Friday, April 29, 2011

Kronosaurus: The King (or Queen) of the Queensland Sea



Life was good during the Early Cretaceous – about 110 million years ago – in what would some day become Queensland, Australia. That is, life was good for whatever was making tucker out of whatever else was alive at that time. In that sense, then, when it came to the Cretaceous seaway that covered much of inland Australia then, few animals enjoyed life more than the giant marine reptile Kronosaurus queenlandicus.
Fancy a dive in the Cretaceous sea of Queensland? You’d have a lot more to worry about than running into a box jellyfish, blue-winged octopus, or great white shark, mate, like a bloody huge Kronosaurus. Artwork is on a tapestry (batik?) in Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond, Queensland, and the presumed artist is Paul Stumkat, who’s also the curator and fossil preparator there. (When you do paleontology in central Queensland, you have to wear a lot of hats.)