Brazilian Soapstone/Paua Shell

19" x 9" x 12"h

A giant Mosasaur attacks a young Elasmosaur in an event that may well have happened in our area 70 million years ago.

From the ceiling of our local Courtenay & District Museum hangs a 42' skeleton of an Elasmosaur that was discovered in 1988 in the nearby Puntledge River and since excavated over a period of a few years. This was the first example of its kind to be found west of the Rocky Mountains and is proof that, about 70-80 million years ago, this area was a shallow inland sea teeming with marine life. The mosasaur, from the late Cretaceous period, is a new genus (one of up to 50 known) and was discovered here in 1991. They grew to 17m (56') in length, possessed a hinged lower jaw for larger prey and, like whales, had to surface to breathe. The eyes of this mosasaur are made of paua shell that I brought back from New Zealand.