The Most Incredible Treasures in the Natural History Museum's Collection | Our History

[Music]

The Natural History Museum holds the

greatest natural history collection in

the world.

Thousands of visitors flood through its

doors each day to see everything from

dinosaurs to dodos,

sea monsters to giant slos.

And the star attraction that draws the

biggest crowds is Hope, a giant skeleton

of the largest mammal on Earth. the blue

whale.

The first time people come in and they

see her diving down towards them,

there's a lot of wow moments and the

children are great. They're like,

[Music]

"Every visitor to the museum will pass

under this 4 1/2 ton, 25 m long

skeleton."

And checking she's safe to hang high

over their heads is a crucial job that

can only happen out of hours.

It won't be a good look, Rob, if you

crash into it. Okay, I'm just saying.

Today, a team of specialists are

checking her over. Big bit coming. Look.

Ooh, look at that. Led by head of

conservation, Lorraine Cornish. You can

appreciate access to hope is very

challenging for us. She looks

magnificent, but looking after her takes

a little bit more time and thought.

When you're 130 years old, like Hope,

your skeleton is fragile, so needs to be

kept under constant watch. We go through

the whole length of the skeleton. Bit

like a medical record where you check

through and then an inspection.

Just less is more. I just need him to

make sure less is more. All right.

No more. Rob, back off. As soon as they

get up close, the team spot that Hope

needs attention.

Underneath the skull in the pallet area,

there's quite a few cracks. And on some

of the vertebrae, they're quite large

and heavy. They've got some cracks and

joints. Are they opening up anymore? Are

they stable?

They now have just 3 days to check over

200 bones to make sure she's secure.

[Music]

Even though Hope's been in the museum

for over a century, very little is known

about her life.

But that might all be about to change.

Behind the scenes, hundreds of

worldclass experts are uncovering

secrets about the natural world.

Richard Sabin has been the museum's

whale specialist for the past 29 years,

and he's embarking on a new

investigation into hope. Now, this uh

rather large crate, which reminds me of

something from the movie Indiana Jones

actually contains a surprising part of

Hope. The crate contains parts from

Hope's vast mouth. This is the filter

mechanism, the strainer that blue whales

have inside their mouths to strain their

food from the ocean. Things like krill,

small fish. We've got about 800 of these

inside this crate. And this isn't

something that people get to see. This

is something that scientists get to play

with and I'm in a very privileged

position.

You know, we've had Hope in our

collections for just under 130 years and

she's effectively been a mystery for

most of that time. I've made it my

personal mission to basically become a

detective and find out as much

information as possible about Hope's

life to add flesh, if you like, to the

bones to really develop that story.

Today, Richard's taking tiny samples

from Hope's mouth plates, which will be

analyzed using cuttingedge techniques.

to reveal new information about her

life.

This is where it starts to look a little

bit like I'm a drug dealer.

This may just look like dust, but

actually it's very important dust. And

we've developed techniques now that

allow us to extract very very detailed

information using chemical analysis from

these individual plates. And this will

be used to answer more questions about

Hope's life.

Richard is hoping the samples will tell

him exactly where Hope lived and how far

she traveled.

But first, they must be sent to a

specialist lab before he gets his

answers.

The dinosaur gallery is one of the most

popular and terrifying spaces in the

museum,

housing skeletons of T-Rex and

Triceratops

alongside life-size animatronic models.

So, if something goes wrong, it's a big

problem.

This morning, engineers Alex and Glenn

have had an urgent call out to one of

the malfunctioning robotic dinosaurs.

So, this one we think needs to have the

back of his neck looked at to you.

There are a lot of children are

genuinely terrified of these things.

Yeah. Recently, these models were taken

down into our workshops and had the fur

and the feathers added rather more like

the fluffy toys we sell in the gift

shop. Charlie coming in. The motor in

its neck has stopped working. And now

the dino's head won't move properly. To

avoid some very disappointed kids, it's

crucial they get it up and running

before the museum opens for the day.

We've got deadlines to stick to here.

We've got the public in in half an hour.

So, we've got to get this down into the

workshop and have a closer look. Dino

delivery.

We're going to find a place to put her

and wake her up.

Can you make this part move, Glenn? Do

the head turn. That one. Alex and Glenn

need to open her up. Dino vet is one of

the descriptions of my job. Children

come to the museum and expect to see

them working. It's big disappointment

when they're not. It's one of the things

that people complain about if the

dinosaurs are not working. Fortunately,

with a spanner, a spare part, and a bit

of elbow grease. Right, let's get it

back upstairs. The dino is up and

running again.

Try and have it running before 10:00.

He said he feels better.

Well, that's a job well done. Children

will be in in half an hour. Back to

terrifying the kids.

[Music]

Coming up. Lorraine is up against it.

This is where the magic is going to

happen. This is where the exhibition is

going to be. and the world's most prized

dinosaur fossil. I'm a little bit scared

to touch it. It's just absolutely

priceless. It's impossible to put a

value on this specimen.

[Music]

The Natural History Museum is gearing up

for the biggest exhibition it's ever

held.

Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature

is inspired by the famous movie about

the wizarding world, and the museum

needs it to be a huge hit.

They'll be displaying fantastical

creatures from the film alongside some

of the real life animals that inspired

them. This is where the magic is going

to happen. This is where the exhibition

is going to be. But time is tight for

head of conservation Lorraine Cornish,

who has just weeks before it's set to

open to the public. So now we're ready

to start installing over 120 objects. It

will take six people a month to do that.

So, everyone's getting all the specimens

ready and then this space will be so

busy with people right up to the 11th

hour normally. Literally the night

before we're usually still doing things.

[Music]

Today, Lorraine is getting her first

peek at some very special items from the

film that have just arrived from Warner

Brothers.

With thousands of fans expected to visit

the exhibition, it's vital that

everything is in perfect condition and

it doesn't disappoint. These are super

special, so I want to make sure that

we're looking after them.

This very large oddlooking thing is the

horn of an arumpant, which is one of the

fantastic beasts in the film.

And we're just checking it over to make

sure everything's as it should be.

There are some cracks here, but they're

deliberate. They're not ones I should be

worried about, so that's okay. It's not

every day you hand the rumpant horn,

though. Few people can say that. It's

just great. It's such fun. The armpant

is one of the fantasy creatures that

escapes from New Scamander's suitcase

and is a bit like a magical rhinoceros.

So, this is New's suitcase.

And who wouldn't be excited at carrying

it? Denit Scamander is the main

character and he's what's called a

magisologist

and um he goes around the world and he

looks for and studies fantastic beasts.

Getting all this stuff out is like

Christmas and birthday rolled into one.

This is the wand for N Scamander. I so

wish I had a magic wand. Sometimes I

just want to say exhibition ready and

it's done. Having unpacked today's movie

props, Lorraine now has just over 100 to

go, including the exhibition showpiece,

a brand new dinosaur.

The Natural History Museum is home to

over 80 million different items, but its

rarest are kept under lock and key,

hidden away at the back of the museum's

main hall in the Treasures Gallery.

Today, one of the museum's dinosaur

experts, Susie Maidment, has been

granted special access to examine the

most prized fossil in the entire museum.

This is Archaoprex. It's probably the

most important fossil of a dinosaur that

there is anywhere in the world. Um, and

I'm a little bit scared to touch it.

It's just absolutely priceless. It's

impossible to put a value on this

specimen.

At 147 million years old, this birdlike

dinosaur is so highly valued because it

was the first fossil to reveal that

every species of bird alive today

evolved from dinosaurs.

Susie's been at the museum for 2 years

and is one of the very few experts

allowed this close.

She's making a record of the fossil for

other specialists to study. It is a bit

stressful being this close to it. This

case is almost never opened. It's very,

very exciting for me to be able to have

my head inside it right now. Um, and to

be able to get a really close look at

this fossil without the glass in the

way.

Archaeoptric was discovered in Germany

in 1861 and has been at the museum for

over 150 years.

And it's the mix of its features that

makes it so intriguing.

This specimen has a number of

characteristics of both dinosaurs and

birds. We have these beautiful feathers

which are so characteristic of birds.

We've also got a wishbone which is a

bone in the shoulder region which helps

birds fly. And we've got a claw on the

foot that allows birds to perch on

branches. There are also a number of

quite clearly dinosauranike features.

You can see it's got a very very long

tail. And we don't have tails in modern

birds that aren't just made of feathers.

So these sorts of features make it much

more similar to dinosaurs than to birds.

I think Jurassic Park has a huge amount

to answer for our opinions about what

dinosaurs look like. We tend to think of

dinosaurs as being these kind of big

scaly reptilianike animals, but actually

what we now know is that many of the

meat eatating dinosaurs were feathered.

And I think this kind of changes our

opinion about what dinosaurs might have

been like.

They were probably very birdlike in

their behavior. And actually, many of

them we wouldn't have been able to

distinguish from birds today. And I

think when you look at some types of

bird, if you've ever looked an ostrich

in the eye, I think they look a bit like

dinosaurs, actually.

