The latest medical scanning technology revealed details of a plesiosaur’s inner ear, showing the extinct marine reptiles swam with their head slightly lowered – unlike the Loch Ness ‘sock puppet’.
The environmental, cultural and scientific sensitivity of some sites, and rarity of some fossils, means amateur fossil collecting comes with huge risks.
Some species can do well in the face of extreme hardship.
George Burba/Shutterstock
Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for about 180 million years. But around 66 million years ago, a huge rock from outer space (called an asteroid) smashed into the Earth. Then things got worse for dinosaurs.
How the fossilised creature may have looked in its heyday.
BBC Pictures