Oldest Remains of Large Sea Reptile Found on Norwegian Island
2023-03-27
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1Fossils of a large sea reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs were found recently on a Norwegian island.
2The reptile is the ichthyosaur.
3It lived in the oceans and grew to be 21 meters long.
4Whales are the only creatures to grow larger in the history of Earth's oceans.
5Until recently, their development was not well understood.
6Researchers believed an ichthyosaur from 250 million years ago would have had more similarities to a land animal than a sea animal.
7However, the discovery of a fossil from that long ago shows a smaller, but well-adapted sea animal.
8Researchers found the fossil on an Arctic Norwegian island called Spitsbergen.
9The reptile lived about 2 million years after a large volcanic eruption that killed 90 percent of the Earth's species.
10The 11 tail vertebrae show that the animal was about three meters long, making it one of the time's top predators.
11Benjamin Kear was the lead writer of the research paper.
12He is a curator at Uppsala University's Museum of Evolution in Sweden.
13He said he was "surprised" that the vertebrae came from "a fully oceanic ichthyosaur."
14Kear went on to say that the discovery changes the researchers' sense of when the animals transitioned from land to water.
15He thinks those relatives lived before the eruption that killed many of the Earth's animals.
16They survived and continued living during the time of the dinosaurs, which came later.
17The fossils were found in an Arctic area where polar bears and beluga whales live today.
18But millions of years ago, the land in the area was covered with water.
19When many species died, it changed the order of the food chain.
20As a result, the early ichthyosaur rose to the top and survived for millions of years.
21Many ichthyosaurs looked like dolphins. Some were similar to whales.
22The largest ichthyosaurs were about 21 meters long.
23They ate fish and squid.
24Until 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.
25What this means, Kear said, is that researchers may someday discover the animal that they call "the mysterious walking ichthyosaur," which is even older.
26Kear said he is excited to start looking.
27"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.
28I'm Dan Friedell.
1Fossils of a large sea reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs were found recently on a Norwegian island. 2The 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. 3Until 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. 4However, the discovery of a fossil from that long ago shows a smaller, but well-adapted sea animal. 5Researchers found the fossil on an Arctic Norwegian island called Spitsbergen. The reptile lived about 2 million years after a large volcanic eruption that killed 90 percent of the Earth's species. 6The 11 tail vertebrae show that the animal was about three meters long, making it one of the time's top predators. 7Benjamin 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 fully oceanic ichthyosaur." 8Kear 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. 9The 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. 10Many ichthyosaurs looked like dolphins. Some were similar to whales. The largest ichthyosaurs were about 21 meters long. They ate fish and squid. 11Until 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. 12What this means, Kear said, is that researchers may someday discover the animal that they call "the mysterious walking ichthyosaur," which is even older. 13Kear said he is excited to start looking. 14"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. 15I'm Dan Friedell. 16Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by Reuters. 17__________________________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19adapt -v. to change so you are better able to live in a place 20species -n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants. 21vertebrae -n. (plural) the bones that are linked together to form the backbone 22predator -n. an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals 23curator -n. the person in charge of a museum or a zoo, who chooses what is inside 24transition -v. to move from one state to another, such as from living on land to living in water 25food 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 26__________________________________________________________________ 27We want to hear from you. Are you excited about this discovery? 28We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 29Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.