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Collections
The Irish elk: when and why did this giant deer go extinct and what did it look like?
Fossil bones and antlers in the Museum's collection hold clues about the life and disappearance of Europe's biggest ever deer.
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News
Great white sharks could have contributed to megalodon extinction
Great whites and megalodon may have been competing for the same prey in the last years of the megalodon's life.
31 May 2022 -
News
The first people in Australia likely feasted on the eggs of giant ducks
Genyornis newtoni may have become extinct after humans stole and ate its eggs.
27 May 2022 -
News
Dinosaurs may have evolved from warm-blooded ancestor
Some dinosaurs, such as stegosaurs, may have needed to bask in the sun to keep their body temperature constant.
25 May 2022 -
Dinosaurs
Palaeoart: The history of bringing dinosaurs back to life
How we depict extinct animals has changed significantly over time, as artists keep up with the latest scientific discoveries.
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Science news
'Ghost' fossils reveal how oceans could be affected by climate change
Plankton which help feed the ocean, lock away carbon dioxide and even influence the weather may not be as vulnerable to climate change as feared.
19 May 2022 -
News
Fossil tooth could show the mysterious Denisovans made it to southeast Asia
The tooth of a young girl living hundreds of thousands of years ago may be from the Denisovans, an extinct hominid species of which very little is known.
18 May 2022 -
News
Trilobite fossil reveals how ancient arthropods mated
Male trilobites could have acted like modern horseshoe crabs, using claspers to grip females and increase their chance of fathering young.
11 May 2022 -
Science news
Whale faces reveal how the world's biggest animals evolved
We now know how whales evolved from furry, four-legged critters to giants of the ocean.
9 May 2022 -
News
Giant ichthyosaur fossils reveal the last days of Triassic marine reptiles
Some of the largest animals that ever lived retained their size right up until they were wiped out 200 million years ago.
29 April 2022 -
Science news
Ancient fossil may be the first bryozoan with a hard skeleton
It beats the previous record holder by tens of millions of years.
20 April 2022 -
News
Pterosaurs may have had coloured feathers similar to birds
The world's first flying vertebrates may also have been some of the biggest show-offs.
20 April 2022 -
News
Fossilised leg buried by dinosaur-killing asteroid uncovered in North America
With the finding yet to be published in a scientific journal, debate continues over whether this could be the case.
7 April 2022 -
News
Spinosaurus and Baryonyx may have hunted fish underwater
Spinosaurs were some of the only dinosaurs that spent much of their lives in water.
23 March 2022 -
News
One of the earliest sabre-toothed mammals discovered in the USA
Living over 40 million years before the sabre-tooth tiger, Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae may have preyed on rhinos and primates in the forests of California.
15 March 2022 -
News
Octopus ancestor with 10 arms named after President Joe Biden
The fossil uncovered in Montana suggests the ancestor of all squid and octopus had 10 arms, with some of these then lost by its descendants.
8 March 2022 -
News
Megalodon sharks grew biggest in colder waters
The finding could offer insights into the impact of climate change on its modern relatives.
7 March 2022 -
Science news
New stegosaur dinosaur species could be the oldest ever discovered
Bashanosaurus primitivus adds to evidence the group of dinosaurs may have originated in Asia.
4 March 2022 -
News
Controversial paper suggests there are three Tyrannosaurus species
Palaeontologists have reacted with scepticism over the claims.
1 March 2022 -
Science news
New group of plants was one of the first to colonise the land
Ancient plants measuring just two centimetres long could show what the ancestor of vascular plants looked like.
16 February 2022 -
Science news
New armless abelisaur dinosaur species discovered in Argentina
Scientists believe there could be many as yet unknown fossils to be uncovered in the region.
15 February 2022 -
News
Fossils suggest dinosaurs could get ill from respiratory disease
The neck of a diplodocid shows evidence of a disease that still affects birds today.
10 February 2022 -
Science news
New species of ancient reptile would have been an apex predator of the Middle Triassic
A new species of crocodile-like animal has been described from fossils unearthed in Tanzania.
9 February 2022 -
Science news
Oldest evidence of modern humans in western Europe discovered
Modern humans arrived in western Europe about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.
9 February 2022 -
News
Fossil-eating sponges discovered in the Arctic
The unique ecosystem is one of the most diverse of the high Arctic.
8 February 2022 -
News
Woolly mammoth and rhino among Ice Age animals discovered in Devon cave
The animals roamed Devon's vast grasslands thousands of years ago.
