#megafauna — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #megafauna, aggregated by home.social.
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Pesquisadores da Universidade do Texas em Austin encontraram fósseis de megafauna na Bender's Cave, incluindo restos de tartarugas gigantes e gatos de dentes de sabre. A descoberta sugere a existência de um período quente desconhecido na região, com cerca de 100 mil anos.
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A centaur, but it's a Yeti head-arms-torso on a wooly mammoth body. Move the trunk and tusks to the Yeti head. (Oh, you think that would look silly? That boundary was already crossed.) Don't let it in the house, it sheds an enormous amount, and would accidentally tip over furniture and tear doors loose. It will be fine outside as long as the weather is cold enough. 🦣
#Yeti #Bigfoot #chimera #megafauna -
A centaur, but it's a Yeti head-arms-torso on a wooly mammoth body. Move the trunk and tusks to the Yeti head. (Oh, you think that would look silly? That boundary was already crossed.) Don't let it in the house, it sheds an enormous amount, and would accidentally tip over furniture and tear doors loose. It will be fine outside as long as the weather is cold enough. 🦣
#Yeti #Bigfoot #chimera #megafauna -
A centaur, but it's a Yeti head-arms-torso on a wooly mammoth body. Move the trunk and tusks to the Yeti head. (Oh, you think that would look silly? That boundary was already crossed.) Don't let it in the house, it sheds an enormous amount, and would accidentally tip over furniture and tear doors loose. It will be fine outside as long as the weather is cold enough. 🦣
#Yeti #Bigfoot #chimera #megafauna -
@madeindex If we want to keep OURSELVES alive, never mind #aquatic #megafauna! The #biosphere is an integrated whole.
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Brazil protects huge coastal area with endangered dolphins and megafauna fossils https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/brazil-protects-huge-coastal-area-with-endangered-dolphins-and-megafauna-fossils/
#Brazil #environment #coast #marinelife #endangered #dolphins #megafauna
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43% of all large freshwater animal #species, such as carp, catfish, crocodiles and turtles, have been introduced to areas outside of their natural habitats. While this may offer economic benefits for certain groups, it often has adverse effects on nature and people: https://www.igb-berlin.de/en/news/40-freshwater-megafauna-species-introduced-outside-their-native-range
#megafauna #biodiversity #fisheries #aquaculture #InvasiveSpecies -
Fast jede zweite große Süßwassertierart, darunter Karpfen, Welse, Krokodile und Schildkröten, wurde gezielt außerhalb ihres natürlichen Verbreitungsgebiets angesiedelt. Doch was wirtschaftliche Vorteile verspricht, hat oft negative Folgen für Natur und Mensch: https://www.igb-berlin.de/news/40-der-grossen-suesswassertierarten-fremde-gewaesser-eingefuehrt
#Biodiversität #Fischerei #Aquakultur #Megafauna #InvasiveArt -
The #prehistoric extinction of large #herbivorous #megafauna in Panama resulted in cascading ecological disruptions, specifically an increase in regional wildfires and a significant decline in plant species reliant on massive animals for seed dispersal.
#Paleoecology #ConservationBiology #Geosciences #EarthScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/es03032601.html -
A case for the Jaguar as a native animal of the United States
https://old.reddit.com/r/Jaguarland/comments/oaglrg/a_case_for_the_jaguar_as_a_native_animal_of_the/
#Wildlife #Rewilding #Conservation #Megafauna #Jaguar #Panthera #BigCats
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@mtechman Yes. They are immigrants from South America making North America more resilient and diverse. #megafauna
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February 25, 2026. Field report. We ambled in the afternoon sun of southern Minnesota. Crunchy snow remains on the ground. And what did we spy? A bright pink nose and the small opossum, our only marsupial. #megafauna, #minnesota, #zone4b, #getoutside
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CW: violence
Scientists hunting mammoth fossils found whales 400 km inland
Sometimes, new data raises more questions than it answers.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/scientists-hunting-mammoth-fossils-found-whales-400-km-inland/#alaska #ancient-dna #colossal #de-extinction #mammoth #megafauna #megafaunal-extinction #paleontology #science #whales -
Scientists hunting mammoth fossils found whales 400 km inland Sometimes, new data raises more questions than it answers. https://s.faithcollapsing.com/jfwko#alaska #ancient-dna #colossal #de-extinction #mammoth #megafauna #megafaunal-extinction #paleontology #science #whales
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Marine #megafauna is at risk in many seas
Sea otters are iconic predators in the north Pacific, but they were heavily hunted for their fur in the 18th and 19th centuries, as @nancyknowlton.bsky.social comments in this post
#GES4SEAS #MOOC #oceanoptimism -
What are the most uncharismatic megafauna?
