Recommended for ages 3+
Mosasaurus was a large marine lizard that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (70-66 million years ago) in shallow seas that covered what is now western Europe and North America. Mosasaurus was a top predator. A group of marine predators, the mosasaurs, are named after Mosasaurus. The name 'Mosasaurus' means "lizard of the Meuse River".
Mosasaurus resembles monitor lizards like the famous Komodo dragon in having a large head and long jaws full of long sharp teeth and a long flexible tail. However, unlike the Komodo dragon, it has paddles rather than legs that were adapted for swimming. Mosasaurus used its tail to propel itself through the water, and its paddles for steering. It was a large predator (more than 50 feet in length) that ate fish, turtles and ammonites, as well as plesiosaurs and other mosasaurs.