Scientific American explores the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a shark.

Article by Meghan Bartels (SCIAM)

This Ancient Sea Cow Was Killed by a Croc and Eaten by a Shark - Scientists re-create the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a shark.

"The circle of life is beautiful and gruesome—sometimes so gruesome that it makes the fossil record downright macabre, millions of years after the fact.

That’s what happened with an ancient manateelike animal whose remains were uncovered in western Venezuela in 2019. The specimen didn’t draw much interest at first; it isn’t particularly well preserved. But as scientists looked closer, they realized the creature’s skull parts and vertebrae were riddled with bite marks—from two very different mouths."

Dr. Sally Walker, Professor of Geology and Invertebrate Paleobiology at UGA was interviewed for background knowledge for the article.  

"...paleontologist Sally Walker of the University of Georgia, who was not involved in the new research, calls a “smoking tooth”: a fossilized chomper found embedded in the fossil between the sea cow’s neck and ribcage. The stray tooth, from an extinct tiger shark called Galeocerdo aduncus, suggests that the slitlike marks were left by the same shark scavenging on the sea cow’s remains, the study’s researchers say. This sort of scavenging is also likely why the skeleton is so fragmentary: messy eaters probably tore off pieces of the carcass and carried them away. Walker says that she’d like to see evidence that shark teeth are uncommon in the area to rule out a coincidental find, however."

Read the full article at Scientific American "This Ancient Sea Cow Was Killed by a Croc and Eaten by a Shark" 

Image thanks to Scientific American article.