Scientist: Giant squid or octopus-like creature killed Nevada dinosaurs

A giant kraken is being fingered in the murder and odd arrangement of the remains of nine Nevada dinosaurs, the latest theory in a Silver State mystery that has perplexed scientists for over 50 years.

Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist at Mount Holyoke College, presented his theory Monday that a giant squid or octopus-like creature killed and arranged the remains of 45-foot icthyosaurs, a swimming dinosaur that is Nevada’s state fossil.

“It was either drowning them or breaking their necks,” McMenamin said of the kraken he believes killed the icthyosaurs. “Modern octopus will do this.”

McMenamin noted recent video of an octopus in an aquariuman attacking and killing an unsuspecting shark.

The icthyosaurs' fossils at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in rural Nevada, appear arranged in a pattern that has intrigued and baffled scientists since the 1950s, according to a Geological Society of America news release.

The fossils are believed to be 220 million years old.

Other scientists have been skeptical of the kraken theory, arguing the extraordinary theory deserves extraordinary evidence.

The story has put the state in the science news, including the NPR treatment today on “Science Friday”.

The state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources also issued a news release on the new theory.