Now, imagine a creature so huge that when it walked through a Jurassic forest, it sounded like a fleet of London buses stuck in traffic. That’s the Cetiosaurus. This gentle giant was found in Oxfordshire (again – Oxfordshire was clearly the Jurassic hotspot). It was a sauropod, meaning it had a long neck and a tail like a whip. But here’s the funny bit: early scientists thought it was a whale. Yes, a dinosaur named “whale lizard.” So if you ever feel embarrassed for misidentifying a bird as a bat, remember that Victorian scientists thought a dinosaur was a sea creature. We’ve all been there.
Guess The 90s Tv Show With Dinosaurs
The Sea Dragons of the Jurassic Coast
If you’ve ever taken a trip to Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, you’ve probably tripped over a fossilized ammonite. But the real stars of that shoreline are the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. These were not technically dinosaurs (they were marine reptiles), but they’re often lumped in with the gang. Imagine a dolphin with a face like a crocodile, or a sea creature with a neck so long it looks like a snake that swallowed a turtle. Mary Anning, the famous fossil collector (and the woman who was not invited to the fancy scientific meetings because she was a lady), found these on the beaches of Lyme Regis. She was basically the Victorian version of a beachcomber with a hammer, except she was discovering creatures that would make the Loch Ness Monster look like a goldfish.
