Oldest Remains of Large Sea Reptile Found on Norwegian Island

Fossils of a large sea reptile¹ that lived during the time of the dinosaurs² were found recently on a Norwegian island.

The reptile is the ichthyosaur. It lived in the oceans and grew to be 21 meters long. Whales are the only creatures to grow larger in the history of Earth's oceans.

Until recently, their development was not well understood. Researchers believed an ichthyosaur from 250 million years ago would have had more similarities to a land animal than a sea animal.

However, the discovery of a fossil from that long ago shows a smaller, but well-adapted sea animal.

Researchers found the fossil on an Arctic Norwegian island called Spitsbergen. The reptile lived about 2 million years after a large volcanic³ eruption⁴ that killed 90 percent of the Earth's species.

The 11 tail vertebrae show that the animal was about three meters long, making it one of the time's top predators⁶.

Benjamin Kear was the lead writer of the research paper. He is a curator at Uppsala University's Museum of Evolution in Sweden. He said he was "surprised" that the vertebrae came from "a fully⁷ oceanic ichthyosaur."

Kear went on to say that the discovery changes the researchers' sense of when the animals transitioned from land to water. He thinks those relatives lived before the eruption that killed many of the Earth's animals. They survived and continued living during the time of the dinosaurs, which came later.

The fossils were found in an Arctic area where polar bears and beluga whales live today. But millions of years ago, the land in the area was covered with water. When many species died, it changed the order of the food chain. As a result, the early ichthyosaur rose to the top and survived for millions of years.

Many ichthyosaurs looked like dolphins. Some were similar to whales. The largest ichthyosaurs were about 21 meters long. They ate fish and squid.

Until now, the oldest member of the ichthyosaur group was a 40-centimeter creature that lived about 248 million years ago in what is now China.

What this means, Kear said, is that researchers may someday discover the animal that they call "the mysterious walking ichthyosaur," which is even older.

Kear said he is excited to start looking.

"Now we will have to start looking in even older rocks, which is exactly what we'll be doing on our next fossil-hunting trip to Spitsbergen this summer," he said.

Words in This Story

adapt –v. to change so you are better able to live in a place

species –n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants.

vertebrae –n. (plural) the bones that are linked together to form the backbone⁸

predator⁵ –n. an animal that lives by killing⁹ and eating other animals

curator –n. the person in charge of a museum or a zoo, who chooses what is inside

transition –v. to move from one state to another, such as from living on land to living in water

food chain –n. a series of types of living things in which each one uses the next lower member of the series as a source of food

1 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

2 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

5 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

6 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。