Researchers in Namibia have discovered the fossil of a giant, extinct swamp creature with a toilet-shaped skull capable of excellent prey trapping.
This creature is identified as Gaiasia jennyae, which existed approximately 280 million years ago, about 40 million years before the first dinosaurs evolved.
The giant carnivore that lived in the Gondwana swamp 280 million years ago was discovered in Namibia. (Photo: C. Marsicano).
Top Predator of the Swamp
According to a statement, its skull measures over 60 cm in length, and researchers estimate that this animal could reach a length of up to 2.5 meters, possibly making it the largest of its kind.
The researchers described this swamp creature in a study recently published in the journal Nature. “Gaiasia jennyae is significantly larger than a human and likely lived near the bottom of swamps and lakes,” said co-author Jason Pardo, a researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago, USA.
G. jennyae had interlocking teeth that enabled it to hunt effectively. Researchers believe it was a top predator in the swamp ecosystem.
“It has a large, flat, toilet-shaped head, which allows it to open its mouth and suck in prey. The entire front of its mouth is filled with enormous teeth,” Pardo noted.
Reconstruction illustration of the species Gaiasia jennyae. (Source: Science Alert).
The researchers found this fossil in the Gai-As Formation in northwestern Namibia, part of the southern region of the supercontinent Gondwana during the time G. jennyae existed. The research team discovered fossils from four individuals, including skull fragments and a vertebra.
At the time G. jennyae lived, present-day Namibia was situated much farther south, nearly parallel to the northernmost point of today’s Antarctica, and the ice age was gradually coming to an end. While the land near the equator began to dry up and new animal species started to evolve to fill the ecosystem, swamps near the poles still existed, allowing animals to retain many primitive features.
G. jennyae was a quadrupedal vertebrate that exhibited basic characteristics of both fish and the first four-legged animals. These quadrupeds retained underwater traits such as gills and had limbs that were not fully evolved for movement on land.
