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Ichthyosaurs were large aquatic reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, long before the ice ages. They first evolved from egg-laying diapsid reptiles between the latest Permian and the earliest Triassic and died out 90 million years ago.
Traits[]
Shaped roughly like a dolphin, with crocodilian snouts full of long, pointed teeth, Ichthyosaurs were carnivorous reptiles that swam through rivers and oceans, searching for prey, chiefly reptiles. To move through the waters of their era, Ichthyosaurs had two long front limbs equipped with clawed paws and two hind fins, similar to a fish. Along their backs were large, pointed sails and covering their bodies was thick hide, coated along their backs with pointed spikes. At the end of their short tails was a large, flat tail fin, similar to that most fish.
History[]
Among the reptiles of the age of the dinosaurs were Ichthyosaurs who swam in the waters in search of prey until one million years before the ice age. One purple ichthyosaur, however, named Cretaceous, had survived the extinction, becoming frozen in the waters he usually swam in, along with a bulky and hot-tempered teal Pliosaur named Maelstrom, who was his larger companion. Both reptiles were thawed out in the ice ages and found prey animals in that era.
Appearances[]
- Ice Age: The Meltdown (First appearance)
Behind the Scenes[]
- True ichthyosaurs resembled dolphins and fish more than crocodiles. They lacked bony plates on their backs, clawless limbs and a less crocodilian snout.
- The book Ice Age: The Great Escape states that both Cretaceous and Maelstrom were frozen one million years before the events of Ice Age: The Meltdown, but both ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs were extinct for tens of millions of years before the ice ages.
- In the mobile game Ice Age Village, ichthyosaurs are referred to as "crocodiles" or "Metri" in reference to the fact that they more closely resemble a crocodile of the genus Metriorhynchus.
Gallery[]
Real Life[]
