British scientists found a 165-million-year-old fossil skeleton of a Jurassic-era animal belonging to the plesiosaur family, with a huge size and many features never seen before.

Dr. Hilary Ketchum at the Oxford Museum of Natural History, England, took more than an hour to temporarily piece together the skeleton of Plesiosaur Eve 165 million years old, revealing the giant size of the animal, with its Large paddle-shaped legs and a long neck.

Reconstructed image of Plesiosaur. (Photo: Science Photo Library).

Plesiosaurs ruled the ocean for more than a hundred million years before disappearing at the same time as the dinosaurs became extinct.

Although common in prehistoric oceans, the presence of this animal is associated with many questions about biological, anatomical and evolutionary characteristics that researchers have not been able to answer.

Plesiosaurs are very strange animals, according to Dr. Ketchum, custodian of geological specimens at the museum. “They are related to other reptiles such as dinosaurs, crocodiles, ichthyosaurs and turtles, but we are not sure how to classify them,” Dr. Ketchum said.

The specimen was discovered by a group of amateur archaeologists from bones found in a quarry. “One member of the team found several bone fragments from the flipper mixed into the clay,” Dr. Ketchum said. “They continued searching and eventually discovered the entire skeleton. We thought it might be a new species, but even if it wasn’t, this fossil is very strange. There are very few species fossils. Plesiosaur with a nearly complete skeleton like this”.

Eve’s fossil skeleton. (Photo: BBC).