The World's Biggest Predator Wasn't Fully Grown

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  • Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
  • Imagine a macropredator the size of a blue whale. The biggest predator was likely a macropredatory icthyosaur! Ichthyotitan severnensis and the Aust Colossus were candidates for predators bigger than a blue whale or close to it. Prehistoric ocean predators existed on a different scale than modern oceans. Ichthyotitan is known from the Lilstock Monster and Blue Anchor specimens, and were likely bigger than most Otodus megalodon. The world's biggest predators weren't fully grown, either! The Aust Colossus very likely would have been bigger than a blue whale when at adult size, and based on morphological comparisons with other relatives could have been the biggest predator ever. In 2018, a team of scientists published an analysis of enormous jaw bones from the Late Triassic of the United Kingdom. These jaw bones were discovered across the UK: the Lilstock Monster specimen was found by Paul de la Salle and is now one of the specimens assigned to the new genus Ichthyotitan severnensis. The Ichthyotitan holotype is another more complete surangular that gives us more clues about the enormous animal’s life and body size. The Aust Cliff material, found decades earlier, had been mistaken for dinosaur limb bones due to its enormous size. The 2018 paper argued that these huge fragments both belonged to shastasaurid ichthyosaurs, which were the largest marine reptiles known. Two new studies expand our knowledge of these animals, confirming the ichthyosaur diagnosis and discovering that none of these whale-sized creatures were fully grown.
    Ichthyotitan Description: 00:00
    The Specimens: 00:51
    Ichthyotitan Size: 02:18
    Aust Colossus Size: 04:33
    Histology Analysis: 05:05
    Ecology Analysis: 06:48
    The Hypothetical Maxima: 07:30
    Thumbnail art by Rudolf Hima
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 537

  • @TheVividen
    @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +166

    REFERENCES AND DISCLAIMER
    Remember, these giant specimens are fragmentary! That's why I provided size ranges based on scaling from multiple species, instead of pretending like there's a hard and fast estimate. That being said, math (usually) doesn't lie, and based on proportions of other giant ichthyosaurs, Ichthyotitan and the Aust Colossus very likely were titanic. Please read through the sources below and form your own opinion, and thank you for watching!
    Macropredation and endothermy www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5609766/
    University of Bonn article www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/072-2024
    Lilstock and Aust histology peerj.com/articles/17060/
    The original Lilstock and Aust study journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194742
    Hydrodynamic adaptations in ichthyosaurs (3D model source) royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.2786
    Body mass evolution in ichthyosaurs www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf5787
    Besanosaurus scaling (outdated) twitter.com/darius_nau/status/1654939376751636480/photo/1
    Megatron’s instagram (awesome paleoart) instagram.com/brockpost8/
    Shonisaurus macropredation hakaimagazine.com/news/shonisaurus-gets-a-makeover/
    Ichthyosaur specific gravity pup-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/resources/9780691193809/Paul-The-Princeton-Field-Guide-to-Mesozoic-Sea-Reptiles-Size-Table.pdf
    Lomax et al 2024 journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300289

    • @francissemyon7971
      @francissemyon7971 2 місяці тому +3

      But are we looking to an orca-like, apex predator ecology ?

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +13

      @@francissemyon7971 I wouldn't say that we have enough information to say honestly. The muscle attachments of Ichthyotitan's jaw are stated to be most similar to Shonisaurus, which may indicate a similar jaw structure, but that isn't definitive. It's extraordinarily unlikely that the British Giants were filter feeders or suction feeders, however, given the complete lack of adaptations for either feeding method in true ichthyosaurs (and the fact that most giant shastasaurids were clearly adapted for predation of large-bodied prey).

    • @francissemyon7971
      @francissemyon7971 2 місяці тому +5

      @@TheVividen Riley Black implies an orca-like lifestyle in the Nat Geo article about Ichthyotitan.

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +6

      ​@@francissemyon7971Oh really? I haven't read that article, but it sounds interesting. Do you have the link?

    • @NobleKorhedron
      @NobleKorhedron 2 місяці тому +2

      ​@@TheVividen Are they from the same stages; or quite far apart temporally?

  • @robwalsh9843
    @robwalsh9843 2 місяці тому +1167

    Giant ichthyosaurs turning out to be killer sea dragons instead of peaceful reptilian beaked whales is like the plot twist in a thriller movie when the charming person turns out to be a serial killer.

    • @markcobuzzi826
      @markcobuzzi826 2 місяці тому +54

      With stories like this coming out, I have wondered if these titanic ichthyosaurs would arguably be nature’s closest stand-in for the Biblical Leviathan (even more so than the whale actually named after it), similarly to how some Young Earth Creationists and pop-culture media like to characterize sauropods as nature’s closest stand-in for the Biblical Behemoth.

    • @quakethedoombringer
      @quakethedoombringer 2 місяці тому +40

      ⁠​⁠​⁠@@markcobuzzi826i am fairly sure Leviathan are supposedly based on the existent sperm whales, which are confirmed to be ginormous and relatively aggressive (literally kills giant squid)

    • @edgargaebolg9307
      @edgargaebolg9307 2 місяці тому +21

      ​@@quakethedoombringer The Hebrew word for whale is 'livyatan' so yeah, the Leviathan is based on them

    • @markcobuzzi826
      @markcobuzzi826 2 місяці тому +15

      @@quakethedoombringer
      I was going more by certain versions of the folklore, where Leviathan was specifically portrayed as a more reptilian sea monster. In this case, giant ichthyosaurs happen to be both reptiles and at least superficially cetacean-like creatures. So that might arguably make them a unique blending of both worlds.

