This amazing marine reptile’s skull cast is from one of the largest tylosaur fossils ever found. The skeleton is 45 feet long and has 72 teeth! No one is quite sure why this animal was first named tylosaur (knot-lizard). Tylosaurs are in a group of marine reptiles called mosasaurs, meaning “meuse river reptile”.

This particular specimen, field named “Bunker”, has a rich history. Originally found in 1911 by C.D. Bunker, of the University of Kansas, it lay in shambles in the basement of the university museum until 1995 when Mike Triebold discovered the significance of the fossil. After gaining permission from museum officials, he painstakingly cast the brittle, crumbly pieces of rock until he had enough of the skeleton molded to make a “research replica.”