We turned up on Wednesday morning to find the whole world had turned white. Fortunately the wildlife on the lake was being well-fed by the local community, and although the lake had frozen over the birds didn't seem to mind.
A fine specimen of a fossil toe bone from the large plant-eating dinosaur Iguanodon was found on the beach on New Year's Eve. Oscar Petter (seven years old) from Kent, found the bone at Yaverland and brought it into Dinosaur Isle for identification. After visiting the museum with his parents they then went out onto the nearby beach where they found the bone. Steve Hutt, Curator at Dinosaur Isle identified the fossil. The toe bone is going back home to Kent temporarily to show Oscar's school. It will then come back to Dinosaur Isle for temporary display.
During 2010 we will be reconstructing part of a skeleton from a truly massive Iguanodon that has been generously donated to the museum by local collector Nick Chase. Work has now begun to put together this collection of bones, for display throughout the summer. Past exhibitions have been assembled in the lab and then put out into our main gallery prior to the school summer holiday. This year it will be different - the assembly will take place gradually, with preparation and reconstruction occuring in the public exhibition area. Visitors will be able to see the work as it proceeds and ask questions of the staff and volunteers. See our Summer Exhibition webpage for further details.
The Isle of Wight has been chosen by children’s TV character ‘Little Howard’ to star in an episode of the popular CBBC series from ‘Little Howard’s Big Question’. Episode 7 of 13, broadcast on CBBC and entitled Could Dinosaurs Ever Come Back, sees Little Howard, an animated six-year boy, and his human housemate, Big Howard, take a fascinating journey around the Island as they attempt to answer questions about the world around them. Council-run Dinosaur Isle museum on Sandown seafront was consulted and used as the main focus for the programme, which sees Little Howard travelling back to the Jurassic period to “meet a real Dinosaur Hunter on the Isle of Wight and discover how many kinds of prehistoric creatures are just lying on the beach, waiting to be unearthed”. The Island contains some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in Britain and the cliffs expose a great variety of rock types that can tell us, from their composition and fossils, what the Earth was like from 125 million years ago.Peter Pusey, Dinosaur Isle’s General Manager said: “When it comes to fossil finds, the Island takes some beating so we were delighted when the BBC asked for our help. “Not only is the programme a fun way to introduce young children to the world of palaeontology, but it’s also great promotion for the Island and its Dinosaur Isle status”.
For media enquires please contact: Sue Emmerson, Communications, Isle of Wight Council. Telephone: (01983) 823099, extension 5236; or email sue.emmerson@iow.gov.uk
The Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council hosted his annual coffee morning on Saturday 21 November 2009 to raise money for his chosen Island charities, the Earl Mountbatten Hospice and Haylands Farm. Members of the public were invited to join Councillor Arthur Taylor at Dinosaur Isle on Culver Parade in Sandown between 10am and 1pm for tea, coffee and a selection of cakes. All those attending the coffee morning received free entry into Dinosaur Isle museum. Cllr Arthur Taylor said: "I look forward to welcoming people to Dinosaur Isle for my fundraising coffee morning. Dinosaur Isle has been very generous in providing the venue for our coffee morning and I hope many people will join me for a cup of coffee in support of these worthwhile Island causes."
Palaeontologists Roger Benson, Matthew Carrano and Stephen Brusatte have decided that the large meat-eating dinosaur Neovenator (only found on the Isle of Wight so far) represents the oldest member of a whole new group of dinosaurs. They have given this new group the name Neovenatoridae; it includes a number of other large carnivorous dinosaurs like Megaraptor, Chilantosaurus and Australovenator. One of the last members of this group is Orkoraptor – it survived until the end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Neovenatoridae fossils have been found on more than one continent, with representatives in Australia, China and Argentina helping to demonstrate that the world was a very different place then. They published their findings this October in the journal Naturwissenschaften.
It is 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin, and 150 years since the publication of his famous book ’On the Origin of Species’. As part of their Darwin 200 celebrations the Isle of Wight Zoo and Dinosaur Isle joined with the IW Writer’s Circle to invite Darwin’s great, great granddaughter, poet Ruth Padel, to the Isle of Wight for a special evening of poetry. The event took place in the magnificent main hall of Dinosaur Isle. Surrounded by fossil evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, it was a very appropriate setting for Ruth to read from her latest book ‘Darwin - a life in poems’.Ruth’s mastery of the English language, coupled with intriguing glimpses into her family history, kept the audience spellbound throughout the evening.