    • @Wunderkind04
      @Wunderkind04 2 місяці тому +3

      No. I will always believe they were just big chunky happy dolphins. >:(

  • @dier7144
    @dier7144 2 місяці тому +705

    Absolutely insane that this absolutely GARGANTUAN monster of an icthyosaur wasn’t even an adult yet, this might just be the most dangerous creature…ever

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +133

      Honestly might be! Even if it were a relatively "gentle giant" like a toothless shastasaurid, it would not be something to mess with.

    • @dier7144
      @dier7144 2 місяці тому

      Even if it gets downsized to OBLIVION like… 500% or something it’s still a massive icthyosaur which could destroy most of the species in their ecosystem, crazy!

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +49

      It’s incredible the jaw fragment is bigger that the entire skull of the new kimmeridge pliosaur (1.8m)

    • @laseriedeladilophosaure9246
      @laseriedeladilophosaure9246 2 місяці тому +12

      A parament il aurait existe une espèce de ichyosaurus qui aurait pu attendre jusqu'à ~ 36 m de longueur donc 25 m n’est pas très étonnant pour moi maintenant je suis aussi heureux que la plus part des reptiles prehistoric s’avèré être plus grand qu’ont ne le pense. A force je pense que les plus grands ichyosaurus mesurait jusqu'à 40 m voir plus pour des masse supérieure à 360 tonnes !!! Ses créature ont des taille de plus en plus proches de la hauteur de godzilla 1954
      (C’est une dinguerie )

    • @spider_punk156
      @spider_punk156 2 місяці тому +3

      Why hello dier

  • @avecersis
    @avecersis 2 місяці тому +382

    Ichthyotitan really be pulling "this isn't even my final form" on the paleontology community

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +79

      Behold...GOLDEN ICHTHYOTITAN

    • @YharonFanshit
      @YharonFanshit 2 місяці тому +3

      Thats what i was thinking lol

    • @billyherrington5112
      @billyherrington5112 2 місяці тому +11

      Sad spinosaurus noise

    • @magosryzak7477
      @magosryzak7477 2 місяці тому +9

      ​@@TheVividen.... you have given Ichthyotitan a Frieza voice and I cannot unheard it now.

    • @crustypineapple9549
      @crustypineapple9549 2 місяці тому +10

      Man's pulling a spinosaurus

  • @raulvidal2343
    @raulvidal2343 2 місяці тому +498

    Paleontology: There weren't blue whale-sized pliosaurs or mosasaurs.
    Me: ☹️☹️
    Paleontology: But there were blue whale-sized macropredatory ichthyosaurs.
    Me: 😄😄😄

    • @user-it5ig5nn8k
      @user-it5ig5nn8k 2 місяці тому +6

      But may be can existed blue whale sized mosasaurs and other mesozoic sea reptiles or even bigger

    • @markcobuzzi826
      @markcobuzzi826 2 місяці тому +46

      That moment when you realize that Jules Verne’s depiction of a ferocious supersized Ichthyosaurus in “Journey to the Center of the Earth” seems to have aged surprisingly well.

    • @MythicHuskii
      @MythicHuskii Місяць тому +9

      Actual Paleontology: There aren’t any blue whale sized pliosaurs or mosasaurs… YET.

    • @user-rw4yi2xw5i
      @user-rw4yi2xw5i 24 дні тому

      ​@MythicHuskii but may be exist blue whale sized mosasaurs and other prehistoric marine reptiles despite that ichthyosaurs,mosasaurs,metryorhinchids and plesiosaurs are warm blooded animals,because size sample of biggest and not only biggest and other extinct vertebrates and other living organisms is too tiny unlike very large size sample of extant living organisms includes blue whale

  • @SlothOfTheSea
    @SlothOfTheSea 2 місяці тому +183

    If nature were attempting to create a truly undefeatable beast of an animal, giant Ichthyosaurs were the result.

    • @marcelloperillo4575
      @marcelloperillo4575 2 місяці тому +14

      not really coz they went extinct :(

    • @MacieNicholson-kv8mx
      @MacieNicholson-kv8mx 2 місяці тому +8

      Nature made Orcas. WAY scarier

    • @toiletsponge
      @toiletsponge 2 місяці тому +5

      ​@@MacieNicholson-kv8mxOrcas aren't even half the size of this thing

    • @jamesaron1967
      @jamesaron1967 2 місяці тому +16

      @@toiletsponge True, however, their intelligence is off the scale, and group hunting strategies more than compensate for the relatively small Orca size. Way more.

    • @dreadblock7592
      @dreadblock7592 2 місяці тому

      i feel like you just jinxed it.

