A sea monster has emerged from the depths of history and no, it’s not a plot twist from a sci-fi movie. It’s the fossilized remains of a plesiosaur, discovered during a housing development project in Celina.
“It could be another 50 years before one like this shows up,” says Dr. Ron Tykoski, the Perot museum’s vice president of science and curator of vertebrate paleontology.
This ancient marine predator, estimated to be 80-100 million years old, is providing scientists with a rare opportunity to study a creature that once swam the oceans of North Texas when it was covered by a warm, shallow sea.
How Was It Discovered?
The challenge in North Texas is that most fossils remain hidden beneath dense vegetation. It's only when construction activities, like road building or ranch work, disturb the land that these fossils can be uncovered.
In a turn of events that could only be described as a paleontologist’s dream, a local amateur fossil hunter spotted bones protruding from the ground at a Pulte Group development site after asking if he could hunt for shark’s teeth. These bones, as it turns out, belonged to an ancient reptile: a plesiosaur. As exciting as finding a needle in a haystack, this discovery has attracted the attention of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
Dr. Tykoski, led the excavation team through difficult conditions: snowstorms, rain, mud and freezing temperatures. Despite the challenges, the team has uncovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton, offering a glimpse into the past when the area was covered by a vast sea.
What’s a Plesiosaur, Anyway?
If you're picturing a giant, sea-dwelling creature with a long neck (think Loch Ness Monster), you're on the right track. Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era, but — don’t be fooled — they’re not dinosaurs.
"It’s technically not a dinosaur, if you want to get technical,” said Dr. Tykoski. “Everyone thinks every big extinct reptile is a dinosaur. It turns out, it’s not."
These ancient sea reptiles were highly successful, roaming the oceans for nearly 200 million years before they went extinct about 66 million years ago. Dr. Tyoski believes this creature lived between 90 and 93 million years ago.
A Hands-On Approach To Excavation
The excavation faced numerous challenges, including snowstorms, rain and freezing temperatures. Despite the weather, the team managed to extract a significant portion of the skeleton, including flippers, ribs, and parts of the skull, all remarkably well-preserved and articulated.
While technology has come a long way, the excavation process was anything but high-tech. Dr. Tykoski and his team carefully exposed the bones with the finesse of a dentist with a pickaxe.
"We used paintbrushes, dental-tool-like picks and garden trowels to follow the bones and track how far they went," says Dr. Tykoski. Once they identified the full extent of the skeleton, larger tools — rock hammers, chisels and pickaxes — came into play.
For the largest portion of the skeleton, they made the bold decision to transport it in one massive block. The block, measuring 7.5 feet by 5.5 feet, was wrapped in plaster and burlap and reinforced with 2x4s. After carefully flipping the block over and removing excess rock, it was transported back to the museum in a truck.
A Glimpse Into the Past
Finding such a complete and articulated skeleton is rare and exceptional. "This is a remarkably complete, articulated specimen,” says Dr. Tykoski. “The last time I saw one this well-preserved was at SMU, discovered in Cedar Hill in the 1930s."
The specimen offers invaluable insight into life in the prehistoric seas that once covered North Texas during the Cretaceous period, helping scientists understand the marine ecosystem that existed here millions of years ago. Fossils like this are a crucial part of paleontological research and provide us with a tangible connection to the distant past.
"Where you are right now, or I am right now, at the time this animal was alive, we would be sitting on a sea floor with 300 to 500 feet of water above our heads," Dr. Tykoski said.
While most of us are busy with modern-day developments, this fossil serves as a reminder of what was here long before we built houses and roads — dinosaurs may not have lived in North Texas, but ancient marine reptiles certainly did.
What’s Next?
The team is eager to fully uncover the plesiosaur’s skeleton. In the coming months, the specimen will be carefully cleaned and analyzed, giving researchers a clearer picture of the creature's life. From there, the Perot Museum will display the findings for the public to marvel at, offering a rare opportunity to witness a piece of history that once swam in the waters of what is now North Texas.
“They swam and lived and died in your backyard,” says Dr. Tykoski. “In this case, literally, in these folks' new backyards in the amenity center in their community, where the pool is going to be.”
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