ExtinctZoo - When Australia Had A Sea

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

To keep it short... Australia has no chill and had no chill...

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Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Ah, Australia. Easily one of the most beautiful countries on the entire planet. You've got white sand beaches, meandering rivers, sprawling savannas, and tropical forests, making it a true nature paradise. ice. And yet, there is one teeny tiny problem, which is that all of these beautiful places are inhabited by about the most messed up animals nature currently has in its arsenal, ranging from venomous everythings to giant predatory reptiles and fish that could remove a limb

or two with ease. And while not exactly apocalyptic, Australia does have more animal deaths than even the USA, despite having 13 times less people and having a significantly higher level of health care for the average person. Therefore, if you ever take a vacation down under, just be a little mindful of where you step or swim. But, regardless of how it is now, you can take solace in the fact that Australia is actually much more safe today than it was in the past, as through time it seems to have followed the rule where the farther you go back, the more messed up everything becomes, and I do mean everything. For example, just 50,000 years ago, the Australians were already dealing with the largest land lizard ever, giant snakes, marsupial predators, and terrestrial

crocs that could sprint across land. However, despite everything Australia has thrown at the world during the Cenozoic, none of it compares to what it was like during the Mesozoic, as it was then that Australia was the perfect breeding ground for nightmarish animals and united terrestrial, avian, and aquatic's apex predators into just one single place, the Aromanga Sea. While the continent today is surrounded by water, it is for the most part still a very dry piece of land, with only 4% of its surface being covered by water. Yet during the late Cretaceous, it was the opposite story, as at certain times, over 50% of the landmass was submerged by the Aromanga Sea,

a vast ancient inland sea that had profound impacts on Australia and its wildlife. Scientists believe that it was created during the early days of the Cretaceous, when warmer temperatures caused a rise in global sea levels, resulting in the ocean flooding Australia from the north and reaching all the way to Aramanga Queensland, which happens to be the furthest town from any coast and the inspiration behind its name. Even for an inland sea, the Aromanga was extremely shallow,

being just a few tens of meters or feet deep in some areas. But what it lacked in depth, it made up for and width, as it was over 2,000 kilometers or 1,200 miles at its widest, and all in all was about the same size as the Sea of Japan, but looked nothing like it, as its waters were unusually muddy, stagnant, and for the Cretaceous, cold, with the most southern points possibly seeing near-freezing temperatures during the winter, a result of Australia having a lower latitude at the time. And yet, this strange stagnant soup proved to be just what was needed for an explosion of horrific animals,

as it created organic and iron-rich sediments, plus a variety of things. coastal habitats, attracting all sorts of life, leading to its waters and surrounding areas being just about the busiest place on the entire planet. Now, throughout a good chunk of the Cretaceous, the Aromanga Sea wasn't a place you'd want to be, but some points were definitely worse than others, and it reached peak nopeness during the Albion stage, which took place between 113 and 100 million years ago. Given that it was the Cretaceous, you might be thinking that if you fell into these murky waters, you'd be met with a Titanic Mosasaur, or perhaps too.

But in reality, there was actually no Mosasors at all in these waters, as they had not yet evolved. Instead, this inland sea had a very different top dog, who would have given Mosasors a good run for their money, and were arguably scarier. The Pliasors. While mainly being known as the Kings of the Jurassic, the early Cretaceous did have a few still roaming around, and Iromanga in particular was a hotspot, with multiple kinds being present. Based on pure looks alone, they did have a bit of an edge of Ramososaurs. Sporting giant wide skulls lined with razor-sharp teeth and robust but streamlined bodies equipped with four large flippers that helped them maneuver the shallow seas with eerie grace and speed. And among the bunch that called these prehistoric waters home, the most abundant, who also happened to be by far

the biggest and baddest, was the chronosaurus, who was one of the biggest pliosaurus to ever live, and the biggest predator within the Aromanga, with adults reaching 11 meters or 36 feet long, and weighing over 15 tons thanks to the robust builds, which actually made them heavier than the later giant mosasors. And this might not have been its final form, as two Titanic specimens suggest a theoretical size of up to 13 meters or 43 feet, akin to the length of certain grey whales.

