Right, the next few posts are going to be about the Museum Treasures at The Natural History Museum in London. They have some rare pieces of history that you can visit an explore on your next visit. starting off with some of my favorite pieces.
The Archaeopteryx fossil:
" The fossil caused a lot of confusion when it was discovered in Germany in 1861. It had feathers like a bird, but teeth, claws and a bony tail like a dinosaur.
Richard Owen, the Museum’s first superintendent, knew there was something extraordinary about it. World-famous for his skill in identifying animals, he classified Archaeopteryx as a bird. No birds were known from so far back in time.
But Owen failed to realise just how remarkable Archaeopteryx was."
- Natural History Museum website
The Archaeopteryx was a small insectivorous creature that is like a cross between a dinosaur and a bird, to put it in my language its kind of a flying lizard i guess like a pterosaur. People were confused when it was first discovered because birds had not been known so far back but this fossil changed everything. Only 10 fossils are known to science, yet this is the ONLY one whose skull and brain imprint could be studied.
