A Deadly Cyclone In New Zealand Unearthed The Fossilized Vertebrae of Two Giant Marine Reptiles That Have Been Extinct For Millions of Years
After some kind of crazy storm or weather incident, you never know what can be dug up from the ground or uncovered during the chaos.
This year in New Zealand, the powerful effects of a massive cyclone dug up the bones of some mind-blowing prehistoric creatures.
Any fans of the Jurassic Park film series will want to know about this massive discovery.
In February of this year, a deadly cyclone, Gabrielle, hit New Zealand and devastated the country’s North Island. It was considered to be the most severe weather event to hit New Zealand since a cyclone that occurred in 1968.
The storm caused a lot of upheaval throughout the country and its Maungataniwha Native Forest, where it overturned rocks and made a mess on the ground. The weather was so powerful that boulders the size of shopping carts were allegedly able to be moved.
After the storm had passed, fascinating discoveries were made amongst the wreckage.
While staff members from the Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust were assessing Gabrielle’s damage in the Maungataniwha Native Forest in March, they came across two fossilized massive vertebrae.
After further examination, they discovered those vertebrae belonged to two giant marine reptiles that have been extinct for millions of years.
Experts took a few months to study the findings and have finally revealed what creatures they believe the vertebrae once belonged to.
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One of the two vertebrae appears to have belonged to an Elasmosaurus, a long-necked creature that could grow to a whopping 45 feet long. The other seems to come from a mosasaur, a dangerous underwater predator that was able to swallow their prey whole. You may have seen one make an appearance in the 2015 film “Jurassic World.”
The fossils have stunned and inspired New Zealand paleontologists and conservationists. This is not the first time fossils have been discovered in the Maungataniwha Native Forest, and many scientists have a feeling it won’t be the last.
While the cyclone brought a lot of destruction to the country, this discovery was a massive win for the science community there. If the powerful storm hadn’t shifted so many large rocks, who knows when and if these fossils ever would’ve been uncovered?
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