The rest of the skeleton had probably already been excavated during the marl extraction in the ENCI quarry and so, it disappeared.
The scientists are pleased that most of the head has been recovered. In addition, they found, inter alia, the collar-bone and a so-called bud tooth of a few millimeters in size.
This is a new tooth hidden in the jaw which only emerges as an old tooth falls out.
Mosasaurus hofmanni was the first mosasaur ever discovered amidst much publicity in the eighteenth century, also in Maastricht. The original fossil was stolen from Maastricht by French soldiers, and brought to the Paris museum where it still is.
A twitter message from the museum says that the skull of the newly discovered mosasaur (the only part of the animal recovered completely so far, though an important part) is about 10% bigger than the Paris specimen’s.
Dutch NOS TV says that probably, after the death of the mosasaur, scavenging sharks dispersed its remains. The search for other parts of the skeleton is still continuing.
In the marl quarry near cement factory ENCI in Maastricht a huge fossil has been found. The monster is from the age of dinosaurs. The local Natural History Museum and the ENCI said so in Maastricht this Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the museum refused to say on Wednesday which prehistoric animal this concerns. She referred to a press conference Thursday in the ENCI quarry.
The museum says this is a “special find”. It is unclear yet whether this is a finding comparable to the mosasaur, found in Maastricht many years ago.
Maastricht was 65 million years ago covered by a shallow sea, the habitat of this ‘Tyrannosaurus of the sea’.
UPDATE: the fossil turned out to be a mosasaur. See here.
This is the first episode of the online video series from The Herparazzi.
Follow the Herparazzi team as they explore De Hoge Fronten, a collection of battlements that were built in the 17th and 18th century for the defense and protection of Maastricht, The Netherlands.
There, they found the last remaining and most northern natural population of wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) in The Netherlands.
The video also has information on prehistoric mosasaur lizards.
Drumheller… The 75-million-year-old fossil of a mosasaur, (MO-sa-sore) an extinct, flipper-bearing prehistoric marine reptile, was discovered at the Korite Mine near Lethbridge on February 16, 2012. Staff from the Royal Tyrrell Museum, led by palaeontologist Dr. Donald Henderson, are currently at the mine working on removal of
the fossil.
Originally it was thought that only the tail was present, but further investigation has revealed a full specimen, six to seven metres long, as well as a well-preserved skull, 60 to 70 cm long, with an impressive set of teeth. The discovery is significant as it is one of the most completely preserved mosasaur fossils discovered in Alberta.
The Korite Mine produces ammolite, a rare and valuable opal-like organic gemstone popular in jewelry. Ammolite is formed from fossilized, shell-bearing sea creatures called ammonites, which lived among the mosasaurs and other marine reptiles in the Bearpaw Sea that covered Alberta 75-73 million years ago.
In May of this year, the Museum’s new exhibit, “Alberta’s Last Sea Dragon – Solving an Ancient Puzzle” will feature a new species of elasmosaur, (ell-AZ-mo-sore) also found at the Korite Mine, in 2007. “It’s been almost five years since we’ve found a marine reptile at the Korite Mine,” says Andrew Neuman, Executive Director of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. “The Korite Mine and the Museum maintain a very positive relationship, which has led to the recovery of a number of significant fossils.”
It is expected that it will take five days to remove the fossil and ready it for transport to the Royal Tyrrell Museum for further study and research.
Operated by Alberta Culture and Community Services, the Royal Tyrrell Museum is located six kilometres northwest of Drumheller and is Canada’s only institution devoted exclusively to the science of palaeontology.
Restoration of an important biodiversity area: La Montagne Saint-Pierre (Belgium, near Maastricht): here.
Wallcreepers are birds of high mountains in Europe and Asia.
Only rarely, they come to countries like the Netherlands.
Today, a wallcreeper is reported on the (not so high) Mount Saint Peter near Maastricht in the Netherlands (one of very few places in the Netherlands where eagle owls nest).
