#palaeontologists
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Gigantic Skull of Prehistoric Sea Monster Found on England’s ‘Jurassic Coast’
The remarkably well-preserved skull of a gigantic pliosaur, a prehistoric sea monster, has been discovered on a beach in the county of Dorset in southern England, and it could reveal secrets about these awe-inspiring creatures.
Pliosaurs dominated the oceans at a time when dinosaurs roamed the land. The unearthed fossil is about 150 million years old, almost 3 million years younger than any other pliosaur find. Researchers are analyzing the specimen to determine whether it could even be a species new to science.
Originally spotted in spring 2022, the fossil, along with its complicated excavation and ongoing scientific investigation, are now detailed in the upcoming BBC documentary “Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster,” presented by legendary naturalist Sir David Attenborough, that will air February 14 on PBS.
Such was the enormous size of the carnivorous marine reptile that the skull, excavated from a cliff along Dorset’s “Jurassic Coast,” is almost 2 meters (6.6 feet) long. In its fossilized form, the specimen weighs over half a metric ton. Pliosaurs species could grow to 15 meters (50 feet) in length, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The fossil was buried deep in the cliff, about 11 meters (36 feet) above the ground and 15 meters (49 feet) down the cliff, local paleontologist Steve Etches, who helped uncover it, said in a video call.
Extracting it proved a perilous task, one fraught with danger as a crew raced against the clock during a window of good weather before summer storms closed in and the cliff eroded, possibly taking the rare and significant fossil with it.
Etches first learned of the fossil’s existence when his friend Philip Jacobs called him after coming across the pliosaur’s snout on the beach. Right from the start, they were “quite excited, because its jaws closed together which indicates (the fossil) is complete,” Etches said.
After using drones to map the cliff and identify the rest of the pliosaur’s precise position, Etches and his team embarked on a three-week operation, chiseling into the cliff while suspended in midair.
“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.”
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.”
It’s a “freak of nature” that this fossil remains in such good condition, Etches added. “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.”
Fearsome top predator of the seas
The nearly intact fossil illuminates the characteristics that made the pliosaur a truly fearsome predator, hunting prey such as the dolphinlike ichthyosaur. The apex predator with huge razor-sharp teeth used a variety of senses, including sensory pits still visible on its skull that may have allowed it to detect changes in water pressure, according to the documentary.
The pliosaur had a bite twice as powerful as a saltwater crocodile, which has the world’s most powerful jaws today, according to Emily Rayfield, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom who appeared in the documentary. The prehistoric marine predator would have been able to cut into a car, she said.
Andre Rowe, a postdoctoral research associate of paleobiology at the University of Bristol, added that “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.”
By Issy Ronald.
#Gigantic Skull of Prehistoric Sea Monster Found on England’s ‘Jurassic Coast’#Dorset England#pliosaur#jurassic#fossil#prehistoric#dinosaur#paleobiology#palaeontologists#archaeology#archeolgst#history#history news#ancient history#Sir David Attenborough#nature#naturalist
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I was thinking about MC and Imre being Paleontologists together, and while I mentioned before the Indiana Jones roleplay. I have to admit I forgot to ask about the Jurassic Park one. Like, it's right there. Imagine they go camping, and roleplay as if they are hiding of dinosaurs while having sex on a tent on a forest. Which, now that I think about it, made me think of Brokeback Mountain, but I think that's only because my MC is male. But I digress. Would Imre think about doing something like that? Because my MC would tag along with Imre even if he wanted to go to Hell and back (a Divine Comedy adventure, if you will). Especially if he (as I said, my MC is male) gets to be railed by Imre.
It's not like they wouldn't have serious journeys due to their job as paleontologists.