So naturally, everything on this apex predator's body matched its stature, With its flippers, all being longer than the average NBA player is tall, and its skull reaching sizes greater than anything seen in dinosaurs, minus serotopsids, with one specimen having a head a third longer than any known T-Rex skull. Each of these massive domes came with six pairs of pointed conical teeth that could be both recurved and lined with grooves, allowing for seamless deep punctures as a bit into prey. And because each tooth had a very wide base, paleontologists assume it was special, specialized in hunting large animals, even more so than other pliosaurs, as its teeth were unique

amongst its family. And not to mention that its bite force was also insanely powerful, with one test finding that an adult chronosaurus could likely deliver over 27,000 newtons of force per bite, which as you know, 18 times the power of a tiger's bite, and more than enough to crush or punch holes straight through tough flesh, muscles, and bones. And to the dismay of all that lived in the sea or dared to venture into it, Chronosaurus would have also had a massive appetite. As studies on its bone growth found an extreme level of metabolism which rivaled that of birds. Therefore, it's technically possible that each day, a large chronosaurus, needed to devour

tons of food just to sustain itself. And its metabolism let it stay in the most southern, coldest parts of the Aramanga Sea. Therefore, if you took a swim and felt a little bit chilly, you'd probably know it was time to leave. Its voracious appetite is actually reflected by a wide range of other animals who were found with either bite marks in their skeletons or are located directly within the stomach of a chronosaurus. And to date, confirmed victims include giant turtles, pleasiosaurus, fish, squid, large marine reptiles that were 60% of its own size, and even dinosaurs. So simply put, the chronosaurus did not care what you were. It just cared if you had meat. So Arby's watch out. But its intense need for flesh ultimately created a lot more problems than it solved,

with researchers noting that it had a very high juvenile mortality rate, with most specimens being immature and showing signs of cannibalism, which thus leads to the conclusion that the chronosaurus's main obstacle might have been itself. The most prominent example of this was a 6-meter or 20-foot teenager, you could say, that was found with an eaten head. And I mean that literally. as the rest of its body was nowhere to be found. This kind of behavior has led some to think of the chronosaurus

as a crock-like animal behaviorally that attacked virtually anything that it came across. So think modern saltwater crocs, but much, much bigger. Amazingly enough, despite its many intimidating traits and size, there were still predators out there willing to challenge its reign, even being known to take a bite out of it occasionally. Talk about the nerve. So what carnivore would be crazy?

easy enough to try this. Well, you only have to look at our own waters today, because the answer is sharks. Like some areas now, the Aromanga Sea was riddled with sharks, which was actually an uncommon trend for the time, as they hadn't fully reestablished their dominance yet, but in the closed, cold waters of this inland sea, they sure had, and were known to be present in virtually every corner of it. Among the various kinds, the most successful and dominant were the laminaforms, better known as mackerel sharks, who, as you may know, are doing just fine. They are typically characterized by possessing two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gillslits, and a mouth that extends behind the eye. And it's not unusual for these sharks to be quite feisty, leading to their scientific name,

which means fish of prey. And their aggressiveness is further demonstrated by a chronosaurus specimen that bore shark-shaped bite marks to its mandible. These particular set of bite marks were not fatal. and the victim in question was on the smaller side, meaning that sharks may have preyed upon the king in its youth. And sure enough, there are multiple young chronosaurus specimens with shark bite marks on them. And it wasn't just the king that got nipped, as many large fish have also been found partially devoured by prehistoric jaws.

And among the perpetrators in this bloodshed, the most guilty was a type of ketoxirina like shark, which is terrible news if you know anything about the contemporary Western interior seaway. As then you'd understand that Kratoxirina was an absolute monster, reaching Goliath's sizes and being capable of staging strikes at over 70 kilometers or 43 miles per hour, using its giant razor-sharp teeth to cause catastrophic bleeding and trauma. And these teeth were so serrated and sharp that has led to it being nicknamed the Ginsu shark,

after the famous Ginsu knives. And while the Australian version might not have been the same Kratosirina species from America, it could still be a sister species or a closer related family member, and was, in true Australian fashion, even deadlier, having similar, albeit longer teeth and growing to be larger, with matured specimens hovering around 9 meters or 30 feet, while weighing over 6 tons, meaning it was one of the largest sharks to ever live, period,

and makes the great whites of Australia today look like child's play. The abnormal success of sharks in the sea might have been due to their powerful senses, which theoretically helped them navigate the murky waters and gain an advantage against competition. Or it could have been just something to do with Aromanga C in general. As there did seem to be a pattern of animals doing well here that were not generally popping off elsewhere.

