2023-05-10 16:40:08
MADRID, 10 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A giant of the Jurassic seas was twice the size of an orca, according to a review of the characteristics of Liopleurodon, a pliosaur that was attributed a length of 25 meters.
More than 20 years ago, the BBC’s ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ television documentary series sparked heated debates about the size of this ancient extinct creature, as it was thought to have been vastly overestimated and it was more likely that it had only reached an adult size of just over twenty feet in length.
Speculation was to continue, but now a chance discovery in an Oxfordshire museum has led paleontologists at the University of Portsmouth to publish a paper on a similar species that could reach a whopping 14.4 metres, twice the size of an orca. The research is published in Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
Professor David Martill from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Environment, Geography and Geosciences said it’s a statement: “I was a consultant on the BBC pilot ‘Cruel Sea’ and I raise my hand: I was terribly wrong about the size of Liopleurodon. I based my calculations on some fragmentary material that suggested that a Liopleurodon could grow to a length of 25 metres, but the evidence was scant and caused much controversy at the time.
“The estimate of the size of the BBC in 1999 was exaggerated, but we now have some evidence that is much more reliable after a Chance Discovery of Four Huge Vertebrates”.
Professor Martill’s co-author, Megan Jacobs, was photographing an ichthyosaur skeleton at the Abingdon County Hall Museum, while Dave searched through the fossil drawers. He found a large vertebra and was thrilled to discover that the healer had three more in storage.
The vertebrae are clearly identifiable as being closely related to a Pliosaurus species or similar animal. Pliosaurs were like plesiosaurs, but with a larger, elongated head, similar to that of a crocodile, and a shorter neck. They had four fins which acted as powerful oars to propel them through the water and a relatively short tail.
After conducting topographical surveys, Professor Martill and his colleagues calculated that this Late Jurassic marine reptile could have grown between 9.8 and 14.4 meters in length.
“We know that these pliosaurs were very fearsome animals that swam in the seas that covered Oxfordshire 145-152 million years ago. They had a huge skull with huge teeth that stuck out like daggers, as big if not bigger than a T. rex, and certainly more powerful.
“They were at the top of the marine food chain and probably fed on ichthyosaurs, long-necked plesiosaurs, and perhaps even smaller marine crocodiles, just biting them in half and removing bits. We know they were butchering smaller marine reptiles because you can see bite marks on ichthyosaur bones in examples on display at The Etches Collection in Dorset.”
The vertebrae were originally discovered during temporary excavations at Warren Farm in the River Thames valley in Oxfordshire and come from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. This deposit is of Late Jurassic age, around 152 million years.
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