Natural History Museum, Toulouse

Giants

66 million years ago, all marine and flying reptiles as well as the dinosaurs, apart from the birds, were wiped out in a mass extinction caused by a meteorite colliding with Earth. This then allowed the development of small mammals who gradually filled the habitats left free. With few predators many of these grew to reach gigantic proportions. The Natural History Museum of Toulouse exhibition ‘Giants’ displays eight species from the Cenozoic era with a mixture of skeletons and 3D sculptures.

Smilodon populator (Uruguay)

Although commonly known as the sabre-toothed tiger, Smilodon was not closely related to the tiger. It was one of the last-surviving machairodonts and lived during the Pleistocene epoch.

Gastornis laurenti (France)

Gastornis laurenti was a species of giant flightless bird that lived in the Early Eocene period, 52 million years ago.

Megatherium americanum (South America)

Megatherium is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in South America around 25 million years ago.

It was also an opportunity to see the Museum’s permanent collection celebrating the planet’s biodiversity. Particularly interesting was the collection of prehistoric fossils and an impressive display of tribal masks.

Fossils