Researchers have identified a gigantic fossil discovered last year in the county of Rutland in England. It is a 180 million year old “sea dragon” with a skull weighing a ton.
This paleontological discovery in the county of Rutland in England is exceptional. The fossil of a gigantic “sea dragon” was first discovered in February 2021 by Joe Davis, the head of the Rutland Conservation Team. He was doing routine drainage of an island in the lagoon to rearrange the landscape when he came across some sort of clay pipe sticking out of the mud. It was in fact vertebrae from ” Britain’s largest sea dragon found in UK’s smallest county ».
Joe Davis explained that “ we followed what unmistakably looked like a spine. We mightn’t believe it “. He understood the extent of his exceptional discovery when he found what strongly resembled a jawbone. A team of paleontologists therefore spent the last year in unearth the fossilized remains of this underwater creature. Moreover, Huge and terrifying 244-million-year-old underwater predator discovered by researchers.
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This sea dragon fossil is the largest and most complete ichthyosaur skeleton found in the UK
The sea dragon of the United Kingdom is a 180-million-year-old ichthyosaur. Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that inhabited the seas long before dinosaurs. Paleontologist Team Leader Dean Lomax said, “ Britain is the birthplace of ichthyosaurs – their fossils have been unearthed here for over 200 years ».
The fossil discovered is all the more impressive because it reveals an ichthyosaur 10 meters long. It’s as big as half a tennis court. His skull alone weighs a ton. Dubbed the ‘Rutland Sea Dragon’ or ‘Rutland Sea Dragon’, this skeleton is the largest and most complete of its kind to be found in the UK. It is also the ” first ichthyosaur of its kind found in the countrys ».
Two other incomplete ichthyosaur skeletons were discovered in the same spot in the 1970s, but they weren’t as big as this one. Finally, this gigantic 180-million-year-old fossil is ” a truly unprecedented discovery. It is one of the greatest discoveries in British paleontological history », selon Dean Lomax.
Source : CNET
