Muzeum Ziemi

POLSKA AKADEMIA NAUK MUZEUM ZIEMI W WARSZAWIE

150 million-year-old marine reptile fossil found in Poland

150 million-year-old marine reptile fossil found in Poland

Paleontologists at the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences have found the partial remains of a 152 million-year-old marine reptile—formally known as a pliosaur—in a cornfield. The discovery was made near the village of Krzyżanowice in the NE margin of the Holy Cross Mountains of Poland.

“In Europe, they have been discovered only in a few countries” Daniel Tyborowski from the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, said in a press release.

A study, published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, describes the fossilized remains of a surprising assemblage of creatures from the Late Jurassic period, including the skull and teeth fragments from a large pliosaur.

Bones from a long-necked species of plesiosaur belonging to the Elasmosauridae family and teeth from ancient crocodiles were described in the study, along with the shell fragments of ancient turtles.

“Sea turtles ate large snails, while they themselves fell prey to large crocodiles,” said Tyborowski. “We know this because we found teeth marks left by those reptiles on turtle shells. On the other hand, powerful pliosaurs hunted all animals whose fossils we discovered at this site”.

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Fot. Darek Nast

Admission fees

Admission fees

Regular ticket: 16 PLN

Reduced ticket: 12 PLN (schoolchildren, students, pensioners, employees of PAS)

Family ticket: 40 PLN (including 3+ Large Family Card; 2 adults and children under 18)

Ticket for a disabled person’s caregiver: 1 PLN

Guided tours for individual visitors: 50 PLN including entrance ticket (available for individual visitors up to 4 persons)

Tuesday – free entrance

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How to find us

How to find us

Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth in Warsaw

Al. Na Skarpie 20/26, 27

Public transport: click on the sign of bus or tram stop on the map – numbers of bus or tram lines will be shown.

Earth in the Solar System

Earth in the Solar System

The exhibition shows the position and peculiarity of our planet comparing to other objects in the Solar System. The space-oriented aspect of the exhibition is complemented by a section dedicated to impact craters being unique geological structures formed during collision with meteorites, comets or asteroids with the Earth’s surface The issues concerning atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere of the Earth are illustrated by satellite images and this also emphasises the outer-space extent of phenomena taking place on our planet.