A sea creature as terrifying as T.rex lived before the Jurassic era. Researchers said it was ferocious and could snap animals in half without effort.
Ferocious Sea Creature Equivalent To T.Rex
In a new study, researchers from The Field Museum in Chicago have examined the bones of whatcheeria, an animal that lived in lakes spanned six feet and roamed Iowa 340 million years ago. They discovered that the sea creature had bone-crushing jaws and razor-sharp fangs that could break creatures in half.
"It probably would have spent a lot of time near the bottoms of rivers and lakes, lunging out and eating whatever it liked," said Ben Otoo, co-author of the study. "You definitely could call this thing 'the T. rex of its time.'"
350 specimens of whatcheeria have already been found and are all kept in the Field Museum. The group aimed to figure out how the beast became so large, so fast. They went through the specimens at the Field Museum to trace the growth of whatcheeria and analyze it at various stages of its life.
If whatcheeria were a real salamander, it would most likely resemble a giant, crocodile-shaped salamander with a narrow head and many teeth. It would fit in the bathtub if it curled up, possibly to an uncomfortable degree, but it would never want to be in that position.
Whatcheeria was an early four-legged organism that belonged to the same phylogeny as humans, and it was an aquatic "stem tetrapod."
Thin slices of thigh bones were obtained, and the scientists examined them under a microscope. Per Otoo, an animal's life span can be used to determine if it has grown constantly, maybe with sporadic breaks, or if it has evolved to adult size and then stopped by measuring the thickness of its growth rings.
They learned that whatcheeria grew slowly and steadily, as the researchers had predicted-much like modern amphibians and reptiles. However, according to the thigh bone samples, the creature grew quickly while young before leveling off over time.
'If you're going to be a top predator, a very large animal, it can be a competitive advantage to get big quickly as it makes it easier to hunt other animals, and harder for other predators to hunt you,' said Stephanie Pierce, co-author of the study.
Whatcheeria Teaches Evolution, Shows Diversity
As per Ken Angielczyk, co-author of the study, whatcheeria is more closely related to living tetrapods like frogs, reptiles, and mammals than anything else, but it is not a part of those contemporary groups. In other words, it can teach us about the evolution of tetrapods, including humans.
"Evolution is about trying out different lifestyles and combinations of features," per Angielczyk.
Whatcheeria was an early tetrapod that reportedly grew so fast that it was massive for its time. Its skeleton also enabled it to do things its contemporaries couldn't. The expert said it was an experiment in how to be a giant predator and showed diversity.
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