#animals #conservation #biodiversity #ecology #fauna #megafauna #zoology #charismaticmegafauna #uncharismaticmegafauna #unpopularanimals -
Most Miocene megafauna are extinct. But anacondas are as big now as they were 12 million years ago.
Summary: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1107437?
Original paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2025.2572967#d1e466
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Last year's #aurochs feature is now in the #openArchives. #Free access for all. https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2024/12/aurochs-dead-and-alive.html #science #evolution #extinction #domestication #cattle #genome #rewilding #megafauna
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“What’s Sacred “2015
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/backgroundbriefing/whats-sacred-now/6549614Megafauna Rock Art
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/backgroundbriefing/burrup-peninsula-rock-art-shows-extinct-megafauna/6561788#Burrup #DeepTime #FirstNations #iceAge #illustration #MegaFauna #Murujuga #Petroglyphs
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Sounds like Harlan's ground #sloth dispersed gigantic #oranges
https://theconversation.com/giant-ground-sloths-fossilized-teeth-reveal-their-unique-roles-in-the-prehistoric-ecosystem-267601 My take on Darwin's giant sloth from #Chilean #cave here https://www.salon.com/2024/08/23/massive-extinction-the-demise-of-darwins-ancient-giant-sloth-has-lessons-for-the-present/ #Darwin #science #evolution #fruit #wildlife #megafauna -
Time for #LosAngeles #ancient #camel 🐪
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-the-extinct-camels-of-north-america-from-ice-age-giants-to-sheep-size-runners-180987520/
And in #SouthAmerica, Darwin's #giant #llama 🦙 my take here
https://nkozphoto.com/index.php/2024/07/15/darwins-giant-llama-and-legacy-of-ancient-megafauna/ #science #evolution #darwin #wildlife #megafauna -
8-Oct-2025
Early #humans butchered #elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones
Multiple sites in central Italy show consistent strategy during warm parts of the #MiddlePleistocene
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100481See also my feature on the long suffering of elephants:
https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-long-history-of-elephants-suffering.html#science #anthropology #palaeoanthropology #ecology #hunting #megafauna
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Megafauna was the meat of choice for South American hunters
#HackerNews #Megafauna #SouthAmerica #IceAgeHunters #ExtinctSpecies #Archaeology
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Early South Americans weren’t just occasional hunters of giant sloths and mastodons—they depended on them. New evidence shows megafauna were dietary staples, sharpening debate over human-driven extinctions. #Archaeology #Anthropology #IceAge #Megafauna https://www.anthropology.net/p/when-giant-sloths-were-dinner-the
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Palaeontologists find #collagen #biomarker to identify ancient #Australian #megafauna, notable because it’s more durable than #DNA: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/megafauna-peptide-markers-13956.html #science #biology #palaeontology #paleontology #australia
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3-Jun-2025
Ancient #collagen can help identify a “#wombat the size of a #hippo” in the fossil record
Scientists find new markers to identify species from fragments of fossilized bone and help us understand mysterious #megafauna #extinctionshttps://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085325 #science #evolution #fossils
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This has got to be the most amazing thing I’ve read this week, Evidence is mounting that large sandstone caves in Amazonian South America, large enough to comfortably walk through and the longest with 1,500 metres of tunnels, were carved out by giant ground sloths. Yes, ground sloths!
