Prehistoric Kansas

According to nps.gov, millions of years ago, the dinosaurs roamed the earth. At that time, Kansas was underwater with all sorts of prehistoric life hiding beneath the surface, and sciencephoto.com says one of those creatures was one of the largest reptiles of the ocean, the Mosasaur.

What a Mosasaurus is:

According to ​fossilguy.com​, these prehistoric reptiles ARE NOT DINOSAURS. They are marine reptiles that are closely related to snakes and monitor lizards. These gigantic creatures lived in the oceans of the late Mesozoic Era in the Cretaceous time period and grew up to 50 feet long. Mosasaurus was a carnivore, which meant that it only ate meat and any kind of meat, even sea birds. Since the Mosasaurus was a reptile and not a fish, it breathed air like we do. Also, according to nationalgeographic.com, the Mosasaur gave birth to live babies like some snakes and sharks do.

Where its fossils were found:

According to fossilguy.com, Mosasaurs were first discovered in 1764, near the Meuse River, which inspired the name. In Kansas though, oceansofkansas.com says it was found mostly in the west, and that three different types of Mosasaurs were found there. The giant of the Mosasaur race was the genus Tylosaurus, it reached to a length of nearly 50 feet. The next size down was the genus Platecarpus, which was second in power. The last genus of the three is the Clidastes, which was smaller with a well developed structure that allowed it to coil up like a serpent.

How It became the state fossil:

According to liveauctioneers.com, a Lawrence resident named Alan Detrich, has been a fossil hunter for nearly three decades and wanted Kansas to have a state fossil. For twelve years, he tried to get the state to authorize a state fossil. For a long time, Kansas was one of the eleven states without a state fossil or dinosaur. A while later, Alan decided to dedicate one last year to the cause before giving up, Detrich wanted Kansas to select the Mosasaur as the state fossil, Leonard Krishtalka, director of Kansas University’s Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute, declared that the Mosasaur fossil could promote education and tourism in western Kansas. According to kshs.org, The Mosasaur officially became the Kansas state fossil on April 4th, 2014.

carnivoraforum.com