3 February 2022 -
Science news
Snails narrow down the impacts of the largest ever extinction
A group of fossilised snails and clams are challenging suggestions that ocean acidification contributed to the largest extinction in history.
31 January 2022 -
News
Human ancestor Homo erectus probably wasn't the carnivore we thought
Evidence of increasing carnivory in ancient humans may just be a quirk of sampling.
24 January 2022 -
News
Britain's largest ever ichthyosaur is discovered in Rutland Water
The largest and most complete ichthyosaur ever found in the UK has been unearthed in the nation's smallest county.
10 January 2022 -
News
Velociraptor relative that ambushed dinosaurs is a new species
The first large raptor to ever be discovered in the UK has been described as a new species.
8 January 2022 -
Science news
Dinosaur tracks on Welsh beach are evidence of sauropod gathering
A series of tracks on a public beach point to the presence of large, long-necked dinosaurs in Wales over 200 million years ago.
29 December 2021 -
News
The world's largest arthropod was a car-sized millipede
One of the largest invertebrates to have ever lived once roamed the beaches of ancient England.
21 December 2021 -
News
The largest-ever flying animal behaved like a giant heron
The largest-ever flying animal acted like a giant heron, plucking prey from the water and launching itself into the air.
15 December 2021 -
Science news
New species of chunky sauropod with a large 'funny bone' described from China
The dinosaur was much chunkier than any other sauropod.
14 December 2021 -
News
Early crocodile ancestor shows how the reptiles became feared aquatic predators
An ancient relative of modern crocodiles and alligators shows that their semi-aquatic lifestyle dates back over 150 million years.
9 December 2021 -
News
The world's largest eagle hunted unlike any other bird of prey
Scientists have discovered how a bird of prey dubbed 'the flying tiger' could take down one of the heaviest birds that ever lived.
1 December 2021 -
Science news
The world's smallest elephants led unusually long lives
Ancient elephants that would have been born the size of a puppy lived for decades more than previously thought.
29 November 2021 -
Science news
Neanderthals grew up faster than humans to power brain growth
Neanderthals lived fast and died young, developing their teeth earlier than humans to power their rapid growth.
24 November 2021 -
Science news
New dinosaur species related to Iguanodon found on the Isle of Wight
A new species of dinosaur has been discovered from the Isle of Wight after a case of mistaken identity.
11 November 2021 -
News
Ancient animals show how the elephants got their tusks
The fossils of 'very weird animals' have helped show how elephants and walruses may have evolved their iconic tusks.
6 November 2021 -
News
Potential new human species may redraw the family tree
A new ancestor of modern humans with the potential to rip up the family tree has been tentatively named.
3 November 2021 -
News
Sardinia was once home to a corgi-sized canine
A corgi-sized canine once roamed Mediterranean islands, hunting small prey like birds and pika.
30 October 2021 -
Science news
Ancient bryozoan fossil solves one of early life's greatest mysteries
A conundrum that has foxed scientists for decades has been solved, revealing the origins of an ancient group of animals.
27 October 2021 -
News
Largest known Triceratops fossil sells for £5.6 million
The largest Triceratops ever found has sold for over £5 million in an auction that has caused controversy.
22 October 2021 -
News
Ancient rainforest-dwelling humans ate wide range of foods to survive
Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans living in rainforests has been found in a cave in Southeast Asia.
20 October 2021 -
News
Giant sloth that once roamed South America scavenged for meat
A giant ground sloth that once roamed South America occasionally broke its plant-based diet to eat meat, researchers have found.
14 October 2021 -
News
Our ancestors were pushed to the brink during ancient African extinction event
Most African mammals all went extinct 33 million years ago as the world became dramatically cooler.
13 October 2021 -
Science news
Rocks in ancient Martian lake could hold remains of life
Rocks with the potential to hold fossils of Martian life have been identified by NASA's Perseverance rover.
7 October 2021 -
Science news
New species is oldest meat-eating dinosaur found in UK
The oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur discovered in the UK has been named in honour of trailblazing Museum scientist Angela Milner, who passed away in August 2021.
6 October 2021 -
News
Ancient trilobites had 'hyper-eyes' to see in the dark
A unique 'hyper-eye' consisting of three different levels of vision has been discovered in a prehistoric animal.
6 October 2021 -
News
Fossils of ancient eagle that ate koalas discovered in Australia
A species of eagle that may have eaten ancient koalas over 25 million years ago has been described from Australia.
3 October 2021 -
Science news
Two new species of spinosaur dinosaurs discovered from Isle of Wight
Two new species of carnivorous dinosaurs have been discovered from the Isle of Wight.
