In the days when dinosaurs dominated the earth, their marine
counterparts--every bit as big and ferocious--reigned supreme in
prehistoric seas. In this entrancing book, Richard Ellis, one of
the world's foremost writers on the denizens of the deep, takes us
back to the Mesozoic era to resurrect the fascinating lives of
these giant seagoing reptiles.
Working from the fossil record, Ellis explores the natural
history of these fierce predators, speculates on their habits, and
tells how they eventually became extinct--or did they? He traces
the 200-million-year history of the great ichthyosaurs,
plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs who swam the ancient oceans--and who,
according to some, may even still frequent the likes of Loch
Ness.
Picture if you will seventy-foot dragons with foot-long serrated
teeth, or an animal that looked like a crocodile crossed with a
shark the size of a small yacht. With its impossibly long neck,
Plesiosaurus conybeari has been compared to "a giant snake threaded
through the body of a turtle." At a length of nearly sixty feet,
Mosasaurus hoffmanni boasted powerful jaws and teeth that could
crunch up even the hardest-shelled giant sea turtle. And
Kronosaurus queenslandicus, perhaps the most formidable of the lot,
had a skull nine feet long--more than twice that of Tyrannosaurus
Rex--with teeth to match.
The first book about these amazing animals in nearly a century,
"Sea Dragons" draws upon the most recent scientific research to
vividly reconstruct their lives and habitats. Their fossils have
been found all over the world--in Europe, Australia, Japan, and
even Kansas--in lands that once lay on the floors of Jurassic and
Triassic seas. Along the way, the book also provides intriguing
insights into and entertaining tales about the work, discoveries,
and competing theories that compose the fascinating world of
vertebrate paleontology.
Ellis also graces his text with a set of incomparable
illustrations. Widely hailed as our foremost artist of marine
natural history, he depicts vividly how these creatures probably
appeared and, through these likenesses, invites us to speculate on
their locomotion, their predatory habits, their very
lifestyles.
A genuine book of marvels and wonders, "Sea Dragons" will
certainly stir one's curiosity about our planet's prehistoric
past.
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