Pliosaur discovery: Gigantic skull of sea monster is found on the cliffs of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast
The skull of a giant sea monster that roamed the seas almost 150 million years ago has been discovered off the coast of England.
The huge fossil, found on Dorset’s Jurassic coast, is almost seven feet long and belonged to a marine reptile known as a pliosaur.
An ancient creature known as the ocean’s “apex predator” will be the subject of a new BBC documentary by David Attenborough, due to air on New Year’s Day.
He will be joined by a team of experienced scientists and paleontologists who will begin excavating and restoring a rare discovery that they believe may be a new species of pliosaur.
The ancient pliosaur was a “ultimate killing machine”, capable of moving across the ocean at high speeds and killing its prey with a single bite.
Sir David Attenborough and fossil experts Steve Etches and Chris Moore examine a pliosaur skull in the museum’s Etches Collection workshop.
A reconstructed 150-million-year-old pliosaur skull excavated from the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast, Dorset.
An ancient creature known as the ocean’s “apex predator” will be the subject of a new BBC documentary by David Attenborough, due to air on New Year’s Day.
The skull has about 130 long and razor-sharp teeth. Each tooth has thin ridges at the back that pierce the victim’s flesh in preparation for a quick second attack.
As scientists reported to the BBC, its prey included dolphin-like creatures and other pliosaurs.
The jaws of pliosaurs were more than twice as powerful as those of modern saltwater crocodiles.
“The animal would be so massive that I think it could effectively hunt anything that happened to be in its space,” said Andre Rowe, a paleobiologist at the University of Bristol. BBC News.
The creatures were 32–39 feet long and moved quickly using four powerful, flipper-like limbs.
“I have no doubt that it was some kind of underwater Tyrannosaurus rex,” Rowe said.
The exciting discovery was made when fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs was walking along the rocky beaches of Kimmeridge Bay one morning last year and discovered the jaw of a giant pliosaur.
The site is famous for its fossils and contains some of the most important geological discoveries on the Jurassic Coast.
Many of them were found by Dr Steve Etches MBE, who spent over 30 years collecting over 2,000 specimens.
Etches was subsequently called in to evaluate the find and suggested that the rest of the skull may still be encased in the rock above.
The ancient pliosaur was a “ultimate killing machine”, capable of moving across the ocean at high speeds and killing its prey with a single bite.
The skull has about 130 long and razor-sharp teeth. Each tooth has thin ridges at the back that pierce the victim’s flesh in preparation for a quick second attack.
The exciting discovery was made when fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs was walking along the rocky beaches of Kimmeridge Bay last year and discovered the jaw of a giant pliosaur.
Although the avid fossil hunters have worked with each other for decades, they describe this particular fossil as the biggest discovery they have ever come across.
He assembled a team of experts to excavate the remaining fossils, including fellow fossil hunter Chris Moore, who runs a small family mining business in Charmouth.
Although the avid fossil hunters have worked with each other for decades, they describe this particular fossil as the biggest discovery they have ever come across.
Dr. Etches said, “There is nothing comparable to this today.”
“This is a large predatory reptile, one of the largest ever to live in the sea. It’s even bigger than the Tyrannosaurus rex, it’s bigger and more ferocious.”
Once the skull was safely removed, it was taken to Mr. Etches’ workshop nearby, where restoration work began. It took several months to bring him back to life.
This includes making crowns for the skull from the remains of the iconic triangular-shaped pliosaur tooth that Mr Moore found in the rock.
With the help of paleobiologists, visual effects sequences and digital scans, viewers will witness the peak of scientific research as they get a detailed insight into the life of this pliosaur, seeing how it looked, moved and hunted its prey.
Attenborough and the Sea Monster airs at 8pm on New Year’s Day on BBC One and iPlayer.