In other news: giant sea dragon fossil found in Rutland, UK.
About 4x bigger than Mary Anning’s tiny ichthyosaurus skeletons which we saw at the museum in Lyme Regis six years ago.https://t.co/SSJ5j67dmm pic.twitter.com/I3VN87cuZy
— Ellie & Stefan ?| Berkeley Square Barbarian (@BerkeleySqB) January 10, 2022
Paleontologist Joe Davis, together with experts from the Rutland Wildlife Foundation, discovered a perfectly preserved skeleton of a 10-meter-long ancient ichthyosaur known as the “sea dragon” on the beach.
The age of the find is about 180 million years, and the weight of the skull of the prehistoric creature reaches a ton. According to scientists, this skeleton is the most complete of all ichthyosaurs found in the UK, as well as the largest, which makes this find one of the greatest in the history of the country.
Experts stumbled upon the fossils in February last year during the planned drainage of the island in the Rutland Water reservoir. It took scientists about a year to carefully remove the skeleton from the ground, move it to the museum and explore.
It is reported that in the 1970s, during the construction of the reservoir, two incomplete and smaller skeletons of ichthyosaurs were discovered, but the new find came as a surprise to scientists.
The first ichthyosaurs, which are called “sea dragons” because of their very large teeth and eyes, were discovered by the fossil hunter and paleontologist Mary Anning at the beginning of the XIX century. These ancient sea creatures, resembling dolphins in appearance, first appeared about 250 million years ago and became extinct 90 million years ago. Their size ranged from 1 to more than 25 meters in length, writes Mirror.
Ekaterina Gura
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