Quick Jump Daily Digest

**GinoD** · 03-19-2009, 08:08 AM

I saw this a couple days ago, couldn't find the time to post it... Thought some of you guys might be interested.

Some Norwegian scientists were able to excavate some remains of a dinosaur in Svalbard (that's where Iorek Byrnison lives!) last year. It was only a few days ago when they announced their findings.

They're now calling this creature Predator X, a relative of the pliosaur family, saying that it's the "most fearsome animal to ever swim the oceans."

Just to give you an idea of how HUGE this beast probably was, the jaw they found had like 12-inch (30cm) teeth. Whoa?! That's like a forearm right there! What's more is that the researchers believe that it's got a chomping power faaaar greater than the T-Rex.

Here are some facts about jaw bite-down force:

Modern day alligator: 2,500 lbs per square inch
Tyrannosaurus rex: 3,000 lbs per square inch
Predator X: a whopping 33,000lbs per square inch

Dayum.

The remains include some 20,000 fragments of bone. The jaws were about 10feet long when put together. And projectively speaking, the entire creature is thought to be around 50feet long (about 15 meters) and weighed some 45 tonnes.

It's got four flippers, but scientists are wondering why it needed the back two flippers, when it could have perfectly swum well without them and just the two fore-flippers.

Source: Times