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“There is no comparable specimen,” believes paleontologist Steve Etches. “It’s one of the best fossils I’ve ever worked with. “It’s unique in that it’s complete,” he told BBC News in December.
“Just like in reality, the lower jaw and the upper part of the skull are connected. “Other specimens are usually not preserved in such detail and are somewhat missing, while this specimen has no bones missing,” he added.
The skull exceeds the height of most people. The entire Pliosaurus was 10 to 12 meters long. Its four strong, fin-like limbs allowed it to move at great speed. Etches told the New York Times that it was the largest carnivorous lizard that ever lived. During the Jurassic period, this reptile was at the top of the marine food chain.
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The fact that it was a really large animal is also proven by the findings of paleontologist Emily Rayfield, who discovered large round holes on the back of its skull. They provide information about the size of the muscles that allowed the Pliosaurus to control its jaws, as well as the strength of its grip. Its teeth could effectively break through the tissue and bones of its prey. He had 130 of them, and each one had particularly fine grooves that helped him better penetrate the meat, but also to get out of it.
He was therefore able to attack again immediately. He could kill with a single pressure that had a force of 33,000 newtons. Its long-necked relative Plesiosaurus or perhaps the dolphin-like Ichthyosaurus could be on its menu.
The snout probably helped the pliosaur hunt. On it, scientists found a large number of small pits. They believe they may have contained glands that allowed them to detect changes in water pressure and orient themselves based on where prey was. The so-called parietal or third eye, which is sensitive to light, probably served him to search for other animals. It was in the hole on the head and even lizards, frogs and some fish still have it today.
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Is there the rest of the skeleton of a prehistoric reptile in the rock?
The discovery of the skull itself was extraordinary. While walking on the beach near Kimmeridge Bay, fossil enthusiast and friend of Steve Etches Phil Jacobs came across the tip of a dinosaur’s nose lying in the pebbles. A subsequent drone survey of the rock walls then determined where the rest of the skull might be.
However, to retrieve the fossil you had to rappel down from the top of the rock face. The scientists had to work hanging from a rope at a height of 15 meters. Their work was made difficult by the crumbling cliff.
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Since several vertebrae were also found, Etches assumes that the rest of the reptile’s skeleton is also in the rock.
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“It should be removed as it is in a very rapidly eroding environment. The reef is retreating by meters every year, so the rest of the pliosaur could soon fall out and be lost,” he stressed.
The skull can now be viewed by visitors to the Etches Collection, a museum of prehistoric marine life in the village of Kimmeridge. Etches himself had originally planned not to show it to the public in his museum until next year.
Pliosaurus was a genus of large predatory marine reptiles from the group Plesiosauria that lived in the Upper Jurassic. Most species were discovered in England.
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