  • @The_Story_Of_Us
    @The_Story_Of_Us 2 місяці тому +95

    Ichthyotitan to me is made even more interesting because it was dated back to about 202 million year ago. That’s the tail end of the Triassic, right as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction was going to hit the world, wiping out a third of all ocean biodiversity and also marking the end of the Shastasaurid reign. So they were growing their absolute biggest right at the end of their time and considering the fact that these individuals were not fully grown, who knows how much bigger they could have gotten were it not for the mass environmental shift at the end of the geological era they dominated without so much as a shred of competition.
    And so the Ichthyosaurs become an unbelievably dramatic example of the fact that no matter how big and bad you get (in fact ESPECIALLY if you’re big and bad), you are made and unmade by your environment, completely at the mercy of nature and that will never ever change…

    • @elmohead
      @elmohead 2 місяці тому

      Big fish die first whenever the water changes.

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us 2 місяці тому +11

      @@elmohead eh, technically not, they usually die because their food sources disappear first. So really it's the low trophic levels that get hit hard first and that dominoes all the way up to the top of the food chain. So the small fish do die first and the big fish follow.

    • @spidext
      @spidext Місяць тому +4

      dude imagine if because of these guys, other fish had to evolve to grow big and slowly we would have actual godzillas in the ocean

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us Місяць тому +6

      @@spidext That’s not really how it works and the fossil record shows that to be the case. No triassic fish ever got bigger than about 2-3 meters long. If there are colossal super predators around, evolutionary pressure does not cause you to grow bigger, it causes you to grow smaller, because a smaller fish can more easily evade and hide from such animals.
      This only really works in the opposite direction. When prey items become bigger, predators also grow bigger to fill the niche of hunting them, if predators are already massive, prey don’t have the selective pressure to grow bigger because of that. We can see that fish only started making it big again (for example Leedsichthys, the largest bony fish of all time) AFTER the Shastasaurids went extinct.
      The closest we’ve gotten to an arm’s race like that is for one the arms race between Ichthyosaurs and other Ichthyosaurs and in the Cenozoic between whales and otodontid sharks. The former time produced Ichthyotitan, the latter produced Otodus Megalodon.

    • @spidext
      @spidext Місяць тому

      @@The_Story_Of_Us jesus christ dude

  • @VaguelySynthetic
    @VaguelySynthetic 2 місяці тому +140

    "Multiple Leviathan class lifeforms detected in this area. Are you sure what you are doing is worth it?"

    • @AgroAcro
      @AgroAcro 2 місяці тому +17

      The crazy thing is, even these things are nowhere near the size as some Subnautica Leviathans.

    • @Blebis
      @Blebis Місяць тому +14

      @@AgroAcroFr the reaper leviathan is twice the size of a regular blue whale

    • @AgroAcro
      @AgroAcro Місяць тому +9

      @@Blebis Yeah, and as far as Leviathans go that isn't even particularly large

  • @gladiolus5377
    @gladiolus5377 2 місяці тому +159

    "We're gonna need the biggest boat"

    • @YharonFanshit
      @YharonFanshit 2 місяці тому +5

      We need bigger than the biggest!

    • @paolopasaol9700
      @paolopasaol9700 2 місяці тому +5

      We're gonna need an even bigger biggest boat

    • @TimZi-wh2ty
      @TimZi-wh2ty Місяць тому +1

      A modern day frigate will do let alone a destroyer
      And cruiser or carriers will be too op

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +81

    4:36 wow the size ranges!!! The larger aust specimen has a lower bound of 34.8 metres and 169 tonnes???
    This thing was even more insane than I realised!

  • @t-r-e-x452
    @t-r-e-x452 2 місяці тому +88

    We finally have our WWD's Liopleurodon. Albeit an Icthyosaur.

    • @christianhernandez3044
      @christianhernandez3044 2 місяці тому +10

      Even bigger 😂

    • @jackstraw4222
      @jackstraw4222 Місяць тому +2

      pliosaur skull in oxford is over 9ft long so im sure there are more and possibly even larger specimens just waiting to be found...

  • @cetologyh3906
    @cetologyh3906 2 місяці тому +40

    Something I would like to add about the about the speculated life stage on Ichthyotitan.
    It should be noted that physical immaturity doesn't necessarily mean-not adult, as I've seen some describe in the comments. In large animals, including creatures like whales, physical maturity occurs very late after being reproductively mature. A lot of the largest whales ever examined by scientists were physically immature specimens. Sperm whales as large as 18.6 m and blue whales as large as 29.2 m have been found to be physically immature, even though both sets of individuals were exceptionally large. So it should also be considered that a physically immaturity may not necessarily indicate that an individual is below the average full-grown size either. Nonetheless, I do not doubt that that Ichthyotitan does appear to overlap with the blue whale in size.

    • @KawaiiEvoMii
      @KawaiiEvoMii 2 місяці тому

      Just like animals in captivity tend to live much longer than their wild counterparts, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that most blue whales die at what would be an 'early-to-mid' adult age. Just like how humans died at earlier ages in more primitive times. Lack of age doesn't necessarily equate to a creature being unable to live that long if given ample resources, zero competition, and a healthy environment; something nature rarely, if ever, provides.

  • @GTSE2005
    @GTSE2005 2 місяці тому +183

    At this rate I think it's possible that the title of "longest animal to ever live" would belong to a Triassic ichthyosaur

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +9

      Actually yes, it beats out the silk worm.