29 September 2021 -
News
Nursery for ancient elephants uncovered in Spain
A nursery for the largest land mammals ever to have lived has been uncovered in Spain, offering rare clues to their family lives.
25 September 2021 -
Science news
New species of dinosaur had armour unlike anything seen before
Spicomellus afer is the oldest ankylosaur ever discovered.
23 September 2021 -
News
Oldest known mammal tooth cavities offer glimpse of the world 54 million years ago
Our ancient relatives had a sweet tooth, researchers have found, after uncovering the oldest-known mammalian cavities.
18 September 2021 -
Science news
310-million-year-old fossil shows how little horseshoe crab brains have changed
A new beautifully preserved fossil of a horseshoe crab has revealed that their brains have hardly changed since at least the Carboniferous Period.
5 August 2021 -
Science news
Huge Jurassic seabed uncovered in Cotswolds quarry
Palaeontologists have uncovered thousands of perfectly preserved Jurassic fossils in a sleepy area of the Cotswolds.
21 July 2021 -
Anthropocene
Why woolly mammoth ivory could spell trouble for elephants
Mammoth ivory is appearing from melting permafrost and joining international markets.
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News
High-resolution 3D scanning will help scientists understand insect evolution
Understanding the extraordinary diversity and differences between insects can help us figure out how these species evolved.
1 July 2021 -
Science news
First ever DNA recovered from extinct miniature elephants of Sicily
Over the past few hundreds of thousands of years Sicily was home to two different miniature elephants.
18 June 2021 -
Science news
Evolving a bigger brain isn't always about intelligence
It's more common for mammals to have evolved smaller body sizes which makes it look like the brain is getting bigger.
28 April 2021 -
Science news
Prolonged suckling has vastly limited marsupial evolution
Marsupials have missed out on their evolutionary potential because of how they reproduce.
28 April 2021 -
Science news
The hearing of the Ganges river dolphin is unlike any other cetacean
Their hearing may have been why these dolphins survived when all other relatives died out.
31 March 2021 -
Science news
Fossil evidence of mysterious 'southern Denisovans' yet to be found
When modern humans arrived in the islands of southeast Asia, they may have encountered a range of ancient human species.
22 March 2021 -
Science news
Some trilobites crushed their prey to death with their legs
By studying modern horseshoe crabs, researchers have been able to build up a picture of how some extinct arthropods such as trilobites may have fed on hard-shelled prey.
5 March 2021 -
News
Fossil hunter Mary Anning commemorated with new 50p coin collection
New 50p coin collection honours fossil hunter Mary Anning.
25 February 2021 -
Oceans
What is an ammonite?
The often tightly wound shells of ammonites may be a familiar sight, but how much do you know about the animals that once lived inside?
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Science news
Oldest-ever DNA extracted from a million-year-old mammoth tooth
It is shedding light on how the Columbian mammoth came to be.
17 February 2021 -
Science news
Dinosaur frills were likely the result of sexual selection
It is notoriously difficult to sex a dinosaur.
3 February 2021 -
News
Work to begin on Mary Anning statue for Lyme Regis
A milestone has been reached in the campaign for a statue of fossil hunter Mary Anning in Lyme Regis.
21 January 2021 -
Science news
Fossils of sea monster eyes shed light on animal evolution
Radiodont eye fossils inform scientists of the role of vision in evolution.
2 December 2020 -
Science news
Dinosaurs were not in decline before the asteroid wiped them out
Many groups of dinosaurs were doing rather well right up until the end.
18 November 2020 -
How to make a salt dough ammonite fossil
If you can't get out to the beach to find fossils, why not make your own ammonites instead?
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Science news
Giant dormice the size of cats used to live on Sicily
Why did they get so big?
4 November 2020 -
Science news
How rodents the size of bears arrived in the Caribbean
Rodents of unusual size once lived across the Caribbean.
12 October 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: were ankylosaurs socially distancing?
Were dinosaurs adhering to social distancing rules, or were they living in tight-knit herds?
22 September 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: the first ever 3D fossil of titanosaur embryo
This is the first 3D preserved embryo of a sauropod.
8 September 2020 -
Science news
Bird evolution slowed down after the dinosaurs died
The skull shape of birds is just a tiny fraction of the diversity that would have been seen in their dinosaur ancestors.
18 August 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: human cancer found in dinosaur bone
For the first time ever, evidence of cancer has been found in the bones of a dinosaur.
