How about a ten-meter / thirty-foot lizard which may have been as big as fourteen meters / almost forty-five feet. Your new friend is a predator and he's marine so limiting your surfing is strongly advised. (Science Daily: A giant predatory lizard swam in Antarctic seas near the end of the dinosaur age)
Upper left. Kaikaifilu was found in late cretaceous rocks from Seymour island, Antarctica. Upper right. An estimated size comparison of Kaikaifilu with a human. The size of the skull remains suggest it could have been as long as 12-14 mt. Bottom left: The terrain where the remains of Kaikaifulu were found turns mostly into mud under bad weather conditions like those encountered by the Chilean expedition (bottom right).
Credit: Image courtesy of University of Chile
Because of its harsh conditions, Antarctica is probably one of the toughest places to work for palaeontologists. However, precisely because of this, information is scarce, and new discoveries can be highly rewarding. In 2010, an expedition of Chilean scientists to Seymour Island encountered particularly bad weather. Only during their last days in the field, after dreadful walks through knee-deep mud, they made a truly exciting discovery in 66 million year-old rocks: The fossil remains of a particularly large skull of a Mosasaur, a giant sea lizard.
Upper left. Kaikaifilu was found in late cretaceous rocks from Seymour island, Antarctica. Upper right. An estimated size comparison of Kaikaifilu with a human. The size of the skull remains suggest it could have been as long as 12-14 mt. Bottom left: The terrain where the remains of Kaikaifulu were found turns mostly into mud under bad weather conditions like those encountered by the Chilean expedition (bottom right).
Credit: Image courtesy of University of Chile
Note the diver. Yes, you are food.
Kaikaifilu is a new species of giant sea lizard (mosasaur) discovered in 66-million-year-old rocks of Antarctica. At about 10 m long, it is the largest known top marine predator from this continent. It lived near the end of the dinosaur age, when Antarctica was a much warmer ecosystem, and fed on filter-feeding marine reptiles.
Because of its harsh conditions, Antarctica is probably one of the toughest places to work for palaeontologists. However, precisely because of this, information is scarce, and new discoveries can be highly rewarding. In 2010, an expedition of Chilean scientists to Seymour Island encountered particularly bad weather. Only during their last days in the field, after dreadful walks through knee-deep mud, they made a truly exciting discovery in 66 million year-old rocks: The fossil remains of a particularly large skull of a Mosasaur, a giant sea lizard.
- Science Daily
The beastie even has a cool name which makes him perfect for Japanese monster movies. The scientific reports usually focus on singletons but how about if our movie has a whole tribe of rogue kaikaifilus, all bent on raising hell.
Japanese monster movies always used above-ground nuclear testing for the force which awakened and / or mutated monsters to rise. That means we can mutate some legs onto him and he will be able to nail you anywhere now.
"Kaikaifilu, the Giant Sea Lizard of Doom"
Coming soon to a theater near you.
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