No one knew why so many immense reptiles were bunched together. In the middle of the Nevada desert, in rocks dating back over 225 million years, paleontologists uncovered the remains of at least seven ...

Known as Shonisaurus popularis, the species resembled a chunky dolphin that grew to at least 15.2 meters long and died in large numbers at one particular site some 230 million years ago. The mysteries ...

Complete tooth and partial jaws (UMNH VP 32539) of the ichthyosaur Shonisaurus popularis from Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada. These new fossils demonstrate that Shonisaurus was an apex predator ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Deep in the stone at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park (BISP) in ...

Fossilized bones, representing at least seven separate ichthyosaur skeletons, have been color-coded where each color corresponds to a different skeleton. Findings published today in the journal ...

For decades, paleontologists have tried to explain what they assumed was a 230-million-year-old scene of mass death. The mystery has haunted paleontologists for decades: What explains a fossilized ...

Artist’s life reconstruction of adult and newly born Triassic ichthyosaurs Shonisaurus, 2022. Credit: Gabriel Ugueto. Today’s marine giants—such as blue and humpback whales—routinely make massive ...

Across the sprawl of a 60-by-30-foot screen at the Nevada Museum of Art, ghostly leviathans of deep time erupt into a vivid dance; Shonisaurus popularis, Nevada’s state fossil, have been reanimated ...

RENO — As many as 37 fossilized, school bus-sized marine reptiles from 225 million years ago are clustered in a remote, mountainous desert region of central Nevada in the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park ...

Nearly 40 school-bus-sized marine reptiles lay petrified in stone at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. The fossils have been studied for decades and the story of the ichthyosaur (Shonisaurus popularis) ...