ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of mosasaur research

Once upon a time, long long ago, giant sea monsters called mosasaurs existed. However, nobody knew about them as humans had not yet been born.

Fast forward to the 1700s when humans began discovering fossils (imprints of animals and plants that lived long before us) and started studying them. In the 1800s, a famous scientist named Georges Cuvier gave these creatures a scientific name, Mosasaurus, after they were discovered in the Netherlands.

Over time, more fossils of these creatures were found all around the world, and scientists started studying them more and more. They learned a lot about how mosasaurs behaved, what they ate, and how they evolved over time. They even discovered that mosasaurs were related to modern-day lizards and snakes!

In the 1900s, more advanced scientific tools and technology were developed, which allowed scientists to study mosasaurs in even greater detail. Thanks to these advancements, we now know a lot more about these sea monsters, including how they swam, how they breathed, and how they lived.

And even today, scientists continue to study mosasaurs, using new methods and tools to answer even more questions about these fascinating creatures that lived long before we humans came along.
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