    • @xanshen9011
      @xanshen9011 2 місяці тому +6

      Triassic kraken 😈

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us 2 місяці тому +36

      If the estimate is true, the bootlace worm has any other organism beat.
      But frankly, I find it very unlikely that any animal but a Sauropod would hold the title of longest animal ever. We already know of 35 meter Sauropods and it’s more likely they got even longer than that and outpaced Ichthyosaurs, since a Sauropod growing from 35 meters to 45 entails far less mass being added than an ichthyosaur growing the same amount and thus far less food needed to sustain it.

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +11

      @@The_Story_Of_Us ichthyosaurs have the advantage of being aquatic so don’t need to support their own mass, but titanosaurs have an intricate network of air sacs which is why sauropods can be longer than a blue whale but only have half or even a quarter of the mass

    • @TheWigglergler
      @TheWigglergler 2 місяці тому +5

      @@The_Story_Of_Us Indeed, and some fragmentary sauropods may have already come close to 45m, such as Bruhathkayosaurus. An ichthyosaur of that length would be rather unrealistic.

  • @Damasen13
    @Damasen13 2 місяці тому +85

    We're gonna need the most advanced submarine for this thing! In seriousness, all this is still mind boggling to me that something like this made Mosasaurus hoffmanni look tiny, with the attitude to match. Gonna need a Prehistoric Planet esque documentary about these cyclopean ichthyosaurs. Am real excited for the time travel shenanigans that Icthyotitan would undergo.

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +22

      Part of me wants to do a Megalodon in the Triassic video to see if it could handle these behemoths

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +1

      Haha that’s funny to me because my favourite game franchise is Ark and in their next DLC they’re adding the shastasaurus with a submarine saddle

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +3

      @@TheVividenwell that’s just not fair, megalodon evolved to hunt similar size animals and it would live the warmer oceans

    • @Damasen13
      @Damasen13 2 місяці тому +5

      With my limited and amateur knowledge of ecology, I predict the Megs would be in a similar situation as the Mioecene, only that the Livyatan now have a side-to-side tail instead of a flute and looks strange to the Meg. If Aust Colossus is a totally different species, thats two types of Livyatan (Livyatan Maximus in this case lol) our Megs have to deal with it.

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +4

      @@Damasen13 well it’s larger than leviatan even with the smaller estimates but likely ate prey much smaller so probably about the same.

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +214

    If I was the old dinosaur enthusiast me all I’d hear would be 37.5 metres, 331 tonnes, young individual, carbon fibre skull.
    Ignorance is bliss.

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +75

      KAIJU REAL
      But seriously even the lower estimates are monstrous

    • @user-ub5wf3tj1y
      @user-ub5wf3tj1y 2 місяці тому +12

      Imagine we find a 600 tonne animal.

    • @mylessmith9758
      @mylessmith9758 2 місяці тому +18

      Never thought the size of the WWD Lioplauradon would be anywhere near matched.

    • @user-73a
      @user-73a Місяць тому +1

      what is 37.7 meters in normal terms?

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder Місяць тому +1

      @@user-73a that’s 3,455 Big Macs my American friend.

  • @Strider_Mane
    @Strider_Mane 2 місяці тому +20

    0:32
    THERE IS HE IS GARY THERE HE IS!
    Good to see my pal Megatron’s art on here.

  • @mr.jglokta191
    @mr.jglokta191 2 місяці тому +49

    Not naming it Jormungandr is a missed opportunity 😆

    • @mylessmith9758
      @mylessmith9758 2 місяці тому +4

      Already taken.

    • @lassenker07
      @lassenker07 2 місяці тому +25

      A mosasaur was named that last year

    • @mr.jglokta191
      @mr.jglokta191 2 місяці тому +6

      @@lassenker07 It's clearly a pretender to the throne 😆

    • @TheHauntedDiariesUrbex
      @TheHauntedDiariesUrbex 2 місяці тому +3

      Two different animals can't have the same Genus name. Unless it's spelled differently. But there are actually 2 animals with that Genus name, one is a Mosasaur, the other is a Recumbirostran tetrapod.

    • @GalvyTheTom
      @GalvyTheTom 2 місяці тому +11

      @@mr.jglokta191I mean, mosasaurs and snakes are related. Makes more sense for a mosasaur to have that name than an ichthyosaur

  • @marcoantoniodossantos603
    @marcoantoniodossantos603 2 місяці тому +6

    Walking with Dinosaurs warned us about this 25 years ago, we just didn't understand it then.
    Finally, we a 25 meters long macropredatory marine reptile.
    Stay proud, Walking with Dinosaurs.

  • @thisisachannel4575
    @thisisachannel4575 2 місяці тому +39

    Wouldn't it have been awesome if THIS was the animal popping out the Lagoon in Jurassic World

  • @MrEctotherm
    @MrEctotherm 2 місяці тому +5

    Hey Dude, love the videos, they've been both fun and educational. I have an idea for a video that might be cool: What if Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus swapped places? You could talk about how they would adapt to their new opponents and food sources, and also how well they would do in their new environments. just a thought :)

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +4

    Amazing video! Definitely worth the hype over the past week or so.

