KU News Release

Visiting paleontologist brings ‘Sea Monsters’ to life on screen, in print

LAWRENCE — Fans of Kansas “sea monster” fossils have paleontologist Mike Everhart to thank for spurring National Geographic’s interest in the lesser-known reptiles of the dinosaur era.

At a talk scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at the KU Natural History Museum, Everhart will tell how his curiosity about a forgotten Kansas discovery led to a National Geographic article, film and book.

Copies of Everhart’s book, “Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep,” will be available for signing at the free event, which is co-sponsored by Oread Books. Following the talk, Everhart will help lead a tour of museum galleries housing representative Kansas marine fossils.

The book is the official companion to the National Geographic’s “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure,” a 3-D film playing at IMAX and other specialty theatres in Kansas City, Mo., and nationwide. Like the film, the book offers a 3-D experience via special glasses and images. The book depicts the creatures of the film, the paleontologists who first studied them and includes never-before-published photographs of historic specimens.

Everhart was instrumental in the effort to bring Kansas marine fossils to the attention of National Geographic. He said he “rediscovered” a 1922 paper by Charles Sternberg that described a mosasaur specimen found in Logan County that included a small plesiosaur in its stomach.

“I examined the actual specimens in the Smithsonian,” Everhart said. “While I was in Washington D.C. in November 2001, I began working with National Geographic staff to convince them that the discovery would make an interesting story.”

Everhart was one of the senior scientific advisors for the film. He is the author of “Oceans of Kansas” and a Web site of the same name, www.oceansofkansas.com/ and is adjunct curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.

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