Massive marine creature bursts from Dorset cliffs, revealing a dinosaur
Steve Etches has the skull. Now he wants the rest of the animal's body
From the Jurassic Coast of Dorset's cliffs has been recovered the skull of a massive sea monster.
It comes from a pliosaur, a vicious marine reptile that lived 150 million years ago and terrorized the waters.
The 2-meter-long fossil is one of the best-preserved examples of its kind ever found and is providing fresh information about this extinct predator.
On New Year's Day, BBC One will air a special David Attenborough program that will include the skull.
Artwork: Pliosaurs had the speed and power to take down other big marine reptiles
When the sheet covering the fossil is pulled back to see the skull for the first time, gasps are heard.
This enormous and exquisitely preserved pliosaur is instantly apparent.
According to local palaeontologist Steve Etches, there's not a specimen like it anywhere else.
I've never worked on a better fossil than this one. It's comprehensive, which is what makes it special," he tells BBC News.
The upper skull and lower jaw are integrated, just as they would be in a living organism. Seldom are examples discovered to that degree of detail anywhere in the world. And if they are, many of the pieces are gone, but this one has every bone, albeit being slightly warped.
Steve Etches shows Sir David Attenborough the snout - the first piece to be found
Given that the skull is longer than most people are tall, you can estimate the creature's total size.
Its 130 teeth draw your attention, particularly the front ones.
With only one bite, their long, razor-sharp teeth might take a life. If you dare, you can see tiny ridges on the back of each tooth when you examine it more closely. These would have made it easier for the beast to puncture the skin and swiftly extract its dagger-like teeth in preparation for a swift counteratt
ack.
At 10–12 meters in length and equipped with four strong, flipper-like appendages for rapid propulsion, the pliosaur represented the pinnacle of marine predators and was considered the ultimate killing machine.
Dr. Andre Rowe of Bristol University says, "I think the animal would have been able to prey effectively on anything that was unfortunate enough to be in its space because it would have been so massive."
"I have no doubt that this was sort of like an underwater T. rex."
Its diet would have included other reptiles like the ichthyosaur, which resembles a dolphin, and its long-necked cousin, the plesiosaur. According to fossil evidence, it would have even eaten other pliosaurs that passed by.
It's amazing how this fossil skull was found.
It all began with an accidental discovery made while on a stroll along the well-known World Heritage Jurassic Coast in southern England, close to Kimmeridge Bay.
Phil Jacobs, a friend of Steve Etches and a fellow fossil enthusiast, discovered the pliosaur's nose tip buried in the shingle. He went to get Steve because the fossil fragment was too heavy for him to carry, and together they fashioned a makeshift stretcher to get it to safety.
The whole excavation was conducted on ropes high above the Dorset beach
But where was the animal's other half? An aerial reconnaissance of the imposing rock face identified a probable spot. The issue was that abseiling down from the top was the only method to excavate it.
Fossils are delicate, painful work to remove from rocks. However, it takes a different level of talent to accomplish this while hanging by ropes from a collapsing cliff 15 meters over a beach.
The months spent cleaning the skull, along with the fortitude and effort, have undoubtedly been worthwhile. Researchers from all over the world will be lining up to see the Dorset fossil in order to learn new things about how these incredible reptiles lived and controlled their environment.
Prof. Emily Rayfield, a palaeobiologist, has already looked at the enormous circular apertures in the back of the cranium. They describe to her the magnitude of the muscles in the pliosaur's jaws and the force produced when its lips closed, crushing its meal.
This results in a peak pressure of roughly 33,000 newtons. To put things in perspective, saltwater crocodiles have the strongest jaws of any living animal, weighing 16,000 newtons.
"Your prey is less likely to flee if you can incapacitate it with a fairly strong bite. The Bristol researcher clarified, "Having a strong bite also means you can crunch through tissue and bone very easily.
The small pits could have been part of the animal's sensory system
Features of this recently found specimen point to the possibility of some extremely keen and practical senses.
Small pits scattered over its snout could be glands that let it sense changes in water pressure caused by potential prey. Additionally, there is a hole in its head that was meant to hold a parietal, or third, eye. These are found in some living fish, frogs, and lizards. Because of its sensitivity to light, it may have been useful in identifying other creatures, particularly when the pliosaur was emerging from murky, deep waters.
The skull will be on exhibit in Steve Etches' museum, the Etches Collection, in Kimmeridge the following year.
At the back of the head, a few vertebrae can be seen, but they disappear after a short distance. They provide a tantalizing hint as to whether there is still more of the fossil in the cliff. Steve is eager to complete the task he began.
Dorset's Kimmeridge Clay cliffs were once the bottom-muds in warm Jurassic seas
He told BBC News, "I stake my life that the animal is still there."
And given that it's in an environment that is fast degrading, it really ought to be released. The cliff line is retreating about feet annually in this area. It won't take long for the remaining pliosaur to go as well. A once-in-a-lifetime chance exists."
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