  • @YharonFanshit
    @YharonFanshit 2 місяці тому +9

    This is such a "this isnt even my final form" moment

  • @Edelweiss1102
    @Edelweiss1102 2 місяці тому +7

    I love the idea that the legendary sea beast which might surpass the Blue Whale is an Ichthyosaur, a group of animals which is often overlooked and laughed at as boring reptilian dolphins. And an animal out of the Triassic, a historical time period which is often overshadowed as well. Move aside Mosasaur, Lyviatan and Megalodon, your daddy has come home. There are always bigger "fish" lmao.

  • @ultraextraorca7644
    @ultraextraorca7644 2 місяці тому +3

    Your sea monster videos offer such a view into the prehistoric world. Its hard to describe in words, but hearing about massive marine macropredators make it feel so immersive. Kinda like how a poem can create an image. I dont know if that makes sense.
    Sea Monsters are cool

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +18

    7:30 unfortunately the band of fossil bearing rock is only around 2m and while at least 2 large cliff falls (over 1 tonne) have occurred since I last visited (either 1-2 months or 4-5 months ago depending on my memory) they aren’t common and before then there was a good few years with no major falls. Despite the high tidal range the cliff is mostly unaffected.

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +7

      I'm excited to include the clips in the longer video coming soon!

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +2

      @@TheVividen really!!! Awesome! I’d love it whether you used them or not!

  • @tamaltarudey8912
    @tamaltarudey8912 2 місяці тому +3

    You can also do a video about the Mapusaurus roseae specimen MCF PVPH 108.145 which is represented by a massive pubic shaft and according to Coria and Currie's 2006 description of Mapusaurus it's about 10% bigger than the corresponding bones of the Giganotosaurus holotype specimen, indicating a very large theropod.

  • @UniversalKC
    @UniversalKC День тому

    Great vid!!

  • @zachf632
    @zachf632 2 місяці тому +3

    Hi I’m a finance guy. Not sure how I ended up here. But this video is wonderful. What a great educational resource. And it’s so entertaining. Keep it up

  • @pborogeopaleo
    @pborogeopaleo 2 місяці тому +5

    Fantastic achievement, Paul De la Salle is a good friend of mine. And has been very inspirational with my amateur Palaeontology escapades ⚒️

  • @abdulazizrex
    @abdulazizrex 2 місяці тому +36

    What were these even eating to get so big?!

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +38

      Great question! Probably whatever they wanted

    • @lolidemon3163
      @lolidemon3163 2 місяці тому +17

      If i had to guess. They were eating food :p

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +12

      @@lolidemon3163 good hypothesis

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +5

      Judging from other large ichthyosaurs and other animals in their environment probably smelled icthyosaurs, large fish, turtles, plesiosaurs maybe even small pliosaurs or mosasaurs (that would be a funny turn of events!)

    • @francissemyon7971
      @francissemyon7971 2 місяці тому +1

      ​@@DreadEnderNo plesiosaurs 202 MYA...

  • @drothehero4784
    @drothehero4784 2 місяці тому

    brilliant video man❤❤

  • @noahsmethers9339
    @noahsmethers9339 2 місяці тому +1

    The crazy part about paleontology is just how little we know! It takes us dozens of textbooks to record summaries of human history, yet the millions of years before have 1 textbook in comparison! Thanks for making these videos, even if they sometimes leave me with more questions than answers

  • @S-T-E-V-E
    @S-T-E-V-E 2 місяці тому

    Great video! 👌

  • @LiliumCruorem
    @LiliumCruorem 2 місяці тому

    All my favorite creators are dropping vids about this guy!!!! We eatin goooooood

  • @Starbright_
    @Starbright_ 2 місяці тому +18

    I’m patiently waiting for the day when we can confidently say that the blue whale isn’t the largest creature to have ever existed. I am so holding out for those 30m+, 100t+ Ichthyotitan size estimates, even though they may be a bit farfetched.

  • @Vulcano7965
    @Vulcano7965 2 місяці тому +2

    That video title reads like a one sentence horror story. Nice work!
    prehistory continues to impress!
    What the hell did that thing eat to support its size?!

    • @Vulcano7965
      @Vulcano7965 2 місяці тому +2

      Walking with Sea Monsters needs to adjust its rating for the triassic as it seems :D

  • @edutainme7265
    @edutainme7265 2 місяці тому

    Thank you, that was fascinating

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +2

    I wonder what the next palaeo documentary will be on.

  • @Henry2-bj1ro
    @Henry2-bj1ro 2 місяці тому +8

    Movement to call the giant Temnodontosaurus sp. (Huene 1922) the “Huene giant”

  • @masonharkness6437
    @masonharkness6437 2 місяці тому +3

    Surprised but not shocked by this, if prehistoric life could’ve supported titanosaurus on land back all those millions of years ago I can only imagine what might’ve grown in those seas 😳

  • @chrisrandom1404
    @chrisrandom1404 2 місяці тому +7

    Alright. Time for someone to invent a time machine. We need answers.

  • @piotrkarp9562
    @piotrkarp9562 2 місяці тому +3

    If this is Triassic period than my bet is on that he hunted giant squids. Squids were dominant spiecie numberous times before giant reptiles time and with downsizing dunkleops and other bone fishes welp... someone had to hunt them. It's also hard to find fossils of them if there haven't any shell (modern giant squids doesn't have them neither).

