Name our pliosaur!

Posted on by Lauren MacCarthy.

The world’s only example of a new species of pliosaur (Pliosaurus carpenteri) will go on display at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery this June.

A pliosaur swimming in the Avon Gorge underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge

She’s heading this way…

The length of a bus with sharp teeth the size of bananas, four huge flippers and crushingly powerful jaws, the pliosaur was the ultimate predator of the Jurassic seas and may have swam right where you’re standing.

Bristol was a very different place 150 million years ago. A warm tropical ocean covered the land, and while dinosaurs walked the earth and pterosaurs were flying the skies, marine reptiles dominated the seas. The pliosaur was the biggest and fiercest of all – there is nothing alive like them today.

Our internationally significant pliosaur will go on public display for the first time this summer as part of the blockbuster family exhibition Pliosaurus!

Alongside the fossil, visitors will come face to face with a full size replica of a living pliosaur. But like all unique museum beasts – she needs a name!

Can you help us name her? To help you decide, here’s some more information about our creature:

  • She is female
  • She is 8 metres long in total with a long skull measuring 1.8 metres long
  • She was a Bristol local and lived 150 million years ago
  • She was a top predator in the Jurassic seas and hunted fish, squid and other marine reptiles
  • She has a number of injuries including a dislocated broken jaw, infected flipper and a mouth abscess!

You can vote for your favourite name using the form below. Voting closes on Sunday 12 March.

9 comments on “Name our pliosaur!

  1. Ezra lamb

    My 7yr old Dino mad son would like her to be called Snaposauras!!

    Reply

  2. The Turner Family

    Pip, pliosaurus incredible predator!
    We liked Bob but as that wasn’t an option we’ve chosen pip!
    The Turner family

    Reply

  3. Klaudia Gralinska

    Her name supposed to be pip

    Reply

  4. Max Winter

    Can’t wait to see it in June 🙂

    Reply

  5. Cecile Gillard

    Chompy please!

    ‘Brizzo’ is no good as a name. The suggestion probably comes about because of that widely spread myth that some people call our fair city ‘Brizzle’ which is not true. I have never heard anyone say that (and I’m a born and bred Bristolian). The error came about, I think, because of those Bristol dialect books from years back that tried to phonetically show how Bristol is pronounced with a city accent – the speaker effectively ‘swallows’ the ‘o’ so the word contracts and the ‘o’ is not distinctly heard. A bit like a small choke as the word comes out! Hard to describe in words – but listen out to a Bristolian saying the city name and you’ll get what I mean.

    Reply

  6. Gemma Simmonds

    Chosen by jack who is 2 years old & loves dinosaurs!

    Reply

  7. Allen family

    I really think she should be called Phyllis but that wasn’t there so I went for brizzo just because of the Bristol connection and non of the other names seemed to fit either.

    Reply

  8. Jacqueline Harris

    BRIZO – obviously!!! ?

    Reply

  9. Gina Barnett

    As 6yr old Doogal says, “because it sounds cool!”

    Reply

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