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It is considered to be one of the largest fossil finds in history. The reptile’s head alone is as big as a full-grown man and weighs over a ton.
At the bottom of the Rutland reservoir in Great Britain, the workers found the entire fossil.
Anglian Water / PA
Ichtyosaurs are basically not dinosaurs, but reptiles.
Bob Nicholls / Anglian Water / PA
In Great Britain, researchers found the huge skeleton of a million-year-old ichthyosaur, a “sea dragon”.
The ichthyosaur species does not actually belong to the dinosaurs.
The head of the fossil alone weighs over a ton.
In England’s largest reservoir, water should be drained to improve the habitat of breeding birds. The conservationists made an incredible and, above all, great discovery. Joe Davis, 48, who discovered the skeleton, said, “My colleague thought the ribs we found in the muddy bottom of the lake were just pipes.” Not even close. It is the largest, complete fossil of an ichthyosaur ever found, the age of which is estimated to be 180 million years.
The dinosaur experts are, and rightly so, over the moon. “My head was as big as I am and I’m 1.80 m. A gigantic beast,” says Finder Davis. It’s ten meters long and the skull alone weighs a ton. the researchers waited until August to retrieve the entire skeleton from the reservoir with a tractor, writes the Daily Mail.
Dolphin-like bodies
The experts assume that the fossil is an ichthyosaur – a fish-like creature whose body shape is reminiscent of dolphins. The species has been extinct for 90 million years. Dr. Dean Lomax is an expert on the species and says: “Despite the many ichthyosaur fossils found in Great Britain, it is remarkable that this is the largest skeleton ever found in Great Britain.” If the fossil is a new species, it could be named after its finder, Joe Davis.
No dinosaurs, but reptiles
During the construction of the said lake in the 1970s, the remains of two such sea dragons, as the creatures are also called due to their large teeth and eyes, were found. However, this find is the first complete skeleton. And a huge one at that.
Unlike dinosaurs, which lay eggs, experts now believe that the ichthyosaurs gave birth to live young animals. This is said to have been proven by the discovery of the largest fossil to date in 2017. In the skeleton discovered at the time, a fetus was recognizable that was still in the mother’s belly. This means that the ichthyosaurs were basically not dinosaurs, but only lived at the same time, writes «National Geographic». It is believed that the species evolved from a land-based reptile.
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