Ancient Sea Dragon

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.

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.