London museum unveils jurassic ocean giants
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A new exhibition at Natural History Museum in London is taking visitors back nearly 200 million years to a time when giant marine reptiles ruled the oceans.
Titled Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep, the exhibition features fossils of prehistoric sea predators, including a massive ichthyosaur skull and an enormous plesiosaur that could grow up to 12 metres long.
Kate Whittington of the museum says the exhibition explores a world where marine reptiles dominated the seas while dinosaurs roamed the land and pterosaurs filled the skies.
Dr. Marc E.H. Jones described the plesiosaur as a long-necked reptile with four wing-like flippers used to “fly” through the ocean. Although adapted for marine life, the creature still needed to surface regularly to breathe air.
Beyond showcasing prehistoric predators, the exhibition also highlights parallels between ancient extinction events and modern climate change. Researchers say changes in Earth’s climate contributed to mass extinctions millions of years ago and warn today’s oceans are once again facing growing environmental pressure due to rising global temperatures and carbon emissions.