I’ve never heard of that scenario before like pretending giants ass dinosaurs are coming to kill you but slipping one in still 😭
Yes he would love it. He can do both as long as they compliment each other and don’t aim to take away his scholarly interests
(Love the inferno reference it is a thing that is entrenched in the narrative of the game)
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me when I’m janet drake and I’m slaying at the seminar I’m giving about pterosaurs
#is she an archaeologist? Yeah#Can she do another degree and also become a palaeontologist? Absolutely#janet drake
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absolutely fucking munching on both strider guardians, would you mind people drawing fan art of em? (and of the au in general ofc) because i need drawing inspo and this is GIVING it
ofc i wouldn't mind at all!! id love to see it! and if any of yall draw something for the tb au pls tag me so i can scream at you lovingly!!
and i just adore strider bros, here have another one as a treat
#ask#homestuck#turnabout au#homestuck turnabout#dave strider#alpha dave#kinda??#im thunking about making him a palaeontologist in tb#like listen i love movie director alpha bro but daves fascination with dead stuff always felt like such a wasted opportunity#and the director doesnt really fit this particular au#but the palaeontology stuff ties nicely with guardians knowing about the sburb stuff and helping develop it through skaianet#hed be helping granny jade with the ruins to decode the stuff about the game#hed ofc do the sbahj on the side bc ofc#just a dude and his cool rocks and fossils
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I am SO glad to see that Prehistoric Planet has reached people outside of the hardcore palaeontology community. That even people who are not deeply or semi-professionally interested in dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals are watching these episodes, or even clips of these episodes, and enjoying them.
And they're enjoying them the same way I see people online enjoy other animal documentaries!! "Haha look at this weird dance, wiggling his tiny arms about!" "Awww, isn't she so cute, look at her little face!" "Oh my god I was so worried about the baby getting lost but they made it!!! Yay!!!" It's so wonderful and refreshing to see that being a general public reaction to dinosaurs.
I've seen clips and images and memes float across my dash from people who've never mentioned an interest in prehistoric animals before, and I've seen people talking about these dinosaurs and pterosaurs and plesiosaurs and mosasaurs just like they do any other animal, and that is exactly what I want for people to see and feel about these amazing creatures. Yes, some of them are kinda weird! Some of them are really cute! They were capable of being awesome, and funny, and clever, and cool, and sweet, and everything else under the sun. And isn't it amazing, that they once lived, and we can know these things?
And I've had people ask me questions, and they're not even necessarily wanting in-depth hard science, but they're seeing these things and wondering about the answers, showing genuine interest and curiosity which, at the end, can only lead to them learning.
I hope to god this shows TV executives and producers and companies that this kind of down-to-earth, realism-based, high-quality programme IS in demand, IS capable of doing well, and IS worth doing more of, and is worth doing for a general audience. I hope that BBC can start to get the budget to do more like this themselves, without having to rely on a company like Apple to shoulder the majority of their costs. And I hope beyond hope that this can finally bring the prehistoric world into the public view in the way that it deserves to be there.
#prehistoric planet#jurassic james#im just having Feelings about seeing everyone else enjoy this too#this isnt a battle royale series#this isnt a scariest monsters series#this is... just dinosaurs. being dinosaurs. being real.#and people love it#and that is all i want as a palaeontologist
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idk why I'm so attached to Skelly recently I just find him so much fun he has a great personality to play with and he's so obscure
His dynamic with Archie is 'whatever's funniest at the time', including winding him up (which I suppose is just code for besties)
Archie and Pal (c) The Smurfs
Skelly is mine
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remember last year when I was so shy about calling real people hot on here. like oh gee oh gosh, now people will think I don't Understand Complexities or Appreciate Talents beyond looks because they'll (wrongly) perceive admission of physical attraction as shallow. and now all I do is make you see posts about me needing some sort of old man every 3 days.
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Mary Anning by Allison Adams
Mary Anning (1799 – 1847) was a fossil collector and paleontologist from Lyme Regis, Dorset in Southwest England, who became known around the world for important finds she made in marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the Jurassic Coastline. While searching for the plentiful ammonite fossils which she sold as novelty items to tourists, she began to discover larger prehistoric fossils, excavating the first Ichthyosaurus skeleton and discovering the first intact Plesiosaurus skeleton. Her findings contributed to important changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth. She was also the true-life figure behind the nursery rhyme.
