Overview
- The 7.1-metre skeleton from Toolebuc Station has arrived at the Winton museum for conservation and study.
- Fossil enthusiast Cassandra Prince first spotted a small bone in 2023 and led a careful 2024 excavation with her family.
- The specimen is about 90% intact, preserving a full vertebral column, left flipper, rare hind flippers, parts of the tail and an almost complete skull and torso.
- Property owner Sam Daniels donated the find, which museum scientists currently regard as likely Platypterygius australis.
- Preparation will require thousands of hours of detailed rock removal, with researchers expecting insights into body proportions, growth and possible stomach contents.