The discovery of the complete remains of a huge sea dragon that lived in Britain millions of years ago
The discovery of the complete remains of a huge sea dragon that lived in Britain millions of years ago
What started as routine maintenance for a UK game reserve quickly turned into a major excavation campaign, when workers discovered the strange fossil of a huge ichthyosaur.
It is a type of extinct marine reptile of the Mesozoic era, which resembles a dolphin with a long pointed head, four fins and a vertical tail.
The age of this creature is estimated at 180 million years. According to a press release from Rutland Water Nature Reserve in England.
The discovery was reported during the routine draining of a lake that was to be reconserved, as the massive fossil was spotted by two workers from the conservation team, with what looked like tubes protruding from the mud.
After further examination and examination, the team realized that what had been discovered was an organic material similar to the bones of a giant jaw.
Known colloquially as "sea dragon", the fossil is about 10 meters long and its skull weighs nearly one ton, making it the largest skeleton found so far in the United Kingdom.
The researchers took great care during the exhumation of the huge skull, as a huge block of mud containing the ichthyosaur skull was removed, before it was covered with plaster and placed on wooden splints, as it will currently undergo further examination and study.
It is believed to be the first ichthyosaur (Temnodontosaurus trigonodon) to be found in the United Kingdom.
Paleontologist Dean Lomax at the University of Manchester, who led the excavation, said: "It is the most complete and largest skeleton of any skeleton ever found in the kingdom.
So it is an unprecedented and significant discovery, and it will be one of the greatest in the history of British paleontology.”
This type of dinosaur was first recorded about 250 million years ago, and became extinct about 90 million years ago.
It is worth noting that two small incomplete ichthyosaurs were found in the 1970s, but the latest discovery is the first complete skeleton.
You can follow the excavation journey, as a documentary about that event will be shown on BBC Two's Digging For Britain.
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