US EditionAncient Marine Predators More Dominant Than Any Alive Today
McGill researchers reconstructed a Cretaceous marine food web in Colombia revealing predators at a seventh trophic level, surpassing modern apex species like killer whales and great white sharks.
- On January 13, 2025, McGill University researchers reconstructed the Paja Formation food web and identified enormous marine reptiles as predators at a previously unseen seventh trophic level in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
- During the Mesozoic, rising sea levels and warmer global temperatures fueled marine biodiversity, and the McGill research team compared ancient predator–prey dynamics to a modern Caribbean marine ecosystem model.
- The fossils show that Level 7 hyper-apex predators included Monquirasaurus boyacensis, Sachicasaurus vitae, and a giant teleosaur with robust skulls, powerful jaws, and paddle-like limbs.
- Paleontologists say the result underscores the Paja ecosystem's unmatched diversity and reveals an evolutionary arms race, providing rare insight into ancient predator–prey dynamics shaping modern marine food webs.
- Looking ahead, researchers plan to build models for other fossil sites to test whether seventh-level predators were rare, with Hans Larsson noting `These findings illuminate how marine ecosystems developed through intense trophic competition and shaped the diversity we see today`.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Apex predators in prehistoric Colombian oceans would have snacked on killer whales today
Predators at the top of a marine food chain 130 million years ago ruled with more power than any modern species, McGill research into a marine ecosystem from the Cretaceous period revealed.
Giant Marine Predators Once Hunted in Freshwater Rivers, New Study Suggests
Large prehistoric marine reptiles known as mosasaurs dominated the oceans until their extinction 66 million years ago. Now, according to new chemical evidence, some mosasaurs also lived in freshwater rivers near the end of the Cretaceous period, indicating their ability to adapt as environments changed before the mass extinction. A recent study published in Springer Nature reports that researchers from Uppsala University analyzed the chemical ma…
Science Daily
ecotopical.comAncient oceans were ruled by super predators unlike anything today
Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found predators operating at a food-chain level higher than any seen today. The ancient seas were bursting with life, from giant reptiles to rich invertebrate communities. This extreme complexity reveals how intense competition helped drive the evolution of mode…
Scientists Discover Ancient “Level 7” Super-Predator That Would Have Snacked on Killer Whales Today
Researchers discovered a prehistoric ecosystem filled with giant marine reptiles, revealing an unparalleled level of food web complexity. Predators that dominated the oceans 130 million years ago were even more powerful than any species living today, according to new research from McGill Universi
A 66 million-year-old tooth shows that this ocean forwarder could also hunt in the rivers.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 100% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
