Most complete Pliosaurus skull

The most complete skull of a Pliosaurus is approximately 95% intact based on surface area. Extracted from a cliff on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, UK, in August 2022, the remarkably well-preserved cranium of the prehistoric marine reptile – which includes both jaws (with some 130 teeth) and partial vertebrae – measures about 0.6 m (2 ft) wide and just under 2 m (6 ft 6 in) in length. Over a period of 10 months, it was cleaned and restored by local palaeontologist Dr Steve Etches; the specimen (dated to c.155 million years old) is now on public display at his nearby museum: the Etches Collection in Kimmeridge, Dorset, UK.

Scientists were alerted to the skull’s whereabouts when amateur fossil hunter Philip Jacobs discovered the tip of the snout broken off on the beach below on 5 April 2022. A team including Steve Etches returned to the site in August tasked with unearthing the remains before any further damage could occur. It’s believed that the rest of the creature’s body is still encased in the cliff, however considerable funds and careful planning would be needed before its safe removal could be attempted. Academic examination of the skull is ongoing; it’s still to be determined if it represents a new species or can be allocated to a previously described species.

Pliosaurs were marine reptiles that existed on Earth across the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Bigger members of this group, such as Pliosaurus and Kronosaurus – which may have attained body lengths of 10–12 m (33–39 ft) or more – were the largest predators in Earth’s oceans during the Late Jurassic (161–145 MYA) and Early Cretaceous (145–100 MYA), respectively.

Among all animals, both on land and in water, pliosaurs represent some of the most formidable hunters of all time. Among larger species, their jaws were lined with teeth up to 35 cm (1 ft 1 in) long and with an estimated maximum bite force of between 33,000 and 48,728 Newtons (N). By comparison, research has suggested that Tyrannosaurus rex had a top bite force of 53,735 N (possibly the strongest bite of any land animal ever). The living animal with the strongest bite – the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) – peaks at a crushing power of “only” 16,414 N between its molars. (For context, in humans the maximum bite tends to be 700 N.)

A BBC documentary (Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster) about the excavation and restoration of the 2022 Pliosaurus skull aired on 1 January 2024. It was hosted by British naturalist David Attenborough.

For more information about the most complete Pliosaurus skull, check out this news article.