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Daily Mail Stunned scientists have found a fossilised squid so well preserved that they were able to paint using its 150 million-year-old ink. 
The amazing specimen was discovered entirely by accident during a dig in north Wiltshire on a Victorian site. As palaeontologists cracked open one ordinary-looking rock they discovered the ancient squid's one-inch-long black ink sac inside. The prehistoric sac was then cracked open and a small sample of the calcified matter inside was removed and ground with a solution of ammonia to turn it into ink. Dr Phil Wilby, who led the excavation, said finding the fossilised ink was down to the Medusa effect - something turning to stone very quickly. He said: 'It's amongst the world's best fossil preservation. 'It's a squid-like creature, but it's not the same as a modern-day squid. In fact, it's not like anything we have in the world today. 'You really don't imagine anything so soft could be so well preserved three dimensionally. 'It's fossilized so beautifully well that you can actually still write with it. It still looks as if it is modern squid ink. 'It's absolutely incredible to find something like this. 'We felt that drawing the animal with it would be the ultimate self-portrait. 'It's very valuable material so we won't be using up any more of it now we've done the first test.' Alongside the remarkable ink sac, palaeontologists also found other examples of the squid, and other creatures with all their soft parts preserved. Dr Wilby, 41, said: 'About 155 million years ago, literally millions of these animals were dying out or being killed in this precise area and we don't know why that is. 'In normal circumstances, the decomposition process means only the hard parts of animal are preserved, such as the bones, shell and teeth. 'It is extremely rare to find any fossil with the soft parts preserved. The odds of this find are easily a billion-to-one and probably much greater. 'We call it the Medusa effect - specimens turn to stone within a matter of days, before the soft parts can be eaten away. 'I hope the discovery will help us better understand why things are fossilized in this way - what it is about the area that allows it to happen so quickly? 'Throughout the world there are perhaps a few dozen examples of soft parts being preserved, but this is really special. 'I can dissect them as if they are living animals. You can even tell whether it was a fast or slow swimmer, by looking at all the muscle fibres.' The dig was funded by the British Geological Survey and the Curry Fund, which provides money for exploratory projects, and took ten days to complete. Palaeontologists explored a five-metre-deep, 32 metre-square (1,716 square feet) area in North Wiltshire, as scientists hunted for a legendary Victorian site. Dr Wilby said: 'We came across it as part of a trial excavation in north Wiltshire. 'We were trying to find the site of a dig which took place in the 1840s, where we knew fossils were found with their soft parts preserved. 'We had the name of the village and knew it was next to the Victorian Great Western railway. 'When we reached the site, we drilled trial holes into the ground until we spotted one of the fossils coming out with the end of the drill. 'We only had ten days to work in and we excavated 240 tonnes of rock, looking at them by hand and using hammers and spatulas to investigate inside. 'In total we found a couple of dozen specimens with soft parts such as muscles and eyes in tact, but this was even more exciting.' The specimen is now in the British Geological Survey collection in Nottingham. Part of the ink sac has been sent to Yale University in America for more in-depth chemical analysis.
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