This ichthyosaur died after devouring a creature nearly as long as itself
For its last meal, an ancient marine reptile called an ichthyosaur may have bitten off more than it could chew. The dolphinlike creature was nearly 5 meters long, about the length of a canoe. And its belly contained the remains of a lizardlike reptile called a thalattosaur that was almost as long: 4 meters. This is the longest known prey of a marine reptile from the dinosaur age, and may be the oldest direct evidence of a marine reptile eating an animal larger than a human, researchers report August 20 in iScience. In fact, this particular thalattosaur may have been such a big meal that the ichthyosaur died after stomaching it. The ichthyosaur’s blunt teeth suggest it should have favored small, soft prey like cephalopods (SN: 10/3/17). “Now we have really solid evidence saying these [blunt] teeth can be used to eat something big,” says Ryosuke Motani, a paleobiologist at the University...