A remarkably well-preserved pliosaur skull, a prehistoric sea monster, was discovered on a beach in Dorset, England.
The fossil, almost 150 million years old, is being analyzed to determine if it represents a new species.
The discovery and excavation process are detailed in an upcoming BBC documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough. (Trending: Here Are The Most Disturbing Ways Hunter Biden Spent His Millions)
The skull of a massive 150-million-year-old sea monster (Pliosaur) was discovered and extracted from the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, UK. pic.twitter.com/UoiVcSbHC9
— ScienceSeeker (@marStarship1) December 12, 2023
Local paleontologist Steve Etches said, “The fossil was buried deep in the cliff, about 11 meters (36 feet) above the ground and 15 meters (49 feet) down the cliff.”
Etches said that he was immediately “quite excited, because its jaws closed together which indicates (the fossil) is complete.”
“It’s a miracle we got it out,” he said, “because we had one last day to get this thing out, which we did at 9:30 p.m.”
Scientists have unearthed a largely intact skull of an immense and deadly sea creature that stalked the waters off England's coast millions of years ago. 😨
It's not something you would have wanted to encounter on an afternoon swim. 😅
Just the skull of the pliosaur, a marine… pic.twitter.com/PFyyWPwL2f
— Franklin Pena (@78franklin78) December 13, 2023
Etches took on the task of painstakingly restoring the skull. There was a time he found “very disillusioning” as the mud, and bone, had cracked, but “over the following days and weeks, it was a case of …, like a jigsaw, putting it all back. It took a long time but every bit of bone we got back in.”
Etches said it was a “freak of nature” and “It died in the right environment, there was a lot of sedimentation … so when it died and went down to the seafloor, it got buried quite quickly.”
Andre Rowe, a postdoctoral research associate of paleobiology said, “the animal would have been so massive that I think it would have been able to prey effectively on anything that was unfortunate enough to be in its space.”
The pliosaur, with a nearly 2-meter-long skull, was found deep in a cliff, posing a perilous extraction challenge.
The fossil sheds light on the pliosaur’s predatory nature, including its powerful bite and sensory capabilities.
Scientists have found the mostly intact skull of a giant, deadly sea creature that stalked the waters off England's coast millions of years ago.
The pliosaur had a third eye and glands on its snout to help it locate prey, and 130 teeth in a bite far stronger than a crocodile's. pic.twitter.com/vHCJsA3dZP
— Jagvar Adventure Gamebooks (@JagvarGames) December 12, 2023
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