Huge fossil found in Dorset featuring in new David Attenborough doc
The 150-million-year-old Pliosaur was found on the Jurassic Coast
Last updated 31st Dec 2023
The skull of a colossal sea monster, extracted from the cliffs of Dorset's Jurassic Coast, will be subject of a new David Attenborough documentary.
It belongs to a Pliosaur, a 10-metre marine reptile that terrorised the oceans about 150 million years ago.
Museum curator, Steve Etches called it the ‘apex predator’ of the Jurassic Sea: “It was probably an ambush predator, swimming down at the depths, so it was likely to be dark on the top of the body and white underneath, similar to a fish.
“And I imagine it would have just flicked straight up, at maximum speed, and taken anything that was swimming above.”
Dubbed the T-Rex of the water, some experts say it would have been able to prey on anything in its vicinity, including its own kind, with its 130 “long, razor sharp teeth”.
The 2-metre-long fossil is one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered and will give scientists new insights into predator.
Sir David Attenborough noted: "The thing about the skull is that it's not only by far the most informative part of the body, it’s by far the most delicate too. The detail is so rare to find and this fossil is as near perfect as it can possibly get."
It was first discovered by fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs during a stroll along a beach near Kimmeridge Bay.
Steve told us: “The fossil was situated towards the top of the cliff but the snout of it dropped down onto the seashore and a colleague of ours found it half buried in the shingle.”
But the difficulty lied in excavating the fossil: “Once we confirmed the species was there, we reached out to climbing firms that could help us abseil down to where the fossil was,” Steve said.
He added: Initially, we wanted to lower the fossil down the cliff and put it on a boat, but we soon realised that wouldn’t work so instead we got some tractors and pulled it up the cliff.”
Sir David Attenborough called the excavating process ‘painstakingly difficult’: "The skull weighs over half a tonne. That's a pretty heavy thing to handle.
"Then, you have to get it out from half-way up the face of a tall cliff which itself is crumbling away, and if you drop it and break it, it is a major catastrophe.
"The head is only part of it, the body itself which is about the size of a London bus, extends into the cliff.”
Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster will air at 8.00pm on New Year's Day (Monday January 1st) on BBC One and iPlayer.
It’ll now be on display from Tuesday (2nd January 2024) at The Etches Collection in Kimmeridge.