A “evil predator” has been hidden for years inside a fossil in the basement of a museum

Regular cleaning work by an Australian museum has revealed a fossil that has been hidden from researchers for years in the museum’s basement without being spotted by any staff or specialists.

Staff and specialists at the Museum and Art Gallery in the Northern Territory of Australia have spotted a fossil that had been hidden for years in the museum’s basement without anyone knowing of its existence.
And according to the news published in the British newspaper “Daily Mail” entitled (The fossil of an 8-foot evil predator was discovered in the basement of an Australian museum after removing dust), and the cleaning process carried out for the museum revealed a 460 million-year-old fossil that acted as an underwater “killing machine” , as described in the news.

Scientists call the remains of the discovered animal (Endoceras), which in ancient Greek means “inner horn”, is an extinct genus of large cephalopods.

The fossil Endoceras had been in the Darwin Museum’s collection for years until it was found by researcher Adam Yates when the foundation was transporting the museum’s findings.

“This strange fossil was found in the vault designated for storing ancient artifacts, where the collection was temporarily stored,” Yates told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Giant fossil cephalopod Endoceras with @coralpecan for scale @sciencemuseummn pic.twitter.com/2fChouXzQl

— Danny Anduza (@DannyAnduza) January 6, 2015

Endoceras spread widely in North America and Europe, and they swam in shallow seas and lived in central Australia, which is now a dry, desert-like hinterland.

Endoceras (Ancient Greek for "inner horn") is an extinct genus of large, straight shelled cephalopods. The Endoceras is the both the longest extinct cephalopod and largest Paleozoic invertebrate, https://t.co/dUZt5hiRwX #cephalopod #Endoceras #paleo #paleozoic #naturalhistory pic.twitter.com/5loj9VEoIB

— Femorale Shells (@FemoraleShells) July 6, 2021

“It is probably not well known (among lay people) that central Australia was home to these marine animals and their fossils can still be found in places like the McDonnell mountain range,” Yates said. “The piece of the fossil that we see is only part of the larger creature,” he added.

The ancient seas were full of wonderful giants! ((Image: Christian Klug) #FossilFriday

E: Endoceras giganteum, 442 million years ago (mya).
F: Endoceras giganteum, 442 mya
G: Deiroceras hollardi, 419 mya
H: Sea scorpion, 419 mya
I: Trilobite 440 mya
J: Ammonite, 350 mya pic.twitter.com/63jomvC7bh

— Jan Freedman (@JanFreedman) July 17, 2020

The expert noted that the complete specimen is very large, up to eight feet in length, “that would make it one of the largest animals on the planet at a time before dinosaurs or any animal with a backbone.”