Richard Owen's 'terrible lizards'
Video presented by Paul Barrett
Richard Owen was among a few scientists who realised that the fossilised bones of giant reptiles, found in the rocks of southern England at the time, represented the remains of a fantastic group of extinct animals. But he was the first, in 1842, to name them. He called them the Dinosauria. Owen's work formed the foundation for all subsequent work on the biology and evolution of these animals. Join Museum dinosaur researcher Paul Barrett to explore Owen's impact on our knowledge of dinosaurs, with examples drawn from Museum specimens on which Owen himself actually worked.
- Presented by: Paul Barrett
- Date: 21 July 2004
- Duration: 30:46
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Until 1938 whale carcasses were buried in the Museum grounds so that their flesh would decay leaving only the skeletons.