Where Giant Ancient Lizards were Born: the Open Ocean

Scientists have uncovered a new birth story for a gigantic marine lizard that roamed Earth's oceans. With newly identified specimens, researchers believe that mosasaurs, which could grow to 50 feet in length, gave birth to their young in the open ocean rather than near to shore.

"Mosasaurs are among the best-studied groups of Mesozoic vertebrate animals, but evidence regarding how they were born and what baby mosasaur ecology was like has historically been elusive," said Daniel Field, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The researchers examined fossils that they re-discovered in Yale Peabody Museum's collections. They were found over 100 years ago, but previously researchers had thought that they had belonged to ancient marine birds.

After examining the fossils, the researchers found a variety of jaw and teeth features that are only found in mosasaurs. In addition, the fossils were first recovered from deposits in the deep ocean. This means that it's likely that these animals preferred the open ocean to beaches.

"Really, the only bird-like feature of the specimens is their small size, Aaron LeBlanc, one of the researchers. "Contrary to classic theories, these findings suggest that mosasaurs did not lay eggs on beaches and that newborn mosasaurs likely did not live in sheltered nearshore nurseries."

The findings are published in the journal Palaeontology.

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