Fossils shed light on 'bizarre' reptile

A crocodile-sized creature that lived 242 million years ago was the first known vegetarian marine reptile, according to new fossil evidence.

Two specimens unearthed in China reveal details of the animal's skull and how it fed.
Named Atopodentatus, scientists say its hammer-shaped skull helped it to feed on underwater plants.
Only a handful of marine reptiles, living or extinct, are known to be herbivores.
Dr Nick Fraser of National Museums Scotland, who worked on the fossil, said it belongs in the pages of a children's storybook by Dr Seuss, which depicts animals with a strange jumble of features.
The reptile was "a bizarre, bizarre animal", he explained.
"We envisage it scraping algae and the like off rocks underwater.
"Herbivorous marine reptiles are very rare - this is the oldest record that we know of."read more