17 August 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: new 'Captain Hook' dinosaur with clawed hands discovered
A new cat-sized dinosaur with hooks for hands has been described.
3 August 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: this is what dinosaurs evolved from
The origin of dinosaurs, their demise and what Dilophosaurus really looked like.
17 July 2020 -
Science news
Human ancestor Homo erectus had the stocky chest of a Neanderthal
New research on Turkana Boy is changing our understanding of the species Homo erectus.
6 July 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: The first dinosaur eggs were soft
A new study has found that the eggs of the earliest dinosaurs had soft shells.
3 July 2020 -
Science news
Only known drawing of extinct giant sloth lemur found in cave
The painting dates to at least 1,000 years ago.
28 June 2020 -
Science news
Giant relatives of wombats discovered in Australian desert
A new family of ancient marsupials has been discovered, relatives of modern-day wombats and koalas.
25 June 2020 -
Dinosaurs
A shepherd stumbles across sleeping giants in a dinosaur graveyard
This is thought to be one of the most significant dinosaur sites ever found in South Africa.
23 June 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: Fossilised stomach contents reveal a dinosaur's last meal
A 110-million-year-old dinosaur's fossil stomach has been studied by scientists.
19 June 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: Oldest evidence of cannibal dinosaurs uncovered
Explore the latest findings from across the world of palaeontology.
5 June 2020 -
What on Earth?
Snakestones: the myth, magic and science of ammonites
It was once widely believed that ammonites were coiled snakes turned magically to stone.
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Science news
Turtles have lived for 230 million years - but will they survive climate change?
Tracking the diversity of turtles could also give us clues as to how they might respond to increasing pressures in the future.
22 May 2020 -
News
Dinosaur diaries: Spinosaurus, sauropod necks and a new 'starry lizard'
Dinosaur experts share some of the latest science news and views from across the world of palaeontology.
8 May 2020 -
Dinosaurs
Brontosaurus: reinstating a prehistoric icon
For over 100 years palaeontologists thought this dinosaur didn't exist.
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Science news
The most detailed look inside the world's oldest dinosaur eggs
New scans reveal how dinosaur teeth developed.
9 April 2020 -
Science news
We finally know what millipedes looked like when they lived underwater
A new fossil has revealed what they looked like.
7 April 2020 -
Science news
Dating the Broken Hill skull: Homo heidelbergensis was younger than we thought
Africa and Eurasia were inhabited by a whole range of hominin species just a few hundred thousand years ago.
1 April 2020 -
Science news
The first dinosaurs probably didn't have feathers
This may alter the recreation of some non-avian dinosaurs.
26 March 2020 -
Science news
New fossils reveal the earliest evidence of an animal losing its legs
An ancient invertebrate lost its legs to live in tubes.
27 February 2020 -
Science news
Weird skulls of straight-tusked elephants reveal just how many species there were
Straight-tusked elephants were among the largest land mammals ever to have existed.
18 February 2020 -
News
British dinosaurs to feature on UK money for the first time
Three new coins have been designed.
13 February 2020 -
Dinosaurs
The world's first dinosaur park: what the Victorians got right and wrong
They aren't scientifically accurate, but the Crystal Palace dinosaurs have a special place in the history of palaeontology.
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Dinosaurs
Tiny teeth are revealing the true diversity of British dinosaurs
A far greater variety of dinosaurs lived here than we realised.
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Science news
First fossils of crocodile-like phytosaurs from southern Africa
The Triassic reptiles were found in Zimbabwe.
23 January 2020 -
Dinosaurs
Dinosaur footprints: how do they form and what can they tell us?
Dinosaur bones aren't the only way we can learn about the ancient reptiles that once roamed around our planet.
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Science news
Fossils found in Yorkshire are the oldest amphibian footprints from the UK
The footprints were made when an ancient amphibian walked across a river delta.
12 December 2019 -
Science news
The way dinosaurs evolved mirrors life on Earth today
Herbivorous dinosaurs kept evolving the same traits.
6 December 2019 -
Science news
Fossil ice found in meteorite is the first direct evidence of ice in asteroids
The meteorite formed as our solar system was being born.
21 November 2019 -
Dinosaurs
Would you make a good dinosaur hunter?
Find out how well you'd get along on a dino dig to search for famous Jurassic dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus.
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Dinosaurs
What is it like to go on a dino dig?
Explore an interactive story about Museum experts' adventure to Wyoming, USA, when they went off-grid in search of Jurassic dinosaurs.
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Science news
Unusual fossil worms surprise scientists
A species of wormlike marine invertebrate has been uncovered.
