BBC accused of ‘airbrushing’ amateur fossil hunters from David Attenborough’s Sea Monsters doc as name petition gets more than 2,000 signatures

The BBC has come under fire from the scientific community after a David Attenborough documentary about a recently discovered underwater creature only briefly mentioned the fossil hunter who found it.

More than 2,000 signatures have been collected on a petition on change.org to have the pliosaur named after Philip Jacobs, who until the end of the month was described only as a “fossil enthusiast”. Attenborough and the Great Sea Monster.

“This particular find is considered one of the most important fossils ever found,” wrote Anna Morell, who started the petition. “It’s unique. It’s big. It is significant. And yet Philip’s name is virtually erased from the historical record when it comes to this important find. Much of the world’s advertising media does not mention him.”

After the broadcast, Jacobs wrote on Facebook: “I completely lost my own discovery, not even a mention. “I have no words.”

The amateur fossil hunter discovered the snout of the pliosaurus, believed to be around 150 million years old, in April 2022 while walking on the beach in Dorset, UK. The remains of a two meter long skull were then unearthed, with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit quickly responding to the news and filming the dig.

Documenting the “discovery of a lifetime”, the film was broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on New Year’s Day (January 1) and was well received.

Several paleontology figures, including television presenter Dean Lomax, criticized the BBC for Jacobs’ negligence. “Philip Jacobs deserves enormous credit, not only for making the discovery, but also for ensuring that it is preserved for science. This is a real mistake [the BBC] “At least not to have Philip’s name checked,” Lomax said in a statement carried by British newspapers.

A BBC statement claimed that Jacobs and Natural History Unit producers had reached an agreement before publication. “The production team worked with Philip Jacobs to include his discovery film in the documentary and in the end he got the credit,” it said. “This program primarily involved the excavation, preparation and scientific analysis of the entire pliosaur skull.”

In pre-screening promotional material, natural historian icon Attenborough said: “This film is about the discovery of the skull of an extraordinary sea monster – one of the largest predators the world has ever seen.” The skull is the most important part of an animal and what you can deduce from it is simply fascinating.”

Attenborough heard about the find from a collector friend who lived near the find and informed executive producer Mike Gunton of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, who quickly sold the project to the broadcaster and assembled a film crew.

Jacobs said in a follow-up post yesterday that the Etches Collection, the independent museum organization that worked with the BBC on the film, “is doing everything in its power to ensure that there is full attribution to whoever saw the giant pliosaur first. .” discovered.”

The specimen was exhibited at the Etches Museum in Dorset and attracted record numbers of visitors.