(a species of owlet moth (Noctuid)) Some caterpillars, after they emerge from their egg, can increase their weight by 25,000 times.

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Reptiles, amphibians and fishes

Scaly, slimy and slippery, these cold-blooded vertebrates are often overlooked in favour of the more charismatic and well-known birds and mammals. But reptiles, amphibians and fish are just as interesting. Take a look at some monsters of the deep blue sea, and discover a fossil that ‘came back to life’. Stealth, camouflage, speed and ambush – compare the hunting habits of today’s reptiles with the dinosaurs.

  • Life on the reef
    Life on the reef

    Explore the underwater world of the coral reef, home to an immense variety of fish, many of which are strikingly beautiful.

  • Jaws: The natural history of sharks
    Jaws: The natural history of sharks

    Find out about sharks of today and the past, such as the extinct megalodon, one of the most dangerous animals ever to have lived.

  • Variable coral snake, Micrurus diastema
    Snakes: versatile predators

    There are nearly 3,000 species of snakes, found from sea to rainforest to desert. Discover more about their life without limbs.

  • Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae
    Living fossils: coelacanths

    Read the story of the coelacanth, a fish thought to have died out with the dinosaurs, only to be rediscovered in 1938.

  • Illustration of a placoderm, an extinct group of armoured fish
    Fish knew first about sex

    Fossilised pregnant fish was one of the first animals to have sex. Read more and watch a video.

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