This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Some of the giant marine reptiles that ruled the seas during the age of dinosaurs were better built for surprise attacks, while their relatives were better suited to chasing prey through open water, according to a Rutgers-led study. These animals, known as mosasaurs, were a group of lizards adapted to life in the ocean.
Researchers reconstructed the bodies of four kinds of mosasaurs from their fossil skeletons, then applied principles of physics to estimate how quickly each could surge forward with a single powerful sweep of its tail. The calculations suggest that a particularly large Tylosaurus, one kind of mosasaur, could have reached about 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour) with a single tail stroke. That estimate describes a brief burst, rather than the speed the animal could maintain.
Although the exact speeds remain uncertain, the differences among the animals offer clues to how they hunted. The research, published in Current Biology, was led by Kiersten Formoso, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. "At the same time dinosaurs like T. rex were ruling the land, mosasaurs were ruling the seas," Formoso said.
Understanding how these predators caught their meals, she said, helps scientists reconstruct how ancient ocean ecosystems worked. Modern audiences may recognize mosasaurs from the "Jurassic World" films and the Apple TV series "Prehistoric Planet." Formoso consulted on two seasons of the documentary series, and early versions of this research helped inform its depictions of mosasaur movement. Her scientific question began with a difference in the fossils.
Two major branches of the mosasaur family tree had differently proportioned tails. Could those differences have affected how quickly the animals launched an attack? Previous research had largely focused on cruising, a steady type of swimming in which an animal repeatedly beats its tail to move through the water.
Formoso wanted to examine the sudden burst that could help a predator seize prey or a smaller animal escape being eaten. The team modeled a movement it calls a "slam-start." An animal curls its tail to one side, then forcefully sweeps it back, pushing against the water and driving its body forward. Formoso compared that initial surge to a swimmer pushing off the wall of a pool.
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