#Allison adams#Mary anning#paleontology#palaeontologist#art#artwork#herstory#women in stem#women in history#women in science#female portrait#woman#women#irl women/girls
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now that were having ‘haha sheldon cooper is so me’ renaissance can we begin to accept that some of us r not simply chandler bing. some of us (me) r also ross
#hes an asshole but hes so real like. i wanted to be a palaeontologist im a loser w bad fashion#im also self deprecating#honestly no wonder he abs chandler r friends theyre basically the same person minus chandler having no intellectual interests#not that im judging girl good for u <3 go play w ur pacman <3#friends#friends tv#my posts#ross geller
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A Partial Fossil Crocodile Skeleton
Green River Formation, Wyoming
From the Eocene (circa 50 million years ago)
The 29-inch wide partial fossil crocodilian skeleton of a Borealosuchus wilsoni comprising the body with gently perforated texture, both hind legs, and part of the tail, the belly with coprolite and the bone from a Priscacara sp. fish consumed in its lifetime, the specimen prepped in matrix, board-mounted for ease of display.
44.5 x 32.5 x 2in. (113 x 82.5 x 5cm.).
#A Partial Fossil Crocodile Skeleton#eocene period#fossil#fossilfriday#palaeontology#palaeontologists#archeology#archeolgst#ancient artifacts#history#history news#ancient history#green river formation
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Somebody in my friends list already has a lvl 100 Mary. So based.
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researching dinosaurs in a silly way (or: work at a children’s book publisher)
#listen i surely could have been a palaeontologist if i hadn’t studied literature#(just kidding i can’t even differentiate between a camptosaurus compsognathus and a camarasarus)#(why do they all sound the same)#(i’m just here for the cute lil dino vibes that we’ll hopefully create once i’m done with the research 🦕)#janna talks
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Hands up if you were a kid (like me!) who told people that you wanted to be a paleontologist when you grew up.
#dinosaurs#palaeoblr#palaeoart#palaeontology#palaeoecologist#palaeontologist#dinosaur science#natural history#women in science#natural history musuem#careers
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Just wanted to say that your world building and art is awesome! Looking forward to see what happens once the muscle layers finish growing and start establishing skin. Are all of the giant mech frames just extremely large eldritch big cat skeletons or is it just the aesthetic of the mech-makers?
hiiii thank you!
i can't comment on the first part of your ask right now but to answer your question, it's an organic skeleton (many different kinds of animals, not just felines) that is outfitted with armour and engines by humans. the base shape wasn't chosen by anyone but the armour aesthetics sure were. so that's why (for example) the crocodile mech has wings and ears, the surface details are all made by humans who might not actually know what a crocodile is/have never seen one in person/just want to add more details for more grandeur (and poor crocodile didn't have a skull either)
#it's like. cross between medieval bestiary and early palaeontologists trying to make their best guess at what dinosaurs looked like#but also they know these animals like leun is a lion and pantera is a leopard etc etc so it is less guesswork#setting: mez
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For some reason MerSkelly brings up more questions than regular Skelly fjsdkf how did part of him get preseverved if all of him was underwater, walking on skeleton legs is one thing but a skeleton fish tail has no water resistance right? I know this my au shut up fdsjkfkj I also have no idea which species of fish he was in life because I didn't think about that oh well this au isn't THAT deep (hehe … deep … ocean…………)
Archie and Pal are of course Coelacanth mermen, an ancient (being the keyword) lobe-finned fish
Pal has a Megalodon tooth! Prehistoric underwater creatures are a whole new specality for him
Archie kind of has a little mermaid thing goin' on with being obsessed with human treasures that come from ships to explore and examine, I'm not sure how well merfolk archaeology would work but exploring the sunkern treasures keeps him occupied for now
Archie and Pal (c) The Smurfs
Skelly is mine
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maybe mary anning is an unsung hero of palaeontology to YOU. she's the ONLY palaeontologist i'm singing about
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