Name:
Woolungasaurus (Greek for "Woolung lizard"); pronounced WOO-lung-oh-SORE-us
Habitat:
Shores of Australasia
Historical Period:
Early Cretaceous (110 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 30 feet long; weight unknown
Diet:
Fish
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Slender trunk with long neck and small head
About Woolungasaurus:
Just as every country has to lay claim to its own terrestrial dinosaur, it helps to brag about an aquatic reptile or two. Woolungasaurus is Australia's native plesiosaur (a type of aquatic reptile characterized by its slender body, long neck and small head), though this creature pales in comparison to Mauisaurus, a plesiosaur found in Australia's neighbor New Zealand that was about twice as big. (To give Australia its due, though, Mauisaurus lived tens of million years after Woolungosaurus, and so had time to evolve to a larger size.)
