Nature (1982–…): Season 37, Episode 7 - Attenborough and the Sea Dragon - full transcript

♪♪

The remains of a dragon

have just been discovered

in the cliffs on the
South Coast of England.

It was an enormous
marine reptile

that ruled the seas
at the same time

as the dinosaurs ruled the land.

Scientifically, it's
called an ichthyosaur.

♪♪

The bones are so well-preserved,

it may be able to
give us new insights



into the lives of these
remarkable creatures.

Together with a
team of scientists,

we will reconstruct the skeleton

and compare it to
animals alive today.

We'll try to understand
how it looked

and how it survived
in the open ocean.

Could this be a completely
new species of ichthyosaur?

Our search for
evidence will lead us

into an intriguing forensic
investigation into how it died.

I think you're lookin'
at a 200 million-year-old

murder mystery.

Solving that mystery
will throw light

on the extraordinary
world of the Jurassic ocean.

♪♪



The story of this
extraordinary dragon

starts here in Dorset, on
the South Coast of England,

one of the most important
geological sites in the world:

the Jurassic Coast.

♪♪

It stretches for
almost 100 miles

from Devon to Dorset.

♪♪

And it was here that
the early geologists

first collected evidence

that, once, the world was
ruled by monstrous reptiles,

quite unlike anything
alive on Earth today.

♪♪

Evidence of creatures
that existed all that time ago

can still be found
on these beaches.

Fossil collectors
have been coming here

for, literally, centuries and
these rapidly eroding cliffs

are providing them
with a continuous supply

of exciting things to find.

I started looking for
fossils when I was a boy

and I've never lost the feeling
of excitement and anticipation

of what one might discover.

The commonest fossils here
are coiled shells called ammonites

and you can find
them all over the place.

There's one here
on this boulder.

You can see the whorls there,

but it's mostly been
worn away by the sea.

But sometimes, if you're lucky,
you can find nodules like this

and, if you look at
them, you can see

there's the edge
there of an ammonite

and, if I hit it...

I'd better put on
protective glasses.

If I hit it, it should...

How about that?

Wow!

What a find!

Ammonites, in fact, are
quite common on this beach,

but, every now and again,

something truly rare and
spectacular is found here,

and quite often by this man,

one of the most skilled
fossil hunters I know.

Chris Moore has been
collecting fossils here

for more than thirty years.

Recently, he came
across a boulder

which, he thought, might
contain something unusual.

Back in his workshop,
he exposed a mosaic

of small, beautifully
preserved bones

which he knew straightaway

were the front
fins, the paddles,

of an ichthyosaur.

But they were unlike any
he had ever seen before.

♪♪

I still collect fossils.

I even have the remains
of an ichthyosaur,

a small one, of a kind
that's relatively common.

This was collected by Chris
about 10 years ago in Dorset.

I never found anything
as beautiful as this.

It's got jaws and it's got
teeth and it's got paddles.

And Dorset was
the very first place

where they found a
really complete skeleton

of one of these creatures.

This is a picture of it,

published for the
very first time in 1814.

People thought it was
some kind of monster,

but what was it?

They thought it
was a kind of cross

between a reptile and a fish,

so they called it
an ichthyosaur,

a "fish lizard,"

or "sea dragon."

Since that time, many fossil
fragments of ichthyosaurs

have been discovered
on the Jurassic Coast...

♪♪

But complete
skeletons are very rare.

♪♪

The particular one
that Chris has just found

is significantly different

from any that's ever
been found here before.

Chris shows me where
he believes the rest

of the ichthyosaur's body is:

in the cliff, above
the part of the beach

where he found the paddles.

It's in a limestone layer
near the top of the cliff

and, to reach it, Chris will
have to remove tons of clay.

♪♪

In Jurassic times, sea
covered all this area.

On its floor, sediments
washed down from the land

turned into layers of
shales and limestone.

The land rose,
the sea retreated,

and, now, in the rocks,
you can find the remains

of the creatures that once
lived in those ancient waters.

♪♪

As well as the
remains of ammonites,

there are the bones
of fish, such as sharks.

♪♪

But the top predators
at this time were reptiles,

ichthyosaurs.

They dominated the seas for
more than 150 million years.

♪♪

After getting permission to dig,

the team clamber down
the cliff, to the particular layer

where the rest of our
ichthyosaur skeleton

should be lying.

I'm gonna need at
least another meter

'cause I need to drop
down to the next bit.

♪♪

It's dangerous work:

These cliffs occasionally
collapse without warning.

♪♪

To make sure that they don't
damage any of the fossils,

the team do all the
digging by hand.

♪♪

There's just loads of roots.

Tons of clay have to be removed

before they even reach
the layer of limestone

where they hope the
rest of the bones still lie.

Hooray!

♪♪

It was on this very
same coastline,

more than 200 years ago,
that the first complete skeleton

of an ichthyosaur
was discovered.

It was found by a
self-taught fossil hunter

called Mary Anning in 1811.

It was then, that the
popular name sea dragon

was given to these
prehistoric monsters.

Scientists speculated
on how they lived

and artists tried to imagine
what they must have looked like

and how they behaved.

♪♪

Back at the cliff face, Chris
and his team are hard at it,

but, they haven't
found any more bones.

This is a massive
piece, tomb stone.

Right, ready.

Chris is convinced
that the skeleton

to which the paddles belonged
must be somewhere here,

and they check every rock.

Beautiful shale.

♪♪

Lovely.

Anything interesting?

Moment of truth.

Nothing.

- Just push it off.
- Yeah.

♪♪

Is there anything showing?

Nothin' obvious.

Oh, gosh, that's hard work.

Ooh!

♪♪

I hope there's something here.

I almost don't want to look.

♪♪

- Agh!
- Ah!

- Oh, it's bone.
- There's a bone.

Loads of bones
going all the way.

There's bone there.

There's something here.

No, it's all the way along.

At long last, the team's
efforts are rewarded.

We've got some bones here!

Oh, yeah. Loads here.

There's loads of bones.

Fantastic.

Ah! What's this?

Is that a vertebrae?

But the bones are
not in the position

the team had
expected to find them.

Instead of lying across
the face of the cliff,

the skeleton seems to
be bending back into it.

We're gonna have to
go down through there.

It means much more work.

And, to make matters worse,

a storm is brewing.

The rain's just starting, but,

I think we've got to
make a bit of a run for it.

Rough seas and heavy
downpours can cause landslips,

which could easily destroy any
chance of retrieving the bones.

It was after just such a storm

that Chris found the
front limbs, the paddles,

of our sea dragon.

They convinced him that the
fossil was something special.

You can see why when you
compare them to the paddles

of the kind of ichthyosaur
that's usually found here.

This is an adult and this is
the paddle of this creature

and, if you compare
it to this one...

Oh, it's huge.

Oh, yeah.

I've never seen
anything quite like it.

There are half a dozen
rows of digits there

and how many there?

I think there's at least
9 or 10, crossways,

and, obviously, you
know, many more in length.

So it's getting on for
twice the number of digits.

And the whole shape of
the fin is completely different.

Quite, quite different.

And must be new, therefore?

I think so. I've never
seen anything quite like it.

How exciting.

It's extremely rare

to find a new species of
ichthyosaur, these days.

Only nine have
been discovered here

in the last 200 years.

But, can these strange
paddles tell us something

about how this odd
ichthyosaur lived?

To try and find out,

we're going to construct a
three-dimensional model.

To do that, we first need to
have the paddles scanned.

♪♪

To create an image,
this cutting-edge scanner

takes thousands
of X-ray projections

through the fossil,
in cross sections,

as it rotates.

♪♪

It's not long before
the first images appear.

That's amazing.

It's really clear.

You can even see the bones
laying underneath the paddle.

At the moment, we're
just doing one section.

- Yeah.
- We're going

to do more multiple
scans down the specimen

and build it all back together
into a three-dimensional volume.

The scans of the paddles
are sent to Bristol University.

Here, scientists can isolate
the image of each bone

within the rock and
then assemble them

to create a detailed,
three-dimensional model.

♪♪

The team is particularly excited
by the shape and structure

of these paddles, and
I've come to find out why.

We've got a
complete paddle here,

taken from the bones itself,

fully reconstructed,
rearticulated,

so this is as close
as we can get

to what it would've looked like.

We can actually
start using this paddle

to try and tell us what
species it might've been.

Because of the
size of the paddle

and the way that some
of these bones articulate

with each other, it's different
to other ichthyosaurus

and so, this could
be a new species.

Oh, that would be great.

It would be jolly exciting.

We won't know for sure until
we find the rest of the body.

But can the paddles tell
us something about the way

in which this creature swam?

There are a lot of
bones in this paddle,

which would've been
good for holding steady

and also for allowing it to
be maneuverable in the water.

There would've been cartilage
around that, wouldn't there,

- somewhere or other?
- Yes.

All of the gaps
between the bones

would've been
filled in with cartilage

and even further
around the paddle itself,

giving it a paddle-like shape,

giving it a cross section
a bit like an aero foil,

so that it could cut
straight through the water.

♪♪

Could they fold
them in to the side?

Probably not.

Looking at the muscles
and where they attach,

it suggests these are
moving up and down,

helping it to turn very quickly

or keeping it on the
straight and narrow

when it wants to be
a little more sedate.

♪♪

The shape of the paddles
and the way they moved

seems very like the
way an animal alive today

uses s paddles.

That animal usually
lives in tropical waters,

like these in the Caribbean.

♪♪

The sea here is warm,
with temperatures much like

they would've been in
Jurassic times around Britain.

And the animal in question

is the dolphin.

Dolphins, of course,
are mammals,

not reptiles, like ichthyosaurs.

Nonetheless, the two
groups have bodies shaped

in very similar ways.

The front fins, or
paddles, of both

would've helped to
steady themselves

as they turn and cut
through the water.

♪♪

And both have
similar dorsal fins.

So, although they lived
200 million years apart,

dolphins and ichthyosaurs share
many physical characteristics

and that's because they
evolved in similar ways,

as a response to a
similar environment.

♪♪

Like dolphins, ichthyosaurs
evolved from ancestors

that had once lived on land.

As they became
adapted to life in water,

they lost the ability to walk.

Their bodies became
more streamlined

and their forelimbs turned
into paddles, to help them swim.

♪♪

But ichthyosaurs do differ from
dolphins in two striking ways.

♪♪

Dolphins have tails that
are flattened horizontally

and they drive
themselves forward

by beating their
tails up and down.

♪♪

But we know, from their
fossils, that ichthyosaur tails

were flattened vertically,
like those of sharks,

so they must've swum
in the same sort of way:

by sweeping their
tails from side to side.

Ichthyosaurs, unlike dolphins,
also had back paddles.

They, too, would've helped
stabilize them as they swam.

And what's more, the
paddles of o ichthyosaur

are particularly large and long,

rather like those of the
oceanic whitetip shark.

That shape helps the whitetip
to cruise for long distances

with very little
expenditure of energy

in their search for food.

♪♪

So, it could be
that our ichthyosaur

was also a
long-distance traveler

and only an infrequent
visitor to the Lyme Regis seas.

Which could be why no one

has ever found one
of these here before.

♪♪

♪♪

Back at the dig site, the
rain has stopped, at last.

The team must try to extract
the rest of the dragon's body

before worse weather arrives.

That's how hard the rock is.

It's actually smashed
the end off the chisel.

So you can see what
we're dealing with.

♪♪

At last, they find signs
of the rest of the skeleton.

Lots and lots of bone in there.

Yeah. Ribs and
all sorts of stuff.

And there's another,

particularly
exciting, discovery.

I think it's skin.

- It's a skin?!
- Yeah, look.

Oh, really?

They've found signs
of fossilized skin.

- Rare isn't it?
- Yeah, very rare.

♪♪

The blocks that
contain bones and skin

can't be thrown down
like the other rocks.

They must be carefully
strapped up and gently lowered.

♪♪

So, first block down,
few more to go,

but if they go like that,
I'll be very pleased.

Two weeks after
they started work,

I go down again to
check on progress.

Chris shows me what
they've already collected.

So, lots over here,
with a bit of a wash.

Ah, well, I can see
something there.

Ah!

That's more obvious, yes.

Yeah.

Here, you can see,
glinting in the sunlight,

sections through the
backbone, the vertebrae column.

Wow!

And these are the
ribs that are still

attached to the vertebrae.
And these are the neurals

- that come off the backbone.
- The spines

- off the top of the back?
- Yeah. Yeah.

But they've actually got
skin preserved on them.

- No, really?
- Yeah.

Can you see that here?

Well, that's the very black.

You can see it on
the impression as well.

This is great news!

But something puzzles me.

Would the head have been
on this side or that side?

Most likely here,
in this next slab.

And it's not there?

Not so far -
ATTENBOROUGH: Oh boy.

How many more tons to go?

Only a few.

Okay.

♪♪

Once the blocks are
down on the beach,

the team remove as much
excess limestone as possible

to make them lighter.

