Эрдэмтэд Их Британийн Ратлэнд усан сангийн бүсээс 180 орчим сая жилийн настай, 10 метрийн урттай үлэг гүрвэлийн үеийн далайн аварга мөлхөгчийн бүтэн шахам яс олдсон нь палеонтологийн салбарт томоохон нээлт боллоо.
2021 оны хоёрдугаар сард “Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust”-ийн ажилтан Жо Дэвис Ратлэнд усан сангийн арал дээр ажил хийж байхдаа шавраас цухуйж буй содон зүйлсийг анзаарчээ. Мэргэжилтнүүдийн хийсэн малтлагаар энэхүү олдвор нь Temnodontosaurus trigonodon төрөл зүйлд хамаарах магадлалтай бөгөөд хэрэв батлагдвал Их Британийн нутаг дэвсгэрээс олдсон анхны тохиолдол болох юм. Мөн тус бүс нутгаас “Ратлэнд матар” хэмээн нэрлэгдсэн эртний матар төст амьтны үлдэгдэл болон бусад далайн амьтдын яс илэрчээ.
Ихтиозавр нь үлэг гүрвэлүүдтэй зэрэгцэн амьдарч байсан далайн мөлхөгч бөгөөд 250 сая жилийн өмнөөс 90 сая жилийн өмнө хүртэл оршин тогтносон байна. Тэд дельфинтэй төстэй гадаад төрхтэй ч угтаа газрын амьтнаас хувьсан далайд амьдрах болсон, уушгиар амьсгалдаг амьтад байжээ. Бирмингэмийн их сургуулийн судлаачдын микрофоссилийн шинжилгээгээр уг олдвор нь Юрийн галавын эхэн үе буюу 181.5–182 сая жилийн тэртээд хамаарч байгааг тогтоосон байна.
Доктор Дин Ломакс тэргүүтэй баг 2021 оны найм болон есдүгээр сард малтлагыг албан ёсоор гүйцэтгэж, хоёр тонн гаруй жинтэй олдворыг хэсэгчлэн гаргаж авчээ. Тус олдвор нь Их Британид олдож байсан хамгийн бүрэн бүтэн бөгөөд хамгийн том далайн мөлхөгчийн араг ясаар нэрлэгдэж байна. Одоогоор судлаачид олдворыг бүрэн цэвэрлэж, олон нийтэд үзүүлэхээр бэлтгэл ажлыг үргэлжлүүлж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
When Joe Davis crossed a drained lagoon island at Rutland Water Nature Reserve in February 2021, he noticed something strange jutting from the clay. Davis, a conservation team leader for the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, had recovered whale and dolphin skeletons before, and the shapes in the mud looked familiar. He alerted specialists, and what followed confirmed one of the most significant palaeontological finds in British history.
The specimen stretches just over 10 metres in length, with a skull alone weighing approximately one tonne. Researchers have tentatively identified it as Temnodontosaurus trigonodon, a large-bodied species previously known mainly from Germany and France. If that identification holds once the fossil is fully cleaned and prepared, it will also mark the first confirmed record of the species in Britain, extending its known geographic range across a significant stretch of the ancient Jurassic sea.
The discovery drew immediate attention from the scientific community. Paul Barrett, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, described the Rutland ichthyosaur as probably one of the largest fossil reptiles ever found anywhere, including among dinosaurs. Dr. Dean Lomax, the ichthyosaur specialist who led the excavation, called it one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history.
What Ichthyosaurs Were and How They Lived
Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs, first appearing around 250 million years ago during the Triassic Period and surviving until roughly 90 million years ago. Despite resembling dolphins in body shape, they were not related to any modern marine mammal. Like whales, their ancestors had originally lived on land before returning to the sea, which means they breathed air throughout their lives, surfacing as modern cetaceans do today.
They are thought to have been warm-blooded and ranged across both coastal waters and the open ocean. Fossil evidence, including specimens preserved with stomach contents still intact, shows that ichthyosaurs fed heavily on fish and squid. Larger species such as Temnodontosaurus could reach up to 12 metres in length, and some ichthyosaur species grew to an estimated 25 metres, making them among the largest predators the oceans have ever seen.
The Rutland specimen dates to approximately 181.5 to 182 million years ago, a date established through microfossil analysis of the surrounding clay matrix by researchers at the University of Birmingham. That places it within the Toarcian Stage of the Early Jurassic Period, a time when a warm, shallow sea covered much of what is now central England. Britain has produced ichthyosaur fossils for over 200 years, beginning with Mary Anning’s discoveries along the Jurassic Coast in the early 1800s, but no specimen found in the country has come close to this one in size.
How the Skeleton Was Uncovered and Removed
Davis spotted the bones while his team drained a lagoon island at Rutland Water for routine re-landscaping work. He photographed the exposed vertebrae and a suspected jawbone, then contacted palaeontologists, who confirmed the remains belonged to a large ichthyosaur. A formal excavation followed in August and September 2021, organized in partnership with Anglian Water, Rutland County Council, and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.
The team was led by Dr. Dean Lomax, a visiting scientist at the University of Manchester who has named five new ichthyosaur species, alongside palaeontological conservator Nigel Larkin and marine reptile specialist Dr. Mark Evans. Additional members came from the Horniman Museum, Peterborough Museum, and the Open University. Working methodically through Jurassic clay, the team uncovered a skeleton that was almost entirely intact.
Lifting the fossil required considerable engineering. The team encased the bones in wooden splints and plaster of Paris jackets before removing them in sections. The block holding the two-metre skull alone weighed just under a tonne once the surrounding clay and casing were factored in, while the body section added roughly another tonne and a half. In total, the specimen exceeds two tonnes.
The find was significantly larger than two fragmentary ichthyosaurs recovered from the same reservoir during its construction in the 1970s. Once removed, the specimen was transported to a research facility where conservation and preparation work is ongoing under the supervision of Nigel Larkin.
Why the Rutland Ichthyosaur Stands Out
As the Natural History Museum reports, the Rutland specimen ranks as the most complete skeleton of any large prehistoric reptile ever recovered in the UK, a distinction that extends beyond ichthyosaurs to include Britain’s dinosaur finds. Its size and near-completeness together place it in a category of its own among large fossil vertebrates found in the country.
A follow-up field visit in August 2022 recovered additional material at the site, including ammonites, belemnites, nautiloids, and vertebrae from other ichthyosaur individuals. The team also identified the first remains of a thalattosuchian crocodylomorph at Rutland Water, now referred to informally as the “Rutland Crocodile.” As noted in the excavation report published in ScienceDirect, microfossil analysis indicates that at least three Jurassic ichthyosaur species are preserved in the sediments at the reserve.
That density of fossil material suggests Rutland Water sits over an area that was ecologically significant during the Early Jurassic, when the region lay beneath a warm, shallow sea. Researchers are continuing to study the invertebrate fauna recovered alongside the ichthyosaur to reconstruct the broader marine environment of the site. The biostratigraphic data narrows the specimen’s age to a roughly one-million-year window between 181.5 and 182.5 million years ago, placing it within the latest part of the early Toarcian Stage.
The next phase of the project requires funding for a 24 to 36 month programme to remove the plaster field jackets, prepare and conserve the skeleton fully, and mount it for permanent display. Anglian Water and its partners are pursuing heritage funding to ensure the specimen remains in Rutland, where it lay undisturbed for 180 million years before Davis crossed that lagoon.
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