The discovery of a150 - million - twelvemonth - one-time pliosaurskull rocked the world in 2023 , after it was retrieved from 12 meters ( 39 feet ) up a cliff along theJurassic Coast . It belonged to a pliosaur , an ancient marine reptile with a bite force-out that could ’ve bestedTyrannosaurus rexin a fighting , and it ’s just been entered into the Guinness Book Of World Records .
Dubbed “ SeaRex , ” the pliosaur skull is 95 per centum concluded by aerofoil country , making it the most arrant skull of its kind on the satellite . It contains almost all of its original castanets , with 130 spiky teeth interlocked , just as they would have been when the pliosaur was swimming around the ocean 150 million years ago .
“ I have studied many Kimmeridgian pliosaurs but have never learn one that is quite so well save as [ this ] , ” pliosaur expert Dr Judyth Sassoon from the University of Bristol toldGuinness World Records . “ It contain a lot of anatomic details in a single specimen that are only base partially keep in other specimen . ”
It’s rare to find a fossil like this that’s not disarticulated, meaning it looks as it would have in life.Image credit: (C) IFLScience
The skull was discovered after fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs constitute a hooter on the beach in Dorset . He recorded a TV and institutionalise it to fossil expertSteve Etches MBE , proprietor of the Etches Collection where the pliosaur skull will go on show .
“ We put a dawdler up and scanned all the way along the drop , and then found what looked to be the eternal sleep of it stuck out . We need to sustain that , so that intend a head trip down the drop-off on roach to really go down and see it . From there , we realised that it was keep upside and that was the reason it front so unearthly , ” Etches told IFLScience when wewent to see the skull .
You look on these programs and they ’re in a quarry and it ’s dead easy , and they have their cup of tea leaf and they brush aside – this was nothing like that , I can narrate you .
“ It did n’t take very long to actually place where the thing was , but it was right in the middle of a cliff . And you recall , ' Oh God . ' You attend on these programme and they ’re in a quarry and it ’s dead easy , and they have their cup of tea and they sweep away – this was nothing like that , I can tell you . ”
The run of survival of getting the 2 - metre ( 6 - foot ) skull out of the cliff is enjoin in swell particular in the BBC programAttenborough And The Giant Sea Monster . For all his experience with the lifelike world , it ’s safe to say fogy - fanatic Sir David Attenborough was still blown out by the breakthrough .
“ That is one of the biggest skulls you ’ve ever seen , ” Sir David Attenborough said in a firing email to IFLScience . “ I intend , it ’s huge and so although I was aware of the tip that was first let out I had n’t to the full appreciated how heavy the whole nous would be and it ’s enormous . gossamer scale was what first print me . ”
“ The thing about the skull is that it ’s not only by far the most informative part of the organic structure , it is by far the most fragile too , " he impart . And it ’s the item , and that is so rarefied to find it . [ T]his is as near - perfect as it can possibly get . ”
“ One of the scientists , Andre [ Rowe ] , he says it ’s a one in a million , no ! One in a billion fossil … ” added executive manufacturer Mike Gunton .
The skull is now on display at the Etches Collection in Kimmeridge , Dorset , with Steve Etches describing it as " one of , if not the most important specimen ever to come in out from the Kimmeridge clay , and globally , this is one of the beneficial specimens you ’ll see . " The Etches collection is now requesting donation to “ deliver the SeaRex ” as it ’s believed that the skull is n’t all there is to be studied along this stretch of the Jurassic Coast .
“ The rest of the body is there , I ’m certain , ” dodo expert Chris Moore , who was instrumental in excavate the skull , tell apart IFLScience . “ It ’s slightly disarticulated , so it ’s add up aside , but it ’s all there . ”
“ We took out part of the shoulder blade , some paddle digits and some of the vertebrae , that were inside of the head teacher and you could see there were more clappers choke in . So , I ’m sure the whole animal is there . ”
Find out morehereif you ’d like to facilitate them find out .
