True nature of ‘Tully monster’ revealed
Ancient oddity is a lamprey ancestor
By Meghan Rosen
If some of the most bizarre zoo animals merged into one cartoonish creature, it might look something like the “Tully monster.”
Fossils of Tullimonstrum gregarium, a soft-bodied animal that lived roughly 300 million years ago in what is now Illinois, feature wide-set eyes like a hammerhead shark, a nose like an elephant, and a mouth that could pass for a crab claw with teeth. It’s one of the “weird wonders” of its time, and for more than 50 years, it has stymied scientists debating its identity.