Dr Marc Jones, our Curator of Fossil Reptiles and Amphibians, looks after some of our best-known specimens such as Mary Anning’s plesiosaur.
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Fossil marine reptiles and amphibians behind the scenes
James Ashworth
Behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum, a team of dedicated curators looks after more than 80 million specimens and objects spanning the history of life on Earth.
In the latest in our new series, curator Dr Marc Jones opens up the fossil marine reptile and amphibian collection we care for. Plus, he tells us about his role in helping to create our new exhibition Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep and future galleries.
In the depths of our Palaeontology Building, entire oceans of ancient sea creatures are lurking.
Though they may have died long ago, their stories live on within rows and rows of shelving. Their fossils tell an incredible tale, building up a picture of long-lost ecosystems spanning millions of years of evolution.
These specimens are not only colossal in age, but in weight too. The specimens looked after by Dr Marc Jones, our Curator of Fossil Reptiles and Amphibians, are among the heaviest in the building – and it’s only by a quirk of history that they’re able to be here.
“Most animal fossils are already heavy, as they’re formed from mineralised bones and other hard parts,” Marc explains. “But some of the plesiosaur, ichthyosaur and amphibian fossils are still embedded in the same rock they’ve been in for millions of years, while others are set in plaster and heavy wooden frames from when they were on display many decades ago.”
“It means they weigh a massive amount, so they can’t be stored just anywhere. Fortunately, a World War Two bunker was built on this site in 1939, and was incorporated into the base of the Palaeontology Building when it was built in the 1970s. Given that the structure was designed to withstand falling bombs, it’s more than strong enough to cope with all these fossils on top of it!”
While he may have one of the heaviest responsibilities in the Museum, both literally and metaphorically, Marc’s role as a fossil curator is one he’s very proud of.
“Some of the specimens I look after are among the most historically and scientifically important in the whole of the UK, and even the world,” Marc adds. “It’s a real privilege to work with them as part of a role I love.”
Marc has been inspired by museums for decades.
Becoming a curator at the Natural History Museum
The roots of Marc’s scientific career lie in his childhood. Even at an early age, he was passionate about the natural world.
“I’ve been interested in dinosaurs as long as I can remember, but also all kinds of other animals – particularly birds,” recalls Marc. “I also really loved drawing them, even in nursery school, so it’s not really a surprise that biology and art were my strongest subjects at school!”
After leaving school, Marc studied palaeobiology at university. This course gave him a grounding in a variety of subjects, from how to excavate fossils to climate change. He then did a PhD with Professor Susan Evans in London before heading off to Australia as a lecturer and researcher on living reptiles.
“I had worked with collections previous to my role here at the Natural History Museum – at National Museum Cardiff before my PhD, at South Australian Museum while in Australia and at various museums in the UK, USA, China, New Zealand and France for research,” Marc says. “This gave me an insight into working in museums that really helped when I started to work here.”
“I also read widely, which helps me to understand the diverse range of different specimens I work with. But there’s no one path to working as a curator. Lots of people at the Museum got here through a variety of routes, so the most important thing is to find your passion and follow it.”
Fossil curation means inspecting specimens regularly to ensure they’re staying in good condition.
Some fossils on display are harder to inspect than others!
Checking curated fossils
One of the most crucial parts of Marc’s work is to regularly check the specimens in his care. He looks after thousands of amphibian and reptile fossils, each of which has its own needs. The sheer size of the collection means this is a never-ending process of opening cabinets and checking the contents within.
“The collection has been built up over centuries, and a lot of long-term issues can develop in that time,” Marc explains. “The way a fossil is being stored might be putting pressure on its weak points, or the decay of a historical display case might be harming its contents.”
“So, I’m regularly opening cabinets, peering into drawers and investigating specimens to identify any issues. I then work with other curators and the conservation team to prioritise the most urgent fixes and gradually work through the rest as time allows.”
Many of the specimens Marc looks after, for example, contain pyrite – a group of minerals that are often found in fossils that formed in low-oxygen conditions. Pyrite breaks down in the presence of oxygen, damaging the fossils.
To slow down their decay, these specimens are stored in airtight bags. Inside are moisture-absorbing packets a bit like the ones that come inside the packaging of electronics. These packets help to slow the breakdown further, so Marc regularly checks the bags to ensure they’re still working as intended.
Not all specimens are as easy to check up on as others, however. Many ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons are kept behind glass on the walls of our Fossil Marine Reptiles Gallery, making it much harder to inspect them. They can only be checked occasionally, but it’s not a job for the faint hearted.
“Some of the specimens are just below the roof, metres above the ground,” explains Marc. “I’ve got to go up in a small lift to get to them, which was a bit daunting the first time around.”
One of the most important specimens that Marc looks after is here – Mary Anning’s plesiosaur. She discovered this Plesiosaurus skeleton in 1823, and it arrived at the Museum 25 years later after revolutionising scientific understanding of the past.
“This was the first known articulated skeleton of a plesiosaur, giving scientists a complete picture of what these animals looked like,” Marc says. “It reshaped our understanding of the entire group and demonstrated just how different ocean life used to be.”
Marc (pictured right) hosts scientists from all over the world, including Dr Raphael Moreno (pictured left) from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart in Germany.
Sharing specimens near and far
Specimens such as these are one of the many reasons that researchers from all over the world come to the Museum. Fossils from all kinds of species, places and times can be found here, allowing palaeontologists to explore much of Earth’s history without having to leave the building.
One such scientist is Dr Raphael Moreno, who’s been visiting Europe’s museums to study a group of fossil amphibians known as temnospondyls. The Natural History Museum, he says, is “a really important place to visit” to study these animals.
