Ichthyosaur: Prehistoric marine predator died soon after devouring a large reptile, fossils reveal

CNN — A marine reptile called an ichthyosaur ripped into the nutritious torso of a slightly smaller marine reptile 240 million years ago, swallowed it and promptly died, according to a new study. “We have never found articulated remains of a large reptile in the stomach of gigantic predators from the age of dinosaurs, such as marine reptiles and dinosaurs,” said Ryosuke Motani, study coauthor and professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Davis. “Our ichthyosaur’s stomach contents weren’t etched by stomach acid, so it must have died quite soon after ingesting this food item,” Motani said. The ichthyosaur may have run into trouble trying to separate the thalattosaur’s head or tail, swallowing its massive trunk or the thalattosaur may have fought back by twisting and jerking, Motani said.