Is the T-Rex the only king of lizards? I'm Colton from ReefLeaves.com and this is your Weird Minute. Bacillosaurus was a fearsome sharp-toothed creature that lived 40 to 35 million years ago and could grow 50 to 60 feet long. Its name means King Lizard, yet Bacillosaurus wasn't a lizard at all, it was a strange predatory whale. The first Bacillosaurus ever found, B. Sotoides, lived in a shallow sea in what is now Alabama.
The skeleton is so long and slender that it looks almost like a snake, but with a short ribcage, front arms, and a tiny pelvis that didn't attach to any vertebrae. At first scientists thought it was some sort of aquatic reptile, like the ones that swam in the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs.
However, the Eocene, when Bacillosaurus lived, was long after the time of the dinosaurs and their aquatic relatives, when mammals ruled the Earth. By studying the animals' teeth, scientists found it was actually one of those mammals. For more about the Bacillosaurus, head to Ripley's.com, rate the Weird Minute if you haven't already, and tune in tomorrow for another Minute of Odd.