Even then, they're
extremely heavy,

so to get them
back to Lyme Regis,

they're loaded onto a pontoon
and towed back by boat.

♪♪

So, for the first time
in 200 million years

our strange ichthyosaur
once again takes to the water.

♪♪

The dig may be over,

but the investigation
is only just beginning.

Now the work
becomes more delicate,

involving not sledgehammers,
but small vibrating chisels

that chip off the
limestone in tiny flakes.

It's detailed work that will
take months to complete.

♪♪

Day after day and week
after week, Chris and his team

work patiently to expose
more of the skeleton.

And, as they do so,

the bones reveal
something very intriguing.

♪♪

I've come down to Chris's
workshop to take a look.

It's a bit of a squeeze
past the plesiosaur.

It really is an Aladdin's cave.

After weeks of work, Chris has
exposed the backbones and ribs.

- So this is it so far.
- Gosh.

And, in doing so, he's
made a startling discovery.

It looks like it's
been attacked. Gosh.

There's breakages
all through the rib cage.

If you follow one rib, you
go along here, down to here,

then this piece
corresponds to this

which then goes
over to here, so...

- Oh, there, yeah.
- One rib is now broken

into three pieces.

How extraordinary.

But what's happened here?

Here the vertebrae column
has been actually pulled away.

I'm fairly positive
it was done in life.

And the paddles, the
flippers have been ripped off.

Where would they go?

But they're in a very
odd position, aren't they?

I mean, they're pointing
in the wrong direction.

They should be,
basically, in this position

and facing the other way up,

and they've been ripped
off and turned over.

Gosh. Well, where was the head?

The head should be here.

That's the very last vertebrae.

- Back of the neck?
- Yeah.

So the head's been torn off

and there's no
evidence, there's no teeth

or pieces of bone;
it's completely gone.

So it's a murder?

- Yes.
- Really?

Yeah, I think it was killed.

Did this predator crunch
the head, do you think?

Who knows, you know?

It's 200 million years ago,

so it's a bit of guess
work, really, isn't it?

So it's a murder story

without a complete body yet?

To find out more, we need to
reveal the rest of the skeleton.

♪♪

So it's all hands on deck.

♪♪

They've even roped me in.

♪♪

This is more
difficult than it looks.

Very good.

Could you start
on 3 days a week?

- Is it alright?
- It's good, yeah.

I haven't gone too
close to the bone.

No, no.

Phew, that's a relief.

But what of the missing head?

If it was been ripped
off, Chris thinks he might

still be able to find it
somewhere on the beach.

So, at every opportunity
he scours the area

where the first block was found.

♪♪

The best time to
look is after a storm

when a strong sea has
moved sand and shingle

and perhaps revealed
the rocks beneath.

♪♪

To try and deduce just how
our Ichthyosaur met its fate,

we've sent images of the fossil
to someone who specializes

in investigating
the cause of death

in pre-historic animals.

You sent me some photographs,

and I had a look at
some of these breaks.

First of all I
noticed this here...

if you look you can just see

this bulbous piece
on the rib here.

This is where the rib
has healed after a break

and the animal's gone
on to live another day.

This animal's had a little
bit of a bad start in life.

- Yes.
- If you look down here

and especially
this one if you look.

This fracture here
mirrors that fracture there

and then we can see
a whole line of fractures

where there's no
new bone growth.

Something has actually
crushed this rib cage.

So look here at
these neural spines-

these are absolutely
perfect... And then from here...

They're broken all
the way down to here...

This is the last
one that's broken

and then here
they're perfect again.

So there to there is damaged,

on the ribs there to there
is damaged and here, too,

and also on some
of these belly ribs.

So I think there's a bite
which goes right across here.

That probably reflects

the width of the skull
of the animal that bit it.

Yes. Yep, yeah.

Yeah so it came in
across here almost...

Somewhere like that yeah.

There was a massive bite;
it caused catastrophic injury,

and remember the rib
cage is protecting lungs.

This was an air-breathing
marine animal

so once this rib
cage is punctured,

and the lungs are
punctured, this animal is dead.

It can't breathe and
also it's going to sink

straight down to
the seafloor as well.

It's quite likely that the
animal that killed this animal,

presumably it was
looking for food...

It didn't get to eat it.

Oh, no, I think
it just killed it.

It didn't eat it or else
it wouldn't be so intact.

So this probably all took
place in the surface water.

