Location: Eastern Wyoming, U.S.A.
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: N/A
Fortunately, the new marine monster that the College of Charleston uncovered is not alive right now. This 23-foot-long extinct sea reptile, also known as the Serpentisuchops, existed thirty million years ago. Because it has crocodile-like jaws and a very long neck, two features that scientists didn’t think matched together, Serpentisuchops is unusual.
The neck is “beautifully preserved,” according to the CoC, with all thirty-two vertebrae visible (by comparison, the human neck has just seven vertebrae).
The reason the carcass of Serpentisuchops has been so well preserved is because it was buried beneath the ocean by fine-grained sediments and has remained that way up until today.