HardElasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus platyurus
eh-LAZ-moh-SORE-us· “thin-plated lizard”
🌊 Marine reptile🕰️ Cretaceous🐟 piscivore🦴 Elasmosauridae
10.3 m
Length
1.5 m
Height
2 t
Weight
An extraordinarily long-necked plesiosaur whose neck held over 70 vertebrae and made up more than half its length. It cruised the Western Interior Seaway, plucking fish with needle-like teeth. Famously, Cope first reconstructed it with the skull on the wrong end. A marine reptile, not a dinosaur.
When
Late Cretaceous, ~80 million years ago
Found in
United States
Discovered
Edward Drinker Cope, 1868
Did you know?
- Its neck contained over 70 vertebrae — among the longest of any animal.
- The neck alone made up more than half of its ~10 m length.
- Edward Cope first assembled the skeleton with the head on the tail by mistake.
Artwork: ArthurWeasley, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5.