But as soon as it had done
this injury, this thing just sank

like a stone straight
down to the sea floor

and then it was
lost to the animal

that was trying to eat it.

So it looks as if Chris's
attack theory might be right.

But what type of creature
could possibly have inflicted

so much damage
to our sea dragon?

A rather unusual fossil
in Chris's collection

might give us a clue.

This is fossilized
ichthyosaur droppings

called a coprolite,

and what makes it
particularly interesting

is that within this piece of
dung, you can see fish scales.

So that shows that
ichthyosaurs were fish eaters,

but more than that,

this one is even
more interesting.

Because in this piece of dung

are teeth, ichthyosaur teeth...

So the animal that produced this

was almost certainly a cannibal.

It ate other
ichthyosaur species.

Could it be that our dragon
was killed by one of its own kind?

To find out more,

I've come to the Natural History
Museum of Stuttgart in Germany.

Here they have one
of the most impressive

and varied collections of
ichthyosaurs in the world.

They came in all
shapes and sizes.

But of all the ichthyosaurs that
existed 200 million years ago

there was one which
was particularly fearsome.

This is Temnodontosaurus,

one of the biggest of the
sea dragons so far discovered.

They grew up to 10 meters long,

and individual bones
have been discovered

which suggest that they could
grow even bigger than that.

The remains of these
terrifying sea monsters

were discovered in a
quarry just outside Stuttgart.

These are the biggest complete
Temnodontosaurus fossils

ever found.

This huge predator

had the largest eye
known of any animal

which would have given it
extremely acute eyesight.

Not only that, but the
eye was surrounded

by a ring of scutes—
Bony plates...

To protect it from the
water pressure at depth.

So, with eyes the
size of footballs,

this monster was able to hunt

at all depths of
the Jurassic ocean.

It also had rows of sharp teeth

that would have allowed it
to rip apart almost anything.

These teeth are
shaped like blades.

Well-suited for
cutting into flesh.

And here's another specimen
of Temnodontosaurus

that is proof positive
that it really was a hunter.

Here is its stomach
and inside its stomach

you can see these
tiny, little circular bones

which are the backbones,

the vertebrae, of
a baby ichthyosaur.

So we now know

that Temnodontosaurus could
devour young ichthyosaurs,

but would one have
been capable of eating

an adult ichthyosaur like ours?

Fossils of Temnodontosaurus

have been found
in other regions,

including the Jurassic Coast.

So this monster could
well be our prime suspect.

To build our case further,
we're going to analyze

another specimen
of the same species

that was found on
the Jurassic Coast.

This is the skull of a
Temnodontosaurus,

and as you can see, it's huge.

This specimen was
found by Mary Anning

on the Dorset Coast
in the 19th century,

and we are hoping that
we may be able to use it

with the latest techniques

to tell us just how powerful
these great jaws could be.

So, for the first time
ever, our team of scientists

are going to attempt to
calculate the bite strength

of a Temnodontosaurus.

The first step is
to scan the skull.

These scans will help the team

to not only reconstruct the
Temnodontosaurus' skull,

but also work out the
size of its jaw muscles.

They can then assess the
power of this huge predator's bite,

and see if it was strong
enough to kill our ichthyosaur.

Temnodontosaurs are unusual

in that they had
huge sharp teeth

for cutting through flesh.

But how did other
ichthyosaurs catch their prey?

To get a clue I've come to see
a modern day predator in action.

That is a gharial crocodile

from Indonesia.

Its jaws, as you can see,

are not wide and flat
like an African crocodile

but long and thin, and
because of that shape

there's very little
resistance to the water

so they can snatch fish,
which they do very effectively.

They're very formidable
animals indeed.

Ichthyosaurs must have fed
in much the same way as that.

Their jaws were very
similar to those of the gharial.

Simple studs to grip the prey.

No need to chew it,
because the jaws at the back

were quite big enough
to enable the animal

to swallow their prey whole.

Just as the gharial does.

So it's likely that our
ichthyosaur had teeth and jaws

specially adapted to catch
small slippery fish and squid

just like a gharial crocodile.

♪♪

Back in Lyme Regis,

the work on the bones
has taken a dramatic turn.

Chris has found that
there is fossilized skin

over nearly the whole skeleton.

It seems to be virtually
covering the whole thing.

It's rare to find
any sign whatever

of skin on fossils, let
alone so much of it.

Fiann Smithwick, an
expert on fossilized skin,

has come to take a
sample back to his lab.

