Photo of the Day #885: Mosasaurus maximus

Each day I look forward to finding a nice pic of some animal, alive or extinct, on your blog, or a nice flower or whatever you find on your hard disc. It is a nice way to begin a workday, and often the pictures 'ground' my preception of the animal, too. How often is it that I see a musk ox, for example? Also, your pics (especially stuff like the seal prep) always make me realise how much there is out there to know, and how little I know, and how easy it can be to learn. "Go there and look" many of your pics tell me. Well, I'm off, going there and looking (reptiles collection at the MFN Berlin).

They've got a Mosasaurus skull at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, but it's like half the size of this one here. That's just freaky! But gloriously freaky.

Heinrich; Thank you. I am glad to hear you enjoy the photos; it always means a lot to receive that kind of feedback from a reader. As you noted, the photos are of whatever I find interesting, be it exotic or familiar, and they often remind me of how much more I have to learn, too! Have fun looks at those reptiles!

Mark; Yes, this one is HUGE. I should have stood next to it for scale. It is hard to tell, but it is coated with beeswax, too, which gives it an odd appearance close-up.

I never heard the name of Mososaurus maximumus before. Great name.

This reminds me: Brian, were you able to use any of your own photos as illustrations/figures in your book?

Stevo; The cover image is one of my photos (a block of Dactylioceras), but I don't think there will be any others in the book. I can't use most images from museums because of copyright, and most of my wildlife photos are not relevant, so the vast majority of illustrations are coming from papers, artists, and public-domain sources (old books, etc.). I have thought about putting together a photo book at some point, but I am doubtful that 1) I have enough good photos to do so, and 2) that many people will be interested. Perhaps someday.

That skull is so impressive that I almost wouldn't have minded being eaten by such an awesome creature. Does that sound weird? :)