And another example of this was a group of animals actually in the midst of their own undoing, the Ictheasors. While these were the rulers of the Triassic, in large parts of the Jurassic, Ictheasaurus had found themselves in a rather rut during the early Cretaceous and were beginning a downward trend that would unfortunately not stop, courtesy of climatic upheaval. And yet in the Aromanga Sea, some of them were making one last sand, thriving despite everything and reaching sizes not seen since the Jurassic.

And while not the sea's apex predators, Aromanga Ictheasors still had impressive diets, which included a diverse amount of fish, occasional marine reference, reptiles, and lots and lots of squid, with one specimen even being discovered with a belly filled to the brim with bellumnites that had been swallowed whole. While these guys were reptiles, they did bear quite a coincidental resemblance to dolphins and likely mirrored their agility and speed, with their length of depth ratio being between three and five, which is the perfect amount to reduce water resistance in drag. They also possessed smooth skin, compact bodies, and large tail flukes, all making them among the fastest,

swimmers in Australia, and about 20% faster than any other marine reptile in their environment. And if you took a swim, you'd expect to see a few kinds flying about. But it was one genus in particular that was on top, the platypturidururur. This genus was by a landslide the most common ichthyosaur, and made it big specializing in deep diving, where it used its large eyes and toothy curved snout to pick off prey with ease. And for its level of speed, this creature was impressively huge, measuring over 7 meters or 23 feet, providing it a certain degree of defensive prowess against smaller and medium-sized animals. And though its teeth were designed mainly for softer prey, its size did allow for some bigger mouthfuls, like large protostagged sea turtles and even

dinosaurs, specifically birds, as an Anontius was found within one stomach. However, its size did not come without risks, as it did bring the unwanted attention of true giant killers. like the chronosaurus, with specimens being occasionally killed and partially eaten by them. There is also evidence that these ectheosaurs prefer to stick to the southern shores like the pliosaurus did, too, where they remained a staple until the very bitter end, being among the last ectheosaurs to have ever lived. So, as you can see, the Aromanga achieved quite a reputation through its own giant creatures. However, like Australia today, the prehistoric waters didn't only nailed down massive monsters, but also perfected those that were just downright hard to look at.

And the best example of this were non-shark fish, who for the most part were actually pretty normal, with many kinds of halicomorphs, elopomorphs, alabomorphs, albolaforms, and a spitter rind kids, calling the sea home. But a couple of times, the fish went off the deep end, literally and metaphorically, in terms of look. For starters, there was this Zvectanus like Kew, that grew to be over eight feet, or 2.5 meters long, and had a big old ugly mouth that let us swallow down prey hole that was nearly its own size. So, uh, you do the math. It typically liked to stick to the surface, and was equally distributed across the entire sea, even being found in narrow straits and possibly brackish water. And while it was certainly an unfriendly sight, it wasn't as disturbing as something

we are quite familiar with today. Swordfish. Yeah, their long rostrums make them a bit odd, and at times dangerous. But the swordfish I'm talking about was messed up for a completely different reason, its teeth. Now, this probably sounds a bit strange, considering that modern swordfish are toothless, but in Cretaceous Australia,

there were swimming dental abominations. And before getting ahead of myself, I should clarify that the swordfish I'm referring to were swordfish-like, not real ones, instead belonging to the now-extinct Pachy-chormiform order. The one in Australia was specifically

the protos-fi-rina, who possessed teeth eerily similar in design to flat blades and were perfect for cutting, while being just as long as those seen in giant theropods many times bigger than it, which may be why paleontologists originally thought that this was a dinosaur. Another odd thing about this fish was its rostrum, which was reduced in length.

This could be viewed as a good thing by some, since it limited its attack range, and yet in reality, this was actually terrible news, as it played a role in this creature's horrific killing method. You see, through convergent evolution, the protosferina achieved a build similar to the living swordfish in that it was very streamlined and had massive fins that generated immense speeds that could be greater than 55 miles or 88 kilometers per hour. And of course, it used this speed to torpedo itself into prey,

with the force being concentrated into its teeth and short-faced spear, resulting in the victim being literally sliced in half. And though not reaching the size of sharks, pliosaurs, and ecteosaurs, this fish, still was not a laughing matter, with adults touching 3 meters or 10 feet long. Ironically, while more harmless than the protospirina, you also can't forget about plesiosaurus, who looked even scarier. Here in the Aromanga Sea, they were the most successful marine group from a diversity perspective, greatly ranging in distribution and size,

with some being over 2 tons and 7 meters, or 23 feet long, and others only being slightly longer than a human. Though not monstrous hunters like the pliosaurs or sharks were, the pleasosaurs did have one major advantage, and that was their ability to adapt to different water salinity levels. Pliosaurus, sharks, ecteosaurs, and fish were all usually found in just salt or brackish waters. Yet pleasosaurs were known to live in both, plus freshwater as well, being able to travel up rivers that ran into and fed the inland sea.