  • @tyrannotherium7873
    @tyrannotherium7873 2 місяці тому +2

    Ichthyosaurs are one of the most coolest marine reptiles ever right now I’m on the chapter on the dr Darren Naish book on ancient marine reptiles

  • @quakethedoombringer
    @quakethedoombringer 2 місяці тому +4

    *WWD Liopraurodon quietly sobbing in the corner*

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +14

    Was the new paper good or bad timing? Because it happened just before you were going to publish a video on it, but it was also JUST before.

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +14

      I was in contact with the authors beforehand, so I knew when it was coming out and planned this video accordingly.

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +5

      @@TheVividen really? Awesome! I remember you said you talked to someone about something related to the video but I didn’t realise it was about the paper itself!

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +4

      ​@@DreadEnderYeah, Paul was a huge help!

    • @DreadEnder
      @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +1

      @@TheVividen hail palaeo Paul!

  • @alihasanaxe4936
    @alihasanaxe4936 Місяць тому +1

    The craziest thing to me whenever looking at size estimates is the fact that, statistically speaking, it's unlikely there's a single fossil in the world belonging to a truly huge member of it's species. The really big ones would be monstrous

  • @joebrat6809
    @joebrat6809 2 місяці тому +2

    This should really have been the monster in Jurassic World rather than the Mosasaurus, which, judging by the latest estimates, was at most 45 feet long. Still a beast...imagine a monitor lizard that size in a feeding mode. Crazy. But this one would dwarf even a Sperm Whale.

  • @tkermi
    @tkermi 2 місяці тому

    Their head shape on these drawings looks interesting and kind of funny. Has features reminding me of 3 types, fish, reptilian and mammal.

  • @evanlephrog7337
    @evanlephrog7337 2 місяці тому +13

    RAIDEN, STOP THAT UH...
    FISH LIZARD?

  • @extraterrestrialhorse9722
    @extraterrestrialhorse9722 2 місяці тому +1

    Yo! One question: are you calling it nature's final boss as a reference to The Rock? If so, what did you think of WM XL???

  • @DreadEnder
    @DreadEnder 2 місяці тому +3

    I thought this was coming tomorrow.

  • @Cassave78
    @Cassave78 2 місяці тому

    I have no clue what was in the water during the Triassic, bu goshdang Ichtyotitan is a unit! I hope we can find some proper postcranial material of the Titan Fish Lizard and learn more about the ecology of the Triassic oceans one day

  • @Paralititan
    @Paralititan 2 місяці тому +13

    There is no evidence that it is still a juvenile. Ichthyosaur histology is very difficult to interpret; it is highly vascularized and almost never preserves any kind of growth marks. We therefore simply can't tell ontogenetic stage through histology. A major flaw in the paper.

    • @francissemyon7971
      @francissemyon7971 2 місяці тому

      Is there a source for this ?

    • @vikingskuld
      @vikingskuld 2 місяці тому +3

      Thank you for pointing this out. As far as a source for the information - personally I feel if it's that important to you then look it up. Either way it doesn't affect me.

    • @Paralititan
      @Paralititan 2 місяці тому

      @@francissemyon7971 I would read Anderson et al. 2019 on Stenopterygius, Kolb et al. 2011 on Mixosaurus and Houssaye et al. 2014 Ichthyosaur general

    • @Paralititan
      @Paralititan 2 місяці тому

      @@vikingskuld What frustrates me is that at least one author should have known this. I am unsure why they kept it in in this way. If I had reviewed, I would have asked for major revisions in the ontogeny discussion.

    • @vikingskuld
      @vikingskuld 2 місяці тому

      @@Paralititan as a lay person who is just into learning and studies genetics geology and fossils for fun, I seriously thank you. I argued against Clovis first when I was younger. So many times academics can get stuck in a huge story and not point out the facts. In the video I was laughing to myself thinking hey how do we know this isn't a bobble head ich. Lol Then not long later that very comment was made. That kind of blunt straightforward honesty is exactly what we need in the sciences. Just wanted to say thanks

  • @iguanobro9925
    @iguanobro9925 2 місяці тому +16

    scientific name proposal:
    something related to a Godzilla character (example: serizawaensis).

    • @loowick4074
      @loowick4074 2 місяці тому +2

      We saving that name for a 150 tonner

    • @quakethedoombringer
      @quakethedoombringer 2 місяці тому +1

      I am a bit surprised they haven't picked up kaiju names from Ultraman, considering they have a bunch of pseudodino looking dinos

  • @steveirwin3594
    @steveirwin3594 2 місяці тому +6

    I'm confused. I thought the Aust Colossus and Lilstock monster were from the same creature? Is the aust colossus NOT a specimen of Ichthyotitan?
    Edit: Woah and I'm excited to hear more about your book! Is there a place I can learn more about it?

    • @TheWigglergler
      @TheWigglergler 2 місяці тому +3

      They may or may not have been the same species. They were certainly very closely related, but there's a large temporal gap between the two, so we don't know for sure.

  • @SherlandShrouht-esse
    @SherlandShrouht-esse 12 днів тому

    Man, I just realized how terrible being eaten by a giant ichthyosaur would be. You’ll hope to get crunched, but if it just ends up swallowing you, you’ll be left fighting for your life in its mouth trying not to get crushed by its tongue, not to get stuck in its esophagus, and then hopefully it’ll regurgitate you and chew you up before you end up slowly dissolving in its stomach.

