When dinosaurs roamed the planet 150 million years ago, an even more mysterious creature patrolled the seas: 40 feet long, full of teeth, it truly was a sailor’s nightmare and a paleontologist’s dream. Charming Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster pursued scientists as they unearthed the remains of one such animal – a so-called pliosaur – from a cliff on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, shedding light on one of prehistory’s most fearsome heroes.
When fossil hunter Phil Jacobs found a two-metre snout on the beach at Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset, there was little doubt that it was the discovery of a lifetime. With the help of paleontologist Steve Etches, the race began to recover the rest of the skull from the exposed rock before it was lost to the elements. In the meantime, the snout was examined to see what it could tell us about the special animal to which it was once attached.
As host, David Attenborough was on fine form, entertaining and thoughtful – equally good when it came to narrating the dig scenes that I’m afraid only a professional could fill with intrigue. When you balance educational content about the pliosaur with the story of its discovery, the former inevitably proves more compelling than the latter: ancient apex predators are fascinating; There aren’t that many boys crawling on the rock.
The excavations took weeks. Basically, we were afraid that the box would damage the skull; That did not happen. The work had to be interrupted due to rain and then continued. While it was clear that there was a lot at stake—finds like the pliosaur are rare and conditions on the rock are dangerous—the fact remains that fossils take centuries to extract from the ground, and once they are found, they look messy. . Rocks until someone spends months cleaning them.
So the excavation was not a natural candidate for prime-time television. But fortunately, Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster saved the day with lots of CGI renderings and hands-on experiments. By comparing a smooth tooth with a grooved tooth by immersing them in a gel, Attenborough demonstrated the mechanisms that would have made a pliosaur bite particularly destructive. Attenborough tried to show rather than just tell at every opportunity.
Using modern animals as reference points has also helped to understand such a huge and distant creature. For example, it was much easier to understand the advantages of the pliosaur’s eye placement compared to the dolphin and crocodile’s eye placement.
The program not only offered explanations in understandable language, but also relied on extensive information from experts. At Imperial College Dr. Luke Muscutt’s animatronic pliosaur, how its four flippers work: “You can think of the pliosaur as two birds: one flies behind the other, and the one behind takes advantage of the one in front,” he explained, and Prof. Emily Rayfield’s background in skeletal mechanics allowed her to estimate the strength of the bite: “I’m pretty sure it could bite through a car.”
The show was innovative and conveyed ancient wisdom. After the pliosaur skull is finally pulled from the rock, paleontologist Dr. C. Judith Sassoon hints at something very exciting: “I think it might be [a new species]”, she noted.
“The detail you can glean from this is amazing,” Attenborough exclaimed. “I always thought [palaeontology] It was just a matter of finding a fossil, digging it up and saying how beautiful it was. You made it sound completely different!”
Undoubtedly Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster Paleontology in an attractive and accessible light. There’s a reason why so many kids go through a dinosaur phase: who can resist the idea that millions of years ago, giant lizard-like creatures walked (or paddled)?
The show took this childhood wonder and delivered an hour of television that was not only inspiring, but truly educational. I could happily take the pliosaur test tomorrow, but if I ever see another labor-intensive extraction of a broken tooth from a muddy rock, it will be too soon.
Source: I News
I am Harvey Rodriguez, an experienced news reporter and author with 24 News Reporters. My main areas of expertise are in entertainment and media. I have a passion for uncovering stories about the people behind the scenes that bring the entertainment world to life. I take pride in providing my readers with timely and accurate information on all aspects of the entertainment industry.