This granted them the option to populate a multitude of environments, and meant that even the narrowest of waterways could potentially be harboring a multi-toned animal. So, uh, yeah, no thanks. Along with their adaptability, pleasosaurs were further empowered by strong flippers, keen eyesight, drag-resistant bodies, and of course, their iconic long necks, they let them sneakily prod schools of fish without scaring them off. And then to kill, their mouths were filled with dozens of small pointed teeth, perfect for catching fish and cephalopods.

But unfortunately, their designs, no matter how efficient, did not stop them from becoming food for a lot of the top predators. And given just how many of the Aromanga's animals were carnivores, it truly seems that nothing was completely safe in these waters. And yet, Aromanga still managed to squeeze in impressive animals that were relatively harmless, including giant turtles, man-sized cephalopods, a plethora of fish, jellyfish, chimeras, bivalves, snails, and rays. All this made Aromanga one of the liveliest bodies of water, and given that most residents were predators, you think that animals on land would get the message to stay far away. But in reality, they were drawn to it like moths are to alight. In the coast of Aromanga and its surrounding environments were just as bountiful as the water. Why animals are so plentiful is not 100% certain.

Yet some of the potential reasons include that the sea provided food directly for certain creatures while also creating a myriad of different biomes that are rich in resources, like coastal forests, wetlands, mangroves, flats, and marshes. Some of the inhabitants who lived in these environments provided the world with their own dose of terror. So if you were dropped in the sea and somehow made it out in one piece, you'd still be screwed. Heck, even if you made it to land and didn't see anything around you,

there could still be danger from above, as these areas bred giants of the skies. Terror sores here thrived off of the fish the watered. provided and gave way to some absolute units, including the largest non-as-darked terrosaers ever, the Anangu-Aeridae. Over four kinds are known to have lived in the Aromanga Basin, and they're a bit of a dying breed, being among the last of their kind to possess teeth, which were used to hunt primarily fish. But they were so plentiful, you probably couldn't have gone a day without seeing one of these guys scouring the waters and shoreline, and they were very

easy to spot, considering that the largest one, the Thapun Gaka, had a wingspan over seven meters or 23 feet long. In other words, twice that of the biggest bird today. And it possibly got even bigger, reaching 31 feet or 9.5 meters. And so at this size, you probably wouldn't be taking any comfort in its paciferous diet, as even a playful nip with its needle-like teeth would not have felt great. On the shorelines, terrors were joined by another group of animals that have actually remained a staple in Australia, crocodiles, or rather crocodilians, with two genera being known of, the Confractosucas and the Isis Fordia. Up until now, neither have actually been found in saltwater areas, rather spending their time

in the rivers that fed the sea. But paleontologists do believe that, like the saltwater crocs of today, these two might have ventured between fresh, brackish, and salt water, using ambush tactics to take out animals venturing too close to the water's edge, or even marine animals within the water itself. A more common occurrence for the Isis Fordia, which sported a narrower snout, while the Confractoscus had wider jaws that were similar to those seen in modern crocodiles. Fortunately, the one silver lining is that both weren't supersized, like their contemporary, the Dinosukas.

With Isis Fordia only measuring one meter or 3.3 feet, and the Confractoscus being a bit bigger at around 2.5 meters or 8 feet. So about the same size as your typical Komodo dragon. But they made up for what they lacked in size with their larger-than-life diets. Because these guys, namely the confractosucous, had skull morphologies indicating a general diet of animals bigger than itself, which apparently included dinosaurs. As one specimen was found with an ornithopod within its abdomen, and another being on earthed right next to a sarapod that it was likely scavenging upon.

