosasaur fossils on display in the Museum’s Hall of Vertebrate Origins as part of her Ph.D. degree at the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, and her advisor, Curator Meng Jin from the Division of Paleontology.

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[zooemperor]

Definitely one of the coolest marine reptiles.

[nfGod]

Absolute gigantic version of marine iguanas.

[karenspivey]

Fascinating! Thanks for this. This is the coolest part of the museum.

[alahnnaalvarado]

This was awesome, Amelia! Will keep a look out for Dr. Zietlow in the near future! :)

[alvarovasquez]

3:52 They even have the mosasaur action figure from Jurassic world

[siddestroyer]

This is one of the few channels that claim (rightly) turtles fit inside the archosaurian branch

[geonerd]

Please reduce the music level, it it intrusive and occasionally overwhelms the speaker.

[alfailiwaqain]

Peace! Even as an adult with a background in Physical Anthropology; I’m excited over this..

[paularchibald]

Wonderful. Personally, I hold out for ichthyosaurs, but that's just taste. But the imaging you were doing! THAT is the wonder. Are the models viewable on the web?

[TheRadioRose]

one of my favorite marine reptiles for sure

[RodrigoMorenoAviacion]

Great video! I have seen only a couple of specimens, of which, one is a new species from the Colombian genus Yaguarasaurus, whilst filming at Museo del Desierto in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. I work alongside paleontologists and pilots on the production of both Fiction and Non-Fiction short films, and would love to do a collaboration (non profit) with AMNH.

[-_Nuke_-]

I remember a time that we learned in school that the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid but our teachers wasn't so sure...

[timg]

What does research about these animals do for us now?

[valentinfejes]

At 2:34 - which Pachycephalosaurus specimen is this? Is it a replica, or a real fossil?

[jwonderfulsuccess]

Thanks for the video and all the challenging work put into these tasks. So I've heard the earth is billions of years old and from some 6000 years old, who really knows the truth. But I've heard an interesting point from a young creationist, its that before the great Noah's ark flood story people lived very long about 1000 years along with reptiles. Also there was more oxygen and this allowed things to grow very big. Interesting points all around

[IndriidaeNT]

What if I ever made Mosasaurs the main characters in one of the chapter books I am writing. The main characters in the chapter book I am writing right now are Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus, Yutyrannus, Gorgosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Alectrosaurus, Ornithomimus, Deinocherius, Gigantoraptor, Ticeratops, Anklyosaurus, Centrosaurus, Euopolephalus, Corythosaurus, Parasaurolophus, ammonites, Cretoxyrhina, Squalicorax, Xiphactinus, Tylosaurus, Elasmosaurus, Pterandon and Hespronis and are all part of a club of friends that consist of the species I just mentioned.