Everyone who works at the Natural

History Museum has a favorite part of

the collection, including housekeeping

supervisor Debbie Marlo. Hers are the

ancient skulls and skeletons. We are now

entering human evolution. This is my

lovely heads.

I think they're gorgeous. I mean, look

at their lovely faces.

Nice chiseled eyebrows,

my stinky little ears,

very handsome.

I'm giving them a lovely massage now cuz

they deserve it. It's my little salon.

Debbie's favorite gallery displays

skulls, skeletons, and models of early

humans going back 7 million years.

Could do with a bit of a haircut. I'm

going to tidy that up. Bit of beard

needs doing. I think any barber would

love to have him.

It looks quite cheeky actually. He's

quite cheeky chappy, isn't he? He's

like, "Hey, baby.

It's quite Oh, yeah.

I'm all right." And I What do you think?

He's one of them. Hey, look at me.

He's definitely not my type, though. He

can smolder as much as he wants. It's

not working on me. Sorry, love. You

should have jeans and t-shirt on. It'll

be all right then.

Look, do that. Censored.

Should put big warming up before

everyone comes in.

Ready for everyone to come and have a

good look at him now in all his glory.

[Music]

Over in the museum's main hall, the

conservation team have been

investigating the cracks in hope. The

museum's 130-year-old blue whale.

[Music]

Now, head of conservation Lorraine is

giving the museum star exhibit a final

inspection to ensure she's safe for the

thousands of visitors who will walk

underneath her.

So, this will take me up, up, and away.

so that I can get up close and personal

with Hope and have a look.

Here we go to infinity and beyond.

I always worry that I'm going to go and

hit her, but I know I won't.

[Music]

I don't mind heights, but this bit is

quite wobbly. So, the height's all

right, but then when it starts to wibble

wobble,

it could be tricky.

I'm looking at cracks.

So, the mandibles are amazingly heavy

and if you can imagine, the structure is

being supported.

So, we really looking at structural

stability.

We're just watching some of the historic

older cracks so that they're not opening

up. We have to just make sure that we're

happy with those cracks. They haven't

opened any wider. It's why we take lots

of pictures and just keep an eye on

things.

Fortunately, Hope's cracks haven't

opened up and she can be passed as

secure.

Here we go.

Job done for now.

Lovely. Lovely.

Behind closed doors, whale expert

Richard Sabin is trying to uncover the

mysteries of Hope the Blue Whale's life.

He's keen to find out exactly where Hope

may have lived and how far she traveled.

It's been weeks since he sent Hope

samples for investigation.

He's received the results and they're

extraordinary.

The analysis of the chemical makeup of

Hope's mouth plates means he can now

chart previously unknown details of

where she migrated during the last few

years of her life. What we're actually

looking at here is Hope's journey 1886

into 1887. This is the route that she

would have took from the north between

Iceland and Norway south towards Cape

Verde. Then we have her return journey.

This is her going north again. We can

see that every year Hope was effectively

doing a round trip from the feeding

grounds in the north down to the warmer

waters off the west coast of Africa.

Looking at this distance on the map,

you're talking about 6,000 miles in the

space of a single year. That's

remarkable for any animal, let alone an

animal that's out in the ocean.

The fact that I'm plotting a journey

that was made by a blue whale over 140

years ago really does quite blow my mind

in all honesty. And to think that we

could actually add information about her

life in so much detail, it it makes it

very emotional. It's something that you

don't normally encounter with museum

specimens in natural history

collections.

But around 2 years before Hope died, the

trail runs cold.

been the penultimate year of her life.

That's 1889 into 1890.

The data become very very unclear. She's

still in these warmer waters off the

west coast of Africa

and she stays there and we don't really

know why. This is where the real

detective work comes in.

Richard needs more tests to find out why

hope suddenly stopped migrating.

[Music]

The museum's biggest exhibits might pull

in the crowds, but less than 1% of its

collection is on display to the public.

The rest is kept for research in special

access areas like the cocoon, which is

in the museum's west wing.

The cocoon is crammed full of over 20

million specimens, including 2 and a

half million flies reserved for

scientific research.

Erica Mallister is one of the experts in

charge of this collection, and flies are

her life's obsession. Everyone who

starts off and flies is like, I don't

know how to pronounce that. My advice

with a lot of scientific names is just

go quickly.

You can look at whales and they're great

and they're fun, but I can go into my

garden and I can see more mayhem and

mischief there than I will by looking at

a whale. Obviously, I have a bent for

slightly unusual and entertaining

behaviors. Oh, look, look, look here.

See those little faces? Aren't they

cute?

You see their little face? It's not

their face, obviously. That's their anal

spiracles. So, you're looking at the

backside of a maggot, which always makes

me giggle.

Can you not see the little dot on top of

the end of the pin? That's obviously a

fully formed adult fly. These are

commonly called the uh noiums and

there's a specific reason for that

because they are quite small. So that

obviously is a pig's foot but in it has

got loads of little holes where the

fleas live. We get these in humans. So

those romantic walks on the beach. Not

so romantic when you've got a flea

borrowing through your foot. And then

this is a lovely example of the chicken

flea. And they live in the lids of

chickens. If you look on their eyelid,

you can see a little rose of tiny little

fleas, which is quite amazing. It's got

to be slightly itchy, I guess. So now I

can use these to horrify you, which is

great for education reasons. So we have

all these beautiful models. Erica's

collection also includes some

90-year-old wax models that are

superersized versions of the real

specimens. I could show you my pubic

lice in a minute. That is always a

winner. Everyone has favorites and the

pubic lice are mine cuz you know, look

at them. So, here we have a head lice

and a pubic lice. And I think it's

pretty obvious which one is which. one

lives on your head and your Torax. Okay,

your hair is slightly different there to

your hair in your nether region.

Therefore, their claws are shaped

differently to hold on to different

types of hair. And you can see why they

call it crabs as well, cuz it's

definitely got a crablike structure to

it. It's brilliant. They're dying out.

We don't really know why. It could be

deforestation, but we don't know.

Coming up, the museum welcomes a new

dinosaur to its collection. I'm super

excited to get this beautiful dinosaur.

It's just going to be spectacular. And a

new discovery about hope. I've just

taken a look at the results and

processed what's come back. I'm

incredibly excited by this.

The Natural History Museum covers an

area the size of 200 tennis courts and

has five cafes, three shops, and 28

different galleries.

Making sure this huge museum is ready

for the public is a mammoth task. And

it's all down to duty manager Jack

Evans. Eva, can I grab the sales radio?

Have a debate. See you in a bit. He has

just 45 minutes to get everything ready

before the museum opens for the day.

Museum's very glamorous building, but I

reassure you that there's not always

glamorous sides to the job.

Jack manages a team of 65 front of house

staff who run the 14 acre site.

It always gets to this time and it gets

a bit more exciting

cuz the visitors are on their way.

The top of the stairs always knackered.

I think by the end of the day we're all

kind of like this, like keeled over.

It's such a physical job. My step count

would probably be about 23 to 25,000

steps a day, like 12 flights of stairs.

So, you've got to be quite athletic,

which I'm not. Hello, control. duty

manager over

just checking in with housekeeping to

see if the building's clean enough for

us to open. I'm not getting a response.

This is the duty manager calling any

available housekeeping supervisor or

manager over.

It's kind of a bit rude if they don't

answer. Hi there. Just to double check

that the museum is squeaky clean and

ready for our visitors over. Hello,

control. Are we ready to open the museum

on time?

Cool. Thank you. Out.

We are indeed.

Time is ticking for the museum's major

upcoming exhibition, Fantastic Beasts:

The Wonder of Nature. Head of

conservation Lorraine Cornish and her

team have to prepare over 100 items,

including the replica skeleton of a

recently discovered dinosaur, Draorex

Hogwarts here.

The original is in America where it was

discovered in 2004 and is named after

Harry Potter's school.

I'm super excited to get this beautiful

dinosaur. It's going to be the

centerpiece of our our exhibition with

the most amazing name, Draorex

Hogwartsia, Dragon King of the Hogwarts.

It's just going to be spectacular.

You've got wizarding world and magic and

you've got a dinosaur. What else do you

need to start your exhibition?

The complex skeleton has arrived in

pieces without a manual and needs

assembling.

So Lorraine has called in dinosaur

expert Susie Maidment.

As a dinosaur researcher, what part of

the dinosaur are you interested in? Most

dinosaur experts like skulls to be

honest with you because skulls can tell

us a lot about feeding and things like

that. I don't know. They're a bit more

personal, aren't they? They are a bit

more personal. Well, you know, we do

have Have we got the skull? The replica

skull here. So, do you want to Yeah,

I've got it on here with all the other

bits here. So, um Can I pick it up?

Yeah. Yeah. It's in really good

condition and it's really robust. Yeah.

