Extinction

Extinction affects us all. In the UK, one in ten of our wildlife is critically endangered. Scientists have identified five periods of mass extinction over the geological record, the question is now being asked: are we in a sixth?

The Extinction exhibition covered the demise of the dinosaurs and marine reptiles, death of the ice age mammoths and the impact of humans on the dodo. Climate change, asteroids and human action have all been recognised as contributing to past and current extinctions.

Highlights of the exhibition included an almost complete plesiosaur excavated from the local Must Farm brick pit, which was displayed for the first time since its discovery in 2016. Visitors were able to get up close to bones from the ice age collections including the woolly rhino and mammoth, and step into nature with the Museum’s natural history collections.

Working with environmental organisations in Peterborough, this exhibition highlighted the work of conservation in preserving our wildlife for the future.