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Something I love about doodling prehistoric creatures is you never stop learning about them. Last night I posted this Ptychodus, as often portrayed- a slow moving, sort of nurse shark-like bottom dweller. As pointed out by @Carnoferox , I was severely behind the times! Read on...
As it turns out, there are fossils out there that show it was likely a pelagic shark. Chances are high it looked nothing like my first doodle; it would've had a much different body plan- that of a constantly active swimmer capable of decent speed.
So with @Carnoferox ' help I doodled a new version, perhaps closer to what the real thing may have looked like. And here it is!
So this was likely a giant, pelagic, powerful swimmer that used its weird crushing teeth to prey on ammonites and maybe even sea turtles, thus avoiding competition with other sharks that ate mostly fish. It would've been unlike anything alive today!
That's it. That's the thread. :B A lot of people retweeted my earlier doodle so if you want to spread the awesomeness of the new Ptychodus concept, please retweet this too! It deserves to be more widely known I think. And thanks again @Carnoferox for your input!
