# Complete pliosaur skull found in the Dorset cliffs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 10, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385 "2023-12-10T20:55:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/21 "2023-12-11T21:19:09Z")

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If you want to see a “full size” pliosaur fossil, there’s one on display at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis.

[![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ADCreHel-VFaRbN3IxiDy8nlgUorlFcQD8VjNGHnhvyn7qmodhbtbf5Jw8BNJtYfxXXfl7WmvVJ-SM3eQ1ewNsskaTx60AEnJX1ml6EzbX33c5bg1G3TbgWrIUcPTtQlzi8ejfJIm_a_qK1YVjzc3RsyDDvcMQ=w821-h616-s-no?authuser=0) ](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ADCreHel-VFaRbN3IxiDy8nlgUorlFcQD8VjNGHnhvyn7qmodhbtbf5Jw8BNJtYfxXXfl7WmvVJ-SM3eQ1ewNsskaTx60AEnJX1ml6EzbX33c5bg1G3TbgWrIUcPTtQlzi8ejfJIm_a_qK1YVjzc3RsyDDvcMQ=w821-h616-s-no?authuser=0)

For a relatively small museum in an out of the way place, they have a pretty impressive collection. They also offer fossil hunting tours in digs located in the hills nearby.

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**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/22 "2023-12-11T22:01:51Z")

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I imagine a medieval person encountering such a fossil, and I guess I can see why it might be cause to imagine dragons.  
(Those last 2 words are the name of a band, I think.)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/23 "2023-12-12T12:42:01Z")

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Have a look at Willy Ley’s popular science books, or Adrienne Mayor’s _The First Fossil Hunters_ about exactly this scenario.

Oddly enough, most of the documented cases of people mistaking fossil remains for dragons and the like involve fossil _mammals_ rather than dinosaurs. Nevertheless, the suggestion is strong that fossil early ceratopsians like _Protoceratops_ and _Psitticasaurus_ inspired Griffins, and that dinosaur skeletal remains inspired the Babylonian _Sirrush_.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/24 "2023-12-12T16:41:44Z")

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> When Whitby’s nuns exalting told,  
> Of thousand snakes, each one  
> Was changed into a coil of stone,  
> When Holy Hilda pray’d:  
> Themselves, without their holy ground,  
> Their stony folds had often found.

(Except we now realise that Ammonite fossils are the remains of ancient cephalopods)

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/25 "2023-12-13T04:00:48Z")

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> [@blondebear](#):
>
> If you want to see a “full size” pliosaur fossil, there’s one on display at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis.

You know, looking at that skeleton, and the jaws, I’m more and more convinced that the asteroid was a good thing.

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**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-pliosaur-skull-found-in-the-dorset-cliffs/994385/26 "2023-12-13T05:11:57Z")

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Omg that is so freaking cool!!

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