A trip to the Natural History Museum London + Titanosaur exhibition

[ziggycardon]

Hi everyone!

 

Past summer I visited London for a comic con, but I always try to visit the NHM as well when I am in London.
Luckily this time I had an entire day stretched since I also wanted to make some photo's of the collection and I thought, why no share it here.

A bit overdue but let's start with my most recent visit to my favorite place on earth: 

 

The amazing thing about the NHM is that the entrance is free, but since I like to support the museum and don't like to wait for hours in line I always book a ticket for the current special exhibition which was the Patagotitan skeleton currently on display.

 

 

I entered from the side entrance were I was greeted by Sophie the Stegosaurus stenops which is the most complete skeleton ever found.

 

 

Before we headed to the Titanosaur exhibition I came across this cool new Jurassic World Shop with everything JP & JW merchandise.
I got myself a 30 year anniversary gilded ticket from Jurassic Park as a souvenir

 

 

After our quick detour we entered the new temporary exhibition:

Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur

 

The actual Patagotitan mayorum femur found in the La Fletcha Ranch, Patagonia, Argentina - Cretaceous, Albian, 101.62 mya

 

 

Patagotitan scapula, humerus, ulna & radius found in the La Flecha Ranch, Patagonia, Argentina

 

 

 

 

Haestasaurus becklesii skin impression found in Hastings, East Sussex, UK - Cretaceous, Valanginian, 140 - 133 mya

 

 

Titanosaur coprolite found in Maharashtra, India - Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 72 - 66 mya

 

 

Patagotitan mayorum tooth replica

 

 

 

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Daspletosaurus jaw found in Alberta, Canada - Cretaceous, Campanian, 80 - 74 mya

 

 

Titanosaur teeth found in Taouz, Kem Kem Beds, Morocco - Cretaceous, Cenomanian, 95 mya

 

 

Left: Giraffatitan brancai tooth found in Tendaguru, Tanzania - Jurassic, Tithonian, 150 - 145 mya

Center: Turiasaur teeth found in Peterborough, UK - Jurassic, Callovian, 165 - 164 mya

Right: Camarasaurus tooth found in the Morrison formation, Colorado, USA - Jurassic, Tithonian, 150 - 145 mya

 

 

Edmontosaurus jaw found in Wyoming, USA - Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 68 - 66 mya

 

Titanosaur egg found in India - Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 69 mya

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The star of the show, a replica of Patagotitan mayorum

 

Me for scale

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Tyrannotitan chubutensis skull replica

 

 

Patagotitan tail vertebra replica with bite mark

 

 

Patagotitan skull replica

 

 

The diet:

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Since we were the first to enter at opening with our tickets, we went to the dinosaur gallery after ouf visit at the titanosaur exhibition.
Due to it being very early, there wasn't the usual rush yet.

 

 

Triceratops & Tyrannosaurus rex

 

Gallimimus

 

 

 

Pachycephalosaurus skull replica

 

 

 

 

 

 

Euoplocephalus tail club

 

 

Bony armor plates from Polacanthus & Edmontia

 

 

Triceratops brow horn

 

 

 

 

 

Parasaurolophus skull

 

 

Centrosaurus skull

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Allosaurus

 

 

Iguanodon braincase

 

 

Massospondylus

 

 

 

 

 

Baryonyx

 

 

Coelophysis

 

 

Scolosaurus

 

 

Tyrannosaurus rex

 

 

Mantellisaurus bone bed

[rocket]

what a cool exhibition, and a strange combination of historic and modern way to display.

Hope to see the exhibition one day myself, interesting material inbetween

[mr.cheese]

I am visiting there again in November and you have just made me more impatient for my trip!

I like the paying for the exhibition ticket idea. Last time I just gave a donation when booking the normal ticket for the day!

Did you find the idea of mounting most of the full skeletons up above you a bit wierd? I wasn't a fan of it.

Good report though, thank you!

[Frightmares]

Looks like it was an amazing trip!

[ziggycardon]

8 hours ago, mr.cheese said:

I am visiting there again in November and you have just made me more impatient for my trip!

I like the paying for the exhibition ticket idea. Last time I just gave a donation when booking the normal ticket for the day!

Did you find the idea of mounting most of the full skeletons up above you a bit wierd? I wasn't a fan of it.

Good report though, thank you!

Yeah it is weird for now, though years back there was a walkway above were you were at eye level with those skeletons, I don't really get why they changed that.

[ziggycardon]

Ofcourse nothing beats the amazing Hintze Hall, though I miss Dippy to be honest.