19 September 2019 -
Dinosaurs
How are dinosaur fossils formed?
Even though dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, we know about them thanks to fossils. Watch our animation to find out how dinosaur fossils formed.
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Collections
The 330-million-year-old fossil tree that's stood the test of time
Discover the story of the 11-tonne fossil that's been welcoming visitors to the Museum since 1887.
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Dinosaurs
The Triassic Period: the rise of the dinosaurs
What was life like during the Triassic Period?
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Dinosaurs
Where did dinosaurs come from?
When did dinosaurs evolve, and what did the first dinosaurs look like?
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Science news
The oldest stegosaur ever has been discovered in Morocco
A new species of stegosaurian dinosaur, Adratiklit boulahfa, has been described.
20 August 2019 -
Dinosaurs
How to find dinosaur fossils
Discover how palaeontologists find and dig up prehistoric reptiles.
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Dinosaurs
Mission Jurassic dino dig quiz
Have a go at our quiz about Museum palaeontologists' recent adventures on the Mission Jurassic dig.
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Science news
A new look at the Gibraltar Neanderthals
Discover more about some iconic Neanderthal skulls.
15 July 2019 -
Dinosaurs
How to become a palaeontologist
Dr Susie Maidment shares what it's like to be a dinosaur researcher, how she got into this career and advice for budding palaeontologists.
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Science news
Modern humans may have been in Europe 150,000 years earlier than thought
New dating suggests they were in southern Greece 210,000 years ago.
10 July 2019 -
News
A series of Mary Anning films are about to hit the cinemas
Pioneering woman palaeontologist to hit cinema screens soon.
4 July 2019 -
Science news
This is how the ancestor of modern snakes could have looked
What can we learn from scanning snakes?
3 July 2019 -
Oceans
What does it take to study the ocean?
Much of the ocean remains unexplored, but scientists at the Museum are helping unravel the mysteries of the world beneath the waves.
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Collections
Nadine Gabriel: studying 4.6 billion years of history
The face of modern science is young, black, female and ambitious.
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Collections
Ida Slater: a geologist ahead of her time
Discover the important contributions made by one of London's first woman geologists.
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Science news
New species of ancient shark discovered from the coast of Madagascar
The ancient shark was found in an unusual fossil ecosystem.
20 May 2019 -
Science news
Early Neanderthal teeth shed light on the identity of our own ancient ancestors
We've been looking at the wrong species.
15 May 2019 -
Science news
Birds on an island in the Indian Ocean evolved flightlessness twice
This is fastest recorded timeline of a bird losing its ability to fly.
10 May 2019 -
News
Homo luzonensis: new species of ancient human discovered in the Philippines
It has been named Homo luzonensis.
11 April 2019 -
News
Ancient four-legged whale with webbed feet and hooves uncovered in Peru
It is the oldest quadrupedal whale from the Americas.
4 April 2019 -
Collections
Beetles and bloodsuckers
Go behind the scenes at the Museum and discover the huge variety of beetles and parasites in the collection.
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Science news
Museum palaeontologists to join new Jurassic dino dig in Wyoming
The team will help uncover dinosaur fossils and footprints in Wyoming.
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Science news
The Cambrian explosion was far shorter than thought
The Cambrian explosion is one of the most important intervals in the history of life.
19 February 2019 -
Science news
A tiny fossil amoeba is helping us to understand how plants first bloomed
The new amoeba species is the earliest of its kind ever discovered.
24 January 2019 -
Collections
Hans Sloane: physician, collector and botanist
Hans Sloane's collection formed the basis of the Natural History Museum.
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Dinosaurs
How did Baryonyx change what we knew about spinosaurs?
Although spinosaurs were named in 1915, little was known about these giants until a 31-centimetre-long claw was discovered in the UK in 1983.
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News
Over 270 new species discovered in 2018
They include new dinosaurs, an ancient wombat and a giant shark.
27 December 2018 -
Oceans
Shark evolution: a 450 million year timeline
Evolving before trees and weathering five mass extinctions, sharks are true survivors.
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News
Mary Anning Rocks: the campaign for a statue of the palaeontologist in Lyme Regis
A campaign group have attracted national attention for their quest to get her permanently commemorated.
21 May 2022 -
Human evolution
Australopithecus afarensis, Lucy's species
Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best-known early human relatives thanks to an extraordinary fossil called Lucy.
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Collections
Attenborosaurus: a celebrity reptile
This long-necked skeleton is Attenborosaurus, an extinct marine reptile named after legendary broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.