Oxford University Museum of Natural History

I is for... Ichthyosaur! This extinct marine reptile lived during the Jurassic, and this specimen measures nearly 6 meters long! It was found in Lyme Regis, Dorset and within it's fossilized skeleton you can see ammonite shells.

H is for... Hodgkin! Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin is still the only British woman scientist to have been awarded a Nobel Prize. She won the Nobel in chemistry in 1964 for mapping the structure of vitamin B12. She also mapped the structure of Penicillin and Insulin through X-ray crystallography.

BBC Radio 4 - My Poetry and Other Animals, Birds and their ancestors The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage meets birds and their relatives to inspire his new poem.

Listen to Simon Armitage read the poem here, or visit our exhibition Breaking Ground

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Recently, Emeritus Professor Paul Smith, Dr Emma Nicholls, Viv Kendall and Trisha Williams unveiled the poem which now stands at the community owned pub in Stonesfield, White Horse, the village where the fossils were originally uncovered.

Four people, a man and three women, stand in front of a brick wall with a green plaque featuring the poem Megalosaurus by Simon Armitage

Today is National Poetry Day and we thought it was a lovely day to acknowledge the poem written by Simon Armitage which was commissioned by the Museum to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the naming of the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus.

G is for... Giant ground sloth! This extinct mammal lived during the Pleistocene in South America. It could weight up to 4,000 kilograms and reach 6 meters in length.

F is for... Flying fish! The flying fish can swim up to 70km per hour and launch itself into the air and glide above the water for more than 350 meters.

E is for... Elephant bird egg! This is the largest bird egg known to have existed. It is so large that it could hold the contents of up to 7 ostrich eggs. The elephant bird went extinct about 1,000 years ago not long after humans arrived on the island of Madagascar.

D is for... Dodo!

We hold the only known soft tissue remains of a dodo in our collections, but don't you know? We're much more than a dodo!

C is for... Crocodile!

The Nile crocodile has the strongest bite force of any living animal, up to 5000 pounds per square inch!

B is for... Blue morpho butterfly!

These butterflies live in the rainforests of South America and can have a wingspan of up to 20cm. If you look closely you can see the outline of the eye spots that are on the other side of their wings.

View into a large high-ceilinged gallery space with densely packed glass display cases in rows and spotlights shining down from the ceiling.

Our next Autism-Friendly opening will take place from 9-10am on Saturday 18 October, offering the opportunity for families with members on the Autism spectrum to explore Pitt Rivers & @morethanadodo.bsky.social in a quiet environment. Booking is essential. More info at bit.ly/4pJlscQ.

A model of an archaeopteryx, a small feathered dinosaur about the size of a magpie, it has a distinctly dinosaur like face with feathered wings for flight or perhaps gliding, featuring clawed fingers sticking out from the wing joint at the top.

A is for... Archaeopteryx!

While this was not the first feathered dinosaur, it was probably one of the earliest to use its feathers for flight. The fossils of this creature were first found in Germany in 1861.

Calling all chimp enthusiasts!
Oxon Mammal Group winter seminar season kicks off with a talk by @pintsizedprimate.bsky.social from @oxford-anthro.bsky.social on chimpanzee cultures, archaeology and conservation.
13 Oct, 7pm, at @morethanadodo.bsky.social.
Free for members, 3GBP for non-members.
🧪🐵

YouTube video by Oxford University Museum of Natural History Digital Fossils with Professor Emily Rayfield

Our talk by Prof Emily Rayfield, Digital Fossils, is now online!

She discusses how far palaeontologists can make statements about the behaviour of extinct animals, drawing together evidence from fossils, living animals & using X-rays & methods co-opted from engineers.

youtu.be/aumv_UamW5E

We're so grateful to be among some really wonderful exhibitions for the Exhibiting Excellence Prize! Breaking Ground has been a very exciting exhibition for us all around, as it showcases a recent acquisition to our archive that was years in the making, as well as the first described dinosaur fossil

Thirty relatively intact iguanodon skeletons were found in a coal mine in Belgium in the late 1800s. Louis Dollo, who supervised the first assembly of these fossils, believed it was a biped, as it is shown here. We now know that this was a quadruped, meaning it walked on four legs instead of two.

Owl butterfly in all its life stages on a branch of cardinals guard that has twisting red flowers. The butterfly, shown in two positions, has large golden brown eyespots on the outer part of the wings whereas the inside are blue and brown. The caterpillar is orange with grey hairs, and the chrysalis is light green and pink with a slight fishhook shape. The butterfly’s eggs are also shown on the leaves of the plant. A small dark red wasp flies in the background

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a scientific illustrator most famous for her 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium'. In this book filled with beautifully illustrated plates she explored the then poorly understood concept of insect metamorphosis.

It was long thought that all coelacanths went extinct millions of years ago until one appeared in a fishing net in the Indian Ocean in 1938. The fish was identified by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer who was a keen naturalist born in South Africa.

Did you know that instead of blood, insects have a fluid called hemolymph. Instead of carrying oxygen through the body of the insect, hemolymph carries nutrients to tissues.

The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs Unearth the real behaviours of prehistoric animals as we join acclaimed palaeontologist, author, and TV presenter Dr Dean Lomax.

Unearth the real behaviours of prehistoric animals as we join acclaimed palaeontologist, author, and TV presenter Dr Dean Lomax on a remarkable journey through the grand cycle of life in deep time.

The talk will be followed by a Q&A and a book signing

10 Oct at 7PM

oumnh.ox.ac.uk/event/the-se...

Do you love interesting things in jars? Do we have the opportunity for you!

We are hiring a Spirit Store Project Assistant to help us prepare the fluid preserved collections held at the Museum for transport to the collections storage facility.

oumnh.web.ox.ac.uk/spirit-store-project-assistant

⭐HIRING⭐

We are seeking a dynamic, creative, business-minded Events Manager with a passion for culture and heritage to run its busy events department, including managing and growing the thriving venue hire business.

Closes 15 September

https://oumnh.web.ox.ac.uk/events-manager-0

The Secretary Bird is the tallest raptor in the world, though unlike many other raptors, they do all of their hunting on the ground. They will use their long, strong legs to stamp on and kick prey like small mammals and even snakes, while hunting.

The introduction of the British railway network in the first half of the 19th century revealed rock outcrops – and, in turn, unveiled palaeontological discoveries. Over 200 years later, ongoing expansion of the rail network continues to produce geological exposures and palaeontological finds.

A giant model of an Ebola virus, woven from dark willow branches and put on a white plinth. The Ebola virus is a long, twisting tubular shape with rounded ends and looks a bit like a large worm.

It’s nearly your last chance to stop by the Museum and see this giant willow woven Ebola virus! The Deadly Six leaves next week.

All of the UK's top 5 hottest summers have occurred since the year 2000. This year was England's warmest June on record, and the hot, dry summer has meant a lot of stress for plants.

What have you noticed around you this summer?

New publication from Museum Honorary Associate, Chris Stimpson, details the recovery of a 12,000 year old skeleton from a cave in Vietnam. Evidence shows the person whose remains were found was killed by a neck injury inflected by a quartz-tipped projectile.

A webcomic with two frames, the top frame has the text ‘loved in life’ with a mother and cub brown bear, with a yellow imposed image of a bears paw print on the heart of the bear. The second frame has the text ‘and in death’ with our taxidermy brown bear showing yellow human hand prints imposed over it.

One of our summer placement students created a beautiful webcomic honouring one of the most popular of our touchable specimens in the Museum.

Art by Olli Ellis