Is 'Jurassic World's Water Dinosaur Real?

After an arduous wait, the dinosaur-laden adventure/sci-fi flick, Jurassic World, was released in theaters on June 12. Anticipation over the Jurassic Park sequel had arguably reached a fervor, especially with the spine-tingling trailers leading up to the movie's release. There are a litany of top-notch behemoths featured in the film, although Jurassic World's main antagonist was revealed early on as the genetically modified — not to mention terrifying — Indominus rex, which the trailers revealed was one that would catalyze the mayhem throughout the film after the dinosaur escapes her confines. Still, the Indominus rex is far from the only creature to showcase some serious dino-chops (chomps?) in the film. One of the most regaled moments from the trailer was a scene where what I coined a whale-a-saur is shown emerging from an aquatic exhibit to devour an entire great white shark. I don't want to give too much away for the people who have not seen Jurassic World yet, but I'll just say that the mammoth sea-dweller's turn in the movie may include a little more than snacking on sharks, and you won't be disappointed.

I was so enthralled by the various beasts showcased in Jurassic World — some based on real dinosaurs, some genetic hybrids — that I didn't catch all of their names, hence why I referred to the aforementioned as a whale-a-saur. After doing some research, however, I discovered that the whale-a-saur is actually called a mosasaurus and the species existed 27 million years ago, according to Nerdist.

Want to have your mind blown even further? Well, check this out: the mosasaurus may have been real, but it wasn't a dinosaur! That's right, one of Jurassic World's most popular creatures "...burst onto the aquatic scene [during the same prehistoric times] as other dominant ocean lizards, Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs..." In layman's terms, this basically means that mosasaurs were a bunch of ginormous sea lizards hanging out during a time that dinosaurs roamed, but they actually had no direct relation to the prehistoric species. And, thus, ends our science lesson for today.

Images: Universal Pictures (1); Giphy (1)