“The South American palaeoburrows might be the largest ichnofossils known so far.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00216-x
#archeology #palaeontology #MegaFauna #GroundSloth #Brazil #amazon
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Read my article, "#Darwin and the Dictator" https://nkozphoto.com/index.php/2025/01/16/darwin-and-the-dictator/ #evolution #science #megafauna #Rosas #Argentina #paleontology #populism #imperialism #history #Beagle #cattle #ranching #Catholic #Catholicism
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The legacy of the extinct #megafauna (sensus https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27749-9) in the Colombian Dry Forest: Ceiba, Zanthoxylum, a palm.
#Evolutionary_anachronism
#anachronism #herbivory #spines #plant_defenses @ecology @plants @botany @plantscience @nature @biodiversity @conservation @evolution -
Rallings et al. explore the relationship between body size and sources of mortality among mammals. Their theoretical framework shows how size influences sensitivity to starvation, aging, and more, offering insights into the existence of megafauna. Read now ahead of print!
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731331#bodySize #mortality #mammals #framework #starvation #megafauna
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Caught up with the ABC's latest Megafauna doco over the weekend (recommend, it was great), and I did not know that Thylacoleo was probably an ambush predator! The drop bear origin story? Great to see some familiar faces, but kind of a bummer Aunty didn't think to google all of the talent before platforming them...
#megafauna #Australia #dropBears
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/megafauna-what-killed-australia-s-giants/series/1/video/SC2313H001S00
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Researchers Reconstruct Landscapes That Greeted The First Humans In Australia Around 65,000 Years Ago
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https://phys.org/news/2024-04-reconstruct-landscapes-humans-australia-years.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #anthropology #archaeology #indigenous #migration #sahul #Australia #aboriginal #FirstNation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #NewGuinea #Tasmania #sealevel #hominin #hominoid #landscape #evolution #climatechange #megafauna #population #demographics #environment #environmental #climatechange #landscapeevolution #model #modeling #terrains #foodsecurity #watersecurity #drivers #huntergatherers #community #simulations #physiographic #physiography -
Researchers Reconstruct Landscapes That Greeted The First Humans In Australia Around 65,000 Years Ago
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https://phys.org/news/2024-04-reconstruct-landscapes-humans-australia-years.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #anthropology #archaeology #indigenous #migration #sahul #Australia #aboriginal #FirstNation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #NewGuinea #Tasmania #sealevel #hominin #hominoid #landscape #evolution #climatechange #megafauna #population #demographics #environment #environmental #climatechange #landscapeevolution #model #modeling #terrains #foodsecurity #watersecurity #drivers #huntergatherers #community #simulations #physiographic #physiography -
Researchers Reconstruct Landscapes That Greeted The First Humans In Australia Around 65,000 Years Ago
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https://phys.org/news/2024-04-reconstruct-landscapes-humans-australia-years.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #anthropology #archaeology #indigenous #migration #sahul #Australia #aboriginal #FirstNation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #NewGuinea #Tasmania #sealevel #hominin #hominoid #landscape #evolution #climatechange #megafauna #population #demographics #environment #environmental #climatechange #landscapeevolution #model #modeling #terrains #foodsecurity #watersecurity #drivers #huntergatherers #community #simulations #physiographic #physiography -
Researchers Reconstruct Landscapes That Greeted The First Humans In Australia Around 65,000 Years Ago
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https://phys.org/news/2024-04-reconstruct-landscapes-humans-australia-years.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #anthropology #archaeology #indigenous #migration #sahul #Australia #aboriginal #FirstNation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #NewGuinea #Tasmania #sealevel #hominin #hominoid #landscape #evolution #climatechange #megafauna #population #demographics #environment #environmental #climatechange #landscapeevolution #model #modeling #terrains #foodsecurity #watersecurity #drivers #huntergatherers #community #simulations #physiographic #physiography -
Researchers Reconstruct Landscapes That Greeted The First Humans In Australia Around 65,000 Years Ago
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https://phys.org/news/2024-04-reconstruct-landscapes-humans-australia-years.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47662-1 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #anthropology #archaeology #indigenous #migration #sahul #Australia #aboriginal #FirstNation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #NewGuinea #Tasmania #sealevel #hominin #hominoid #landscape #evolution #climatechange #megafauna #population #demographics #environment #environmental #climatechange #landscapeevolution #model #modeling #terrains #foodsecurity #watersecurity #drivers #huntergatherers #community #simulations #physiographic #physiography -
my features published in #CurrentBiology this year, issue 2: Large herbivores like #elephants #mammoths #mastodons share one big problem: human hunters. New evidence shows even #Neanderthals hunted and butchered elephants, so time for a big picture feature on this.
