Over 100 million years ago, during the early cretaceous period, there lived a monster known
as Kronosaurus, a 30 foot long marine reptile that you definitely wouldn’t want to cross
paths with in the ocean.
It was not a dinosaur, but a relative of the pliosaur, a group of large marine reptiles.
Kronosaurus is believed to have gone extinct at the same time as the dinosaurs, but what
if it didn’t?
What if it lived on up until modern day?
That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about right now on life’s biggest questions.
Hello, and welcome back to life’s biggest questions, I’m Charlotte Dobre.
This is where I ask you to leave a like, subscribe and let us know in the comments below a question
you have always wanted to know the answer to.
Back in 1899, a man named Andrew Crombie found a scrap of bone containing 6 conical teeth.
He gave the fossil to the queensland museum.
A quarter of a century later, the director of the queensland museum at the time, Heber
Longman, declared that the fossil belonged to a previously unheard of species, which
he called Kronosaurus queenslandicus.
More fossils that belonged to kronosaurus were discovered.
Kronosaurus was named after the father of zeus, the greek god cronus, and for good reason.
It is one of the biggest and most deadly marine reptiles to ever have existed.
Kronosaurus was gargantuan, at least 30 feet from end to end.
It had along head, short neck 4 flippers and a short tail.
Kronosaurus was a carnivore, and its mouth was decked out with many long teeth.
Fossils put these teeth at at least 3 inches in length, some were up to 12 inches.
Interestingly.
Apparently kronosaurus’ teeth were not that sharp, at least, not in comparison with other
marine reptiles and prehistoric sharks.
That doesn’t mean however that it would not suck to end up in its mouth.
Kronosaurus made up for its blunt teeth with an extremely powerful bite and swimming capabilities.
Kronosaurus’ flippers allowed it to swim extremely fast, making it difficult for prey
to escape it.
Once Kronosaurus had prey in its jaw, it violently shook it, and then its powerful bite could
snap the shell of a giant turtle as easily as an egg shell.
Rather than eat giant squids and fish, kronosaurus liked to munch on its fellow marine reptiles
as well as plesiosaurs, a long necked warm blooded creature that ate mostly fish and
cephalopods.
Kronosaurus’ habitat was not only near Australia.
Close to complete fossil specimens were found in Colombia, a country that has a rich history
of huge prehistoric snakes, turtles and crocodiles.
One can then infer that Its habitat likely extended worldwide.
It may have also inhabited the western united states because most of that area was covered
by a shallow body of water during the early cretaceous period.
It isn’t exactly certain why kronosaurus went extinct.
It was partially because its species was under threat from sharks, as well as a new species
of marine reptiles, Mosasaurs.
And then When a 15 kilometer wide asteroid struck the earth 66 million years ago, they
were complexly extinct.
But what If they didn’t?
What would it mean for other marine life, and human life on earth?
Lets say that somehow, kronosaurus survived the devastating impact of the meteor, when
most other large marine creatures didn’t.
It would have been extremely difficult for kronosaurus to survive the Ice age.
Back when it roamed the seas, the earth was at least 8 degrees hotter than it is now.
For this reason, kronosaurus would have only been able to stand the waters near the equator.
Perhaps it would have adpted to these cooler temperatures by developing thick, blubbery
skin.
If kronosaurus lived until modern day, its brain may have evolved to be relatively intelligent.
Perhaps not as intelligent as humans, but definitely smart.
And because it was so smart, it would have been an expert at finding and killing prey.
Since Kronosaurus loved to prey on other marine life, its likely that sharks, whales and porpoises
would have been its favourite snacks.
Perhaps larger marine life would cease to exist as we know it.
The mass extinction that occurred 66 million years ago made way for mammals.
Without it, many of the creatures that exist today simply wouldn’t.
And that definitely goes for large marine life.
It can be assumed that perhaps the only type of marine life to flourish would be fish,
cephalopods and smaller mammals, that could easily hide from Kronosaurus.
Maybe creatures like dolphins would have evolved to be much smaller than we know them to be,
and would have had to create protective places and dens to keep away from kronosaurus.
That being said, another type of animal would have preyed on kronosaurus.
Humans.
Humans would have added them to their menu, and since kronosaurus may have existed in
all parts of the globe, one can assume that many different cultures would have hunted
them.
This definitely wouldn’t have been easy, but specially crafted weapons would have been
invented.
That being said, kronosaurus would have made sea travel extremely difficult.
A 30 foot long carnivorous marine-reptillian would make any sane person avoid a boat trip.
It may have affected trade routes as well as explorers to the new world.
Rough seas were already difficult enough for explorers, imagine having to deal with kronosaurus
as well.
Maybe many areas of the globe would remain undiscovered for this reason.
What do you think would happen if kronosaurus didn’t go extinct?
Let us know in the comments below.
For now, I’m charlotte dobre and you’ve been watching life’s biggest questions.
If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love our playlist biggest what ifs, clickable on the
screen right now.
And don’t forget to turn on notifications by clicking the bell, and we’ll see you
in the next video.