Question 1

How do you say Eremiasaurus?

Accepted Answer

Say it like this: eh-REE-mee-ah-SOR-us. Break it into five chunks: 'eh' as in egg, 'REE' rhymes with tree, 'mee' like the word me, 'ah' like you're opening your mouth at the dentist, and 'SOR-us' rhymes with 'chorus.' Put the stress on REE and SOR. A good memory trick: 'Every REE Meets A SORcerer.' Once you have that rhythm, Eremiasaurus rolls right off the tongue.

Question 2

What does Eremiasaurus mean?

Accepted Answer

Eremiasaurus means 'desert lizard' in Greek. The first part of the name, 'eremia,' is a Greek word for desert or wilderness, referring to the Moroccan desert where its fossils were found. The second part, 'saurus,' just means lizard in Greek and appears in almost every prehistoric reptile name. The irony is that this 'desert lizard' actually lived its whole life in a warm tropical sea, never setting foot on dry land at all.

Question 3

Was Eremiasaurus a dinosaur?

Accepted Answer

No, Eremiasaurus was not a dinosaur at all. It was a mosasaur, a group of large marine reptiles that were actually more closely related to modern monitor lizards and snakes than to dinosaurs. Mosasaurs evolved from land-living ancestors and gradually adapted to life in the ocean. They lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, but they occupied the seas while dinosaurs ruled the land.

Question 4

How big was Eremiasaurus?

Accepted Answer

Eremiasaurus was a large predator, estimated at roughly 20 to 26 feet long, which is about the same length as a full-size moving truck. It likely weighed around 1,500 pounds or more. While that sounds enormous, it was actually on the medium-to-large end for mosasaurs, not quite in the same size league as the truly massive Mosasaurus, which could reach 40 feet. Still, running into Eremiasaurus in the open ocean would have been terrifying.

Question 5

What did Eremiasaurus eat?

Accepted Answer

Eremiasaurus was a carnivore that ate a variety of marine prey, and its teeth give us the best clues about its diet. It had sharp, pointed teeth at the front of its jaw for grabbing slippery fish or squid, and more robust, blunter teeth toward the back for crushing harder prey like mollusks or ammonites. This mix of tooth shapes, called heterodonty, is actually quite rare among mosasaurs and made Eremiasaurus a more flexible hunter than many of its relatives.

Question 6

Where did Eremiasaurus live?

Accepted Answer

Eremiasaurus fossils have been found in Morocco, Israel, and Brazil, which sounds like a strange combination today, but 66 million years ago those regions were all connected by warm shallow seas. Morocco has produced the most complete remains, from the Ouled Abdoun and Ganntour phosphate basins. The wide geographic spread of its teeth across three continents suggests Eremiasaurus or its close relatives could travel across large stretches of open ocean.

Question 7

Why did it take 60 years to officially name Eremiasaurus?

Accepted Answer

The first teeth of Eremiasaurus were found in Morocco in 1952, but the scientist who examined them, Camille Arambourg, classified them as belonging to the already-known genus Mosasaurus. The fossils sat in that classification for decades. It was not until 2012 that paleontologist Aaron LeBlanc and his team studied two more complete skeletons from the same region and realized the unique tooth shapes and anatomy belonged to a totally new genus. Sometimes it takes new fossils and fresh scientific eyes to unlock a mystery that has been sitting in a collection for generations.

Question 8

Did Eremiasaurus survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?

Accepted Answer

No. Eremiasaurus lived right up to the very end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 66 million years ago, which is precisely when the asteroid impact and resulting mass extinction wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs. All mosasaurs, including Eremiasaurus, went completely extinct at the same time. In fact, mosasaurs had been among the most successful ocean predators on Earth right up until that extinction event, making their sudden disappearance one of the most dramatic chapters in prehistoric ocean history.

Eremiasaurus Pronunciation

Eremiasaurus Picture

What does Eremiasaurus mean?

Name Roots

Fun Facts

Learn More About Eremiasaurus

Related Prehistoric Creatures