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They ate fish, squids, mollusks and other small sea creatures. Recently, scientists have found evidence that the Plesiosaurs may have also been "bottom-feeders". That is, they would feed from the bottom of the sea - on things like clams and snails.
- Was the plesiosaur a carnivore?
- How did plesiosaurs feed?
- Did plesiosaurs have predators?
- Was plesiosaur a fish?
- Did plesiosaurs eat sharks?
- What does a stegosaurus eat?
- Can plesiosaur walk land?
- How many teeth did a plesiosaur have?
- Why is a plesiosaur not a dinosaur?
- How fast can a plesiosaur swim?
- Do plesiosaurs lay eggs?
- What did plesiosaurs evolve into?
- What did plesiosaurs do?
- What did dinosaurs that lived in the sea eat?
Was the plesiosaur a carnivore?
Plesiosaurs were carnivorous and ate fish and other swimming animals. They lived in the large bodies of water and were air-breathing animals. Plesiosaurs were probably slow swimmers, cruising slowly just below the surface. They swam using their four paddle-like flippers in a manner similar to that of modern turtles.
How did plesiosaurs feed?
Their heads and jaws were also very strong allowing them to clamp onto large prey with big deep-rooted teeth and then twist off lumps of flesh by rolling their whole body! These pieces would be of suitable size to be swallowed whole. This method of feeding is called twist feeding and is used by crocodiles.
Did plesiosaurs have predators?
Plesiosaurs had more predators than prey. Plesiosaurs ate fish whenever possible but if there was squid, a plesiosaur would eat it. A plesiosaur had no predators that would hunt it. Although a plesiosaur could be eaten by a shark or something larger, it had no serious predators.
Was plesiosaur a fish?
These plesiosaurs were not fish and squid specialists like their Cretaceous relatives elsewhere, but, at least near the time of their death, subsisted on clams and crustaceans. From the time of their initial description, long-necked plesiosaurs were thought to have a specialized way of life.
Did plesiosaurs eat sharks?
Thomas Williamson, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, told Discovery News that the new paper isn't the first reported evidence of shark feeding on a plesiosaur, but it is "the first evidence of feeding by the shark Cretalamna appendiculata."
What does a stegosaurus eat?
Stegosaurus ate gastroliths. Small stones that ground its favourite vegetables up in its stomach. It is believed to have eaten plants such as mosses, ferns, horsetails, cycads and conifers or fruits. No grass though, because it didn't exist yet.
Can plesiosaur walk land?
The fossil's abdominal cavity contains tiny bones—parts of a plesiosaur that hadn't been born by the time its mother died. ... "Scientists have long known that the bodies of plesiosaurs were not well suited to climbing onto land and laying eggs in a nest [like dinosaurs].
How many teeth did a plesiosaur have?
There are 20 to 25 teeth per upper jaw tooth row, and 24 per low jaw tooth row. Up to four teeth of a lower jaw's tooth row are found in the symphyseal region.
Why is a plesiosaur not a dinosaur?
Plesiosaurs inhabited the seas from around 200 million to 65 million years ago. They were not dinosaurs, despite living at the same time as dinos. It is thought that plesiosaurs fed mainly on fish, breathed air and laid their eggs on beaches.
How fast can a plesiosaur swim?
“Studies have shown an optimal swimming speed for plesiosaurs of about 0.4 m/s (1.44 km/h) to a maximum sustained speed of about 2.5 m/s (9 km/h) (like today's dolphins), depending on joint movement of the limbs and specific species.
Do plesiosaurs lay eggs?
Scientists say they have found the first evidence that giant sea reptiles - which lived at the same time as dinosaurs - gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs.
What did plesiosaurs evolve into?
Plesiosaurs thrived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some evolved into the short-necked, large-headed pliosaurs, such as the enormous Predator X. They died out 66 million years ago, along with the dinosaurs.
What did plesiosaurs do?
All plesiosaurs – so far as we know – were predators, the shapes of their teeth and jaws indicating that they preyed variously on swimming and benthic invertebrates, on fish, and also on other aquatic reptiles.
What did dinosaurs that lived in the sea eat?
Measuring 50 to 80 feet long, they were a fearsome, sharp-toothed beast that lived 35-40 million years ago. They tended to dine on smaller whales or large fish, prey that was considered too big by other predators of the age, which goes to show just how big this beast really was.