We can look and see
if there's any evidence

of the original pigment
preserved in the skin.

Oh, it's a lovely piece.

That's really good,
that'll be perfect.

Fiann hopes that this
remarkably preserved sample

might tell us what
the skin looked like

and even what color it was.

♪♪

At the University of Bristol,

he places a tiny sample
of the fossilized skin

in a machine that
coats its surface

with minute particles of gold.

♪♪

They will reflect the rays of a
scanning electron microscope.

It's astonishing that
you can actually see

the remains of skin on
such an ancient fossil.

♪♪

But this microscope can
also magnify its structure

tens of thousands of times.

Here we have exceptional level

of preservation of the
skin of our ichthyosaur,

despite being 200
million years old.

So the structures we're
looking at here are around

half a micrometer across.

And a micro meter is
one millionth of a meter,

and you see here
these little granules

and these are
preserved melanosomes.

Now, melanosomes
contain the pigment

that you have in mammal hair,

in bird feathers
and reptile skin,

and the abundance of them
and the distribution of them

can tell us about the overall
color patterns of the animal.

So having a high abundance
means you're likely to be darker

and having a low abundance
means you're likely to be lighter.

This area has
come from the back.

There's a large abundance
of these melanosomes,

there's a lot of pigment here
and when we look at samples

that have come from
the bottom of the animal

we don't see this pigment
in this level of abundance.

So it most likely had a much
darker back than it did a belly

and this conforms to
a type of color pattern

known as countershading
in modern animals.

You can see countershading

in lots of sea animals today,
great white sharks for example.

Both predators and prey
are colored in this way.

It makes it more difficult to
see both from above and below.

So this is the first time that
we've actually seen evidence

of a counter-shaded
pattern in an ichthyosaur.

So that really is a step forward

in our knowledge
of these creatures?

It is, and it can tell
us a huge amount

about the way the
animal might have lived.

Just by looking at that picture.

Just from looking at
these melanosomes.

Great.

Today, counter-shaded
animals tend to live in open water

where there's good visibility.

Ichthyosaurs also
lived in the open seas,

so being camouflaged in this way

would have been
very valuable to them.

The latest scientific research
suggests that counter-shading

might also protect
against ultra violet light

and even help to
regulate body temperature.

As an air-breathing creature,

our ichthyosaur would
have had to spend much time

near the surface,
so counter-shading

could have been a benefit
for that reason as well.

There are, of course
many marine reptiles

still living in the
oceans today.

Like turtles.

The biggest of them
is the leatherback,

whose ancestors in fact
were around at the same time

as the ichthyosaurs.

Today they come ashore
to nest in many places,

including the Caribbean.

This huge leatherback turtle

is laying her eggs.

She's hauled her way up
from the sea, and dug a hole,

and now she's depositing
about 100 of them.

She'll then fill in the hole
and then work her way down,

back to the sea.

It's clearly a very
laborious process.

And that's the challenge
facing all reptiles

that live in the sea...

Having to come
onto land to lay eggs.

Ichthyosaurs were reptiles
and they lived in the sea,

but they were so well
adapted to a life at sea

that they gave
birth to live young.

And that would have
saved the sea dragons

making the dangerous
journey onto land.

There is remarkable evidence
that ichthyosaurs gave birth

to live young in the
Stuttgart museum.

♪♪

And here is a
truly extraordinary,

beautiful, almost
poignant fossil.

Proof positive that ichthyosaurs
gave birth to live young.

Here is the baby
just at the moment

as it's leaving the birth canal.

It comes out tail first and
as soon as it was freed,

it would have
risen to the surface

to take its first breath,

but something happened before
that did and here is the proof.

Whatever it was, death
must have been instant.

♪♪

So ichthyosaurs gave
birth to live babies

just as many sharks do today.

♪♪

After several weeks of research,
the team at Bristol University

have managed to reconstruct
the skull of the Temnodontosaurus

so that they can analyze
the power of its jaws.

How do you assess the
strength of this animal's bite?

Well the first thing
that we need to know

is the volume of
muscle that could fit

into the back of the skull.

So the muscles are attaching
round here and there are also,

there's a group of
muscles that are attaching

further forward here,

and if we know how much muscle
volume there is we can estimate

how much force that
muscle can generate.

And what did you discover?

We found out that our
upper estimate of bite force

was around 30,000 Newtons,

and to put that in a
modern day context,

that's twice as powerful

as the largest saltwater
crocodile that's been measured.

