Prognathodon

## PrognathodonForejaw Tooth

### Temporal Range

72 - 66 million years ago, Maastrichtian Stage, Late Cretaceous Period (*P. giganteus* and *P. saturator*)

## Characteristics

### Diet

Carnivore

Has robust teeth and probably a proportionally stronger bite force than *Mosasaurus*

***“ A huge mosasaur, a deadly underwater hunter, is looking for an easy meal... such as this little dinosaur, Zalmoxes. Staying here is too risky. He needs a larger raft, and quickly. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
***Prognathodon*** (Forejaw Tooth), simply referred to as "a mosasaur" on the show, is a genus of mosasaur that lived 83.6 - 66 million years ago, during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. While it is known from North America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and even New Zealand, the segment depicting it takes place somewhere in Southern Europe during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, with the setting, along with its large size, indicating that it may be *P. giganteus* of Belgium or *P. saturator* of the Netherlands, with both being known from fossils dated to the Maastrichtian stage, 72 - 66 million years ago.

## Paleobiology

Much like its relative, *Mosasaurus*, *Prognathodon* is a heavily-built mosasaur with robust jaws and teeth (which are fewer compared to those of other mosasaurs). Some of the larger species, like *P. giganteus* (Maastrichtian, Belgium, Jordan and Syria), *P. lutugini* (Late Campanian, Ukraine) and *P. waiparaensis* (Maastrichtian, New Zealand), could reach a body length of 10 - 11 meters, while the largest species, *P. saturator* (Maastrichtian, the Netherlands), could reach a length of 12 meters. It is believed that *Prognathodon* has a proportionally stronger bite than even *Mosasaurus*.

## Paleoecology

### Paleoenvironment

*Main: Tethys Ocean*

Main: Tethys Ocean

Two large species of *Prognathodon* (*P. giganteus* and *P. saturator*) are known from the Tethys Ocean, which covered most of Europe (the setting of the segment where *Prognathodon* appears in) from the Late Triassic Period (230 million years ago) to the Early Eocene (50 million years ago), millions of years after mosasaurs and various other life forms (most notably other large marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and non-avian dinosaurs) went extinct.

### Hunting Tactics and Feeding Preferences

As shown in its brief appearance, *Prognathodon* is an opportunistic predator, willing to go after small, defenseless prey, even animals smaller than a human like *Alcione* and *Zalmoxes*. Even though these are barely big enough to fully satiate its hunger, the massive predator seems to content to simply snatch any vulnerable meal within its reach, much like the mosasaur in Coasts, which chased and caught just a single juvenile *T. rex* because it is the easiest prey to go after at the moment.

## Appearance

***“ The mouth of a river in southern Europe, 66 million years ago. In the aftermath of a tropical storm, debris is drifting downstream. And amongst the wreckage, rafts of wreckage ripped from the land. For a weary pterosaur, this one may be a welcome place to rest. But it's far from safe... ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
In the first segment of Islands, a *Prognathodon* tries to ambush an adult *Alcione* on a drifting piece of land, only for the pterosaur to fly off at the last second. The mosasaur then turns its attention to another raft carrying a more vulnerable target, *Zalmoxes*. The ornithopod dinosaur abandons its raft and swims for a larger, drifting island, managing to climb to safety and escape the *Prognathodon* in the end.

## References

1. ↑ On diving and diet: resource partitioning in type-Maastrichtian mosasaurs
2. ↑ Naish, Darren (@TetZoo) (June 17, 2023) on Twitter, confirming the identity of the mosasaur in the Islands episode