What began with the routine maintenance of a British nature reserve and reservoir was hailed as a giant Jurassic “mega find”.
Officials from Anglian Water and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said Monday that they uncovered the skeleton of an extinct prehistoric reptile predator, known colloquially as the sea dragon, the largest and most complete ever discovered in the United States. which is 32 feet long and has a 6 foot long skull that weighs about a ton. It lived about 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs walked on land.
“It is the largest and most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found here, so it is a mega-find for many reasons,” said paleontologist Dean Lomax, who led the excavation. “During this time period, it would have been right at the top of the food chain. It’s an ultimate apex predator, perhaps one of the largest marine animals in the world.
Two other smaller, incomplete ichthyosaurs were found at the site in 1970s, according to Anglian Water, who works with the reservoir. Lomax added that larger ichthyosaur fossils have been found outside of the United States, including Canada, although remains of this large size are rare.
Ichthyosaurs, extinct marine reptiles that resemble dolphins or sharks, were first discovered almost 200 years ago on the Jurassic Coast in southern England.
They went extinct 90 million years ago.
Rutland Water Conservation Team Leader Joe Davis first encountered the fossil when he and a colleague were walking through an area of the reserve that was drained earlier last year.
