- Title: 170m year old 'sea monster' ruled the waves
- Date: 7th October 2016
- Summary: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UK (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DINOSAUR DR STEPHEN BRUSATTE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, EXAMINING DINOSAUR SPECIMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR STEPHEN BRUSATTE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, SAYING: "We're starting to get a better picture of this eco system. Now these fossils, they're pretty rare on the whole. We're still dealing mostly with bits and pieces. This skeleton is so much more spectacular than anything that's ever been found there and that's what makes it so amazing. There's over a hundred bones and we've had nothing close to this." VARIOUS OF DINOSAUR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR STEPHEN BRUSATTE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, SAYING: "This is a fossil that is important internationally because it's one of the only good skeletons of one of these ocean reptiles from the middle of the Jurassic period. This was a time that was a really interesting moment in evolution. You had all kinds of new groups of dinosaurs and ocean reptiles getting their start, starting to spread around the world, the first Tyrannosaurs, even the first birds, but we have hardly any fossils of these things because it's just one of these time periods where not a lot of rock was preserved with fossils of that time." VARIOUS OF DINOSAUR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR STEPHEN BRUSATTE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, SAYING: "Like a lot of things that are successful for a long period of time, they did ultimately go extinct and they didn't go extinct suddenly. They actually went extinct a little bit before the dinosaurs did. So it wasn't that asteroid that killed them off, but instead it looks it was changes in the oceans, in the chemistry and in the ecology of the oceans, and so you had a long term willowing away of these ichthyosaurs as they became less and less common, less and less diverse until they trickled away to extinction and then that is when groups like sharks and ultimately whales and dolphins moved on in." VARIOUS OF DINOSAUR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR STEPHEN BRUSATTE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, SAYING: "This rock was concrete hard, so when it was found in the 1960s the tools just weren't really around to pull the bones out of the rock. We've now done that. As we've done that we've learned that this fossil is even more incredible than we used to think. There's over 100 bones there, so a whole bunch of the skeleton and now we get to get down to the fun business of actually studying it, figuring out what it is. Is it a new species? There's a good chance it's a new species because so little is known from this time period." VARIOUS OF DINOSAUR
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2016 12:39
- Keywords: sea monster dinosaur Stephen Brusatte Middle Jurassic Storr Lochs ichthyosaur
- Location: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UK / ANIMATION
- City: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UK / ANIMATION
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA002530AYCB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Palaeontologists say the fossilised skeleton of a 170 million year old sea predator could open up scientific understanding of the mysterious Middle Jurassic Period.
A lack of fossil evidence from the era means knowledge of this part of Earth's history is sketchy.
But the remains of what scientists have dubbed the Storr Lochs Monster may change that.
The remains were found by Storr Lochs Power Station manager, Norrie Gillies, on the Isle of Skye in 1966.
The island is one of the few places in the world where fossils from the period are found. Until now any findings of ichthyosaurs in Skye amounted to just a handful of bones, whereas the 'Monster' skeleton is almost complete.
According to University of Edinburgh palaeontologist Dr Stephen Brusatte, who led the project, findings from Skye are helping explain how the oceanic eco system worked during the period.
"This skeleton is so much more spectacular than anything that's ever been found there and that's what makes it so amazing. There's over a hundred bones and we've had nothing close to this," he told Reuters.
Physically the four metre long creature would have looked rather like a dolphin or tuna, due to a concept called convergent evolution, in which distantly related creatures can look similar due to similarities in their behaviour and lifestyle. In fact they are closer cousins of on-land snakes, dinosaurs, and lizards.
The Storr Lochs Monster would have had a long, pointed head filled with hundreds of cone-shaped teeth, which it used to feed on fish and squid.
Close to the head of the food chain, it would have swum fast, had flippers and a fin on its back, and existed underwater while dinosaurs ruled the land.
Brusatte said the Storr Lochs Monster's demise was unrelated to that of the dinosaurs.
"Like a lot of things that are successful for a long period of time, they did ultimately go extinct and they didn't go extinct suddenly," he said. "They actually went extinct a little bit before the dinosaurs did. So it wasn't that asteroid that killed them off, but instead it looks it was changes in the oceans, in the chemistry and in the ecology of the oceans, and so you had a long term willowing away of these ichthyosaurs as they became less and less common, less and less diverse until they trickled away to extinction and then that is when groups like sharks and ultimately whales and dolphins moved on in."
The work of uncovering the fossil was undertaken by a partnership between the university, National Museums Scotland and energy company SSE - the modern day owners of Storr Lochs Power Station.
Brusatte said modern methods of fossil extraction unavailable in 1966 had helped uncover the fossil.
"This rock was concrete hard, so when it was found in the 1960s the tools just weren't really around to pull the bones out of the rock; we've now done that," he said. "As we've done that we've learned that this fossil is even more incredible than we used to think. There's over 100 bones there, so a whole bunch of the skeleton and now we get to get down to the fun business of actually studying it, figuring out what it is. Is it a new species? There's a good chance it's a new species because so little is known from this time period."
The fossil has been preserved in National Museums Scotland's storage facility for 50 years. Norrie Gillies died in 2011 aged 93.
A team of palaeontologists will study the fossil further before it goes on display to the public. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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