Colossal pliosaur fossil gets 3D CT scan

The innermost secrets of a colossal "sea monster" skull are being revealed by the one of the UK's most powerful CT scanners.

The x-rays are helping to build up a 3D picture of this ferocious predator, called a pliosaur, which terrorised the oceans 150 million years ago.

The 2.4m-long fossil skull was recently unearthed along the UK's Jurassic coast, and is thought to belong to one of the biggest pliosaurs ever found.

The scans could establish if the giant is a species that is new to science.

Here, University of Southampton engineer Dr Mark Mavrogordato explains how the CT scanner works.