Teleosaurus Chapmani inducted into BBC Radio 6 Virtual Museum
Were you listening to the Lauren Laverne show on BBC Radio 6 Music this morning?
A regular Thursday feature on the programme is the Radio 6 Museum. This morning our geology curator, Roger Osborne, was interviewed and inducted our magnificent fossil of the Teleosaurus Chapmani into the show’s virtual museum.
Our spectacular fossil displays and extensive stores contain one of the finest collections of Jurassic fossils in Britain. Our teleosaur is one of the finest examples of it’s kind. It was purchased by the museum in 1824, just after it’s formation. It was found by collector Brown Marshall, a carpenter from Whitby who spotted the snout sticking out of the cliff and excavated the skull and the bulk of the skeleton by hanging from the top of the cliff on ropes. Part of the tail was taken out 3 years later. Over the next few years, thanks to the guiding influence of Rev Young, the Museum gained a reputation for its rich fossil collection, particularly the beautiful and gigantic marine reptiles.
Many of these specimens are now spectacularly mounted on the walls of the Museum where they rarely fail to amaze and interest visitors.
Find out more about our fossil collection.