And it's really light. But don't you

think that looks just like a dragon? It

just looks exactly like what you imagine

a dragon looks like. It's so cool. Oh, I

know. But Lorraine has discovered a

problem with the replica skeleton.

What's happened here, though? Well, I

was hoping we could put it together

today so that we could show you, but

unfortunately, it's traveled across from

the US and so some of the pieces uh were

damaged. The one thing a conservator

fears is undoing that crate and

something is broken. And in this case,

we found pieces of the dinosaur lying at

the bottom. And so there's a sort of

intake of breath and like, okay, let's

have a look and see how much damage

we've got. And so we've got ribs

completely broken off. Whole pieces

broken off entirely. I've got some more

pieces over on the table. So we will be

able to repair it, but will take four or

5 days, which we hadn't planned for.

We've got to somehow find the time to

now repair this beautiful dinosaur so

that we can install it.

Richard Sabin has been looking after the

museum's whales for three decades,

but his love of the Natural History

Museum stretches back to childhood.

I first remember walking into this hall

and seeing this Blue Wow model as a

10-year-old. It was the first time I'd

ever been to London, the first time I've

been to the Natural History Museum, and

this was the thing that really blew me

away. Standing in front of this model

makes me remember how excited I was when

I first saw this.

One of the things that I really wanted

to do when I was 10 years old on that

first visit was uh take a look at the

model close up. And of course, now that

I work for the museum, that's exactly

what I can do. Nobody else, just me.

Richard's childhood visits would spark

his lifelong love of whales. As a

10-year-old, I was all about bones. I

wanted to know about skeletons, and

seeing the skeleton of the largest

animal that's ever lived on the planet

was just the most the most incredible

thing. I had to know more. I had no idea

that I'd end up working with Hope so

closely and in so much detail. And she's

really become the pinnacle of my career

so far. Who knew? Who knew that was

going to happen? That could never be

predicted.

After months of research, Richard has

made a breakthrough in his investigation

into Hope.

He's been able to trace where Hope

traveled during her life. But then the

trail goes cold.

It appears that in the last years of her

life, she suddenly stopped migrating.

Richard has an idea of why this was and

he's just received an extraordinary set

of results that confirm his suspicions.

I've just taken a look at the results

and processed what's come back and what

we can see very clearly, very very

clearly, and I'm incredibly excited by

this is that we have evidence that Hope

had been pregnant fullterm.

These results show that Hope was

pregnant during the last years of her

life.

With this new information, Richard can

now pinpoint exactly when she gave

birth.

The graph that I've got here is the data

that's come back from the analysis. And

smack in the middle of the graph is this

huge spike in progesterone and the

pregnancy hormone. So we have a birth

date for Hope's calf of February 1890

based on these data. This is really

quite remarkable. And the really

wonderful thing for me is that if her

calf lived its full lifespan, that means

it would have been swimming around in

our waters around about 1970 or so. If

that calf in turn had had offspring,

maybe maybe just maybe Hope's

grandchildren are swimming around still

in the ocean today following that same

migration route.

Records show that a year later she

became stranded and died on a sandbank

as she journeyed past Wexford Harbor on

the Irish coast.

Richard still has an important question

that needs answering. So, one of the

mysteries which is still pretty much an

open question is is why Hope died, why

she beed in Waxford Harour. I really

need to do a bit more thinking about

what I still believe to be the last open

question, which is why did she beach?

How did she manage to strand such a

powerful animal? Maybe these data can

give me a little bit of insight.

Coming up, the museum's new dinosaur

refuses to take shape. This is like a

giant macano set that's full of very

fragile pieces that you're trying to put

together and hope's last secret. There's

a mystery still to be addressed and it's

the final mystery.

The deadline is looming for the Natural

History Museum's upcoming exhibition.

With a broken replica dinosaur on her

hands, head of conservation Lorraine

Cornish is having to work round the

clock to assemble its complex skeleton.

The clock is ticking and we have a

schedule planned and now this is an

additional piece of work that we've got

to do. So any bits of spare time that we

thought we had, we don't have anymore.

And we're doing this.

This whole rib cage section here had

actually broken along quite a few of

those lines. So what I'm doing is just

that bit of impainting. So you cannot

see where that that break happened.

This has taken up quite a lot of time

and I'm going to nickname it a little

bit of a diva dinosaur to be honest in

terms of uh the attention it's demanding

from us. But you know, it's worth it.

Absolutely worth it.

With the repairs complete, Lorraine can

finally try to assemble the Draorex

skeleton.

This is like a giant macano set that's

full of very fragile pieces that you're

trying to put together. So, you're

literally building a dinosaur.

It's getting longer. Yeah, it's nice and

long now, isn't it? You feel like you're

gradually bringing it to life as you put

each piece on.

It's just like an enormous jigsaw

puzzle, but quite a challenging one.

Jigsaw puzzles usually behave a little

bit better than this dinosaur is.

Dino expert Susie Maidment is joining

Lorraine for its crowning moment.

Hi, Lorraine. Hi, Susie. How are you?

This looks good. This looks much better

than last time I saw it. So much better,

isn't it? You've just caught me pinning

the tail on the dinosaur. Literally,

this is the last bit of tail. So, I've

got you down here because there's one

more piece to put on. Susie,

the skull. So, can I do the honors? You

can, Susie. I've saved the best for

last. It's all quite simple. That's it.

Then put him up a little bit more. So,

he's looking Yes, exactly.

There we go. There he goes. Right, we

let him go. Yeah. Hey, there he is.

There he is. Look at that. Oh, handsome.

This specimen looks fantastic. I I can't

believe how different it looks from when

I saw it. I think it's going to be the

star of the show, as it should be as a

dinosaur. So, you've got Harry Potter,

Wizarding World, dinosaurs, dragons. The

whole mix is there, isn't it? The public

are going to absolutely love this

specimen.

It's been a busy day for duty manager

Jack Evans and his team, who are just

getting ready to close up.

Attention all front of house radio

holders. This is the duty manager. The

museum is now closed to the public.

Please, can you start clearing the

galleries wherever you are? Thank you.

Out. Gearing up now for closing.

I'm just going to sweep the galleries to

make sure that there's no one hiding in

the kind of strange hiding places in

here. You never know what you might

find.

It's kind of nice actually to walk

through when there's no one here.

Even though it's a bit creepy in some

areas,

it's nice you kind of have some like

onetoone time with a donkey.

This is probably a good spot to uh edge

people onto the doors.

We obviously don't want to force people

out the doors, but we've kind of got

this gentle lean in and kind of

graciously nudge

Richard Sabin's 18-month investigation

into Hope the Whales life story is

coming to an end.

He's plotted her route across the globe

and discovered that in the last years of

her life, she gave birth to a calf.

But there's one question that still

needs answering.

What caused this giant blue whale to

beach on a sandbank in Wexford Harbor on

the Irish coast?

There's a mystery still to be addressed.

And it's the final mystery. It's the

mystery of of why she died, how she

died, what were the circumstances.

Richard has finally pieced together the

story of Hope's last hours. It's my

feeling that it's probably down to two

main factors. The first one being she

would have been weakened by the

pregnancy and by feeding that calf for

all those months, investing all her

energy in keeping her calf alive.

There's another factor. We know from

records that in the days before she

appeared on the southeast coast of

Ireland, there were terrible storms in

the area. And I have a a dreadful

feeling that hope may have been caught

by those storms. That she may have been

pulled into the incredibly tidal waters

of Wexford Harbor into the shallows and

didn't have the strength to break free.

Had no way to get herself out of that

predicament.

Hope died on the morning of the 25th of

March 1891.

And remarkably, Richard has uncovered a

photograph in an Irish museum that

matches the exact date and location of

where Hope was found. It shows the blue

whale in her final moments.

I've got a photograph here that shows

Hope

lying on a sandbank in shallow water on

her right hand side with four men

standing on top of her body. And she's

been

um released. we believe from her misery

by one of the men who made a a harpoon,

a homemade harpoon and and plunged it

into her body to to um release her.

It really does have uh quite an impact

and you know just

it does bring her to life really to have

this information.

Ultimately, when I stop and think about

it, it's it's quite overpowering. It's

quite overwhelming.

Richard has solved the 130-year-old

mystery about hope.

And soon, everyone who comes to the

museum can discover more about her

story.

Even though this is an incredibly sad

story, there is a a silver lining to all

this. People

will get to know this story and I really

think it will surprise and inspire them.

We've created an incredibly powerful

message of hope and hope's story is an

example of what the Natural History

Museum is all about. Using our

collections to inspire people through

science to look after, protect, and

conserve the natural world.

From whale skeletons to robot dinosaurs,

the Natural History Museum's 28

galleries are crammed full of priceless

showstoppers.

Some of the biggest drawers take center

stage in the spectacular main hall.

But with the grime of central London

just outside the door, head of

conservation Lorraine Cornish is on

constant alert for pollution damage to

these precious pieces. Very busy day

today. There's a lot going on.