Twice as powerful?

Yes.

So That's enormous. Yeah.

Yes, it's a very
powerful bite force.

So, this must have
been the animal

with the most powerful
bite of its time, must it?

Yes. That's absolutely right...

Of its time, it would have been.

Not only did it
have a powerful bite,

its jaw-closing
muscles also attach

quite close to the jaw joint.

Now normally in animals
where that happens

they have quite a fast,
but less forceful bite,

but the fact that this
animal is actually so big

means that it has a fast bite,

but also by virtue
of its sheer size

it also has a powerful bite too.

So it basically has
the best of both worlds.

So this was the king
of the Jurassic sea?

- Or queen...
- Sorry.

Yeah.

So it seems very likely

that temnodontosaurus
was strong enough

not only to kill our sea dragon,
but to rip its head clean off.

It must have been
a terrifying battle.

♪♪

Our investigations have
given us a pretty good idea

of how our sea dragon died.

But can the reconstruction
work carried out

at Bristol University tell
us more about its life?

♪♪

All the blocks containing the
fossil have now been scanned.

With those scans, the
team were able to separate

the individual bones and
then put them back together

to create a 3D image

of the ichthyosaur's body
before it was attacked.

♪♪

They've added a head

based on estimates of
other ichthyosaur species.

♪♪

That's magnificent.

This is the whole animal,

and we estimate that
it may have been up

to round about 4
1/2 meters long.

Is that bigger than
most in their line?

Yes, this is certainly bigger

than most of the ichthyosaurs
that we see at Lyme Regis.

Looks huge; looks amazing.

Here are the forelimbs,
right at the front,

and we've got hind limbs here

and, at the back,
we've got a tail bend.

This is supported
by the backbone,

which extends along the
whole length of the body.

But that bend is
natural, isn't it?

Yes.

That's not a break.

That gives strength to
the lower element of the tail

- for driving it forward.
- Yes. Much like a shark.

The tail bend is the main
propulsive organ of the animal.

So could this be a new species?

Yes. These pieces of
evidence together suggest

that it is going to be a new
species and it's jolly exciting.

They don't come along every day.

- Historic.
- Yes.

This is wonderful news:

a sighting by Chris on
the beach in Lyme Regis

has led to the discovery of a
new species of ichthyosaur,

adding to our knowledge of
these fascinating creatures.

It's extraordinary how
much you can discover

from one single fossil.

Digital reconstruction

has allowed us to
rebuild this animal

to reveal how it looked
and how it moved.

We've discovered
for the first time

that this creature
was counter-shaded,

but that didn't stop it
from being attacked.

By analyzing its bones
we've been able to work out

that its most likely attacker
was the Temnodontosaurs...

The most ferocious predator
of the seas at that time.

♪♪

It's been a fascinating
journey of discovery.

But for me the real wonder
is the bones themselves...

I can't wait to see
what they look like

when they're finally cleaned.

♪♪

After many months of
painstaking and patient preparation,

Chris and his team have
finally completed their work

on the fossil of our
ancient sea dragon.

Here it is finished.

Wow.

It's... it's really
beautiful, isn't it?

I mean, it is beautiful,
that's for sure.

Thank you. It's a
great specimen isn't it?

Lovely.

And how many new
species have been discovered

in the last 100 years?

Very few, very, very few,

and it's thrilling to
find something that's...

That's, you know, just
never been seen before.

Well, it's a long time spent

just revealing the...
The body of this creature,

but it's also revealed
this extraordinary story

of life and death,
predator, prey,

fighting it out in the seas
200 million years ago

just down there in
the bottom of the lane.

Yeah. It's a fantastic story.

Exciting.

Really, really
thrilling and romantic.

For Chris, this has
been a labor of love,

and it's filled in another gap
in the paleontological jigsaw,

a story that all started

with an odd-looking
boulder on a Dorset beach.

It's extraordinary to think

that some 200 million years ago,

exactly here, the
greatest predator of its time

was swimming around in the sea.

And that's what I
really love about fossils

and fossil hunting.

It gives you an
extraordinarily vivid insight

into what the world
was like millions of years

before human beings even
appeared on this planet.

♪♪

Ichthyosaurs died out
around 90 million years ago.

No one knows why,
but standing here,

and having excavated
that spectacular fossil

it's not difficult
to imagine a time

when dragons really
did rule the seas

♪♪

♪♪

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