Celebrate 200 Years of Dinosaur Science with the Museum's Volunteers

A framed collage of the Notice on the Megalosaurus 1824 publication

Emma Coleman Jones

An illustrated poem by Vanda Morton reading "Doctor Buckland dug in the ground, He told his colleagues what he'd found, They shouted out in mighty chorus, "He says he's found a Megalosaurus!"'

Vanda Morton

A sketch of Megalosaurus with a Tritylont in its mouth

Marielle Volz

A sketchbook page featuring a pencil sketch of Megalosaurus

Tony Knight

An illustration of two children on a swing meeting Megalosaurus

Si Sapsford

image

Sally Alce

Plesiosaur poem by Alison Cooper

I thought I saw a plesiosaur swimming in the sea

I rushed at once to find out more …

Please, google what can this be?

My search confirmed across the world, creatures roaming far and wide

Oh! Such a shame to learn how dinosaurs met their sad demise

So, I never saw a plesiosaur swimming in the sea

I guess instead Nessie raised her head, well perhaps, maybe?

 

Megalosaurus poem by Lambros Andrikopoulos

Out, so quiet treks the don,

Birds steed and sing their song,

The quarry minds and within its mist,

John picks at a trickle with his fist,

 

Amygdaloidal within the ground,

A quadral resonates to his sound,

The murmurs of giant beasts aground!

A Megalosaurus has been found!

 

Present ye to Owen,

Its eyes, ears and might obeyed,

What was first a mere tetrapod,

Now twines to be a theropod,

To be morphed according to the pile,

To be ‘beastly a wild,’

 

For now, the Megalosaurus lifts its head up high,

Cicadas seep and sing their song,

The land winds and within its crisp,

A Jurassic sun blazes to a rift,

 

For trovers satisfied,

For the beast has been sanctified,

Megalosaurus, in the age of reptiles,

Is reborn anew,

In an age of mammals.

 

Plesiosaurus by Bernie Major

Oh, heck…

What a long neck,

It looks like a serpent and turtle combined,

A most magnificent find,

The very first of its kind.

 

Mary Anning dug it out,

Very tricky, no doubt,

After preparing with great care,

Everyone became aware,

When then described by William Conybeare.

 

To be left aghast,

Take a look at the fossil cast,

On show by the door to Pitt Rivers,

It certainly delivers,

But it may give you the shivers!

 

To find out lots more,

And Sea Dragons galore,

Just take a peep,

At “Out of the Deep”,

It'll definitely leave you with memories to keep.

 

Untitled by Christa Laird

This fearsome jaw

Any bone could gnaw

Its teeth serrated like a saw.

Found in 1824

But just as lethal, I am sure,

As that of the legendary minotaur.

 

ON DINOSAURS by David Morris

Those dinosaurs, with massive maws,

Had massive teeth, and vicious claws;

Each ate the other, endless wars –

Then died – an asteroid the cause.

 

Some ate leaves, some fish, some meat;

Some grew huge, some small and fleet,

Some learned to fly, a greater feat –

But all were doomed, demise complete!

 

In shallow seas, and fetid swamps

They left the remnants of their chomps:

The bones and teeth and other lumps

Are fossils now, we find in clumps.

 

Buckland displayed the Mega’s head;

Anning found Plesiosaur instead;

Both filled Geol. Soc. with awe and dread –

Turned evolution on its head.

 

So gaze with awe on these their bones;

Imagine their cries, their roars, their moans;

Think armoured skin, in many tones –

Then Google details on your phones.

 

Who's that at the Door by Si Sapsford

Download illustrated poem