This is the uniform for most

conservators. High viz jacket and a hard

hat.

Today, Lorraine and a crack team of

specialists are descending on these

prized exhibits.

We've got a small army in this morning.

We're checking the specimens and we're

cleaning them.

The clock's ticking and we've just got a

limited amount of time to get it done

really.

So at the entrance to the museum, one of

the first things that people see when

they come in is these two amazing

giraffes over a hundred years old. So

these giraffes are right near the doors.

There's a six lane road outside, lot of

traffic, public coming through. The

doors are often open and so we get dust

just coming in. And one of the things

we're looking at is there's any split in

the skin. Is it drying out or anything?

We check those seams, check that

everything is as it should be.

I'm just cleaning the glass eye with

some ethanol. It's going to be the

cleanest eyeball ever.

This is American masttodon. It's an

amazing specimen. It's at least 10,000

years old.

Some of these things are absolutely

enormous and um we just need to get on

with it.

The museum holds one of the greatest

dinosaur collections in the world, and

it's looked after by a team of experts,

including Susie Maidment.

Here at the Natural History Museum's

dinosaur collection, we have the world's

most complete Stegosaurus, the first

T-Rex ever found, and the first dinosaur

fossils to be recognized as such. And

that's just scratching the surface. Down

here in the basement, we have hundreds

of different types of dinosaur fossils

from all over the world. With its

world-class reputation, the museum is

the first stop for any member of the

public who thinks they've made a new

dino discovery.

Today, Susie and her colleague Paul

Barrett have had a promising tip off.

Someone has sent in photos of what they

think could be a series of dino

footprints known as a trackway in Wales.

This is someone who thinks they might

have found a dinosaur trapway on the

coast just outside Cardiff. I have to

say, these are some of the more

convincing footprint photos we've been

sent. They're pretty good, aren't they?

Look at this one.

Visitors send us photos of what they

think might be dinosaur tracks all the

time. And very often they're just random

holes in rock. They don't look like

trackways at all. Do you think those are

toe prints? They always look like tow

prints. That is a convincing uh set of

toe prints for a hand.

rather than the foot. And then there's

this huge kind of dust bin lid shaped

thing here. And I wondered if you're

looking at a hand foot pair. Yeah, it's

difficult to think how that could form

if it wasn't a footprint to be honest.

New dinosaur finds are rare in the

British Isles. And Susie and Paul are so

hopeful that these could be dino

footprints that they've decided to go to

Wales and check them out for themselves.

Members of the public send us lots of

inquiries about things that they found.

Sometimes those are genuine dinosaur

footprints, but it's pretty rare. Most

of the time it's something else. But

these are some of the best ones that

we've been sent and some of the most

convincing.

[Music]

Coming up, Susie and Paul arrive in

Wales and the plot thickens. Footprints

are tricky things to get a handle on,

but there are an awful lot of them

around here. And we meet the most famous

dinosaur of all time. When you're over a

100, life can be pretty tough on the

road.

Since opening its doors 140 years ago,

the Natural History Museum's main hall

has been a stage for the biggest

crowd-pleasers of the day,

including today's main attraction, Hope

the Blue Whale.

Tonight, head of conservation Lorraine

Cornish has been looking back at the

headline exhibits from the past.

People will possibly think that Hope's

always been here where she only came in

2017 and the museum opened in 1881.

So, I've gone back into the archives and

I've got a great picture here showing

George, an elephant.

I think George came to the museum in

1907

and uh he looks magnificent. Absolutely

magnificent.

I'm thinking

around here would be where the

photographer would have taken the

picture of a sperm whale that was on

display from 1895.

[Music]

But the most popular attraction in the

history of the museum is Dippy the

Dinosaur.

Dippy is definitely the most famous

dinosaur in the country and um and

globally.

Dippy came to the museum in 1905 and has

been around a bit, it has to be said,

and started off in a reptile gallery

just to one side of here. And we've got

people in lab coats here. We've got

people just casually sitting on the

base. They're essentially putting Dippy

together.

Then this would have been the public

opening in the reptile gallery

back in 1905 when Dippy was unveiled to

the public. The opening was a must-have

ticket. So you had some crown heads of

Europe, bit of royalty, some VVIPs

coming to the unveiling of this colossal

dinosaur that was truly amazing. And the

press even went mad for Dippy. Instant

rockstar status and really cemented the

museum's, you know, as the place to

visit.

Dippy is a Diplodocus who dominated the

main hall from 1979 until 2017.

Since then, he's been on a tour across

the UK.

As one of the museum's most prized

showpieces, Lorraine is responsible for

making sure nothing happens to him.

And now, Dippy's due a checkup.

Dippy's been very busy on a kind of an

extended tour. I mean, literally, there

is a t-shirt.

When you're over a hundred and you're

made of plaster, life can be pretty

tough on the road. So, I have to go and

check to make sure that everything's as

it should be. Um, and um it's not

showing his age essentially.

[Music]

For many visitors, the giant specimens

are the museum's biggest draw.

But for fly expert Erica Mallister,

small is beautiful.

We have many hidden treasures and this

is my hidden treasure because it is

really in the corner of the corner of

this entire building and yet there is so

much going on in just one little

specimen on display.

[Music]

This is a grasshopper eating a mouse.

It was very personal to me because it

was one of the things that first sat on

my desk when I joined the museum quite a

few years ago and I loved it because it

was so weird and we did a little bit of

research into it and it's found by

Reverend so and so who passed it on to

Reverend so and so who passed it on to

someone who passed it on to us because

obviously we want a grasshopper eating a

mouse but um you can see the ear of the

mouse is been properly nibbled.

Another of Erica's favorites is part of

a bizarre story about the museum

building. This is a really terrible

looking specimen of a cat. It's

desecated. It's it's mummified, which

some people might find quite but I think

it's fascinating. And it was found

buried in the front steps of the

entrance to the natural history museum.

We believe it's one of these

superstitious cats buried in the 1870s.

a water of bad spirits and also to get

rid of all vermin in the building. And I

love the fact that this is a building

dedicated to science and still its roots

are very much superstitious.

[Music]

The Natural History Museum's dinosaur

experts Susie Maidment and Paul Barrett

have had a promising tip off about dino

footprints.

Now they've arrived in Wales to see them

for themselves.

[Music]

There's some rock ledges over there,

maybe. Yeah, quite a lot of exposed rock

up there.

If they turn out to be genuine, they

could be an exciting find.

They're pretty big, I think. They are.

But first, they need to get a proper

look.

First thing we've got to do while we're

here is actually work out if these are

tracks for sure or whether there's some

kind of other geological feature. But

one of the things that makes me slightly

suspicious that it could be tracks is

they have this raised rim of rock around

these crater like structures which could

potentially be these footprints. But we

really need to do is get some of them

nice and clean so we can have a look at

the edges properly to see if there's

evidence of things like toes uh that

might help us really nail that down. It

would be really good if we can remove

some of this sand which is going to

involve quite a lot of sweeping. I think

it's kind of like making sand castles

actually.

Dinosaur footprints can often just look

like holes in the rock. And even for

experts like Suzie and Paul, it's still

hard to work out whether these are dino

prints. They need to find clear proof

that a dinosaur may have once walked

here. I can't see anything in this one

that looks particularly like a definite

finger or a toe impression, but they're

very deep. They get quite filled up with

all of the sand that's covering the

beach, but there are an awful lot of

them around here. Footprints are tricky

things to get a handle on. What you

really want is something that's perfect

with lots of fingers and lots of toes

showing. At the moment, I'm thinking I

don't know what these things are.

It is hard work. Yeah. And there's not

really a shortcut to it either. There's

no technology we can use that makes this

easier. Um, so we just have to stick

with this.

Susie and Paul will need to excavate

more ground if they're going to find the

crucial evidence they need to get to the

bottom of this dino mystery.

As a housekeeping supervisor at the

museum, Debbie Mara gets privileged

access to the world famous exhibits.

It's just not your normal everyday 9 to

5 job, is it?

I get to see other things that public

don't get to see. And actually really

close up as well. I'm touching really

old objects. They've got to be priceless

really. It's not like you can just go

down the shops and buy one.

[Music]

This is the dinosaur nest. All the kids

must love this one cuz I do. Look at

them. They're just cute little dinosaurs

coming out of their eggs. I'd say these

are are my most favorite in the whole

museum

cuz they just look so innocent.

This is Harry. He's in his bed. He's got

his little blanket around him. This is

Billy

and Suzie's just no way you're not

coming out.

I've got six children and I would say

these are so much easier to look after.

The Natural History Museum is on a site

the size of eight football pitches in up

market South Kensington.

But what lots of visitors don't realize

is that tucked between the central

building and the busy main road, the

museum has its very own 2acre garden

crammed full of British wildlife.

Morning. Today, Tom Marta and Sylvia

Meyers, who are part of the team who run

the wildlife garden, morning sheep, are

welcoming some new additions to

entertain the tourists. How you doing?