https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-long-history-of-elephants-suffering.html
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#Shipwrecks teem with underwater life, from microbes to sharks https://theconversation.com/shipwrecks-teem-with-underwater-life-from-microbes-to-sharks-214688 @ConversationUS
#Shipwreck #ecology: Understanding the function and processes from #microbes to #megafauna. By Avery Paxton et al. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biad084/7479881
"Brilliantly colored #corals and #sponges blanket the #wrecks’ surfaces. Silvery schools of #baitfish dart, shimmer around the structures, chased by sleek #predators. #Sharks sometimes cruise around wrecks, likely resting or looking for prey."
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New evidence that an extraterrestrial collision 12,800 years ago triggered an abrupt #ClimateChange for Earth
Published: October 22, 2019
"What kicked off the Earth’s rapid cooling 12,800 years ago?
"In the space of just a couple of years, average temperatures abruptly dropped, resulting in temperatures as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in some regions of the Northern Hemisphere. If a drop like that happened today, it would mean the average temperature of Miami Beach would quickly change to that of current Montreal, Canada. Layers of ice in Greenland show that this cool period in the Northern Hemisphere lasted about 1,400 years.
"This climate event, called the #YoungerDryas by scientists, marked the beginning of a decline in #IceAge #megafauna, such as #mammoth and #mastodon, eventually leading to #extinction of more than 35 genera of animals across North America. Although disputed, some research suggests that Younger Dryas #environmental changes led to a population decline among the #NativeAmericans known for their distinctive #Clovis spear points.
"Conventional geologic wisdom blames the Younger Dryas on the failure of glacial ice dams holding back huge lakes in central North America and the sudden, massive blast of freshwater they released into the north Atlantic. This freshwater influx shut down #OceanCirculation and ended up cooling the climate.
"Some geologists, however, subscribe to what is called the impact hypothesis: the idea that a fragmented #comet or #asteroid collided with the Earth 12,800 years ago and caused this abrupt climate event. Along with disrupting the glacial ice-sheet and shutting down ocean currents, this hypothesis holds that the extraterrestrial impact also triggered an 'impact winter' by setting off massive #wildfires that blocked sunlight with their smoke.
"The evidence is mounting that the cause of the Younger Dryas’ cooling climate came from outer space. My own recent fieldwork at a South Carolina lake that has been around for at least 20,000 years adds to the growing pile of evidence.
"In the White Pond samples, we did indeed find high levels of platinum. The sediments also had an unusual ratio of platinum to palladium.
"Both of these rare earth elements occur naturally in very small quantities. The fact that there was so much more platinum than palladium suggests that the extra platinum came from an outside source, such as atmospheric fallout in the aftermath of an extraterrestrial impact.
"My team also found a large increase in soot, indicative of large-scale regional wildfires. Additionally, the amount of fungal spores that are usually associated with the dung of large herbivores decreased in this layer compared to previous time periods, suggesting a sudden decline in ice-age megafauna in the region at this time."
