A COLOSSAL swampy beast with gigantic killer fangs that lived well before dinosaurs has been unearthed by experts.
The salamander-like creature was a top predator in the ice age, sucking in prey and crushing them with ease.
Its skull alone was over two-feet long and it had a big, flat, “toilet seat-shaped head”.
The creature – called Gaiasia jennyae – lurked in swampy waters 40million years before the first dinosaurs evolved.
“Gaiasia jennyae was considerably larger than a person, and it probably hung out near the bottom of swamps and lakes,” said Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago.
“It’s got a big, flat, toilet seat-shaped head, which allows it to open its mouth and suck in prey.
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“It has these huge fangs, the whole front of the mouth is just giant teeth.
“It’s a big predator, but potentially also a relatively slow ambush predator.”
Scientists found its fossils in Namibia and named it after the Gai-as Formation where it was found and Jenny Clack, a paleontologist.
They uncovered several bits, including one big chunk with a well-preserved, articulated skull and spine.
This allowed researchers to compare it with other animals of that time to get an idea of what the creature was.
Upon further examination, it turned out the beast is an early tetrapod, the four-limbed vertebrates that evolved from lobe-finned fishes and gave rise to amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
“When we found this enormous specimen just lying on the outcrop as a giant concretion, it was really shocking,” Claudia Marsicano from the University of Buenos Aires.
“I knew just from seeing it that it was something completely different. We were all very excited.
“After examining the skull, the structure of the front of the skull caught my attention.
“It was the only clearly visible part at that time, and it showed very unusually interlocking large fangs, creating a unique bite for early tetrapods.”
Why did the dinosaurs die out?
Here’s what you need to know…
- The dinosaur wipe-out was a sudden mass extinction event on Earth
- It wiped out roughly three-quarters of our planet’s plant and animal species around 66million years ago
- This event marked the end of the Cretaceous period, and opened the Cenozoic Era, which we’re still in today
- Scientists generally believe that a massive comet or asteroid around 9 miles wide crashed into Earth, devastating the planet
- This impact is said to have sparked a lingering “impact winter”, severely harming plant life and the food chain that relied on it
- More recent research suggests that this impact “ignited” major volcanic activity, which also led to the wiping-out of life
- Some research has suggested that dinosaur numbers were already declining due to climate changes at the time
- But a study published in March 2019 claims that dinosaurs were likely “thriving” before the extinction event