Breen is 5 years old and Ivy is three.

And they're both grayfaced start sheep.

They come here for 6 to 8 weeks. You

want some sheep nuts? M yummy. They

really love the sheep nuts. So if we

want them to come with us, it's quite a

useful tool. In fact, they love them so

much. I believe they know the word sheep

nuts.

Come on.

It's a lovely thing to have in your job

description. You get to be a farmer for

6 to 8 weeks every year. Bracken.

[Music]

Come on. Hering sheep is harder than it

looks. Come on. If you try and direct a

sheep, they will quite often bolt and go

the other direction. Um,

do you want to try and get behind them?

[Music]

Come on.

They have their own minds and they like

to wander around the gardens as they see

fit. Come on. Hey girls. Come on girls.

Hey. They do really like this bit. Uh if

they don't come here in the morning,

they sometimes get a little bit grumpy.

That was trickier than I thought.

With Ivy and Bracken safely in their new

pasture, they're ready for the public.

[Music]

Coming up, the secrets of ancient Brits

revealed. To have a skeleton from

someone who died 10,000 years ago is

just so incredibly rare. And we meet the

most famous dinosaur of all time. Dippy

mania has taken over.

The world's most famous dinosaur, Dippy,

is on a blockbuster tour around the UK.

As one of the Natural History Museum's

most prized possessions, it's vital

nothing happens to him.

So, today, head of conservation Lorraine

Cornish has come to check up on him. I'm

really excited to be going in and seeing

Dippit. It will be like seeing a long

lost friend.

After nearly 3 years on the move,

Lorraine needs to make sure he's not

damaged after being taken apart and put

back together so many times. Hi, Janet.

How you doing?

15 ft high and longer than two

double-decker buses, Dippy can only just

about squeeze into Rodale's huge public

library.

The whole town has been experiencing the

dippy effect basically. Dippy mania has

taken over. Dippy mania. Totally. We've

even had dino breakfasts at one of the

local hosties. Really? I've even got my

dippy badge on. There he is. He seems to

get bigger every time I see him, though.

It's so funny when you haven't seen him

for a long time, then you come back. Yo,

he is huge.

Life on the move could easily damage a

dinosaur of this size. and structure.

We have a very large join here where the

legs come together and they're bolted.

So, we always like to have a look here

just to see if everything's as it should

be.

Dippy is now over 100 years old and time

has taken its toll.

He's quite delicate. He looks quite

robust, doesn't he? Looks like he's

pretty solid. But that plaster is from

1905. It's quite fragile. It could snap.

There are some tiny cracks just because

it's so old. And so we have to be very

respectful of this skeleton when we put

it together and don't assume anything.

And clearing away the dust isn't just to

make Dippy look good for his fans. two

bits of equipment the trusty conservator

will have and that is a handy brush

which helps to sometimes dislodge those

tricky bits of dust that actually will

fall on the specimen. And then this is a

bit of a trick up our sleeve, a cosmetic

sponge. Don't just use it for your face.

You know, dust isn't great on objects

over time. It's hyroscopic, so it kind

of absorbs water, can sometimes become

acidic. is just not a great thing if

you're looking after a skeleton.

After a day of close inspection,

Lorraine's happy that he is structurally

sound and ready for his public.

Lots of people think that this is a real

skeleton, but the original is actually

in America. Um, and this was the first

copy that was ever made and then was

gifted to London at the request of King

Edward IIIth. And at the time it was the

biggest

most complete dinosaur to go on display

anywhere in the world. So it caused an

absolute media sensation. Everyone was

absolutely amazed at this colossal

stranger as it was called.

Everything's as it should be, which is

what we want.

Dippy's been fascinating the crowds for

over a century and today's no exception.

How does it we how does it poop and

poop? That's a really good question.

It's a bit like how you poo and weed.

There's a part of the dinosaur's body

back here where the poo and the wee

would come out.

No one ever tires dippy. And I think

doesn't matter how many times.

And that's magical, isn't it?

Alongside dinosaurs, plants, and stuffed

animals, the Natural History Museum is

home to hundreds of human remains from

the last 10,000 years.

The most famous exhibit is the oldest

and most complete human skeleton ever

found in Britain. Cheddar Man.

Ancient DNA expert Selena Brace and her

team have spent the past three years

unlocking the secrets of his remarkable

prehistoric bones. Cheddar man is called

Cheddam because he was found in Cheddar

Gorge in Somerset. To have an almost

complete skeleton from someone who died

10,000 years ago is just so incredibly

rare. It's amazing. And we can tell so

much looking at him from his skeleton um

about the way he lived, who he was.

Cheddaman was alive over 4,000 years

before the ancient Egyptians built the

pyramids.

But using cuttingedge techniques, Selena

has been able to discover how he lived.

Cheddaman's lifestyle would have been

that of a hunter gatherer. He would have

eaten off the land. He would have eaten

roots and berries, but he would have

hunted wild animals.

Examining his 10,000y old DNA was a

delicate process. When we sampled

Cheddam man for DNA

was a very uh scary day. We took the

skull and we turned this upside down and

we took a very small amount of bone

powder from his inner ear.

Ancient DNA testing often yields no

results at all. But with Cheddaman, the

team struck gold. And what they

discovered was extraordinary.

From his DNA and skeleton, they were

able to create an accurate image of what

prehistoric Britain's looked like. And

it wasn't what most people expected.

This is a reconstruction of Cheddamman's

face.

From the DNA, we were able to say that

he has dark hair, blue eyes, and dark

skin pigmentation,

which today looks really unusual.

But what we think and what we know from

other human remains is that in fact most

people in Britain during this time point

10,000 years ago would have had this

really interesting combination of

features.

Tucked away in the same cave as

Cheddaman was another collection of

human skeletons that still need

investigation.

Cheddaman was found on his own in the

cave, but in a different part of the

cave, there are a lot more bones, and

these are from individuals much, much

older, and these we are only just

starting to look at. Selena is now

hoping further examination will reveal

what secrets these bones could be

hiding.

Head

of conservation Lorraine Cornish is back

at the museum and has one more stuffed

animal to check over.

It's her personal favorite. Hi Guy. Guy

the gorilla. I certainly have objects in

the museum where I've looked after them

for a long time and I am attached to

them for sure.

Guy is so treasured and so popular that

he has his own protective glass case in

a dedicated corner of the museum's main

hall. You have to be a little bit agile

getting in which is not a great look. I

think the phrase does my bum look big in

this comes to mind so I don't damage

anything.

He's handsome, isn't he? Don't you

think?

When you're in the case, you can get to

most of him. Actually, what we're doing

is we're looking at any splits. You can

also look at the fur to see if there's

no insect movement or anything. See how

he's doing.

Lorraine's bond with Guy goes back to

when she was a girl.

It's even more special for me sitting

here with him now because I remember

seeing him when he was alive at London

Zoo as a young child and I thought he

was amazing. Then

we came to London Zoo as a baby and he

arrived on Guyforks night in 1947

and I think he was afraid of all of the

noise of the fireworks and everything.

The story goes that he wouldn't settle

until one of the keepers would actually

stay over with him and so he got the

nickname guy.

All the public adored him and they would

then give him treats but sadly that was

sort of sweets and cakes and things very

bad for your teeth. So his teeth were

rotting so he had to have an operation

and sadly while he was under he had a

heart attack and died.

And then he was at London Zoo from 1947

until he died in 1978.

And then eventually his body was donated

to the Natural History Museum.

Even now people will come into the

museum, they ask about the dinosaurs,

they'll ask about Guy.

Looking good.

Dead leg.

So we probably won't check him for

another year now. And so we can close

the door up.

Dinosaur experts Susie Maidment and Paul

Barrett are investigating traces of

possible dino footprints on a beach in

South Wales.

[Music]

Dino prints are rare and identifying

them requires evidence of finger and toe

imprints.

But after hours of careful searching,

Susie and Paul are no closer to

uncovering the vital proof they need.

I'm still sad that we can't see any toe

claws um or really distinct

shapes of feet. Maybe it could have been

a a claw mark or a toe,

but I wouldn't want to bet my life on

it.

To help them get to the bottom of

things, they've called in backup.

Peter Falingham is a specialist in

analyzing prehistoric footprints. So,

this is it. This is what we've come to

see, and we're really intrigued as to

hear what you're going to make of it.

[Music]

I think this is more exciting than I was

expecting. Um, it's more extensive. It

covers a larger area than I thought it

would. Uh, and and just the raised areas

around them are very very prominent.

I'm I'm excited.

After several more hours of clearing

sand, fresh evidence seems to be

emerging.

We do seem to have these depressions in

the sides coming up that could be left

behind by toes. So that's a long neck

longtail dinosaur foot and then hand

there. Um and we just see them quite

close to each other.

It's quite the stretch.

Susie is becoming convinced the

potential footprints match the strides

of a large dinosaur.

