From :- BBC World News By :- Dave Gilyeat - South of England Editted by :- Amal Udawatta Getty Images The Dinosaur Isle Museum has its very own Iguanadon skeleton, which was discovered on the Isle of Wight An amateur fossil hunter recently discovered a rare fragment of the world's oldest marine crocodile in Lyme Regis, so what is it about the Jurassic Coast and the Isle of Wight that makes them so rich in prehistoric fossils? In the early Jurassic period ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs ruled the waves in what is modern-day Dorset, amid schools of smaller weird and wonderful sea creatures. Later, in the Cretaceous period, the Isle of Wight was the "acme of dinosaur diversity in the UK", according to palaeontologist Dr David Button, with specimens of almost every shape and size. We know this because of the unique geology of these places, where seas continually erode the cliffs and new and exciting fossils emerge into the light of day....
From :- BBC World News By :- Helen Briggs Science correspondent Edited by :- Amal Udawatta Image: Yohei Utsuki, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University A sketch of what the giant octopus might have looked like Giant octopuses may have ruled the ancient oceans 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed, according to new research. Some of the earliest octopuses are believed to have been powerful predators equipped with strong arms for grabbing prey and beak-like jaws for munching on the shells and bones of other animals. A new study of some remarkably well preserved jaws suggest they reached up to 19 metres, potentially making them the largest invertebrates ever known to scientists. For decades, palaeontologists believed that the largest ocean predators were vertebrates with backbones such as fish and reptiles while invertebrates like octopuses and squid played supporting roles. Getty Images A Giant Pacific Octopus mee...