 

 

 

Hope the Blue Whale

 

 

Giraffe

 

The Missouri Leviathan: American Mastodon

 

 

Mantellisaurus

 

 

Selection of petrified tree trunks

Eospermatopteris found in New York State, USA - Devonian, Givetian, 385 mya

Sigillaria found in Tyne and Wear, UK - Carboniferous, Moscovian, 310 mya

Protocupressinoxylon purbeckensis found in Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 150 mya

Cupressinoxylon hookeri found in Tasmania, Australia - Paleogene, 56 - 23 mya

 

 

Turbinaria coral

 

 

The Imilac meteorite

 

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Saying hello to my old pal Darwin

 

 

 

The 1300 years old cross section of a Giant Sequoia

 

 

The amazing art work of the Hintze hall

 

 

The Entrance of the Treasure Gallery

Giant Moa (Dinornis robustus)

 

 

Butterflies collected by Alfred Russell Wallace

 

 

Pidgeons owned by Charles Darwin

 

 

Dwarf Elephant (Palaeoloxodon cypriotes) molar

 

 

Barbary Lion skull from the Tower of London

 

 

Great Auk

 

 

Dodo skeleton

 

 

London specimen of Archaeopteryx

 

 

the first discovered Iguanodon teeth

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I also visited the Mineral gallery and the vault but due to the cheer number of specimens and the lack of time I anly shot few photo's here (also the overall lighting in the museum is terrible for taking good pictures, hence why many aren't particulary sharp)

 

Some gorgeous opals

 

 

Some meteorites

 

 

A rare collection of colored diamonds

 

 

The Devonshire Emerald

 

 

Mars Meteorite

 

 

An very nice inner cast of the chambers of an Ammonite

 

 

Gorgeous Fluorite

 

 

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Then we visited the Earth hall but I didn't take much picture due to the terrible lighting.
Sorry for the blurry images here

 

 

Stegolophodon latidens upper jaw found in Piram Island, India - Miocene, 11,6 - 5,3 mya

 

 

Another gorgous opal

 

 

Diplocaulus skull

 

Cynognathus skull found in Karoo, South Africa - Triassic

 

 

Bradysaurus

 

 

Xiphactinus

 

 

 

 

 

Cryptoclidus eurymerus found in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK - Jurassic

 

 

Morganucodon jaw

 

 

Pterosaur & Archaeopteryx

 

 

Phytosaur skull

 

 

Miocene bone assemblage of multiple species found in Pikermi, Greece

 

 

Holopthychius death assemblage found in Dura Den, Scotland, UK - Devonian

 

 

Platecarpus intersectius found in Kansas, USA

 

 

Giant Lepidotes from Solnhofen

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Propalaehoplophorus australis found in Argentina - Miocene, 17 mya

 

 

The elephant that isn't an elephant: Astrapotherium magnum found in the Santa Cruz Formation, Argentina - Miocene, 17 mya

 

 

Pyrotherium sorondoi found in Argentina - Oligocene, 27 mya

 

 

Terror bird skull found in Argentina - Miocene, 17 mya

 

 

Borhyaena tuberata skull

 

 

Then in the gallery of Human evolution are these gorgeous reconstruction of prehistoric men by Dutch paleoartists Adrie & Alfons Kennis

 

 

The Cheddar Man

 

 

 

 

 

Homo Floresiensis

[Psittacosaur9]

Awesome photos! I'm planning on visiting London next year, and I definitely want to go back to the Natural History Museum! I visited the dinosaur gallery countless times as a kid, but rarely went in the other palaeontological galleries and haven't been at all in over a decade, so I'm excited to return. How early in the morning would you recommend getting to the museum to avoid queues and massive crowds? I remember going to the Australian Museum the other day literally at opening hour and there was not a single other person in the dinosaur gallery, which was a strange foil to how noisy the gallery gets later in the day, and I'd like to see the NHM in London with as little distraction as possible. I would like your great photos, but sadly, the react function seems to be rather unreliable due to the server migration.

 

Also, I find it pretty funny how the museum has a statue of Darwin currently, when it was originally set up by Richard Owen, a famous enemy of Darwin.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

I organized a weekend in London at least 35 years ago for my club, at the time there was no internet, all exchanges were by mail... I didn’t remember that this museum was so rich and there was all that. However, the building itself is beautiful and I remember that !

 

Coco

[fifbrindacier]

18 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

I entered from the side entrance were I was greeted by Sophie the Stegosaurus stenops which is the most complete skeleton ever found.

Drat, a rival !

Edited October 27, 2023 by fifbrindacier

[mr.cheese]

4 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

Yeah it is weird for now, though years back there was a walkway above were you were at eye level with those skeletons, I don't really get why they changed that.

Yes I saw bits of walkway suspended up high, just assumed it was for maintenance and study. Would be nice to use it.

There seems to be a lot of different stuff from when we visited two years ago so I am happy there will be plenty of new things to see.

Some of the things people just walk past without giving a second look kind of tickled me. The long corridor filled with Ichthyosaurs on the wall was a glaring one and also the Baryonyx you took a few pics of, people seemed dino'd out by the time that awesome was in front of them!

 

I can't wait for my visit now!

