New exhibition of GIANT prehistoric animals coming to UK
- Published
A museum exhibition featuring skeletons and models of giant prehistoric animals is heading to Birmingham and Edinburgh.
Visitors will be able to get up close with six enormous 3D models and five nearly complete skeletons of life-sized ancient creatures - including a woolly mammoth, a megalodon shark and an ancient primate which was said to be three times the size of an orangutan.
People will also be encouraged to step into the shoes of palaeontologists and biologists to interact with the scientific processes behind fossil discovery and reconstruction.
The purpose of the exhibition is to highlight the threat of extinction facing modern 'giant' animals, like elephants, rhinoceroses and whales and the "urgent need" to protect endangered species.
The team behind the Giants exhibition say it will take visitors back 66 million years and bring them right up until the present day, immersing them in the natural habitats of previous giant species using huge projections.
Zak Mensah and Sara Wajid, co-chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, said: "This inspiring installation not only captures the imagination with its monumental scale but also delivers a vital message about sustainability and our shared responsibility to protect the planet."
The models are made of a metal structure covered by recycled felt panels which can be recycled afterwards.
The exhibition will begin in August in Birmingham, before continuing to Edinburgh in January 2026.
Who are the GIANTS?
The Megalodon was a massive sea creature, similar to a great white shark. For millions of years, they were the number one predator in the world and grew up to 25 metres and had enormous teeth that grew up to 18 centimetres long.
A woolly mammoth was a member of the elephant family. These grew up to over three metres tall and weighed up to over 8,000 kilograms.
One for the snake lovers - a titanoboa roamed the Earth over 58 million years ago and would grow to more than 14 metres long. They weighed more than a tonne and could swallow a crocodile in one go!
Another amazingly huge creature was the megatherium. It is an extinct species of giant ground sloth. It's scientific name, megatherium americanum, means 'great beast from America'. They were up to 10 times the size of modern sloths reaching weights of up to four tonnes.