Other clues helped rule out some previous explanations

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They identified fossils from at least 37 ichthyosaurs scattered around the area, dating back about 230 million years. The bones were preserved in different rock layers, suggesting the creatures could have died hundreds of thousands of years apart rather than all at once, Pyenson said.

A major break came when the researchers spotted some tiny bones among the massive adult fossils, and realized they belonged to embryos and newborns, Pyenson said. The researchers concluded that the creatures traveled to the site in groups for protection as they gave birth, like today’s marine giants. The fossils are believed to be from the mothers and offspring that died there over the years.

“Finding a place to give birth separated from a place where you might feed is really common in the modern world – among whales, among sharks,” Pyenson said.


Testing the chemicals in the dirt didn’t turn up any signs of telegram database volcanic eruptions or huge shifts to the local environment. And the geology showed that the reptiles were preserved on the ocean floor pretty far from the shore – meaning they probably didn’t die in a mass beaching event, Irmis said.

The new study offers a plausible explanation for a site that’s baffled paleontologists for decades, said Dean Lomax, an ichthyosaur specialist at England’s University of Manchester who was not involved with the research.

The case may not be fully closed yet but the study “really helps to unlock a little bit more about this fascinating site,” Lomax said.

Earlier this year, paleontologists in the United Kingdom announced the discovery of the fossilized remains of an “incredibly rare ichthyosaur that was nearly 33 feet long and roughly 180 million years old. The fossil, which researchers said is “very well-preserved,” was called the “palaeontological discovery of a lifetime.”