“Here, I can see fossils that I’d normally only see in scientific papers,” Raphael explains. “One problem with only seeing them in papers is that it’s difficult to judge the size of these specimens, as measurements can be taken from different places by different scientists.”
“So, I’m taking detailed photos and scans of them to get accurate data about them. I’m going to use this to study their diversity and ecology by looking at how the size and shape of temnospondyls varies within each species.”
Marc helps visitors by locating key specimens and discussing their research with them. Sometimes, his contributions are big enough that he ends up co-authoring scientific papers with them.
Raphael is using these temnospondyl skulls to investigate how these ancient amphibians varied in shape and size.
Marc provides advice to visiting researchers about their projects and often becomes involved in their research.
Even if individuals can’t make it to the Museum in person, Marc can still help with their enquiries. He responds to questions, takes measurements and even arranges scans for scientists with research projects related to the fossils he looks after.
To get a fossil scanned, Marc first has to confirm exactly what a scientist is looking for. Outdated collection numbers from historic research papers, old names for species and confusion over similar-looking fossils can all make a specimen hard to find, so it’s important to double check the request if there’s any doubt.
Fossils for CT scanning, such as this amphibian skull from the Triassic of Australia, are packaged up before being moved to the Imaging Centre.
Once that’s sorted, Marc then needs to record in the digital collections management system that the specimen is being moved. He also leaves a piece of paper known as a movement slip behind, which tells anyone looking for a fossil who’s moved it and where they’ve moved it to.
After that, the specimen is ready to be packed up and taken to our Imaging and Analysis Centre. Here, our staff will carefully prepare the specimen, scan it and repackage it to return to the collection. Marc can then bring it back, remove the movement slip and pass on the scans to the requestor.
One of the star specimens of our Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep exhibition is this spectacular long-necked plesiosaur Futabasaurus from the Cretaceous of Japan.
This specimen, which is a cast of the first complete ichthyosaur skull ever found, is one of many that have been part of our touring exhibitions.
Putting on a show
Another reason specimens might leave storage is because they’re going on display, whether that’s in our galleries or elsewhere. As a curator, Marc makes key decisions about what goes on display based on the goals of the exhibition and the condition of key specimens.
Our Jurassic Oceans exhibition, for example, focuses on the lives of ancient marine reptiles. It began as a touring exhibition, travelling the world before Marc started working at the Museum. But ahead of a new version opening in South Kensington in May 2026, he’s been involved in updating labels, images and infographics. It’s full of fossils that bring huge prehistoric predators and the world they lived in to life.
“I was asked to suggest some back-up specimens in case the ones already included were too large for the gallery, but my role has largely focused on checking over the text for the displays,” Marc says. “Scientific understanding of marine reptiles is always changing, so our exhibitions need to keep up.”
“For instance, the placement of certain species in the family tree is complicated. How those relationships should be mapped onto time needs careful consideration of the latest evidence, which is my job. I have to make judgement calls about what we’re going to show to visitors.”
In contrast, Marc’s been involved in our ambitious NHM150 programme to create over 100 million advocates for the planet by 2031 – celebrating 150 years of the Museum – right from the start. The project involves transforming the Museum’s iconic South Kensington building by opening a brand new or revitalised gallery every year until 2031. Alongside other curators, Marc is helping to decide what’s going in them.
“It’s not easy to choose,” admits Marc. “There are some specimens that would be wonderful to have on display, but they might just be too fragile to be moved into a public area.”
“It’s also a question of storytelling. Some specimens that are scientifically valuable aren’t always right for display, whereas some of the more impressive specimens might not be so useful for researchers. Balancing these different demands is crucial to getting these galleries right.”
Marc and his colleagues are working towards digitising the specimens we care for.
Future-proofing fossils
Some specimens are also shared with the world in a completely different way – online. Since starting as a curator, Marc has been gradually digitising the specimens he works with so that they are available at the touch of a button.
One recent specimen he worked on is the head of Attenborosaurus in honour of Sir David Attenborough’s hundredth birthday. Most of the body of this long-necked plesiosaur is on display in our Fossil Marine Reptiles Gallery, but its skull is kept behind the scenes.
The species has an unusual history. The first Attenborosaurus was discovered on England’s south coast in the 1880s, but this type specimen was destroyed during World War Two. Fortunately, a cast of the specimen, as well as fossils from other individuals, survived in our care, and were named after Sir David in the 1990s.
To digitise the skull, Marc begins by placing a series of stickers around the outside of the fossil. These provide reference points that are then used to build a digital copy by a handheld 3D scanner.
As Marc passes the scanner over its surface, the device emits pulses of light many times a second. By recording how these bounce back from the fossil, the scanner gradually builds up a detailed digital duplicate on a nearby computer.
3D scans are set to play an increasing role in scientific research, allowing specimens to be shared with scientists and the public alike.
Marc hopes that, by making a digital copy of Attenborosaurus available online, the scans will enable new research. Despite its celebrity namesake, details about this plesiosaur’s life are still somewhat uncertain.
“Sharing the collection online helps to speed up the process of science,” Marc explains. “A scan tells you so much more than a photo can, so it helps researchers to ask more specific questions.”
“While it’s still useful to see specimens in person, that’s much easier said than done. Key fossils from one species can be split between many museums, and the cost of travel and consideration of carbon footprint means that not everyone can make it. Digitisation makes it available to all.”
Marc’s scans aren’t just used by scientists, either. Some of the specimens have been 3D printed for outreach, with the Lyme Regis Museum using them to allow visitors to get close to the fossils found in the local area.
Over time, Marc intends to continue digitising even more marine reptile fossils to share with the world. While they may no longer be swimming in the depths of oceans and rivers, these ancient animals will soon be surfing the web on the way to scientists and enthusiasts alike.
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