Dinosaur Isle staff went to Lyme Regis for the annual fossil fair - this time titled 'Evolution Rocks - uncoiling the past'. The fair was open to the public from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th of May. Lots of exhibitors, including the Natural History Museum, British Antarctic Survey, National Museum of Wales, Plymouth University and National Oceanography Centre, Southampton were there to show off their fossil and geology displays including Martin New and Gary Blackwell from Dinosaur Isle. Lots of fossils were carried down from the museum for the weekend and set up on tables in marquee 2 in the town centre. Plenty of visitors came to the stand so we look forward to them coming to the Island to see what else we have to offer.
Jonah Choiniere from The George Washington University, Washington DC, visited us at the beginning of May to look at the type specimens of Neovenator and Eotyrannus. His PhD research is focusing on describing new species of theropods (meat-eating) dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of China - some of their closest relatives are from the Isle of Wight. He is comparing the skeletal anatomy of the new Chinese theropods and the Isle of Wight theropods with a view to understanding the evolution of these interesting animals.
Andy Yule, a local collector of fossils from the north coast of the Island, has donated a large part of his collection to the museum. We are currently recording and identifying the individual objects. Fossil insects, plants and reptiles are included within the collection. Some of the objects are being packed, but a number have gone on display in a new case in our Education Room. A great deal of work remains in the precise identification of the smaller objects - there remains a lot of scope for research into the specimens and we are greatful to Andy for his substantial donation.
A new video microscope has been installed in Gallery 1 to enable visitors to appreciate the smallest fossils from our collection. The Isle of Wight is a rich source for internationally important micro-fossils which include insects and the remains of other small creatures including fish, snakes, pollen, seeds and tiny gastropods. It is often difficult to display these small remains in an accessible manner. The microscope and its viewing screen is a useful tool that allows the visitor to see the extraordinary preserved detail of some of these important fossils. The initial display includes a collection of teeth, vertebrae, insects and a feather from the end of the Eocene, about 35 million years ago. The purchase of the microscope has been the result of a joint-funded project between Dinosaur Isle and MLA (Museums Libraries Archives Partnership) through the Renaissance Museum Development Fund.
For some years now Dinosaur Isle (and its predecessor the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology) has run a popular programme of guided walks to places of palaeontological and geological interest on the Island. Most of these are for visiting schools, but additional trips have run throughout school holidays for the public and special-interest groups like societies and clubs. In recent years the number of sites available for public walks has increased and trips are becoming increasingly popular. More details of the year's planned trips are available on the Events webpage. A pdf version of the leaflet can now be downloaded by clicking here.
Wightlink's new booklet Wight History Trail spotlightlights the Island's diverse history and takes in some of its most scenic heritage attractions on a 33-stop tour that traces the history of Wight from its birth in prehistoric times to the present day - and includes dinosaurs, Romans, smugglers and wreckers, medieval knights and imprisoned royals, inventors, rock heroes and rocket men. Dinosaur Isle, and the rich geological and palaeontological heritage of the Island, feature in stunning colour in this high quality guide. Click on the image to access the Wightlink website and download a copy.
Pupils from Sandown High School visited us as part of a Community Rail Partnership project. They were researching a Line Guide produced to promote tourism without traffic to local 2-for-1 attractions in the rail corridor for visitors who could produce a valid rail ticket. They brought with them a detailed list of questions for our staff on how rail travel was being used by our visitors as a means of getting here, and how we felt rail travel may be extended or improved. The group has already produced a leaflet on the Sandown Rail Trail and are in the process of producing a large colour book detailing all the projects the CRP, school children and the community have worked on since 2005. For further details contact Bobby Lock, Rail Development Officer for the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partnership, Ryde St. John's Road Station, Ryde, Isle of Wight. PO33 2BA
Recent research into the remains of Neovenator salerii, a large carnivorous dinosaur from the Isle of Wight, has established that it is the most complete theropod dinosaur in Europe; and that it forms the earliest member of a group of dinosaurs called the Carcharodontosauridae, a group containing the north-American dinosaur Allosaurus.
Dinosaur Isle displays much of the master specimen (holotype). The work has been published in a new volume produced by The Palaeontographical Society.
For further details please contact the Curator.
Reference
Brusatte, S.L., Benson, R.B.J. & Hutt, S. 2008. The osteology of Neovenator salerii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Wealden Group (Barremian) of the Isle of Wight. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London: 1-75, pls 1-45. (Publ. No. 631, part of Vol. 162 for 2008).
