Specimen:  KUVP 5033 (cast)

Discovery:  C.D. Bunker, 1911

Excavated:  Wallace County, KS

Length:  45 ft

Weigh:  est. 8 tons

Skull:  6 ft

Part of the mosasaur family, this amazing marine reptile’s skull is from what is considered to be the largest Tylosaurus ever discovered. Nearly a dozen of its 74 teeth are in its throat (called pterygoid teeth); they are thought to hold prey while the lower jaw worked to bring it its food (called "ratchet feeding"). The teeth of a Tylosaurus do not go to the end of the mouth as they do in a Mosasaurus. The purpose of the "knob" at the front of the nose/mouth is disputed. The name Tylosaurus was coined by Othniel Marsh as part of the late 1800s "Bone Wars." E.D. Cope rejected the name, calling it Liodon.

This particular specimen, nicknamed “Bunker”, has a rich history. Originally excavated for the University of Kansas in 1911 by Professor C.D. Bunker and his team, it lay in shambles in the basement of the university museum until 1997. Mike Triebold gained permission from museum officials to painstakingly cast with his team the brittle, crumbly pieces of rock until he had enough of the skeleton molded to make a “research replica.”