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Description
84 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period of what is now the Smoky Hill Chalk of the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, USA was part of a vast inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway at the time. In this sea, the rich supply of fish has also led to various piscivorous animals living here to prey on them. Flocks of the small pterosaur Nyctosaurus gracilis and the seagull-like bird Ichthyornis dispar are seen here flying above the ocean surface in search of fish, and in the water and Hesperornis regalis, a 1.5 meter long flightless bird that swam underwater in search of prey like extant penguins do. But in these oceans lie even bigger predators that can prey upon them. While swimming underwater, a Hesperornis is suddenly ambushed from below by a 12-meter long mosasaur known as Tylosaurus proriger, and with a strong flick of its tail the flightless bird is launched out of the water and sent flying through the air, much to the surprise of the flying pterosaurs and birds. When it crashes back down to the water, the jaws of the massive marine reptile await it.

Yet another drawing made for Mosasaur Week, this time I decided to feature the second most famous mosasaur after Mosasaurus itself. The genus Tylosaurus is known to contain at least 7 species, though the exact number varies depending on which ones you decide to lump into the genus and which to be assigned in other genera. The most well-known is T. proriger from the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous. Being from the Western Interior Seaway, a popular setting for paleodocumentaries, it has also had quite a few media depictions but for some reason it is usually not properly identified. Like, Sea Monsters: A Walking With Dinosaurs Trilogy, Dinosaur Revolution and Monsters Resurrected all simply called it a mosasaur and I never really understood why everyone refuses to properly identify it. Is it like how people say you-know-who instead of Voldemort? Is Tylosaurus such a terrifying predator that people are afraid to even say its name? Why is it never given proper credit? Anyways, Tylosaurus would have been one of the top predators in its habitat and as the abundant fossil specimens show, it would have preyed on a wide variety of animals like fish, sharks, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites and smaller mosasaurs just to name a few. There is also a preserved fossil skin assigned to this genus that even has traces of melanosomes and suggests that the animal has black-white countershading, being colored a bit like an orca.

This drawing was mostly inspired by a case seen in 2015 off the coast of Canada in which an orca (or killer whale) was observed using its tail to launch a harbor seal 20 meters into the air (here you go: www.earthtouchnews.com/oceans/… ). While its jaws would have been its main weapons, I thought perhaps mosasaurs occasionally may go play with their food and mess around like this. Their closest extant relatives, varanid lizards, are known to more intelligent and playful among reptiles after all.

If you're wondering why my choice of colors on Hesperornis differs from the last time I drew it (www.deviantart.com/olmagon/art… ), it's because I am drawing a different species this time. The genus contains up to 11 species and I don't think they all looked the same. The ones here are H. regalis, the type species, and the ones in my older drawing are H. chowi and H. mengeli.

Edit on 29 March 2021: I came to realize I had made an anatomical error in my Nyctosaurus, being that I had reconstructed it with fingers. In reality they only had the long finger that supports the wing and lacked all others, so I edited the image to fix it. Barely noticeable though.

Description
84 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period of what is now the Smoky Hill Chalk of the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, USA was part of a vast inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway at the time. In this sea, the rich supply of fish has also led to various piscivorous animals living here to prey on them. Flocks of the small pterosaur Nyctosaurus gracilis and the seagull-like bird Ichthyornis dispar are seen here flying above the ocean surface in search of fish, and in the water and Hesperornis regalis, a 1.5 meter long flightless bird that swam underwater in search of prey like extant penguins do. But in these oceans lie even bigger predators that can prey upon them. While swimming underwater, a Hesperornis is suddenly ambushed from below by a 12-meter long mosasaur known as Tylosaurus proriger, and with a strong flick of its tail the flightless bird is launched out of the water and sent flying through the air, much to the surprise of the flying pterosaurs and birds. When it crashes back down to the water, the jaws of the massive marine reptile await it.

Yet another drawing made for Mosasaur Week, this time I decided to feature the second most famous mosasaur after Mosasaurus itself. The genus Tylosaurus is known to contain at least 7 species, though the exact number varies depending on which ones you decide to lump into the genus and which to be assigned in other genera. The most well-known is T. proriger from the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous. Being from the Western Interior Seaway, a popular setting for paleodocumentaries, it has also had quite a few media depictions but for some reason it is usually not properly identified. Like, Sea Monsters: A Walking With Dinosaurs Trilogy, Dinosaur Revolution and Monsters Resurrected all simply called it a mosasaur and I never really understood why everyone refuses to properly identify it. Is it like how people say you-know-who instead of Voldemort? Is Tylosaurus such a terrifying predator that people are afraid to even say its name? Why is it never given proper credit? Anyways, Tylosaurus would have been one of the top predators in its habitat and as the abundant fossil specimens show, it would have preyed on a wide variety of animals like fish, sharks, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites and smaller mosasaurs just to name a few. There is also a preserved fossil skin assigned to this genus that even has traces of melanosomes and suggests that the animal has black-white countershading, being colored a bit like an orca.

This drawing was mostly inspired by a case seen in 2015 off the coast of Canada in which an orca (or killer whale) was observed using its tail to launch a harbor seal 20 meters into the air (here you go: www.earthtouchnews.com/oceans/… ). While its jaws would have been its main weapons, I thought perhaps mosasaurs occasionally may go play with their food and mess around like this. Their closest extant relatives, varanid lizards, are known to more intelligent and playful among reptiles after all.

If you're wondering why my choice of colors on Hesperornis differs from the last time I drew it (www.deviantart.com/olmagon/art… ), it's because I am drawing a different species this time. The genus contains up to 11 species and I don't think they all looked the same. The ones here are H. regalis, the type species, and the ones in my older drawing are H. chowi and H. mengeli.

Edit on 29 March 2021: I came to realize I had made an anatomical error in my Nyctosaurus, being that I had reconstructed it with fingers. In reality they only had the long finger that supports the wing and lacked all others, so I edited the image to fix it. Barely noticeable though.