Dinosaur Isle and the Isle of Wight Council's Museum Service has gained Accredited Status with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Accreditation Scheme sets nationally agreed standards for UK museums. To qualify, museums must meet basic requirements on how they care for and document their collections, how they are governed and managed, and on the information and services they offer to their users.
A pupil from Stisted CE Primary School was very lucky to find a really nice specimen of a fossil tooth from the large dinosaur Iguanodon. Cameron Haythorpe was on one of our guided school field trips at Yaverland when he found the dinosaur tooth. The tooth has gone to his school near Braintree in Essex. Iguanodon is a plant-eater but still needs pointy teeth, with serations, to chew through the tough plant material it fed on. The tooth is un-erupted, it hasn't developed any wear-facets. We would like to thank Mr Martin Hawrylak (headteacher) for forwarding us the picture which shows just how big the tooth is. There would have been a root on the tooth but this is missing, presumably it either failed to fossilize or went missing after the fossil fell out of the cliff.The sketch below shows how the teeth slotted together in the lower jaw.
Nigel Marven, presenter of Prehistoric Park, Walking with Dinosaurs, Big Cats and Jaguar Adventure provided an enormously entertaining illustrated talk at Dinosaur Isle to a packed audience. The event was organized by our neighbours at the I.W. Zoo to coincide with their Tiger Week. Charlotte Corney and Tracy Dove, along with other I.W. Zoo and Dinosaur Isle staff supported Nigels talk. The tickets sold out rapidly once advertized - the family audience had many questions afterwards for Nigel. The film of the snake biting his hand and the blood running down his arm prompted many questions. It was an enjoyable experience - if you can get to see Nigel at any of his talks elsewhere then I would highly recommend it.
Two fantastic specimens of the small Isle of Wight dinosaur Hypsilophodon foxii have gone on display. Found originally by Islanders Mick Green and Nick Chase the specimens have undergone some preparatory work to further expose the exquisite bones. This famous dinosaur was named after the Reverend William Fox, former curate at Brighstone, on the Island. There are more English dinosaurs named after him than anyone else.
Former colleague Dr Martin Munt has left us to work at the Natural History Museum, where he now has responsibility for an important part of the national collection. The post at Dinosaur Isle was advertized, and after stiff competition was awarded to Steve Hutt. Steve has extensive knowledge of the dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, having named some of them and produced a number of important research papers. A programme of enhancing the displays to put more of the Island's fossils on show, and to upgrade the facilities has begun.
Our Education Room now has a Canadian 77" Smartboard for use with visiting groups. We aim to produce a number of Powerpoint slideshows and our own videos on the fossils and geology of the Isle of Wight. The screen has already been used for a number of corporate meetings, which make use of the Education Room when a gap can be found in our busy school programme. Our first in-house production will supplement the summer exhibition. This will be a really useful addition to our education resources.
February half-term saw the half-million reached. We have been receiving visitors for almost seven years since opening in August 2001. Our milestone visitor walked through the doors unaware of the event, as did we until afterwards. Here's looking forward to the next half-million!
Telegraph reporter Roger Highfield visited Dinosaur Isle to follow up the story of the pterosaur bone found by six-year old Owain Lewis whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight.
Click here for the Daily Telegraph article.
A six year-old boy has unearthed rare pterosaur bones on the Isle of Wight.
Owain Lewis was on holiday with his family when he discovered the fossil - part of a flying reptile called a pterosaur - while hunting for the relics at Compton Bay near Freshwater.
The 120 million year old find comprises wing bones of the extinct flying reptile which soared above the skies of the Isle of Wight during the Lower Cretaceous Period. At the time the area was a coastal lagoon occupied by crocodiles and dinosaurs.
Pterosaurs are rare finds becasue their bones are very delicate, like those of birds which also do not preserve well. They may represent an Ornithocheirid pterosaur which had a four metre wingspan - a new species - one of which was found at Sandown four years ago (see text below). Alternatively, the bones may come from another type of Pterosaur, Istiodactylus which had an estimated wingspan of five metres.
Owain and his father Glyn reported their find to experts at the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown. The bones have since been sent to the Natural History Museum in London where they will be analysed by the museum's pterosaur experts.
Owain's mum Kaye said: "Most six year old boys are interested in dinosaurs but Owain seems to be exceptionally keen. He is always coming back with boxes of things he has found.