  • @heinrichharkonen2084
    @heinrichharkonen2084 29 днів тому

    25 m long Icthyotitan: This isn't even my final form

  • @generallyupsetfetus
    @generallyupsetfetus 2 місяці тому +2

    These things would've/could've been quite close to the size of the first Godzilla, who stood at 50 meters.
    Horrific.

    • @polytropos1.1
      @polytropos1.1 2 місяці тому

      Fortunately, ichthyosaurs did not stand.

  • @thenamesianna
    @thenamesianna 2 місяці тому +3

    >37.5 metres long
    >not fully grown
    Golly gee I hope it was at least CLOSE to being fully grown !

  • @mahasohona966
    @mahasohona966 2 місяці тому

    that "Where were they in the food chain>?" in the end made me wonder if there could have been another giant reptile who preyed on this one...

  • @fiery_gamerz
    @fiery_gamerz 2 місяці тому

    Nature's final boss when Human pulls out Torpedo

  • @josewayneoninguemd7740
    @josewayneoninguemd7740 2 місяці тому +18

    I like to think that aust colossus and lilstock monster could be the same species from hector's ichtyosaur but growing, since they have VERY big sizes

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +4

      They might be! More material may clear that up

  • @SpookyGrim
    @SpookyGrim 19 днів тому

    Man am I glad these aren’t around anymore. The ocean is scary enough but the idea of having a possible 100+ ton 35m long creature floating around is terrifying. Gonna stay out of the water just in case 😂

  • @bozoboysinc8287
    @bozoboysinc8287 2 місяці тому

    Imagine going on a boat in ARK when a fully grown giant sea lizard shows up.

  • @vikingskuld
    @vikingskuld 2 місяці тому

    Hey i wanted to say thank you so much for the up front honesty. Academia has gotten so bad at extrapolating a huge story from such little information these days. Even the evolution mechanisms are debatable and in doubt. I truly appreciate just the facts grea job on this video.

  • @lawrenegummy4736
    @lawrenegummy4736 10 днів тому

    imagine seeing the front of this 25 meter monster swimming toward you in the deep darkness .

  • @Procrastinater
    @Procrastinater Місяць тому +1

    Why does nearly every blue whale comparison illustration have the blue curled up like an olympic diver, yet is scaled to 33 meters? (which is a false measurement in the first place) Props to this video for at least having one comparison shot where this isn't the case.
    You can sense the whale-lovers scrambling to deboonk this though, cannot have an animal bigger than the blue whale existing.

  • @jesseorlofske2694
    @jesseorlofske2694 Місяць тому

    We need ichthyotitan in a chased by sea monsters sequel.

  • @janakipremaratne953
    @janakipremaratne953 2 місяці тому +3

    Hi, I was just wondering what the most likely mass from the Aust colossus is?

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +2

      Minimum mass scaling from Shastasaurus is about 170 tonnes. Other ichthyosaurs can get higher or lower

    • @janakipremaratne953
      @janakipremaratne953 2 місяці тому

      @@TheVividen oh ok thanks.

    • @janakipremaratne953
      @janakipremaratne953 2 місяці тому

      @@TheVividen Also, what is the most likely estimate for a fully grown individual of the aust colossus's species?

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +1

      ​@@janakipremaratne953That unfortunately we don't have enough information to tell. We have no idea how much more growth it had left--it could have been quite minimal

    • @janakipremaratne953
      @janakipremaratne953 2 місяці тому

      @@TheVividen oh, ok thanks

  • @rileyernst9086
    @rileyernst9086 2 місяці тому

    Jeez. That orca looks snack sized.

  • @Mikailodon
    @Mikailodon 2 місяці тому +4

    These ichthyosaurs were already the size of blue whales, I didn’t even know they were even still growing. That’s just ming-blowing. Also, Dean Lomax is such a great paleontologist who is knowledgeable about ichthyosaurs and his Locked in Time book that I got at TetZooCon 2023 inspired me to make a video about extraordinary fossils soon. Nice video

  • @rsuriyop
    @rsuriyop 2 місяці тому +1

    Lilstock... Lilstock of horrors! 🎵

  • @6thdayreptiles414
    @6thdayreptiles414 2 місяці тому

    Bro even at 32 meters it would be the same size as a blue whale if not bigger 💀, such an amazing animal

  • @settratheimperishable4093
    @settratheimperishable4093 Місяць тому +1

    Here I was, really thinking we could have at least one record in our time, with the Blue Whale being the largest animal that has ever graced our planet. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

  • @andrewdrednaught
    @andrewdrednaught 2 місяці тому +1

    So it turns out there could've been blue whale-sized marine predators just like Walking with dinosaurs proclaimed. Just not the liopleurodon.

  • @williamdaviddiazcuchimaque7511
    @williamdaviddiazcuchimaque7511 14 днів тому +2

    Imaginen el dia que descubremos que la criatura con fuerza de mordida mas poderosa de la historia fue un ictiosaurio

  • @FireWolfGamingYT
    @FireWolfGamingYT 22 дні тому

    As an ark player, I can confirm this is bigger then the itchys in the game

  • @raging_crocodile2081
    @raging_crocodile2081 2 місяці тому

    We’re gonna need a bigger boat

  • @Waaris_771
    @Waaris_771 День тому

    If this thing is big, imagine it has a rival which may be even bigger! Also I’d imagine Monsterverse Godzilla probably fed on this giant Ichthyo as a snack during its time period.

