Appearing in Attenborough documentary 'amazing'

Dr Neil Gostling said Sir David was one of the reasons he became a palaeobiologist

Researchers at a Hampshire university have appeared alongside Sir David Attenborough in a new BBC documentary.

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster follows Sir David as he explores the story of a giant pliosaur, an enormous marine reptile whose skull was found buried on the Dorset coast near Kimmeridge Bay.

His investigations lead him to the University of Southampton, where scientists used highly sophisticated scanning technology to investigate the snout section of the fossilised skull.

Dr Neil Gostling, who was interviewed by Sir David, said the broadcaster was "one of the reasons I became a palaeobiologist" and meeting him was "hugely exciting".

The pliosaur skull was over 2m long

The creature Sir David was investigating inhabited the seas at the same time as dinosaurs roamed the earth, about 150 million years ago.

The µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre at the University of Southampton allowed him to build a detailed 3D representation of its snout, and look at the teeth and nervous system inside, without harming it.

Dr Katy Rankin, who was also interviewed for the documentary in spring 2023, said it was "an amazing experience".

"Sir David was really interested in what we do here and asked lots of questions about our facility," she said.

Dr Rankin said Sir David "asked lots of questions" about the facility

Pliosaurs were "the marine equivalent" of the Tyrannosaurus rex, according to Sir David.

The skull alone was over 2m long - but skulls are often "only too easy smashed before fossilisation", making detailed analysis difficult.

"This one is virtually undamaged," he said, adding it "promises to reveal all kinds of new details about these terrifying hunters".

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster is the second BBC Natural History programme to feature the university’s µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, after it virtually reconstructed the skeleton of a 200 million-year-old ichthyosaur in 2017.

It was broadcast on 1 January 2024 and is available on iPlayer.