"When he went to the Island, he knew he would get a few finds and he is chuffed to bits that he has discovered something so important. We would like to think he would follow a career in palaeontology but we will see."
Dr Martin Munt Curator of Geology at the museum said: "The bones are folded against each other which is usually seen when such finds are made.
"We are very pleased that Owain brought the find to us. It re-enforces our reputation as one of the main areas in the United Kingdom where anyone can find rare dinosaur bones, just by going out for a walk on the beach."
Staff have begun removing material from a corridor display case. This large case formerly held memorobilia related to dinosaurs, including Jurassic Park drinks, dinosaur slippers and wallpaper. The case is being changed in order to display fossils collected by visitors to the museum, be they local or on holiday. Some fantastic objects, including lobsters, dinosaur footcasts and an alligator lower jaw, have already gone on show. This case will gradually change as new items come into the museum.
Dinosaur Isle maintained its high standard of environmental awareness by winning Gold again in the Green Island Environmental Award scheme. The museum has retained gold for three years running. This year the museum grounds have been enhanced with a drought-tolerant garden planted with salt-tolerant species.
The Isle of Wight's Footprint Trust and a local conservation group 'Green Gym' rolled up their sleeves to create a drought-tolerant garden in a bed in front of Dinosaur Isle in spring 2007. Experts in the Council's Parks and Countryside section designed the planting scheme; it should also be resistant to salt spray in this exposed coastal location.The scheme was an initial idea of the Footprint Trust. It was created due to concerns about climate change, which is causing a dramatic transformation in weather patterns, leading to record breaking heat waves and droughts across Europe."If carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to be increased by human activities the environment will warm up to a climate suitable for dinosaurs" said Ray Harrington-Vail of the Footprint Trust.The garden will require little or no artificial watering and will also be beneficial to birds and butterflies. Plants chosen include spurge, ice plant, seakale, sea holly, silver spear, fountain grass and New Zealand flax. This work is part of the Footprint Trust's Waterworks project supported by the AONB Sustainable Development Fund and EU Leader+. It links to the IW Council's One Million Blooms initiative, which seeks to create drought-friendly planting in parks and open spaces.In addition to planting the scheme has been complemented by the use of feature rocks and gravel sourced from Bardon Vectis. Island Waste Compost derived from recycled garden waste has also been used to avoid peat-based products.
For the second year running Dinosaur Isle was awarded the Gold Standard at the Green Island Award ceremonies at Cowes on the 25th of May 2006. In addition to its Gold Award for meeting strict criteria for its environmental impact Dinosaur Isle was nominated for Attraction of the Year alongside Ventnor Botanical Gardens and Chessel Pottery Barns. Dinosaur Isle and Ventnor Botanical Gardens (the winner) are both currently run by the same part of the Isle of Wight Council thus demonstrating the Council's efforts in reducing its environmental footprint. The awards were presented at the prestigious Cowes Yacht Haven. Peter Pusey (general manager) and Trevor Price (Community Learning Officer) represented the museum at the presentation. Over 90 tourism related businesses are taking part in the scheme and the trend is for this number to increase in future years.
The National Lottery have awarded Dinosaur Isle a Blue Plaque in recognition of its contribution towards the educational experience it provides for school children.
Dinosaur Isle is aiming to produce an e-newsletter to keep its many fans aware of what has been happening in the past months.
The first issue is now available from our Newsletters page.
For further information please contact Trevor Price, Community Learning Officer
tel: (01983) 404344
Local fossil collector Andy Yule has been awarded with the Mary Anning Award by the Palaeontological Association. The honour is awarded annually to amateur palaeontologists for outstanding contributions to the science of palaeontology. Andy has collected fossils for many years from the north-west coast of the Island, including remains of turtles, alligators, insects and plants. A spider he found has been named in his honour. Andy makes his finds known to the scientific community and reports them to Dinosaur Isle and the Natural History Museum. Andy's award was presented by Dr David Loydell, of the University of Portsmouth, vice-president of the Palaeontological Association. The award was presented at a special ceremony at Dinosaur Isle. Andy has also collected archaeological finds which he has donated to the IW Museum Service.
Around 125 million years ago, the carcase of a pterosaur was washed into the mud at the bottom of a river. It lay there undisturbed until a few years ago, when coastal erosion removed it from its rocky tomb. Parts of the skull and wing bones were found on the beach by several different local collectors. Other parts may have been washed away already.
