Gelologist from Hacettepe University Prof. Cemal Tunoğlu, He discovered a fossil during his field studies in Kastamonu in 1999, and together with his French colleague Nathalie Bardet, who worked on the subject, they described it and presented the remains of the species “mosasaurus hoffmannii mantell, 1829” to the scientific world.

This fossil, previously described in different parts of the world, First seen in Turkey was quite important. Because, despite the abundance of marine macro- and micro-paleontological finds in the late Cretaceous of Turkey, no vertebrate find representing the dinosaur period had been found until that day.

Mosasaurus hoffmannii is not a dinosaur but is their cousin and vertebrate marine reptiles known as dinosaurs of the seas.

This fossil found in Turkey, it contains only a small portion of the lower jaw. It has several teeth on it. You can easily choose how big the teeth are. It is currently on display at the Hacettepe University Geological Engineering Department Exhibition.

Beyler Dam

It is located in the north of the Devrekani district of Kastamonu. Near the Beylerdam The right and left jaws of this fossil and the left jugal fragment connecting the jaws to a series of disintegrating teeth are the main materials of this invention.

Mosasours, which became extinct 75-65 million years ago, roamed shallow marine environments and fed on smaller creatures.

Reconstructed skeleton of Mosasaurus hoffmannii on display at the Natural History Museum of Maastricht, Netherlands.

By then, 40-50 species of mosasour have been identified worldwide. For the first time in the years 1770-1780 dr. Discovered by CK Hoffman.

These gigantic creatures swam like snakes and fish and ensured their vertical movement like whales. This one air-breathing They were reptiles and periodically reached the surface and served these needs.

Mosasaurus hoffmannii was one of the largest creatures in the seas and oceans of all time, as well as of the Cretaceous Period.

Mosasaurus hoffmannii, the largest of which was found in our country, is 17.5 meters long, while the smallest is 3-3.5 meters. It was about the same size as Tyrannosaurus rex. It weighed 14 tons, which is the average of 3-4 elephants.

Mosaours carnivores are living beings; they mostly fed on fish, ammonites (extinct marine molluscs), and crabs. The area where the remains of Mosasour are found is indeed a very rich area in terms of ammonite and crab fossils.

This creature from the movie Jurassic World is also a kind of mosasour, but its size is overestimated.

Yet today’s sharks and whales They were creatures that could easily kill.

We must also remind you that Anatolia did not exist in the period when the Mosasour lived.

In different geological periods location of continents it was like that.

Would you like this creature to live today? Maybe a real one Our “Van Lake Monster” it would be!

Sources:

Cemal Tunoğlu & Nathalie Bardet Research Paper
Hacettepe University Faculty of Engineering Department of Geology Lecturer Prof. dr. Dr. Cemal Tunoglu
Hacettepe University | Department of General Geology | Official account

Image Sources: Deviating art

Special thanks:

Mersin University Faculty of Engineering Department of Geology Lecturer Prof. dr. Dr. Faith in the Light