Woolly rhino skull saved on beach

The palaeontologists cover the skull in a plaster cast

A group of palaeontologists has lifted a 50,000-year-old woolly rhinoceros skull from a Kent beach.

The skull, found by amateur Chris Millbank at Swalecliffe, was in danger of being washed away by the sea.

The spring tides on Sunday gave the group just two hours to rescue the skull. It was lifted to loud cheers just minutes before the waves came in.

After it has been cleaned, the skull is expected to be put on display at Maidstone Museum in September.

The group, led by Dr Ed Jarzembowski from the museum, had to dig a trench round the skull then bind it with plaster bandages.

"We had to bind it better than an Egyptian mummy otherwise it would fall apart," said Dr Jarzembowski.

The salt water prevented the plaster from hardening as quickly as the palaeontologists would have liked.

The BBC's Walking With Beasts featured the woolly rhinoceros

Mr Millbank was exhilarated after the operation was completed successfully.

"I'm exhausted and very, very jubilant," he said.

"It was such a close-to-the-wire thing. It was more exciting than the Grand National."

Other prehistoric remains have been found on the beach.

Mr Millbank believes he found the other parts of the same mammoth specimen a few years ago.

And while the skull was being lifted, the group discovered the jaw of another young woolly mammoth complete with a tooth nearby.