They're so regular. They're so evenly

spaced. I just can't believe that's a

natural feature.

You can predict where the next one's

going to be. I reckon there's going to

be one here, right? And and there is.

But now Peter is not so sure. Uh the

tracks are too indistinct to say even at

a big level. It's very very hard to say

if this is a sorapod or an orthopod or a

therapod. My inclination would be

something four-legged, something

largeish.

Whether they are or not, I don't know at

the moment. For the team to be certain,

Peter is going to create a 3D model of

the footprints, which Paul and Susie

will then analyze back at the museum.

Pete takes lots and lots of pictures of

the same footprint from different

angles. Then we can take all those

photographs and using uh kind of some

really cool software, we can build 3D

models of each of those prints.

[Music]

The 3D model should confirm once and for

all whether these are dinosaur

footprints

or not.

[Music]

Erica Mallister is one of the curators

who looks after the museum's enormous

fly and flea collection.

She's part of the museum's ambitious

mission to photograph every one of their

80 million specimens so that anyone in

the world can see them.

Today, she set her sights on some of the

most bizarre.

So, these are exceptionally fragile and

exceptionally delicate. We really never

take this lid off, but I'm going to take

it off to do these imaging. The dressed

fleas. These were made by the nuns in

Mexico, which is great. So, what they

would do, they put the fleas and they

make little outfits and then the fleas

would be the heads.

The strange art of dressing real fleas

in costumes began in 19th century

Mexico.

This is a wedding being serenated by a

mariachi band. So this these bands are

very popular in Mexico. And these have

been made by we believe nuns and then be

bought as tourist trinkets.

You know, who doesn't want like a dress

flea? And look, where's the lady? And

she's not looking her best really, is

she? She's got a bouquet.

So we've definitely got a bride and

groom and we've either got a bridesmaid

and best man. And then either side of

the wedding party, you've got this

little mariachi band. And you've got a

guitarist and a one with a castinet.

They've all got the most fabulously

large hats. How on earth she made these

hats? I don't know. But that's the level

of detail I like. Okay, that's really

cute. I might have to take some photos

of actually that. As a child, it's not

something you imagine being paid to

photograph a flea that's been dressed as

a bride. Can you imagine your career

guidance counselor? What do you want to

do? I want to image fleas. I want to

image fleas like nobody's imaged fleas

before.

These photographs will now form part of

an enormous digital archive project,

recording every single item the museum

owns.

[Music]

One of the museum's biggest crowd

pullers is Sophie the Stegosaurus.

With almost all of her skeleton intact,

Sophie is the world's most complete

example of the famous dinosaur.

But she's so unique that the most

precious part of her is kept under lock

and key, her skull.

While she waits for news about the dino

footprints, Susie Maidment is taking a

rare look at Sophie's 150

millionyear-old skull. Although they're

very iconic as dinosaurs, there are

really few skulls of Stegosaurs that are

intact from anywhere in the world.

There's no more than five. And Sophie's

is absolutely unique in that all the

bones are separate from each other.

They're not all fused together. And that

for us is kind of the holy grail. The

separate skull bones mean Suzie has been

able to discover more about this

incredible dinosaur than ever before.

We were able to do loads of study on the

specimen. And we discovered that Sophie

weighed about 1.5 to two tons, which is

something like a white rhino.

The question I get asked the most about

Stegosaurus is what was the function of

their armor that they had down the back?

the plates and the spikes at the end of

the tail. Now, the spikes were probably

used as a weapon. The plates, it's a bit

harder to say. They're very, very, very

thin. And while some people have

suggested that they could have been

armor plating, I think if you were

something like Allosaurus with a big

bone crunching bite, chomping through

Stegosaurus plates would probably be

like eating a pack of Pringles.

What we've got here is the brain case.

This is actually the back of Sophie's

skull. Now, Stegosaurus's brain is

sometimes compared to the size of a

plum. I think Sophie's might have been a

little bit smaller than that. Now, while

there's not a direct relationship

between brain size and intelligence,

Sophie did have a very small brain for

her body weight. And so, I suspect that

this dinosaur was not very clever.

Coming up, a gruesome secret is

uncovered. So, this is definitely

cannibalistic behavior. And after the

great dinosaur hunt, the results are in.

Slightly blows your mind, doesn't it?

At the Natural History Museum, Selena

Brace has been examining a set of

ancient human bones.

These 15,000-year-old human remains are

among the oldest of their kind ever

found in Britain, and they were

discovered in the same cave as the

skeleton of Cheddamman.

PhD student William Marsh has been

studying them and has some gruesome

news. We got four ribs here, all of them

showing signs of human cannibalism.

Um, and this one it is un Oh, that's

amazing.

There are bite marks on these rib bones

that can only have been made by human

teeth.

Three tooth marks. One, two, three. So,

these teeth marks must be from a human.

Yeah, I think so. Because you can see

there's evidence also of cut marks

slightly down here, which is evidence

that were they defles. You fleshed it?

Yeah. Take absolutely flesh off. And

then the human teeth flaps. The other

body parts tell an even more horrifying

story. A skull has been turned into a

drinking vessel. Uh we've got a a skull

cup um which shows signs of cut marks.

So rather than being like brutally

smashed or very quickly broken apart to

to to remove the brain, what they've

actually done is very carefully cut

away, defleshed round the outside to

create this beautiful cup that you see

here. So that together, if we had that

up around there, would be the whole of

the the drinking vessel. This would be

the drinking cup.

For Selena and William, the next step is

to work out why humans were carving

skulls and eating each other 15,000

years ago in Britain.

So, this is definitely cannibalistic

behavior. So, there are many reasons

that you can have cannibals and that

people would eat human flesh. One is

that they were very hungry. Maybe this

was a time when there wasn't much food.

It could be that they were eating their

enemies to prove they were stronger than

they were. Or it could be much more

about honoring the dead, so ritually

eating members of your family as a way

to uh show that you cared. As bizarre as

this may sound,

with many questions about these

prehistoric cannibals left to answer,

Selena's research will continue.

In a hidden corner of the museum, marine

expert Miranda Lowe is responsible for

some of the most delicate items in the

entire building.

150year-old replicas of sea creatures

made from paper thin glass.

Every time I handle these, I take a

sharp intake of breath.

You can see how fragile it is. A glass

jellyfish that was actually made in the

1870s.

The museum has a new exhibition coming

up and Miranda has been asked to select

just one of these models for public

display.

It's really hard to just choose one item

for exhibition because we have over 180

of them.

This is a form of moon jellyfish. The

glass here is 1/10enth of a millimeter.

So thin, so fragile.

[Music]

This is one of my most favorite objects.

Beautiful glass octopus. You can see so

much detail.

These painstakingly accurate models once

offered a glimpse into a mysterious

underwater world.

So when these things were made, these

glass marine sea creatures were there to

inspire people about the world's oceans.

This kind of object brought to the

public what you might actually see.

[Music]

This is a bit like unwrapping your best

birthday present.

But as much as she loves them all,

Miranda can only choose one for the

exhibition. Amazing. Or can she?

I can't just choose one. So, I'm going

to see if I can have two. I'd love this

one to go in. And then I'd love this

other one over here. I think I've got my

final selection and people are going to

love them.

[Music]

Dinosaur experts Susie Maidment and Paul

Barrett have just received a digital

model of the possible dino trackways

they saw on a beach in Wales.

These images have revealed details that

were invisible to the naked eye. It just

looks so clear. It does. It really gives

a much clearer view than when you're on

the beach. That's true. Actually,

there's no water in the tracks here, are

they? Which really helps to see it cuz

on the beach quite difficult to see.

After a thorough examination, Susie and

Paul finally see the evidence. They were

looking for proof of finger and toe

marks.

That one looks like it's got it looks

like a toe. And it has this big raised

rim of mud at the back of the print

which has been caused by the heel of the

hand really pushing into that soft mud.

And as you say, these could be claw

marks, and these animals would have had

really big chunky claws on their

fingers.

With these images and what they saw on

the beach, Susie and Paul now feel

confident that they've made an exciting

new discovery. They're so much like

footprints. They're so regular and

they've got these raised rims that just

look like what you get when a foot

impacts into mud.

Not only can Susie and Paul now see

these dinosaur prints clearly, they also

think they know what type of dino they

belong to. An early sorapod, the largest

land animal that ever lived.

One of its relatives sits in the Natural

History Museum today.

I think it was probably made by an early

relative of this sort of dinosaur here,

but an earlier member of this group. And

some of the shapes that we see in these

footprints here are really so similar. I

actually think it's kind of amazing that

something like that would have been

wandering around what is now a beach in

South Wales 210 million years ago. No,

it is quite stunning. It slightly blows

your mind, doesn't it?

The Natural History Museum is one of

Britain's top attractions.

Every year, millions of visitors flood

in to get up close to the giant

skeletons and exotic creatures that fill

this world famous site.

But of the thousands of extraordinary

exhibits, by far the biggest draw are

the dinosaurs.

