Race to save a dinosaur

SCIENTISTS are battling against the elements in a race to remove an ancient sea monster from its 150-million- year-old grave.

Three weeks ago, an amateur geologist, Simon Carpenter, stumbled on an almost complete skeleton of a pliosaur - a 35ft crocodile- like marine predator that ruled the oceans in the Jurassic era - on the edge of a clay pit at Westbury, Wiltshire. But the hot weather threatens to crack and destroy what geologists believe is the most complete skeleton of the 'king of the sea' ever found.

A team of experts aided by Bristol University students is working throughout the day under a tarpaulin over the find, which is being regularly sprayed with water and preservatives. They hope to have excavated the full skeleton by next month.