  • @seatspud
    @seatspud 2 місяці тому +1

    It was only a juvenile...
    (Someone had to use the Subnautica Garg meme)

  • @darusnelson2620
    @darusnelson2620 28 днів тому

    This planet has had amazing animals

  • @charnjeetsharma5368
    @charnjeetsharma5368 2 місяці тому +1

    Aust is simaliar to the Gargantuan Levithan from Subnatica.

  • @blackking7512
    @blackking7512 2 місяці тому

    Ummm. Wouldn't this mean that might have also been eating things that were bigger than itself? That's scary to think about. The ocean is ridiculous.

  • @urick15
    @urick15 2 місяці тому

    So is the aust specimen and icthyotitan the same animal?

  • @michaelblevins1651
    @michaelblevins1651 Місяць тому +1

    There’s a chance that these animals might have Grown through their entire life (like Crocodilians or just had a long period of time before they stopped “Growing”

  • @danilocastro3109
    @danilocastro3109 2 місяці тому

    We got ichthyosaurus glow up before gta 6 😭🙏

  • @tyrannotherium7873
    @tyrannotherium7873 2 місяці тому

    4:32 I interviewed this UA-camr

  • @Lobsterwithinternet
    @Lobsterwithinternet Місяць тому +2

    Finally, something to make the Megalodon fanboys sweat.

    • @titanialovesheart
      @titanialovesheart Місяць тому +2

      Megalodon is still comparable, through MNHN Type or Gracile MNHN. I think.

    • @Otodusmegalodon
      @Otodusmegalodon Місяць тому +1

      ​@@titanialovesheartYeah gracile MNHCP62 specimen was like 164 tons...but still way less than high estimates of aust..

    • @titanialovesheart
      @titanialovesheart Місяць тому +1

      @@Otodusmegalodon Probe the high estimates for me. 🙃☝️

    • @moolate127
      @moolate127 25 днів тому +1

      Megalodon fanboy here, I think anyone who isn't a 12 year old boy doesn't care which creature is bigger or more ferocious. They are both amazing creatures that we will never get the chance to see in person.

  • @AND-od5jt
    @AND-od5jt 2 місяці тому

    6:16 Since lizards and snakes (among others) are indeterminate growers, are we SURE that the same isn't true for (some species) of dinosaurs?

  • @KyoryuDiabolos
    @KyoryuDiabolos 2 місяці тому

    Makes you wonder how bigger or smaller they would have gotten had they not gone extinct and survived past the late Cretaceous

  • @SamuRhino2023
    @SamuRhino2023 2 місяці тому +5

    Any news on the Bertha Rex specimen? Also, do you think a 20 ton Rex is possible? I think so but I’d imagine it’d be built differently from say Stan or Sue. What do you think?

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +2

      The Bertha paper should be out by the end of 2024! In terms of a 20 tonne Rex...honestly, no. It wouldn't make sense for a bipedal predatory theropod to be that big ecologically and energetically, and it would be incredibly slow. In the Gomez video I was very careful to state that the specimen was not remotely reliable, and it isn't. I'm sure that whatever the caudal belonged to was much much smaller than simple isometric scaling from Acro would indicate (if it's a theropod at all, which isn't certain in the first place).

    • @Boss-ot1iy
      @Boss-ot1iy 2 місяці тому

      ​@qbgrindddd What's the size of ED Copes femur? I can't find anything about it

  • @marcuscallaghan2238
    @marcuscallaghan2238 2 місяці тому

    imagine how much food mustve been around then 😮

  • @prehistorichero2755
    @prehistorichero2755 2 місяці тому

    I would’ve imagine these giant icthyosaurids are more of like filter feeders or school fish suckers (basically) than opportunistic apex predators. What do you think?

  • @theangrysuchomimus5163
    @theangrysuchomimus5163 Місяць тому

    I wonder how many of those animals (adults ofc) lived at the same time in the ocean. Usually, the bigger an animal gets the less numerous they are as adults. Also, the oceans must have been really productive to support macropredators bigger than blue whales.

  • @dreadblock7592
    @dreadblock7592 2 місяці тому

    Ark did this guy dirty

  • @lightman3581
    @lightman3581 2 місяці тому +1

    Did you know that Hector Ichthyosaurs from New Zeeland has been confirmed as real?

    • @TheVividen
      @TheVividen  2 місяці тому +3

      I'll be covering it soon!

  • @TheDinoNerd
    @TheDinoNerd Місяць тому

    JW mosasaurus: MWAHAHA, I ALONE CAN DEFY NATURE!
    Icthyotitan: Yes, but actually no.

  • @shinplayzproductions8107
    @shinplayzproductions8107 Місяць тому

    "The largest carnivore the world has ever seen.."

  • @nino88881
    @nino88881 2 місяці тому

    Hmm. Back then the earth probably seemed not that big to these huge creatures.

  • @muscularclassrepresentativ5663
    @muscularclassrepresentativ5663 Місяць тому

    The trophic data comes back and it isn’t an apex predator
    👁️👄👁️