Ancient outback 'crime scene' discovered in rock: 'Vertebrae were shattered'
Paleontologists in Queensland, Australia, have discovered a 100-million-year-old fossil that acts as a prehistoric crime scene. The specimen contains the remains of three different species, revealing a complex interaction between a giant pliosaur, an ichthyosaur, and a pterosaur.
Why it matters
This rare discovery provides significant insights into the predatory behaviors and ecosystem dynamics of the ancient Eromanga Sea.
This astonishing fossil, discovered in the Queensland outback town of Richmond, contains the remains of three different animals. (Supplied) Fossilised skeletons unearthed in outback Queensland have been compared by paleontologists to a "crime scene".
Some of the gnarled bones from a dolphin-like ichthyosaur have been completely shattered, while others have been crushed by enormous teeth.
Sections from the seven-metre-long animal are completely missing, which paleontologists believe is consistent with an attack.
But what's truly remarkable about the 100-million-year-old fossil is that it contains the remains of three creatures that inhabited the prehistoric Eromanga Sea.
Using 3D imaging, Australian scientists have pieced together an extraordinary sequence of events.
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An artist's rendition of the pterosaur, ichthyosaur, and Kronosaurus.
The ichthyosaur appears to have been attacked by an even bigger predator, a 14-metre-long giant pliosaur, which roamed ancient Queensland.
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