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OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

2025 International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Museum staff members have chosen and written about a number of notable women that they find inspiring and have shaped science throughout history. Click to find some highlights of these women’s scientific careers.

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200 Years of Iguanodon

Two hundred years ago, on 10th February 1825, a huge prehistoric animal was presented to the world for the first time. It was identified by doctor and geologist Gideon Mantell from large fossil teeth found in Sussex, England, by him and his wife Mary Ann. It was named – Iguanodon.

Go behind the scenes

Behind the scenes at Oxfordshire's ‘dinosaur highway’

Oxford may today be known for its ‘dreaming spires’ but it was once a land of tropical mires upon which colossal reptiles walked, leaving their marks to be found millions of years later…. Come behind the scenes to uncover one of the most exciting dinosaur trackways in the world.

Seven people in hi-viz jackets excavating dinosaur footprints in a quarry

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Oxfordshire's ‘dinosaur highway’

In a stunning find, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints, creating multiple enormous trackways.

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The Oxford Dodo

In addition to our model dodos, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is home to the Oxford Dodo – the only surviving remains of dodo soft tissue that exists anywhere in the world. Read on to learn about one of the most iconic specimens in the Museum's collections.

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Palaeontology

Our palaeontology collections include one of the world’s most important collections of Middle Jurassic dinosaurs; exceptionally preserved specimens with intact soft tissues; and enigmatic fossils representing the earliest complex multicellular organisms. It features around 400,000 fossils, ranging from the Archean, ~2.7 billion years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, 11,700 years ago.

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Trilobite Wall

The oceans were once filled with trilobites, ancient animals that are some of the first creatures with hard parts found in the fossil record. A giant slab of rock preserves a natural gathering of three types of trilobite, as well as many brittle stars.

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300 BILLION TIMES THE SIZE

Arthropods and their staggering diversity

In the great scheme of nature, size matters. The size difference between the smallest and largest arthropods is greater than that between the Earth and Sun.

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EARTH'S MASS EXTINCTIONS

Told through five museum specimens

Huge volcanic eruptions, sea-level and climate changes, and massive meteorite strikes have all eliminated whole groups of organisms. In the aftermath of a mass extinction, new species and ecosystems may flourish, but the world will never be quite the same again.

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ANIMAL, VEGETABLE OR MINERAL?

How to categorise a coral

Sometimes, animals are easy to identify. Other times, they may be surprising, unfamiliar, or even invisible to the naked eye. Within the kindgom 'Animalia' are creatures whose lives are very different to our own, and whose categorisation stumped scholars for centuries.

Greenland, with brown rock in background and small iceberg in the foreground.

Discover our research

Research

Oxford University Museum of Natural History has been a centre of world-leading research and scientific debate since it opened in 1860.

Henry Taunt's interior view of the museum, 1870

Find out about our history

History

The Museum building is as spectacular today as when it opened in 1860. Learn more about the world's first purpose-built natural history museum.

A display of numerous insects with labels

Find out more about our collections

Collections

The Museum has over seven million historical and modern specimens encompassing the natural world.

Learn with us

Learn

The Museum offers a range of learning experiences for different audiences through online activities, in-museum sessions, and self-guided visits.

The Oxford dinosaur that started it all

Did you know that the Museum's own Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be named and described?

Discover 200 years of dinosaur science, beginning in the collections at OUMNH.

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A group of musicians playing in the main court of the museum

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Set in the heart of a historic university city, Oxford University Museum of Natural History provides an inspiring backdrop for a wide range of private events. This characterful neogothic building dates back to the 1850s and is home to over seven million natural history specimens.