Predator X (TV program)

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Predator X is a 2009 television special on the History Channel. The show documents the excavation of a giant pliosaur on an island in the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhm.uio.no/pliosaurus/english/index.html|title=Monsterdiggers 2008|publisher=University of Oslo}} The special follows Dr. Jørn Hurum and a team of paleontologists from the University of Oslo as they excavate the site.

The specimen — claimed by Hurum at the time to be a new species{{cite news|title=Fossil sea monster biggest of its kind|publisher=ABC News|date=February 2, 2008|url=http://abc.com.au/news/stories/2008/02/28/2175686.htm}} — had not received a taxonomic classification by the time of the television special and was, therefore, codenamed "Predator X". The team initially called their discovery "The Monster", and the nickname has been used extensively by the media.{{cite news|title='The Monster' helps piece together puzzle|author=Deshayes, Pierre-Henry|date=October 11, 2006|newspaper=The Standard|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=9&art_id=29109&sid=10311750&con_type=1&d_str=20061011&fc=4|access-date=January 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322010422/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=9&art_id=29109&sid=10311750&con_type=1&d_str=20061011&fc=4|archive-date=March 22, 2009|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|publisher=NBC News|title='Monster' found in Jurassic graveyard|date=October 5, 2006|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15139760}}

The initial discovery was made in 2006, as part of a find of dozens of pliosaur and plesiosaur specimens. First estimates were of nearly 15 m (49 ft) in length, "The Monster" is the largest pliosaur skeleton ever discovered, considerably larger than Kronosaurus.{{cite web|title=Enormous Jurassic Sea Predator, Pliosaur, Discovered In Norway|website=Science Daily|date=February 9, 2008|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229101002.htm}}[http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2486573,00.html "Fossil 'makes T-Rex look feeble'"], news24.com, 17 March 2009. This estimate was later downsized.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/paleontologists-reveal-identity-of-predator-x|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414004750/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/paleontologists-reveal-identity-of-predator-x|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 14, 2021|title=Paleontologists Reveal the Identity of 'Predator X'|website=National Geographic Society|date=15 October 2012}}

In 2012, it was given the taxonomic name Pliosaurus funkei.