The skull of a colossal sea monster has been extracted from the cliffs of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.
It belongs to a pliosaur, a ferocious marine reptile that terrorised the oceans about 150 million years ago.
The 2m-long fossil is one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered and is giving new insights into this ancient predator.
The skull will be featured in a special David Attenborough programme on BBC One on New Year’s Day.
I wonder how many other skulls like this protruded from the cliffs, terrorizing seafarers of days gone by? Another possible contribution to our tales of the sea perhaps?
What an amazing find.
Lewis and Clark saw some serious shit on their trip across the US and back. It would have been something to see a 70-foot-long fish fossil in the middle of what is now Kansas, while having no clue how that was even possible.
It went extinct 150 million years ago so I don’t think it can have possibly bothered mariners of the past.