(Claw of Baryonyx walkeri) Baryonyx means 'heavy claw'. Unusually for a carnivorous dinosaur we know it ate fish as scientists have found fish scales and teeth with its fossil where its stomach would have been.

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Our Place in Evolution

Meet the ancestors, including  Homo erectus , Neanderthals and australopithecines. Who were our closest relatives? Weigh up the evidence and decide for yourself.

Face of an Orang-utan, one of the great apes.

Our Place in Evolution explores the characteristics we share with chimpanzees and gorillas. Find out how humans are related to other apes, living and extinct.

Bones from the tiny australopithecine skeleton called Lucy.

This tiny skeleton was a sensational find. Nicknamed Lucy, it’s the bones of an australopithecine, a creature that lived between 5–1.5 million years ago. Australopithecines walked upright, and there’s evidence to suggest they are more closely related to us than to gorillas and chimpanzees.

Homo erectus skull.

Remains of Homo erectus have been found in rocks more than 1.5 million years old. They shared a lot with modern humans, including large brains and upright walking, and there’s also evidence to show they used fire.

Neanderthal burial site.

Neanderthals lived between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago, and may have been the first to bury their dead. The display shows some of the characteristics they share with modern humans. Were they our ancestors? You decide.

Skull of an early modern human.

Homo sapiens – find out what made us what we are today, where the remains of the earliest modern human have been found, and the evidence for modern people originating in Africa.

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Cartoon image of footprints leading through closing door

Our scientists study the snails that host the schistosomiasis parasite, which causes a disease that affects nearly 200 million people.