From prehistoric bones to man-made

models, if something goes wrong in this

gallery, it's a big problem.

And today it has. The most popular

dynino of them all, the robot T-Rex, has

developed a fault and needs urgent

attention.

We want to get the tail off and have a

look at this cylinder in here that we

think's squeaking. We've not come across

this before.

Technicians Glenn and Alex have been

called in to try and fix T-Rex's tail,

which is making a worrying rattling

noise. Need to give it this little

squirt.

It's not the first time T-Rex has gone

wrong.

6 months ago, there was a problem with

his head. T-Rex was shaking his head

violently. It was completely out of

control. The body was shaking. I mean,

it was head banging.

For young kids, this is terrifying.

Yeah, pretty dramatic.

He kept that up for the best part of an

afternoon before somebody told us about

it. Because this thing weighs a couple

of tons, it it caused a little bit of

damage elsewhere.

Until Glenn and Alex can get to the

bottom of the rattle, T-Rex is off

limits.

Let's get the tail down, which is the

position we've got it in now, and we'll

slip the rubber off.

Slide it off. Okay.

It brings a lot of pleasure to a lot of

people and terrifies them. Children come

around this corner and are terrified.

They scream. It's great for that.

When the T-Rex isn't working, we get

lots of bad press from the uh parents

and lots of crying children.

Mind your head, Glenn?

With T-Rex turned off, whilst they

figure out what's gone wrong, they take

the chance to give him a top toeot.

The eyes are looking okay. It's mainly

the eyelids wear out more than the eyes.

His giant jaws make him a target.

Kids that come here use the T-Rex as

target practice. We find all kinds of

things. pencils, sandwiches, crisps,

M&M's, you name it. I try and get it in

his mouth.

No foreign objects this time. It's too

good.

That's what's wrong. Finally, they

discover the source of the rattling, and

it's not good news. Part of the catch

that holds the tail on us snaps. It

could cause another problem along the

line. Once that happens, that's when we

lose control of the robot. T-Rex will

now be out of action until Glenn and

Dallas have fixed him, and they're sure

he's not a risk to the public,

but they'll need to get their skates on.

While robot T-Rex awaits urgent repairs,

deep in the basement, there's the real

thing.

Remarkably, the museum holds the

skeleton of the first T-Rex ever

discovered.

But dino expert Susie Maidment has a

problem. The huge bones of this 66

million-year-old T-Rex have been muddled

up with another T-Rex.

Today, Susie is setting out to solve

this giant jigsaw puzzle. At the moment,

I don't know which bone goes with which

skeleton. So, that's what I'm going to

try and figure out today.

It might be a bit surprising that all of

these bones are jumbled up. We have so

many dinosaur specimens in the museum to

look after, and up until now, this

specimen hasn't really been the focus of

any attention.

So, I'm hoping to correct that today.

These T-Rex bones were dug up in Wyoming

in Midwest America over 100 years ago.

They're incredibly historically

important specimens. So, it's pretty

amazing to be getting them out and

handling them today. Wow, they're heavy,

too.

This is a metatarsal, which is a

footbone. It's the one that footballers

always break. It's pretty long. That was

the height of T-Rex's foot without its

toes.

But there's something else mixed up with

the bones.

[Music]

That's plastic T-Rex.

These specimens were mounted in the

dinosaur gallery for a really, really

long time. And the missing bits that we

didn't have of the skeleton were filled

in with plastic like this. Um, so I

think we can probably get rid of these

now.

This looks like it could be quite

fragile. This is a big back rib. So it's

broken at the end here. would have

continued on and tapered down to

nothing.

The ribs can be really, really fragile

because they're so narrow and they've

been around for 66 million years. So,

they can just collapse under their own

weight. So, sometimes you have to be

super careful with them.

This is the lower jaw.

Oh, there we go. Look at those massive

teeth.

It's these teeth and this jaw that give

the T-Rex its fearsome reputation.

Can you see these steak like knife

serrations that would have allowed the

T-Rex to cut through flesh?

The idea of being chased and eaten by a

T-Rex. Oh, it's terrifying.

It had a bone crushing bite and these

massive teeth would have chomped through

most of the other things that were alive

at the time.

3 hours later and 66 million years after

they were alive, Susie has sorted one

T-Rex from another.

This is maybe half of a T-Rex that we

have here with the the neck and the

back. Haven't got much of the tail by

the looks of things, but its bones are

in pretty good nick.

I actually really enjoy having a good

tidy up of the collections. I don't like

mess. I have a very clean house. I like

to have a very clean collection as well.

[Music]

Coming up, we discover the museum's

gruesome underwater world. This is the

tentacle of a colossal squid. And the

most daring mission the museum's ever

undertaken. No one's ever done a project

like this before.

The Natural History Museum is home to

giants of nature that are millions of

years old.

[Music]

But behind the scenes, experts are busy

on cuttingedge projects for the future.

Lindel Pereira is working on one of the

most ambitious missions the museum has

ever been involved in

called the Darwin Tree of Life Project.

Its aim is simple but staggering. To

collect and store samples of every one

of the 60,000 species of plant, animal,

and insect that's alive in the British

Isles today.

So, what we're trying to do with this

project is get a tissue sample from

every single species in Britain. 200

years ago, they had to collect the

entire organism and store them in

museums like this. And now we can learn

so much from such a tiny sample.

Here in one of the most high-tech parts

of the museum is a tank of liquid

nitrogen where the samples will be

stored at minus 200°.

This tank can fit 60,000 of these tubes.

So there's enough space to fit one

sample for every species that you can

find in Britain.

We're taking the DNA from these

organisms that will stay in here safely

for the next 300 years at least and we

can learn so much from them.

David Atenburgh himself has put a sample

into this very tank

stood on that step who touched this

handle.

This tank is a Noah's arc for the 21st

century with its samples of every living

thing in Britain.

It's going to take at least another 10

years to fill, but it's a race against

the clock. We're losing species at a

faster rate that we can even discover

them. So, we need to find them and learn

as much as we can about them, if we have

any hopes of saving them in the future.

No one's ever done a project like this

before. It's going to be a big

challenge.

We have about a thousand species in this

tank so far. So, we have 59,000 still to

go.

Before the visitors arrive for the day,

housekeeping supervisor Debbie Mara gets

to spend a little extra time with some

of her favorite displays.

As a cleaner, you get to see a lot more

what the public don't see because you've

got no distractions and actually stop

and look at everything in detail.

[Music]

So, this is a case of hummingbirds and

there's more than 100 birds in here.

These birds are from South America and

each is a tiny treasure. I love this

case. They just look like little

diamonds sparkling.

It's amazing. They're tiny little birds

that can give off so much color.

Their beaks are so thin. They're like

tiny little sewing needles.

There's no way you can get bored at

looking at all of this stuff. Every time

you look at, you find something

different. It's like watching a movie.

I'd spend a lot more time cleaning this

case than a lot of other things.

In the far corner of the museum, there's

an area where only those with the

strongest of stomachs will venture.

John Abblelet is one of those in charge

of this mysterious world.

This next room holds some of the most

amazing, bizarrel lookinging creatures

that you've ever seen. Some of these

animals you might not even realize are

actually real animals.

And we call this part of the museum the

tank room.

[Music]

This vast room is filled with rarelyseen

creatures from the deep. All perfectly

preserved.

This is the tentacle of a colossal

squid. What we believe is the largest

species of squid.

They've never found a fully grown

colossal squid, only juvenile ones. But

we think they reach up to about 18 m.

And this one came from the stomach of a

sperm whale. One of the few animals

that's big enough to eat it. One of the

amazing things is these hooked suckers

that they have. And these are used for

grabbing onto their prey. These actually

turn and screw into the flesh of

anything that it catches to stop them

from getting away.

Today, John's preparing some cuttlefish

for a new exhibition about fantastic

beasts. He needs to work fast while

they're still fresh. One of the amazing

things about alcohol preserve

collections is the fact you've got the

whole animal.

You could cut this open and see what it

eaten just before it died. You could

investigate it for parasites. There are

so many more things that you can do,

which is why they really are truly

amazing specimens. These came from from

Cornwall. They came up this morning. So,

we're going to start with this one cuz

it's uh probably the most complete in

the nicest condition.

[Music]

kind of arrange it into the pose we want

it to stay in because the fixing

preservation will kind of harden up the

tissues,

make it less flexible.

Handling the special preservatives is

dangerous work. This chemical formulin

just stops the rotting process. There's

a few frozen patches, so it's a little

tricky to get the syringe in, but just

need to get enough of the chemical in to

fix it from the inside as well as the

outside. It stops it from degrading and

hopefully the specimen will last

hundreds of years.

Next, the cuttlefish will be immersed in

a tank of formalin so that it's

preserved inside and out, and in 10

days, it'll be ready to go on display.

The most prized specimen in this

undersea world is the biggest and

strangest of all.