Pterosaurs were winged reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs. The earliest pterosaurs are found in Triassic rocks in Italy, around 235 million years old. They survived until the end of the Cretaceous Period, by which point many large forms existed, with wingspans of over 12 metres. The reason for their extinction 65 million years ago is a mystery, but it was the end for many other animal and plant groups on Earth.
The new pterosaur from Sandown Bay belongs to a family called the Ornithocheiridae (‘bird hand’). They are large pterosaurs with crested skulls, long pointed teeth, and wingspans of around 4-6 metres. Ornithocheirids have been found in Cretaceous rocks in many parts of the world, particularly the UK, Brazil and North Africa.
The Sandown pterosaur is different from any that have been previously discovered, so it has been given a new name: Caulkicephalus trimicrodon. The generic name is derived from ‘caulkhead’, the traditional local name for people who caulked ships in the Solent shipyards. The species trimicrodon refers to the three small teeth near the front of the jaw.
The bones, which include the braincase, upper jaw and wing bones, were found on Yaverland beach by G. Leng, T. Winch, D. Davies, M. New, M. Munt, and L. Steel. The new pterosaur is described in the latest issue of the scientific journal Cretaceous Research, by a scientific team including Dinosaur Isle Museum, University of Portsmouth and the Humboldt Museum in Berlin.
The full reference is:Steel, L., Martill, D. M., Unwin, D. M. & Winch, J. D. (2005) A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight, England. Cretaceous Research (2005): 1-13. For further images and information please visit the Recent Finds and Research page.
National Geographic magazine has listed the Isle of Wight as being one of the most significant sites in the world for dinosaur finds.
In the August 2005 issue of the internationally renowned magazine, Thomas Holtz Jr, a Tyrannosaurus expert based at the University of Maryland, lists his top seven dinosaur sites in the world. He lists the Isle of Wight along with Liaoning Province, China; Bahariya, Egypt; Alberta, Canada; San Juan, Argentina; Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia and the western USA, confirming that despite rapid advances in the study of dinosaurs, the Island still has international recognition for its important dinosaur discoveries.The listing confirms that the Island remains the most important dinosaur site in Europe. The Island is classed with sites which have revolutionised our understanding of the dinosaurs and their world. As the study of dinosaurs is one of the most rapidly advancing areas in palaeontology, this underlines the global importance of the Island's dinosaur heritage.The significance of the Island is underlined by the fact that many of the listed sites cover hundreds of square miles, while the dinosaur rocks on the Island are restricted to about nine kilometres of narrow cliff exposure. The discovery of dinosaurs on the Island predates some of the other sites by as much as 150 years and the Island still has much to offer with new discoveries like Eotyrannus and the opportunity to look anew at familiar dinosaurs such as Iguanodon.The largest publicly owned collection of Island dinosaur finds is held at Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown, operated by the Isle of Wight Council. This year the collections have been accessed by researchers and students looking at carnivorous dinosaurs, fossil crocodiles, fossil turtles, jaws and teeth of herbivorous dinosaurs, amber and fossils from the Chalk. Earlier this year an international gathering of more than thirty specialists in fossil insects examined the collections. Next year the museum will act as the field base for another international gathering of geologists and palaeontologists, this time specialising in terrestrial ecosystems from the time of the dinosaurs, during which staff of the museum will lead field work and contribute talks.For further information please contact Martin Munt, Curator of Geology
Congratulations are due to Assistant Curator Lorna Steel who graduated with a PhD at Portsmouth University on the 18th July 2005. Dr Steel's PhD was awarded after successful completion of a programme of research in Studies on the palaeohistology of pterosaur bone. Lorna is now auditioning for a part on the set of Hogwarts.
What can bone histology tell us about pterosaurs?The study of pterosaur bone histology dates back to the middle of the 19th Century, but systematic studies only began recently. Pterosaur bones are predominantly composed of highly vascular fibrolamellar bone, indicating that pterosaurs grew rapidly. However, cranial and pedal bones contain LAGs (lines of arrested growth) which record pauses in bone deposition. Pterosaurs had determinate growth, and deposited an endosteal lamella and a periosteal EFS (external fundamental system) at maturity. Pterosaurian epiphyseal growth plates contain endosteal bone and calcified cartilage. Although endosteal reworking is extensive, secondary osteons are rare. Some smaller elements contain an orthogonal plywood-like tissue, composed of alternating lamellae, which may have biomechanical significance. Not all bones are supported internally by trabeculae; in some cases endosteal ridges may provide reinforcement. Pterosaurian reproductive mineral dynamics probably did not involve the deposition of a specialised bony tissue within the lumen of the long bones. Comparative bone histology can distinguish between bones of small theropod dinosaurs and pterosaurs, but cannot reliably separate birds from pterosaurs or distinguish between pterosaur taxa.
