Dino card No. 1475 of 2,027

Prognathodon

Say it: prog-NATH-oh-don

Name means: “forejaw tooth”1

Ate: MeatMosasaursLate Cretaceous to Cenozoic, the age of mammalsNot technically a dinosaur

Prognathodon was a giant marine lizard that lived in the oceans at the same time as the dinosaurs. It had a huge, powerful skull and strong teeth that could crush the shells of sea turtles. This mosasaur was an apex predator, meaning it was at the top of the food chain.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

100 to 62 million years ago2

Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic, the age of mammals

Fossils found in

Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada (Alberta), United States (Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas), Morocco, New Zealand, and many other places2

Food

Meat1

Length

12 m1

estimate for one specimen

When did it live?

Before the dinosaurs

Age of dinosaurs

Age of mammals

400 million years ago25266today

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 2.5 cars parked in a rowas long as 67 bananas end to end

How big was Prognathodon compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

The name Prognathodon means 'forejaw tooth' because its front teeth were especially big and strong.1

One fossil of Prognathodon saturator, nicknamed 'Bèr', was found in a limestone quarry in the Netherlands and is about 12 metres long.1

Prognathodon had teeth with fine, wavy ridges near the tip that helped strengthen them for crushing hard prey like sea turtles.1

Gut contents from a Canadian specimen show that Prognathodon ate a very large fish (1.6 metres long), a smaller fish, a sea turtle, and possibly a squid-like cephalopod.1

Unlike many other mosasaurs, Prognathodon had blunt, rounded tooth tips instead of sharp cutting edges, suggesting it was a crusher of hard-shelled animals.1

The pterygoid teeth on the roof of its mouth were unusually large and showed no wear, so scientists think they were used to grip prey before swallowing it whole.1

Prognathodon fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica, showing it lived in warm seas worldwide.2

Scientists still argue about which species belong in Prognathodon, because many fossils are incomplete and look different from each other.1

AI-made picture of Prognathodon — An AI-made picture of how Prognathodon might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Prognathodon

?Was Prognathodon a dinosaur?

No, Prognathodon was a marine lizard, not a dinosaur. It belonged to the mosasaur family, which lived in the oceans at the same time as the dinosaurs.1

?How big was Prognathodon?

Prognathodon was one of the largest mosasaurs. Different species reached different sizes: P. giganteus was about 10 metres (33 feet) long, P. currii about 11 metres (36 feet), and P. saturator about 12 metres (39 feet).1

?What did Prognathodon eat?

Prognathodon was an apex predator that ate hard-shelled prey like sea turtles, as well as large fish and possibly squid. Gut contents from one fossil included a 1.6 metre long fish, a smaller fish, a sea turtle, and a possible cephalopod.1

?Could Prognathodon crush shells?

Yes, Prognathodon had massively built jaws and blunt, rounded teeth with wavy ridges that helped it crush hard prey like sea turtle shells. Its bite was stronger than any other mosasaur.1

?Where was Prognathodon found?

Prognathodon fossils have been found in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and New Zealand. One famous specimen nicknamed 'Bèr' was discovered in a limestone quarry in the Netherlands.1

?When did Prognathodon live?

Prognathodon lived during the Late Cretaceous period, from about 84 to 66 million years ago. It went extinct at the same time as the non-avian dinosaurs.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Prognathodon was a dinosaur.

Truth: Prognathodon was not a dinosaur. It was a mosasaur, a type of marine lizard that lived in the sea.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Prognathodon
Named by: Dollo 18892
Group: Mosasaurs
Family / clade: Mosasauridae2
Classification: Mosasauroidea2
Age of the rocks: 100 to 62 million years (Cenomanian / Danian)2
Rock formations: Bearpaw Shale, Torme, Gulpen2
Countries: USA, Morocco, Spain, Sweden, France, Belgium2
Fossil records: 94 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Prognathodon was first named by Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo in 1889, based on fossils found in Belgium. There was some confusion because Dollo first called it 'Prognathodon' but later used the name 'Prognathosaurus' in his papers.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating which species truly belong to Prognathodon, because many fossils are incomplete and show different features.1

Where the facts come from

Prognathodon (en.wikipedia.org)
Prognathodon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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