(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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Darwin Centre building

The building, which provides world-class storage for precious collections, new laboratories and behind-the-scenes access for visitors, is at the forefront of environmental architecture. It has an energy-saving glass solar wall, which reduces heat in the summer and heat loss in the winter, and a ‘caterpillar’ roof made of recyclable materials, which lets in lots of natural light.

It also links with the museum’s past by incorporating terracotta into its design, reflecting the architecture of the Waterhouse Building. Its steel frame echoing the blue terracotta of the Victorian building.

Find out more about the Darwin Centre's new development and the giant cocoon building which is now finished. Work is underway to fill the new space. The new Darwin Centre will open to the public in September 2009. 

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Cartoon image of a hatchet fish on a museum pass

Until 1938 whale carcasses were buried in the Museum grounds so that their flesh would decay leaving only the skeletons.