For further information please contact Lorna Steel
Year 6 pupils from an Upminster school visited Dinosaur Isle, along with a reporter from the Times. The trip was organised by local school-trips' organizer 'Isle of Wight Experience'. St.Joseph's is a regular visitor to the museum, and we look forward to seeing its staff and pupils on their annual trip to the Island.Click here for the TES article.
Bones from the biggest dinosaur so far reported by scientists in Europe have been discovered in the Isle of Wight. A single neck bone from the 125 million-year-old sauropod dinosaur – a long-necked plant-eating brontosaur – measures three-quarters of a metre long. Researchers from the Universities of Portsmouth and Oregon examined the bone and compared it to others found in the UK, and elsewhere, and were able to identify it as from the largest known dinosaur yet discovered in Europe.
The Isle of Wight’s Dinosaur Isle museum has recently acquired five Velociraptorine teeth – from dinosaurs related to the Velociraptors, made famous in the Jurassic Park movies.
The teeth date from the Early Cretaceous period and are approximately 120 million years old. They are the first record of this kind of dinosaur on the Isle of Wight and only the second from the UK.
The teeth come from a type of dinosaur closely related to Velociraptor (they belong to the same subfamily Velociraptorinae, of the family Dromaeosauride).
Three of the teeth were collected on the Isle of Wight between 1972 and 2003 by Mr Steve Sweetman and have been donated to the museum; two more were purchased by Dinosaur Isle Museum from another Island collector.
Steve Sweetman, a postgraduate student studying for a PhD at The University of Portsmouth, is writing a scientific paper on them for the Journal Cretaceous Research.
Aspects of the tooth growth morphology and a high denticle size difference index (an index obtained from the size and distribution of tooth serrations) allowed the identification to be made.
Curator of Dinosaur Isle, Martin Munt said, “The large size of the Isle of Wight teeth suggests an animal that may have been comparable in size to Utahraptor, an extremely large dromaeosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Utah. The Isle of Wight animal is likely to have been a large slender, fast moving predator perhaps as long as six metres. Along with its powerful jaws armed with backward-curving serrated teeth it is likely to have possessed long arms with clawed grasping hands and a sickle-like toe-claw, handy for disembowelling prey. Such an animal would have hunted small mammals and reptiles and small to medium sized dinosaurs. There is some evidence that such dinosaurs hunted in packs and that this would have increased the size range of prey that could be tackled.
“These teeth are an important find for Dinosaur Isle and also for palaeontology, as each new find brings us a clearer picture of the Cretaceous period in this region.”
For further information please contact Martin Munt or Lorna Steel
Dinosaur Isle Museum played host to an international seminar on British Dinosaurs on the 5th and 6th of November 2003.
The meeting saw presentations by many leading Dinosaur experts, including palaeontologists from Britain, Spain, France and the USA. The theme of the seminar was to place British dinosaur fossils in their global context.
The meeting was convened by Dinosaur Isle Curator Martin Munt and University of Portsmouth academic David Martill. Sponsorship came from The Palaeontological Association, Wightlink, the University of Portsmouth and The Isle of Wight Council.
Martin Munt said, “It is quite an historical event as it will be the first meeting of its kind dedicated to British dinosaurs. The Isle of Wight, with its new dinosaur museum, has been a focus of dinosaur discoveries in Europe, and is a natural host for such a seminar. “
Talks took place on the 5th November at the Quay Arts Centre in Newport, beginning at 10am, finishing at about 6pm. Approximately 100 delegates attended. On the 6th November there was a field trip to the south-west coast. A reception for the delegates was held at Dinosaur Isle Museum on the evening of the 5th when they had the opportunity to view the museum and some of its rare and exciting dinosaur fossils.
A Year 6 pupil found part of a vertebra from a rare lightweight meat-eating dinosaur whilst on a guided field-trip at Dinosaur Isle. The school, from Blackburn, was on a residential visit to the Island. The school was subsequently mentioned in the Times Education Supplement, where the pupil Louis Chadwick told the reporter he was keen to return to the Island with his dad. Click here for the TES article.
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