ExtinctZoo - The First Super Predator To Emerge After The Dinosaurs

Episode Date: October 26, 2024

Before the killer whale, or the barracuda, or even the great white, there was the king of lizards, or rather a whale, that looked more like a mosasaur or snake than any whale you or me is familiar with.

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and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavat Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Despite their usual portrayal. of being the gentle giants of the oceans and seas, whales can still be undoubtedly scary, as after all, the most dominant apex predator within the water is arguably a kind of whale, at least in name.

And that is, of course, the orcas, who are known to prey on virtually anything, including sharks and other cetaceans. Yet, even the most successful predatory whales don't necessarily look the part, as their physical appearances are not particularly nightmarish, at least not in the way that sharks or other aquatic creatures can be, such as certain cephalopods or even non-shark fish.

But a long time ago, as in closer to the dinosaurs than now, there was a whale that had a deeply unsettling appearance and looked unlike anything seen today. And this prehistoric nightmare wasn't just all show and no tell, since it basically was also the first marine animal after the Mosasor's extinction to become a multi-toned super predator that was capable of hunting its own kind down. And perhaps the strangest thing is that you could find this giant hypercarnivorous well,

in one of the driest places of today, the Sahar Desert. This was the Basilisaurus. While it's fairly well known for having lived in what is now the Sahar Desert, the first remains of this prehistoric giant actually came out of the United States. As in 1834, a group of paleontologists uncovered a diverse range of different body parts within the state of Louisiana. The remains in question were massive in size and strung out over an area of land greater than a soccer field, which let paleontologists know right away that they had discovered.

something crazy. But they had absolutely no idea what it could be, is at the time no extinct whale had ever been discovered. So naturally, based on its size, they concluded that the only thing it could have been was a real-life sea monster. They also decided, based off of the size of its vertebrae, that it must have been longer than almost anything currently alive, with an estimated length of 100 feet or 30 meters, and that it was reptilian in nature, as its body shape, which was unusually narrow and long, did not match anything seen at a time in marine mammals. Instead, more closely resembling the post-cranial structure seen in snakes or mosesores. And this misclassification actually led to its name, the bacillosaurus, which translates to

the king lizard. And sadly, only more blunders would occur in following years, sometimes occurring in ways that no one could have expected, as best demonstrated by the naturalist Albert Koch, who believed that the bacillosaurus, or rather hydrarchos, as he called it, was a giant sea snake-like monster that was even larger than a blue whale. This outlandish belief was based off of his reconstruction of this creature, which he did by stitching together five different bacillosaurus skeletons. It wouldn't be to the late mid-1800s that this and previous confusions were resolved. After multiple specimens were found with their teeth intact,

which in addition to being giant and blade-like, also heavily resembled those seen in fish-eating toothed whales of today, leading paleontologists to realize that it had been a primitive whale all along. And with this new info, it was finally reclassified as a whale and added to its very own family of cetaceans, the Bacillosauridae, who are defined by small hind limbs that have well-defined femurs, lower legs, and feet. This group is an extremely important part of the evolutionary story of cetaceans, as they are likely the first fully aquatic whales to have evolved,

with the Bacillosaurus itself being one of the first members on the scene, having appeared around 41.3 million years ago, during the Lutetian stage of the Eocene. Within this family, it's joined by roughly 30 different species, two of which belonged to the Bicillosaurus genus, the Cotides and Isis. And of all the members in this group, Bicillosaurus was by far the largest, which, along with its ancient age, made it possibly the first animal to have evolved after the Mosasaurus that was capable of preying on and challenging large sharks, who after the KT extinction had reigned supreme for millions of years. Although, while indeed massive, it wasn't as giant as originally thought,

with current estimates suggesting that the bacillosaurus at Toides had a matured length of up to 20 meters or 66 feet, while the Isis species, the smaller of the two, grew to be around 18 meters or 59 feet. Now, this would still make the bacillosaurus one of the longest whales of today, but ironically, it wasn't as heavy as most baleen whales, which is due to the fact that its body was heavily streamlined and narrow. and some would even resemble that of a mosaeusore. Nevertheless, it was still heavy by most standards, with individuals weighing over seven tons. Yet some even think that this number is much too light,

