A new exhibition at the Natural History Museum, Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep, showcases the fearsome creatures that ruled the oceans while dinosaurs roamed the land more than 66 million years ago. The immersive display features fossils, casts and 3D-printed sculptures of ancient marine reptiles, including a 23-foot plesiosaur skeleton.
Kate Whittington, the museum's exhibition and interpretation manager, explained how the plesiosaur's long neck allowed it to sneak up on prey. Marc Jones, the science lead, noted that during the Jurassic era, the planet was warmer and more humid due to higher CO2 levels, with no permanent ice caps and higher sea levels.
The exhibition highlights how ancient oceans parallel today's climate challenges. Jones pointed out that ammonites thrived in warm, stagnant waters, and modern squid are also benefiting from warming oceans. In contrast, ichthyosaurs, which had the largest eyes of any vertebrate, went extinct earlier than other marine reptiles due to climate-related prey decline.
Belemnites, a key food source for ichthyosaurs, diminished as the climate changed, leading to the reptiles' inability to adapt. Today, ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation threaten phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain, with Jones warning that adding over 2,000 gigatons of CO2 in less than 200 years will have consequences for ecosystems.
