Sir David Attenborough’s new documentary takes him back to his childhood – not to mention transporting viewers 150 million years back in time, as the discovery of an ancient fossil unlocks the secrets of a prehistoric mega creature.
“I have been collecting fossils since I was a boy, and I haven’t yet got tired of it,” reveals Sir David. “Finding even the smallest fossil can be a thrill. But discovering something much larger can be an unforgettable moment.”
And they don’t come much bigger than this one. A chance find on a Dorset beach sees palaeontologists realise they have the fossilised snout of a pliosaur, a giant prehistoric sea predator. But that isn’t all. The fossil has fallen from the eroded cliff face above the beach, which means the full skull is buried up in the cliff.
“Pliosaurs were the biggest and most formidable hunters in the Jurassic seas,” says Sir David. “The marine equivalent of the T-rex. Finding a complete specimen is rare. The skull of this one is over two metres long and armed with massive fangs. It’s undamaged and promises to reveal all kinds of details about these terrifying hunters.”
Soon, the race is on to save the fossil from the crumbling cliff face. Steve Etches, one of the UK’s most intrepid fossil hunters, makes a plan to excavate the skull.
“The location of the skull, high up on a disintegrating cliff face, makes it very difficult to reach and even harder to work on,” explains Sir David.
In the show, the team has only three weeks before the good weather runs out. Rain turns the loose stone on the cliffs to mud and makes excavation too risky. The job is done by hand, with power tools, and tinfoil protects the fossil while superglue strengthens crumbling parts. A local farmer and fellow fossil enthusiast builds a bespoke crate to lift the two- metre-long skull safely up the cliff. It is a heart-stopping moment as the volunteers pull the half-ton fossil to the safety.
Matters become high tech fairly quickly, however, as the investigations into the skull get underway using cutting-edge technology. Every inch of the dense fossil is painstakingly studied – one CT scan took five days alone – allowing the team to build up a picture of the creature and its habits.
“The detail is mind-blowing,” says Sir David. “That’s what palaeontology is about. I used to think that it was just a question of finding a fossil and saying how nice it was!”
Scientists even build a robot model of the creature to explore its swimming technique – which despite the beast’s massive size, is similar to today’s penguins – in the hope of estimating its speed. “They trusted me with its maiden voyage,” laughs Sir David, who operated the scale model’s remote control to send it swimming in the pool for the first time.
Cutting-edge visual effects bring the sea monster to life. We see the pliosaur swim through the Jurassic seas, showing its astonishing 12-metre length – as well as phenomenal strength as a predator. With fearsome triangular teeth, the pliosaur had a bite twice the strength of a great white shark and scientists reckon it could easily chomp through a car.
“This sea monster was one of the greatest predators ever seen,” says Sir David. “And we can now visualise more accurately than ever how it may have hunted.”
The scientists deduced that the skull is from a previously undiscovered species, and Sir David is proud to witness this moment in natural history.
“The story of this fossil is one of skill, dedication and of fascinating scientific discoveries,” he says.
“We’ve been given a unique insight into the life of our pliosaur, but we’re reminded that there’s still much to learn about these extraordinary prehistoric animals.”
Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monsters airs New Year's Day at 8pm on BBC One.