given its measurements, and believe that it was closer to 15 or 20 tons. In either case, its stature not only made it the largest predator within its environment, but also the largest animal on Earth for a good duration of its existence. This rendered it the Earth's undisputed apex predator, but it wasn't size alone that granted it this title, As like any great predator, the bacillosaurus had a wicked weapon to complement its size,

killer jaws. And it's even arguable that had one of the most terrifying-looking mouths and teeth of any known whale, as it was proportionally extremely robust and full of large bulky teeth, that widely varied in size and type, resulting the bacillosaurus having both canines and molars, which is something not typically seen in modern whales. But their canines and molars were nothing like ours, as the canines were curved and sharp, while the molars bore extremely large and deep serrations

that allowed it to cleave through chunks of tough flesh. The presence of these two types of teeth further meant that it likely chewed its food, a hypothesis corroborated by extreme wear and tear found on them, which also implied that it could chomp down with ridiculous power. And this was proven after reconstructions, which estimated that the bacillosaurus Isis, meaning the smaller of the species, mind you, could bite down with 20,000 newtons of force. meaning it could easily crush a human's femur, the strongest bone in our bodies, five times

over with a single bite. And with such a vicious weapon, the bacillosaurus could virtually hunt anything. And amazingly enough, we don't even have to guess what that was, as the highly unique specimen was located with its stomach contents in place, which showed that these whales had a preference for large bony fish and sharks, that even included species of the odotis, a genus of shark that would eventually yield the largest shark of all time, the megalodon. What's more is that they also discovered the remains of another whale within it, the Dordon, a fellow Bacillosauridae, which, while not being as large of the Bacillosaurus, could still get quite big, with adults reaching 5 meters or 16 feet in length, while weighing well over 2 tons.

And to make the situation even more grisly, general studies on Dordon's skeletons found that dozens had catastrophic damage to their heads, which was consistent with Bacillosaurus teeth. This damage also confirmed that this whale had more than enough power to easily puncture thick skulls and implied that bacillosaurus killed its prey by biting and crushing their heads, and then tearing their bodies apart for consumption. Not a pleasant picture. Other animals that are thought to have been common meals for the bacillosaurus include a variety of primitive sirenians, sea turtles, tiger sharks, and at least two other kinds of whales.

Additionally, a good amount of paleontologists actually think that the bacillosaurus is very gracious appetite cannot be contained to just aquatic animals, as there is a fair chance that it occasionally hunted semi-aquatic animals too, like the more Ethereum, and possibly even terrestrial animals who ventured too close to the water. This notion was based on a one-of-a-kind discovery made in the most unlikely of places back in the early 1900s, the Sahara Desert. To be exact, over 200 kilometers or 124 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, researchers located numerous fossils within Egypt that were in pristine condition, and quickly deduced that they belonged

to Bacillosaurus. These fossils were located inside of a desert valley, and they also subsequently unearthed other animals as well, including more Ethereum and Pelicans, both of which split their time between land and water, leading paleontologists to realize that the Sahara Desert had once been not just wetter, but partially submerged. And this has been backed by other studies, which purport that during the Eocene, shallow warm waters may have covered nearly 20% of the Sahar Desert, and that the area where the bacillosaurus was found represented a vast mangrove environment, where individuals would occasionally travel in search of food or perhaps even a mate. However, recent studies have actually pushed back on this long-held belief that this area represented a mangrove forest.

