Giant swamp beast that existed before dinosaurs discovered with two-foot-long toilet seat-shaped head for sucking up prey

A COLOSSAL swamp beast with gigantic killer tusks that lived long before dinosaurs has been discovered by experts.

The salamander-like creature was an ice age apex predator, sucking in prey and crushing it with ease.

3

3

Its skull alone was more than two feet long and had a large, flat head shaped like a toilet seat.

The creature – called Gaiasia jennyae – hid in swampy waters 40 million years before the first dinosaurs evolved.

“Gaiasia jennyae was considerably larger than a person and likely lived near the bottom of swamps and lakes,” said Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago.

“It has a large, flat head shaped like a toilet seat, which allows it to open its mouth and suck in its prey.

“He has huge fangs, the whole front of his mouth is just giant teeth.

“It’s a large predator, but potentially also a relatively slow ambush predator.”

Scientists found its fossils in Namibia and named it after the Gai-as Formation, where it was found, and after Jenny Clack, a paleontologist.

They discovered several pieces, including a large piece with a well-preserved, articulated skull and spine.

This allowed researchers to compare it to other animals of the time to get an idea of ​​what the creature was.

Upon further examination, the animal was discovered to be one of the first tetrapods, the four-limbed vertebrates that evolved from lobe-finned fish and gave rise to amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

“When we found this huge specimen in the outcrop like a giant concretion, it was really shocking,” Claudia Marsicano of the University of Buenos Aires.

“Just seeing it, I knew it was something completely different. We were all very excited.

“After examining the skull, the structure of the front part of the skull caught my attention.

“It was the only part clearly visible at that time, and it showed large tusks intertwined in an unusual way, creating a bite unique to early tetrapods.”

Why did dinosaurs die?

Here’s what you need to know…

• The extinction of the dinosaurs was a sudden mass extinction event on Earth
• It wiped out about three-quarters of our planet’s plant and animal species about 66 million years ago.
• This event marked the end of the Cretaceous period and opened the Cenozoic Era, which we are still in today.
• Scientists generally believe that a huge comet or asteroid about 15 kilometers wide collided with Earth, devastating the planet.
• This impact is said to have triggered a prolonged “impact winter”, seriously damaging plant life and the food chain that depended on it.
• More recent research suggests that this impact “ignited” massive volcanic activity, which also led to the extinction of life.
• Some research has suggested that dinosaur numbers were already declining due to climate change at the time.
• But a study published in March 2019 claims that dinosaurs were likely “thriving” before the extinction event.