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Been a long week so let’s have a good #FossilFriday. Today some shots from my trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The dinosaur wing is amazing and generally a great museum I wish I could have spent more time at.
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Today’s #megafauna is the #cryodrakon! This large #pterosaur lived in Alberta, Canada between 74 and 77 million years ago. At the time, the land supported a temperate forest that would have provided the cryodrakon with plenty of mammals, lizards, and baby dinosaurs to snack on. Like #quetzelcoatlus, cryodrakon was a member of azhdarchidae: a family of late #cretaceous pterosaurs characterized by long legs and necks. Most members of this family are very large, and cryodrakon had a wingspan of 33 feet.
For a long time, cryodrakon fossils were confused for quetzelcoatlus fossils. This was exacerbated by the delayed publication of a full description of quetzelcoatlus. However, the discovery of several European azhdarchidae species allowed for additional differentiation. When the original quetzelcoatlus bones became available to view, it became clear that cryodrakon was species distinct from its Southern cousin. In fact, crydrakon was apparently more robust than quetzelcoatlus, making it perhaps the largest pterosaur ever.
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Today's #megafauna is Basilosaurus! This Eocene #whale was about 60 feet long and sported tiny hind limbs. It is possible that the hind limbs were used to hold onto partners during mating, though they were disconnected from the rest of the whale skeleton and could not have supported weight on land. Basilosaurus's elongated shape and small tail flukes suggest that it swam by moving most of its body up and down--not just its tail.
Although this may sound like a silly mode of transportation, #Basilosaurus was the apex #preadtor of its time. With strong jaw muscles, large incisors, and serrated molars at the back of its mouth, this whale proved a formidable foe for #fish, #sharks, and even other #MarineMammals.
At Whale Valley--a rich source of marine fossils that was likely an Eocene nesting ground--#fossil evidence paints a picture of Basilosaurus's hunting habits. Nesting fossils show the contents of its stomach, and specimens of another whale species, dorodon, show bite marks consistent with Basilosaurus's teeth. Most dorodon fossils nested in Basilosaurus skeletons are juveniles--suggesting that Basilosaaurus lurked near these nesting grounds, targeting young dorodons just as modern #orcas target the calves of other whales.
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#FossilAdventCalendar Day 22 (delayed due to time with the family)
Our first #fossil from north of the #Arctic Circle is from the most iconic of #IceAge #megafauna. This woolly #mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, was found over a century ago in the far #north of Siberia and gifted to Paris' #MuseumNationalD'HistoireNaturelle by the tsar. Like the squirrel featured yesterday, this mammoth was partially preserved in #permafrost; you can see its #mummified face and leg in the case at the right.
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#FossilAdventCalendar Day 15
Today we return to the #Nordic countries, specifically to the #Nationalmuseet in #Copenhagen 🇩🇰 to meet the #aurochs (Bos primigenius), the #extinct wild ancestor of modern #cattle. This #bull lived and died over 10,000 years ago in #Vig, on the #Danish island of #Sjaelland, but unlike many #IceAge #megafauna, it survived until surprisingly recently. In #Denmark, it persisted in #Jutland until around 2000 years ago; the last aurochs died in #Poland only in 1627.
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Some traditional #inkwork I did of various hybrid fantasy critters, just for fun...need to do more of these! :D Top left: tiny pudu/sparrow #peryton, top right: ermine/ermine moth #fairy, bottom left: arctic hare/reindeer #jackalope, and bottom right: moa/giant sloth #megafauna #gryphon. :)
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Today's #megafauna is tylosaurus, a late #cretaceous mosasaur that swam through water with its tail (not its flippers.)The long, narrow snout of #tylosaurus reduced drag as it swam. It also hosted a powerful jaw and upwards of 70 teeth.
However, the reduction of teeth and reinforced tip of the snout suggest that tylosaurus likely rammed large prey from below. Tylosaurus fed on just about anything, including other #mosasaurs, sharks, pterosaurs, and swept-away carcasses of land #dinosaurs.
