A campaign has been launched to have a reptile that starred in Sir David Attenborough’s latest blockbuster documentary named after the amateur fossil hunter who found it, after complaints he was “airbrushed” from the BBC show.
Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster, which won widespread acclaim, has been criticised for only mentioning the finder of the pliosaur skull, Philip Jacobs, in the credits at the end of the programme.
Jacobs said he was appalled, complaining on his Facebook page: “I’ve been completely airbrushed out of my own discovery, not even a mention. I have no words.”
He spotted the fossilised snout of the 150m-year-old pliosaur during a beach walk at Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, in April 2022. His discovery sparked a painstaking project to excavate the rest of the 2-metre (6ft 5in) skull from the cliffs that was documented by Attenborough and the BBC. The specimen is believed to be a new species of pliosaur.
Jacobs, 69, an artist and textile designer, provided video footage of the moment the fossil was discovered and was interviewed by the BBC but during the film he was only referred to as a “fossil enthusiast”.
A petition calling for greater recognition for Jacobs had attracted more than 600 signatures within 24 hours of being launched.
The writer Anna Morell, who began the petition, said: “This find is being quoted as being one of the most significant fossils to have ever been found. It is unique. It is huge. It is significant.
“Yet Philip’s name is being effectively airbrushed from the historical record. Time and again, those with power and influence reduce or delete the names of less well-known citizen scientists from the record. The fossil should be named after him, and the BBC should edit the programme to add his name in.”
Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist, author and presenter, said: “Philip Jacobs deserves a huge amount of credit, not only for making the discovery but for ensuring that it was saved for science. It is a real oversight for them [BBC] not to – at the very least – have name-checked Philip.”
Wolfgang Grulke, a palaeontologist based in Dorset, said: “This has happened before of course, starting with our own Mary Anning. Collectors are important too.” Anning was a 19th-century fossil hunter whose work was habitually uncredited in a male-dominated field.
The archaeologist Phil Eyden sent a sympathetic message to Jacobs: “Credit where credit is due ... The world owes you a huge debt for recovery of this fossil. The BBC owes you an apology, it won’t make up, but I hope you get one. Your contribution to science will not be forgotten though, no matter the BBC’s editorial decision.”
Jacobs, from West Bexington, Dorset, has been an avid fossil hunter for 40 years. He was with his partner, Helen, when he spotted what at first appeared to be an odd-looking rock. When he looked closer, he knew it was the snout of a pliosaur. Rather than take the fossil home with him, Jacobs buried it and marked the spot with some driftwood and sought help.
The expert Steve Etches helped unearth the rest of the pliosaur fossil. This week the specimen went on display at the Etches Museum in Dorset and was seen on day one by almost 500 visitors, a record number.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “The production team worked with Philip Jacobs to include his discovery film in the documentary and he was credited at the end. This programme predominantly concerned the excavation, preparation, and scientific analysis of the complete pliosaur skull.”
• The headline and text of this article were amended on 3 January 2024. The pliosaur was a reptile, not a dinosaur as an earlier version said.