Now, with all this said, though crocodilians and pterosaurs were no doubt deeply rooted in the area, it was still dinosaurs that ranged supreme on land, and they were surprisingly numerous near the Aramanga Sea, indirectly benefiting from the rich resources it provided. Additionally, the sea likely created various islands and blocked off certain sections of land, forcing many to cross or use beaches as walking paths. Located specimens show that virtually every type of dinosaur lived near Aramanga Sea,

with saropods in particular being quite widespread. And these saropods weren't just any normal longnecks, but rather members of the infamous Titanosaur family, which to this day hold the title for the largest animals to ever walk. As of now, at least five genera called the land surrounding Aromanga home, including the Australotitanocytin, Diamantinosaurus, Savanosaurus, and the Winto Titan. Each one was well over 10 tons, and the biggest, the Australo Titan, might have weighed more than 70, while growing 30 meters were 100 feet long, making it the biggest Australian animal ever, and about seven times the size of a large elephant.

These absolute units likely fed on the trees and foliage provided by coastal forests, and based on fossil locations, typically stuck by rivers and near beaches. There is also evidence that it was fairly normal for Sarapot to die close enough to the sea that it eventually got dragged out by waves, with paleontologists thinking they may have played a huge role in underwater community, acting a bit like a prehistoric whale fall. And Tracts further suggest that groups often walked along the coast, frequently bringing them in a close proximity with aquatic life.

And sure enough, even chronosaurus, sharks, and plesiosaurus have been found relatively close to sarapod skeletons. And it appears that these giants' preference for water extended to other herbivorous dinosaurs as well, including the Canbarosaurus, Mutaburosaurus, iguana dauntids, multiple unidentified ornithopods, and incalosaurs. Now, sure, these dinosaurs aren't the most scary or dangerous, but they were still probably not the animal you'd want to provoke.

And they were by no means alone, as you did, of course, have meat-eating theropods that prowled the coastlines as well. And they were regrettably the worst kind possible, the Megaraptorns. If you've seen my recent video, you know why I say the worst. And if you haven't, you should. But here's a little refresher. Megaraptorans were acclade of carnivorous dinosaurs that had giant sickle claws not on their feet, but their hands. That in combination with giant powerful arms allowed Megaraptorans to essentially become Freddy Kruger's,

slashing and impaling prey, which they would then literally eat like skewered kebabs while alive. Oh, and don't forget that they also had extremely hollowed bones that made them much lighter than they should have been, resulting in them essentially being the cheetahs of their time, just a lot more horrifying. And of course, in true Australian fashion, there couldn't be only one mega-ruptoran. Oh no, there had to be a couple, with at least one being identified and named, while the others remain undescribed. The classified genus, Australovinator, meaning Southern Hunter, is coincidentally the biggest Australian theropod known thus far, weighing around 310 kilos or 680 pounds and reaching 6 meters or 20 feet long. Thanks to its build, if this predator spotted you at close distance,

you'd probably have no hope in outrunning it, and you wouldn't just have to worry about being skewered, seeing that it also possessed, serrated, recurved teeth that let it easily gobble up animals and cut through their flesh like butter. It's honestly only natural that in prehistoric Australia, you'd have a group of predators ruling land that were nearly as creepy as the ones below. And even though they haven't been discovered in the Aramanga Basin, there is the chance that many other kinds of theropods kept the surrounding land a death trap as well,

with the alaphrasaurinids and tyrannosaurids, both being found not so far from where the sea was situated. Then, to tie it altogether, on top of the endless carnivores, there was also danger for Mother Nature itself. You see, for much of the early Cretaceous, Australia would have dealt with rampant flooding as the sea expanded, ruining animals, and in some cases causing mass drownings. There's even one discovery that hints at a group of dinosaurs which ended up trampling one another during a likely attempt to outrun a flood. Frequent volcanic eruptions and subsequently tsunamis were also a thing too. As during the later days, volcanic activity in the region began to take upwards.

On land, this meant ash clouds, lava flows, and other unpleasantries. Yet it was really in the sea where animals suffered, since the volcanism resulted in the continent's edges lifting up, which began to slowly dry the inland sea, and thus, doing many. And ultimately, it thought that this was the final nail in the coffin for the Aramanga Sea, with it shrinking a little bit more every single day, until eventually it became completely replaced by vast floodplains, with researchers estimating that it disappeared by the time the albion stage ended, marking the so-called extinction of one of the scariest places to ever exist. Thanks for watching, and until next time, on...

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