100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton discovery 'could hold the key' to prehistoric research Skip to content NOWCAST NewsCenter 5 Live Now Menu Search Homepage Local News Weather Interactive Radar Forecasting Our Future Closings 5 Alert Traffic Chronicle National News Coronavirus Commitment 2022 Matter of Fact 5 Investigates Your Health Your Money Ben Has Your Back Sports Entertainment Project CommUNITY Community CityLine 5 For Good ulocal News We Love Upload Homes Better Money Boston (Ad) Stay and Play Editorials News Team Contact Advertise with WCVB MeTV Contests Internships Privacy Notice Terms of Use 40°Weather Search Severe Weather There is currently 1 active weather alert Boston, MA02108 40° Clear Chance of precipitation 0% Change MORE 1 / 2 Press enter to search Type to Search Search location by ZIP code ZIP Current location Boston, MA 02108 Advertisement RECOMMENDED Expecting mother with visual impairment able to 'see' baby with 3D printed ultrasound After their flight got canceled, 13 strangers decided to rent a van and drive instead Acton police seek to charge 85-year-old woman in hit-and-run that seriously injured teen Aerosmith cancels rest of 2022 shows because of Steven Tyler's health 18-year-old elected as mayor in Arkansas town Encore Boston Harbor awarded Massachusetts' first sports wagering operator license Canton police cruiser struck by vehicle on Interstate 95 VIDEO: College students help walk elementary students to school due to bus driver shortage 100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton discovery 'could hold the key' to prehistoric research Share Copy Link Copy {copyShortcut} to copy Link copied! Updated: 3:23 PM EST Dec 7, 2022 Infinite Scroll Enabled By Kathleen Magramo, CNN 100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton discovery 'could hold the key' to prehistoric research Share Copy Link Copy {copyShortcut} to copy Link copied! Updated: 3:23 PM EST Dec 7, 2022 Infinite Scroll Enabled Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently behind liveLIVERemaining Time -0:00 1xPlayback RateChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedAudio TrackPicture-in-PictureFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.Advertisement Hide Transcript Show Transcript men, were we off? We thought we got T. Rex. All figured out it looks like we weren't even close, turns out the tyrannosaurus rex could have been 70% bigger than fossil suggests and wait up to £33,000 according to paleontologists from the Canadian museum of Nature in Ottawa Ontario. That means T. Rex was heavier than an average school bus in case you were wondering live science reports that currently the heftiest tier On record is *** specimen nicknamed Scotty Scotty. Really? Which weight £19,555? But this new research concluded the largest T. Rex would have been about 70% bigger than Scotty. Poor little Scotty Thomas. Carr, *** vertebrate paleontologist, has some encouraging words for us. This reminds us that what we know about dinosaurs isn't much at all. Since the sample sizes are so small, scratch encouraging. Thank you. Dr Kerr. In fact he challenges the findings. He believes T. Rex may have been much bigger than any individual scientists have found so far. Okay, cool. So we know nothing. Well that's it for today's class kids. Bye bye. GET NATIONAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Your Email AddressSubmit Privacy Notice Advertisement 100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton discovery 'could hold the key' to prehistoric research Share Copy Link Copy {copyShortcut} to copy Link copied! Updated: 3:23 PM EST Dec 7, 2022 Infinite Scroll Enabled By Kathleen Magramo, CNN The discovery of a giant 100 million-year-old marine reptile's skeleton in Australia has been hailed by researchers as a breakthrough that may provide vital clues about prehistoric life.The remains of the 19-foot tall juvenile long-necked plesiosaur, also known as an elasmosaur, were found by a trio of amateur fossil hunters on a cattle station in the western Queensland outback in August.Espen Knutsen, senior curator of palaeontology at the Queensland Museum, likened the discovery to that of the Rosetta Stone -- the Ancient Egyptian block of granite rediscovered in 1799 that helped experts to decode hieroglyphics."We have never found a body and a head together and this could hold the key to future research in this field," Knutsen said in a statement Wednesday that confirmed the discovery, adding it could give paleontologists greater insight into the origins, evolution and ecology of the cretaceous period in the region."Because these plesiosaurs were two-thirds neck, often the head would be separated from the body after death, which makes it very hard to find a fossil preserving both together," he said.The discovery was made by amateur paleontologists known as the "Rock Chicks" -- Cassandra Prince, her sister Cynthia, and fellow fossil sleuth Sally, who goes only by her first name.Elasmosaurs, which grew to between 8 and 10 meters long, lived in the Eromanga Sea, which covered large parts of inland Australia with waters 50 meters deep about 150 million years ago.Knutsen told CNN that when an elasmosaur died, its decomposing body would swell with gas that made it rise to the water's surface, and often the head would break off when predators scavenged the carcass -- making full-body discoveries rare.He added that because the latest find was a young specimen it would shed light on how the body shape of elasmosaurs changed from youth to adulthood."We're going to look at the chemistry of its teeth and that can tell us something about its ecology in terms of habitat as well, whether it was migrating throughout his life, or whether it was sort of staying in the same habitat, and also into its diet," he said.Ancient marine reptiles like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are not classified as dinosaurs even though they lived around the same time. Plesiosaurs evolved from ancestors who lived on land and therefore didn't have gills and had to surface occasionally for air. It remains unknown how long they could stay underwater.It's latest big discovery about prehistory to have been made in Australia in recent years.In June last year, scientists confirmed that the 2007 discovery of a fossilized skeleton in Queensland was the country's largest dinosaur. The dinosaur, nicknamed "Cooper," stood about two stories tall, and was as long as a basketball court.Two months later, scientists discovered that there once was a species of flying "dragon" that soared over Australia 105 million years ago. The pterosaur was described by researchers as a "fearsome beast" that snacked on juvenile dinosaurs. The discovery of a giant 100 million-year-old marine reptile's skeleton in Australia has been hailed by researchers as a breakthrough that may provide vital clues about prehistoric life.The remains of the 19-foot tall juvenile long-necked plesiosaur, also known as an elasmosaur, were found by a trio of amateur fossil hunters on a cattle station in the western Queensland outback in August. Advertisement Espen Knutsen, senior curator of palaeontology at the Queensland Museum, likened the discovery to that of the Rosetta Stone -- the Ancient Egyptian block of granite rediscovered in 1799 that helped experts to decode hieroglyphics."We have never found a body and a head together and this could hold the key to future research in this field," Knutsen said in a statement Wednesday that confirmed the discovery, adding it could give paleontologists greater insight into the origins, evolution and ecology of the cretaceous period in the region."Because these plesiosaurs were two-thirds neck, often the head would be separated from the body after death, which makes it very hard to find a fossil preserving both together," he said.The discovery was made by amateur paleontologists known as the "Rock Chicks" -- Cassandra Prince, her sister Cynthia, and fellow fossil sleuth Sally, who goes only by her first name. Elasmosaurs, which grew to between 8 and 10 meters long, lived in the Eromanga Sea, which covered large parts of inland Australia with waters 50 meters deep about 150 million years ago.