All in Palaeontology

TetZoo(M)Con 2021

Last year I, unfortunately, had to miss the first-ever online version of TetZooCon – or TetZoomCon. However, this year, I don’t think much could keep me from attending! I took the day off from work and planned a visit to one of the current exhibitions at the Natural History Museum in London in the morning (more on that on a separate post) followed by an afternoon/evening of TetZoo inspired talks.

Dunkleosteus

I don’t usually write about fish and, in general, don’t tend to focus much on ichthyology – but take me to a natural history museum and you will see me hunting for a Dunkleosteus. Can you blame me? They were pretty impressive creatures, just look at the image above. Talk about science fiction meets reality, right?!

Ichthyosaurs

Yes, they were enormous. Yes, they looked like modern dolphins (mammals) or sharks (fish) but they were actually reptiles. And finally, no, they were not dinosaurs. Ichthyosaurs have got to be one of my favourite groups of extinct reptiles and a great example of convergent evolution.

Visiting the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona

Visiting natural history, palaeontology and science museums whenever I visit a new city is something of a tradition to me. This time, I had the pleasure of visiting the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona or Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. The museum is located in a part of Barcelona that I can only describe as what looked like the ‘business’ quarter. Getting there from the centre of Barcelona was pretty easy and the Museum is a very short walk from the Meresme-Forum metro station.