Richard_Carr

ALT a mother Megapterygius swims with her calf by the surface of the water, the sunny water is filled with plankton looking for a feed Megapterygius is a mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous Toyajo Formation of Wakayama, Japan. it's most well known for supposedly having evidence for a dorsal fin, though, as there are no consistent osteological correlates for dorsal fins, many have questioned this interpretation, this doesnt negate the possibility of a dorsal fin however. it was a pelagically adapted animal with relatively long flippers compared to other mosasaurs, used for stabilisation while swimming. like other mosasaurs it had a long torso and is typically reconstructed with an incorrectly deep chest.

ALT two Argyrolagus scuffel in a clearing at night, an artificial light from behind the camera illuminates the fighting fuzzy foes Argyrolagus is a metatherian (mammal group which contains all mammals closer related to marsupials than placentals) of uncertain placement within the clade from the Early Pliocene of Patagonia, Argentina. they wouldve appeared similar to small hopping mammals but with a long snout, they also only possessed two toes on their feet

ALT a Eustreptospondylus swims along the surface of the water during the afternoon, most likely travelling to a nearby island. the camera is at the surface of the water with a small portion above showing the animal's head, while most of the camera is under the water where the body is. bubbles escape from the dinosaur's feathers as a wave submerges its body with only its head left above the water. the animal is swimming using a mix of its tail, legs, and arms. Eustreptospondylus is a theropod dinosaur known from Jurassic England when it was a series of scattered islands. Eustreptospondylus is only known from one juvenile specimen, the juvenile is around a meter tall at the hip. none of Eustreptospondylus' closest relatives preserve a nasal bone, so one scientists suspects that they could have had nasal crests akin to dinosaurs like Ceratosaurus or Guanlong, this isn't known for sure but i have followed this interpretation in my reconstruction of the animal.

ALT a Temnodontosaurus surfaces for a breath, its body is covered in scars from previous battles and lamprey bite marks Temnodontosaurus is a kind of large predatory ichthyosaur (ichthyosaurs are a large group of whale-like marine reptiles that lacked scales, were warm-blooded, gave birth to live young, and had thick layers of blubber among other adaptations to live entirely in the water). studies of its head anatomy show it would've had great vision and a great sense of smell, while stomach contents show it fed on mainly cephalopods like squid, but also fed on other ichthyosaurs like the contemporary Stenopterygius of which we have 3 juveniles preserved inside stomach contents. a recent study of its fins showed that it had novel spike structures on the trailing edge of its flippers and creases on the surface that reduced the noise produced when swimming like those on owl wing feathers aiding the theory that it was an ambush predator.