Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Renew Now, Pay Later
Sharing Google Activities
2 min.
Setting Up Student View
Exploring Your Issue
Using Text to Speech
Join Our Facebook Group!
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Science World magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Ancient Sea Dragon
ANGLIAN WATER
REMARKABLE FOSSIL: The Rutland ichthyosaur is the largest, most complete ichthyosaur skeleton ever discovered in England.
In January 2021, a conservationist working at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve, a bird sanctuary in England, spotted some bones sticking out of the muddy ground. They turned out to be fossils, or preserved remains, of an ichthyosaur (IK-thee-uh-sor). This enormous marine reptile lived alongside dinosaurs more than 180 million years ago.
TOP PREDATOR: Ichthyosaurs ruled Earth’s oceans from 250 million to 95 million years ago.
Scientists rushed to unearth the find, which turned out to be a big challenge. The skeleton was 10 meters (33 feet) long—about the length of a school bus—and buried under layers of poop from the birds at the sanctuary. To avoid damaging the fragile bones, the researchers decided to cut out sections of clay that surrounded and supported the fossils, cover them with protective plaster, and then lift them with a forklift. The section of clay containing the creature’s head weighed more than a ton.
Now, scientists are painstakingly conserving the ichthyosaur skeleton—and searching the sanctuary’s mud for more buried treasures.
The Rutland ichthyosaur likely belongs to the species Temnodontosaurus trigonodon. Here’s how its size compares with other large marine animals. How many times longer is the ichthyosaur than a bottlenose dolphin?
SOURCE: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC; IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM