Oh No! There Goes Tokyo Go Go Godzilla

Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 11th, 2005

History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men
Godzilla!

OK, you got me there. This has nothing to do with Blue Oyster Cult.

This is about a newly described prehistoric crocodile that sported flippers. The skull of this croc was discovered in 1996 in the Patagonia region, but was just recently described. It was nicknamed “Godzilla” because its snout and teeth more closely resembled a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Ocean Godzilla

A sea monster nicknamed Godzilla warns pterosaurs that this meal already is taken. This computer animation of the fierce croc appears in the December 2005 issue of National Geographic magazine.
(Photo by National Geographic)

Now that’s a scary thought, an aquatic Tyrannosaurus rex. If these were still swimming around, nobody would worry about sharks.

The fossil of a crocodyliform also known as Godzilla (left), found in Argentina’s Neuquen Basin, acquires ‘flesh’ as a digitized model.

In the same fossil beds that yielded this skull, also gave up the remains of a huge plesiosaur as well. The skull alone measured 8 feet long. Calculations based on the skull gave a body length of 42 feet.

Read the full article on the News Day website here.

In another version of this article there is a very interesting quote:

Other sea monsters like this one included a Loch Ness monster-like plesiosaur, six-meters-long. For some people close to Bariloche City in southern Argentina where it was found, it recalls “Nahuelito,” a Nahuel Huapi Lake legend.

On the Scientific American website, they cover both this story and the Gigantopithecus article from a few days ago and make the comparison to the cult classic King Kong vs. Godzilla. I really liked that movie as a kid, as I liked all of the Godzilla movies. The one thing that struck me as strange was the fact that King Kong was supposed to be 60 feet tall, and Godzilla was like 300 feet tall. Yet in this movie, they were close to the same size. I guess it wouldn’t have been very fair for King Kong to have to battle with a bipedal lixard that was 5 times his size. That would not have been nearly as realistic…

About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.


8 Responses to “Oh No! There Goes Tokyo Go Go Godzilla”

  1. Sasquatchery responds:

    I definitely get the impression that if you wanted to pick a safe prehistoric place for a time machine to put you, Mezozoic Argentina wouldn’t be it. Everything there was BIG. Here in Georgia we have Fernbank Museum of Natural History that has two specimens on permanent display: Argentinosaurus, the largest known sauropod (plant eater) at 123-ft long and 100 tons, and Giganotosaurus (Tyranno-like meateater) at 47-ft and 8 tons, currently the largest known land carnivore from that period. Both are from the Patagonian region as well.

    Must have been an interesting place back then……..

  2. Craig Woolheater responds:

    Sasquatchery, I agree. I imagine that would be one of the very last places Mr. Peabody and Sherman would want to set down in the Wayback Machine.

  3. Lesley responds:

    Although I am fascinated by gators and crocs, this is a creature I don’t think I would want to meet face to face.

  4. Melissa responds:

    I always knew Godzilla was real 🙂

  5. Brindle responds:

    Sasquatchery, you may have your own version of the Loch Ness monster in Altamaha area of Georgia! You lucky dog.

  6. CryptoInformant responds:

    GOJIRA!GOJIRA! (cue Godzilla theme music)

  7. Stephen Penton responds:

    maby if were lucky there are still a few of them some where under the water like frozen under ice or maby even in like hybernation. like the mega shark (forgive me i forgot it’s name)is said to have ben sited recently by a international flight going over the pacific but was disregarded by scientist when no body had photo or vido evidance except for a cell phone picture that shows water and a large grey spot that they are inable to re define the image to get a proper look
    so maby there are a few godzilas left eater frozen or asleep

  8. CryptoInformant responds:

    I could have swore Godzilla was a jacked-up iguana.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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