As further analysis found, what was once thought to be fossilized mangroves were actually just burrows of some unknown animal, meaning it's not certain of this ecosystem was really a type of mangrove forest or another kind of coastal environment. But whatever biomid was, it's clear that bacillosaurus had a superior and important role in it due to the high number of fossils found. And what's interesting, and even a little disturbing, is that this abundance was not a sign of it being a social creature, but rather of just how efficient its design was. As basilisaurus was a solitary animal that actually was quite hostile to others of its own kind. One piece of evidence for its lack of socialness was its head, as it lacked the adequate space needed for a spermaceti organ, which is the organ responsible for echolocation, and thus the lack of it heavily implies that it did not possess this ability,

and therefore wasn't the most social creature, as whales without a spermaseti organ tend to be on the solitary side. But something it did possess, which again made it quite unique amongst the whales, were visible hind limbs. In other words, this whale had legs. Although, if you were getting chased by one of these guys, I highly doubt you would notice the legs, as they were severely reduced in size, with each one only measuring just slightly longer than a ruler. But this hasn't stopped some from making the bold claim that these legs were signs of the Bacillosaurus, still its ability to go on land, perhaps even using its little feat to stage ambushes, by kicking up onto land to catch any unsuspecting prey.

Yet, the vast majority of paleontologists do not support these controversial claims. and believed that the hind limbs offered no locomotive purpose, out of water, or in, and preferred the idea that if they were used for anything, it was to help guide their long, awkward bodies during mating. And speaking of their strange elongated bodies, it's believed that their shape and narrowness forced the bacillosaurus to adopt a rather creepy way of getting around. It's unlike modern oils, they didn't have a large tail fluke to rely on,

resulting them swimming in an undulating fashion like an eel or snake, but just on a giant scale. But they did not swim from side to side, but rather they moved into up-and-down motion, kind of like how a wave travels. And because they also had weak muscles in the tail area, paleontologists assume that bacillosaurus was not the best of sustaining fast rates of swimming, and when for the most part slowly tread the waters for most of their lives, only unleashing bursts of surprising speed when it was ambushing prey.

What's more is that the morphology of its vertebrae showed that in life they were quite hollow and filled with fluid, which basically made the bacillosaurus extremely buoyant, resulting in its sticking close to the surface of the ocean at all times and preventing it from being able to perform deep dives. This was obviously good news for any deep-sea-dwelling creatures, but for those near the surface, it was just even more bad news. And the misfortune kept piling on for all, as the basilsaurus was among, if not the first,

wailed to have developed ears that not only allowed it to clearly hear underwater, but also to pinpoint exactly where sounds were coming from. So even if it couldn't see you, as long as you were making enough sound, you were never truly safe from its clutches. Suffice to say, this whale had a few things going for it that allowed it to become highly successful, a fact reflected by its wide distribution,

that along with the western coast of the United States and Egypt, included Peru, Pakistan, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, and the western Sahara. Most of these areas corresponded with the shallow coastal, waters, and within these regions, bacillosaurus further niched down by sticking to neurotic zones and inland seas. And because it could be found in both the western and eastern hemisphere, the bacillosaurus ended up coexisting with a boatload of different animals, no pun intended. That consisted of the synthiocetus, bacilluturus, protocyrin, more ethereum, papygerus, and many

different sharks, such as Galliocerdo, physogalius, odotus, andes, andes, andes, and Squatina, striatolamia, and Issyrus. And while not meeting them on the regular, its habitat was also heavily populated by fully terrestrial animals, like various snakes, anthracotheres, hyanodonts, barytherium, and dasseys. Of all these animals, the bacillosaurus was clearly the king, thanks to its size and robust bite. And this domination would last for an extreme amount of time, as this whale is known to have existed for over seven million years. specifically from 41 to 33 million years ago.

But alas, at the end of the Eocene, it disappeared. This vanishing perfectly aligns with the worst extinction event to have taken place since the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs, the Eocene-eligocene extinction event, during which the Earth saw the eradication of almost two-thirds of all mammalian species in certain parts of the world. It's not 100% confirmed what triggered this catastrophic event, but usually the two top contenders are glaciation events,

were a large impact event. However, what is for sure is that these whales were especially hard hit and only a handful of genera made it out alive. And sadly for the bacillosaurus, this did not include itself. In fact, no bacillosaurides survived the Eocene, and all that were left of whales were the Neoceti, which have continued to survive until today. Thanks for watching and until next time. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for citizens back. Enjoy more ways to save at Ralph's like low prices in every aisle.

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