Pliosaur discovery: Huge sea monster emerges from Dorset cliffs
Pliosaur discovery: Huge sea monster emerges from Dorset cliffs
Scientists marvel at the fossilised head of an underwater 'killing machine' from the Jurassic.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The pliosaur was the ultimate killing machine and at 10-12m long, with four powerful flipper-like limbs to propel itself at high speed, it was the apex predator in the ocean.
Meals would have included other reptiles such as its long-necked cousin, the plesiosaur, and the dolphin-like ichthyosaur - and fossil evidence reveals that it would have even feasted on other passing pliosaurs.
It started with a chance find during a stroll along a beach near Kimmeridge Bay on southern England's famous World Heritage Jurassic Coast.
Steve Etches' friend and fellow fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs came across the tip of the snout of the pliosaur lying in the shingle.
Scientists from across the globe will be clamouring to visit the Dorset fossil to gain fresh insights into how these amazing reptiles lived and dominated their ecosystem.
They tell her about the size of the muscles operating the jaws of the pliosaur, and the forces generated as its mouth snapped shut and crushed its prey.
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