[ziggycardon]

9 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

Awesome photos! I'm planning on visiting London next year, and I definitely want to go back to the Natural History Museum! I visited the dinosaur gallery countless times as a kid, but rarely went in the other palaeontological galleries and haven't been at all in over a decade, so I'm excited to return. How early in the morning would you recommend getting to the museum to avoid queues and massive crowds? I remember going to the Australian Museum the other day literally at opening hour and there was not a single other person in the dinosaur gallery, which was a strange foil to how noisy the gallery gets later in the day, and I'd like to see the NHM in London with as little distraction as possible. I would like your great photos, but sadly, the react function seems to be rather unreliable due to the server migration.

 

Also, I find it pretty funny how the museum has a statue of Darwin currently, when it was originally set up by Richard Owen, a famous enemy of Darwin.

I would recommend to go when it opens cause it's always very busy at the museum.
Yeah, Owen also has a statue but somewhere no one really goes, the man must be turning in his grave

 

8 hours ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

I organized a weekend in London at least 35 years ago for my club, at the time there was no internet, all exchanges were by mail... I didn’t remember that this museum was so rich and there was all that. However, the building itself is beautiful and I remember that !

 

Coco

Yeah, the building is absolutely gorgeous.
10 years ago I went to London with a friend and we had very little time left, but we went for a 1 hour visit to the museum just to see tge building as has such amazing and unique architecture. Truly a cathedral to nature.

 

6 hours ago, mr.cheese said:

Yes I saw bits of walkway suspended up high, just assumed it was for maintenance and study. Would be nice to use it.

There seems to be a lot of different stuff from when we visited two years ago so I am happy there will be plenty of new things to see.

Some of the things people just walk past without giving a second look kind of tickled me. The long corridor filled with Ichthyosaurs on the wall was a glaring one and also the Baryonyx you took a few pics of, people seemed dino'd out by the time that awesome was in front of them!

 

I can't wait for my visit now!

Yeah the marine reptile wall is amazing, one of my favorite parts of the museum.
I've been to the museum probably 7 or 8 times and yes, no one really ever looks at the Baryonyx and it absolutely blows my mind.

[ziggycardon]

Some pictures of the Marine Reptile hallway:

 

A Megatherium skeleton

 

 

 

 

Since it is extremely hard to get good photo's in the gallery due to the sunlight from the glass roof reflecting in the glass casing of the displays, I hardly got any photo's of the specimens.
But I managed to get some clear photo's of teeth

 

Temnodontosaurus risor found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Ichthyosaurus breviceps found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Ichthyosaurus communis found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Temnodontosaurus platyodon found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Ichthyosaurus communis found in found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Ichthyosaur found in found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK - Jurassic, 203 - 194 mya

 

 

 

Stenopterygius quadricissus found in the Posidonia shale, Holzmaden, Germany - Jurassic, 180 mya

 

 

Stenopterygius quadricissus found in the Posidonia shale, Holzmaden, Germany - Jurassic, 180 mya

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platecarpus sp. found in the Niobrara Chalk Formation, Logan County, Kansas, USA - Cretaceous, 83 - 80 mya

 

 

Mosasaurus hoffmanni replica found in Maastricht, The Netherlands - Cretaceous, 68 mya

 

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To end the tour, I also took some photo's in the Mammal Gallery

Arsinoitherium

 

 

Phenacodus primaevus

 

 

Hippotamus amphibius fossils - Pleistocene

 

 

Hippotamus imagunculus - Pliocene

 

 

Megaloceros

 

 

Archaeotherium mortoni

 

 

 

Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) & African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

 

 

 

 

African elephant tusks

 

 

Gompotherium productum

 

 

Phiomia serridens

 

 

Deinotherium

 

 

Cuvieronius humboldti

 

 

Stegodon

 

 

Mammuthus trogontherii

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Moeritherium

 

 

Phiomia

 

 

Deinotherium

 

 

Gomphotherium

 

 

Cuvieronius

 

 

 

Mammut

 

 

 

Stegodon

 

 

 

 

 

Steller's Sea Cow

 

 

Desmistylus

 

 

 

 

That were all my pictures, but there is much more to this museum since I only tried to photograph the paleontology stuff and even there I only covered the surface.
There is a lot more to see in this amazing museum, definiatly worth a visit for those who have never been there.

Also the behind the scenes tour (the spirit tour) is a must see!

[Psittacosaur9]

3 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

I would recommend to go when it opens cause it's always very busy at the museum.
Yeah, Owen also has a statue but somewhere no one really goes, the man must be turning in his grave

That's interesting. Are there any other obscure palaeontology exhibits in the museum I might not be aware of? Obviously there are the dinosaur, ichthyosaur and Earth galleries, and there are fossils in the mammal, human evolution, 'lasting impression' and reptile  galleries, Hintze hall and in that weird hallway between the mammal and dinosaur galleries, but are there any fossils anywhere else? I haven't been since I was very young, so I cannot remember much and the museum has changed quite a bit since then.