Plesiosaurs first appeared in the Triassic Period over 200 million years ago. They were long necked marine reptiles with four large flippers covered in bony plates, which they used in a flying motion through the water and weighed up to 45 tons.
Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis and was a self-taught palaeontologist. She is best known for unearthing the first complete Ichthyosaur skeleton, discovering the first two complete Plesiosaur skeletons, the UK’s first ever remains of a pterosaur, (the biggest-ever flying animal) and pioneering the study of coprolites (fossilised poo).
📍Lyme Regis, Dorset
Dubbed the ‘Pearl of Dorset’, the coastal town of Lyme Regis is a magnet for fossil hunters. At the centre of the county’s Jurassic Coast, its crumbling cliffs reveal an extensive past, with fossil finds detailing what life was like here 180 million years ago and more.
Inside our fossil collection we have this Plesiosaur on display from The Leon Garner Fossil Collection that was discovered locally in Lyme Regis.
Visit the Leon Garner fossil room today
