Follow a life.
Discover a world.
From a familiar bird to a vanished giant, every discovery opens another door. Choose a picture, a place, or a question.
AI-CREATED ILLUSTRATIONOne question. A new world.
One island. One remarkable bird. A story we cannot forget.
Dodo · MauritiusA rotating selection of six sourced exhibits. The featured discovery changes with your local calendar day. Shared links keep their chosen animal.
Let a picture take you somewhere.
Islands of extraordinary life
Explore selected island animals and the places connected to their stories.
Ice Age encounters
Meet a curated selection of animals associated with the Ice Age. Their ranges and time spans differed.
The dinosaur gallery
Browse dinosaur reference images, reconstructions and discoveries.
Small wonders
Look closer at the insect collection, from butterflies to beetles.
Life in the water
A visual collection spanning different animal groups, united by an aquatic way of life.
Life we remember
Explore selected extinct animals and the evidence behind their stories.
The world on wings
Explore our bird collection, including birds that do not fly.
Find, compare, listen, learn.
Visual animal finder
Start with stripes, wings, shells or another visible clue.
COMPAREAnimal comparison
Place up to three animals beside each other.
MEASURESize studio
Explore sourced lengths and heights with clear measurement notes.
DEEP TIMEFossil observatory
Follow collection records across an interactive Earth and artistic prehistoric skies.
TRAVEL THROUGH TIMETime explorer
Move through five curated chapters of natural history.
REMEMBERExtinction stories
Read about lost life and the evidence that remains.
PLAYExpedition quest
Test what you learn on the six featured expeditions.
LISTENListening room
Listen to two licensed bird recordings at your own pace.
CREATEClassroom cards
Choose illustrated learning cards to print.
Follow the map into a story.
These are the places represented by our 40 curated map records, not complete national species lists.
Explore the branches. Notice the differences.
Our galleries mix animal groups, habitats and extinct life for easy browsing. They are not a complete scientific family tree.
Birds
A familiar starting point for feathers, flight and flightless life.
Insects
Explore butterflies, moths, beetles and other insects.
Mammals
From elephants to tiny hedgehogs: explore our mammal gallery.
Reptiles
Discover crocodiles, lizards, snakes and tortoises.
Amphibians
Meet frogs, toads, salamanders and newts.
Marine life
An ecological gallery, not a taxonomic rank: whales, fish, turtles and invertebrates appear together.
Dinosaurs
A dedicated prehistoric gallery. These navigation groups are not a complete evolutionary tree.
Extinct
A status-based collection across many animal groups, not one branch of classification.
A small field glossary.
Genus
A classification rank that groups closely related species. A genus name does not identify one particular species.
Follow the referenceScientific name
A species name combines a genus name with a species epithet. Taxonomy can change as evidence develops.
Follow the referenceFossil
Preserved evidence of past life, including remains and traces of activity.
Follow the referenceTrace fossil
Evidence of an organism’s activity, such as a footprint or burrow, rather than its body.
Follow the referenceCollection interval
The age range reported for a fossil collection in this explorer. It is not an exact lifespan of an animal.
Follow the referenceMa
Millions of years ago. The fossil explorer also offers plain-language age labels.
Follow the referenceRepresentative region
A broad educational map point used on this site. It is not a complete range boundary or a live sighting.
Follow the referenceReconstruction
An interpretation of past appearance or environment. Our artistic skyboxes and illustrations are labeled; they do not establish exact ancient conditions.
Follow the referenceKeep the lives that stay with you.
Save animals from their profiles and revisit them here. Your animal passport is stored on this browser.
Find an animal to saveYour fossil passport lives in the observatory ↗Your next discovery is waiting.
Start a six-stop fossil expedition, save discoveries to your browser passport, and bring your field notes home.
Open the fossil observatory