T-Rex of the sea discovered in Norway: Documentary on History Channel
Predator X is a documentary produced by Atlantic Productions that followed the expedition uncovering the pliosaur in Svalbard and the scientists throughout their research. “Predator X” will be screened on on the History Channel on March 29, at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time.
New scientific research reveals that Predator X, fossils of which was excavated on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, was approximately 50ft long, weighed in at 45 tons and packed an amazing 33,000lb bite. Dubbed ‘Predator X’, the marine reptile is a new species of pliosaur, an apex predator that patrolled the Jurassic oceans 147 million years ago. Atlantic Productions followed the expedition uncovering the pliosaur in Svalbard and the scientists throughout their research, and this has resulted in a two-hour documentary.
The most significant Jurassic discovery made in the Arctic
An international team of paleontologists unearthed the partial skull of a 50 ft marine reptile on the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Dubbed ‘Predator X’, the marine reptile is a new species of pliosaur, an apex predator that patrolled the Jurassic oceans 147 million years ago. The skull, ‘the jewel in the crown for paleontologists’, was excavated from the Arctic permafrost during a 2-week field expedition in June 2008, led by Dr. Jørn Hurum from the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo. He was joined by eleven other expedition members, including Dr. Patrick Druckenmiller, a world authority on marine reptiles from the University of Alaska Museum of the North.
The scientists first hit the headlines in August 2007, when they excavated the skeleton of another pliosaur specimen in the same locality. On the last day of the 2007 expedition, Dr. Hurum spotted large bones in the earth. The team placed a marker, took a GPS reading and returned the following summer to excavate. Little did they realize that this new fossil would be even bigger and more significant than the pliosaur they had discovered the year before.
New scientific research reveals that Predator X was approximately 50ft long, weighed in at 45 tons and packed an amazing 33,000lb bite. Its anatomy, physiology and hunting strategy all point to it being the ultimate predator – the most dangerous creature to patrol the Earth’s oceans.
Source: The University of Oslo.