This is Archie, giant squid. I have

quite a big personal attachment to this

specimen. She's about 8.62 m in length

and it came to the museum in 2004 when

it was caught by some fishermen off the

coast of the Falcon Islands. They pulled

up their nets, found this amazing

creature.

Archie is a girl. Uh, it's quite easy to

sex a giant squid because they're one of

the few squids to have external penises

in the case of a male. Uh, and for a

male giant squid, the penis would be

about a meter in length. So, no meter

length penis, definitely a girl. This

complete giant squid, almost the length

of a double-decker bus, is one of the

few anywhere in the world. It took 20

people to prepare this specimen, and

it's now one of the museum's biggest

attractions. It's incredibly rare to get

a complete giant squid.

You can see it has an eye on either side

and it has the second largest eye of any

living creature.

And you can see in this specimen there's

some very, very large suckers. And this

is what they use for grabbing onto prey,

pulling it back so they can hold it and

eat it.

This is the closest that most visitors

will ever get to a deep sea giant.

People relate them to these monsters of

the deep. you know, the kind of stories

of these grabbing sailors pulling boats

down to their depth. And just to have a

glimpse at this huge animal that until

relatively recently people didn't know

was actually a real animal is is really

truly amazing.

[Music]

In the heart of the English countryside,

Hea Castle in Kent was once home to Anne

Berlin, the second wife of Henry VIII.

This morning, it's part of the most

ambitious project the museum's ever been

involved in, to collect every one of the

60,000 species alive in the British

Isles. Today,

a dozen museum experts have arrived at

dawn, ready to collect and record rare

species living in the grounds. Starting

with the castle's creepy crawies. So,

and we're looking for old trees. That

one looks good.

Beetle expert Matt Sparkling is on the

hunt for ancient bugs, and he's using

some old-fashioned methods to get them.

I'm beating this oak tree because oak

trees support probably more species of

insect than any other species of British

tree. There's about 15 or 20 different

species of insect on this beating tray.

So, um, where did that go? A little flea

beetle there. Some of these trees are at

least a couple hundred years old. And

there's probably been a kitchen garden

here since the castle was built. So

there will have been a succession of

trees and the beetles associated with

the trees would have passed down from

generation to generation. So they will

be able to trace their lineage back to

the tutors. People ask me whether I have

much time for people who don't like

insects, but I don't really know any

people that don't like insects.

[Music]

But while Max is beating trees, some of

the team are still struggling to get

started. You've got to pull it out.

Should just come. No, it doesn't.

First challenge of the day.

[Applause]

How are we going to mount the trestle

tables? It's the next challenge.

Project leader Lindel Pereira will make

sure all the specimens collected today

are identified and recorded on site.

That's if they can get the kit working.

Do we have power? Yes, we do. Here we

go. Station is ready.

These samples must be flash frozen so

they can be rushed back to the museum

for DNA analysis and permanent storage.

But that means getting their field

equipment to subzero temperatures. This

is dry ice. This is where the specimens

will come. This is like the flash

freezing point in here. And it's Yeah. -

80, so super cold.

[Music]

Today, the team are searching for the

smallest creatures to be found in the

castle grounds because they're the most

important.

The big animals are wonderful and

charismatic, but in terms of what they

actually do for us as humans, I don't

think it can compare to what insects do.

For the team, any changes to these small

creatures could mean big trouble ahead.

Insects are like the canary and the coal

mine. They warn us of environmental

change. And when insect populations

start to change, we should take notice

because sooner or later, those changes

will go on and affect other animals like

ourselves.

The team are hoping to catch as many new

specimens as they can.

For the day to be a success, they need

to find specimens that haven't yet been

stored in the museum's giant tanks. The

gardens have been untouched, so to

speak, for about 100 years or so. Some

some of the parts anyway. So, I think

that um there's a good chance that we'll

find a lot of things you wouldn't find

anywhere else.

[Music]

The Natural History Museum holds more

than 80 million specimens that have been

collected over hundreds of years.

And Blanca is one of the experts

responsible for some of the most

beautiful. She oversees the biggest and

most spectacular collection of

butterflies and moths anywhere in the

world.

[Music]

She's been at the museum for 15 years

and butterflies have become a bit of an

obsession. Once you get into butterfly,

you can get a little bit mad and you

don't stop thinking of them. You don't

stop collecting them. Blanca has 5

million butterflies to look after. And

every year, passionate private butterfly

collectors send her thousands more.

Every year I receive about 20,000 new

butterflies to come into this

collection, into this building. So I

need to rearrange everything again just

to put one or two specimens inside. So

it's a never ending job. Never ending.

I can tell you I do this every day of my

life for the last for 15 years.

[Music]

The butterflies come in all shapes,

sizes, and packaging. We got hundreds

and hundreds of boxes like this and they

contain specimens from 1911 and they

send it on cigarette boxes on on biscuit

boxes. People used to keep butterflies

in cuts of newspapers. I get very

distracted reading all of the stories.

This is the story of a lady who is

recommending soap with the smell of

roses.

So there's a curiosities. Lots of

curiosities in this collection.

[Music]

This is the Queen Alexander butterfly.

The biggest butterflies in the world.

This is called the Blue Melo. It's

flying in Colombia where I come from.

It's just such a big collection. You

never finish anything. And when you do,

it's about five six years of your life

taken. only on one minor minor corner of

the collection. So, so it's so they take

your life definitely.

Coming up, getting T-Rex back on his

feet. He was a good boy.

And the museum smelly secret. When he

first comes out to the animal, he smells

like crap. Literally.

The Natural History Museum is in one of

the richest neighborhoods in Britain.

But buried beneath its newest wing is a

foul smelling secret.

A 100 years ago, huge dead whales were

brought to the museum to rot in

specially dug shallow graves called

whale pits.

Once they'd rotted, their skeletons

could be added to the collection.

Whale expert Richard Sabin knows all

about them.

These were huge holes in the ground full

of sand. You put your specimen into the

sand, cover it over, leave it for a year

or so. The bugs and the beetles come

along and they do their business and

they munch away at all the soft tissues.

And after about a year, you actually end

up with something that looks exactly

like this wonderful photograph.

It does generate an awful lot of smell.

And with the wind in the right direction

on a nice warm summer's day, you get

complaints from the neighbors. And

unfortunately,

living in South Kensington, working in

South Kensington, probably not the best

place to be burying partially decomposed

whales. There were quite a few

complaints. And I think that's probably

one of the reasons why along with the

Second World War that the practice

stopped.

And there are a few more surprising

secrets from these gentle giants.

This 100-year-old waxy lump might not

look like much, but it's from a sperm

whale's intestines and is extremely

rare. You'll smell it before you see it.

Known as amberree, it's been used to

make perfumes for centuries. And a piece

this size would have been worth

thousands of pounds. This used to be

more valuable than gold. Can you smell

it yet? It's a really unusual material.

It's basically made up of the parts of

the animals that the sperm whale eats.

Things like squid. When it first comes

out of the animal, it smells like crap.

Literally. Once it emerges from the

sperm whale, it floats to the surface of

the ocean. And then the waves start to

wash away that horrible kind of fecal

smell, the poo smell that it has. These

lumps can float on the surface of the

ocean for months or years before they

wash up on beaches and are found by

people.

It has quite a pleasant sort of musky,

slightly sweet odor.

I love the smell. Really do.

Amberree was also loved by royalty.

There was a recipe that was a favorite

of King Charles II.

And it was lightly scrambled eggs with

shavings of of amber. Uh, very unusual,

highly acquired taste, I should imagine.

Richard has spent the last 29 years in

charge of the museum's huge and popular

whale collection. I think one of the

things that really makes whales

fascinating for people is the fact that

they are so unseen, unknown, mysterious.

For centuries, millennia even, these

huge creatures have been such a a

surprise when they appear on our

beaches. They suddenly appear from their

world into our world.

[Music]

In the grounds of the museum is a new

building known as the cocoon.

In this eightstory tower, hundreds of

experts are busy with cuttingedge work.

Today, absailing cleaners Paul and Kian

are polishing its 90 ft high concrete

surface. So, the cocoon is where they

store all the creepy crawies.

I've never been in there myself, though.

Um, cuz I'm not the biggest fan of

creepy crawies. Um, and that's eight

floors of creepy crawies, so I'm a bit

too scared to go in there, to be honest.

Especially wood lights. They freak me

out. Too many legs. This is quite a

complicated thing to clean actually. It

looks really nice. It's an interesting

building, but I feel like the architects

forgets the the guys cleaning it

sometimes.

It would be really convenient if they

painted it a different color, a bit

darker.

We're just trying to get all the dust

off, make it look nice and and white and

pretty for the public.

So, it's kind of like uh extreme

housework really.

Geronimo

Nice. It's looking good.

Looking nice and white again.

[Music]

One of the museum's most popular

attractions is its vast collection of

stuffed animals.

From ostriches to elephants, giraffes to

gorillas, some of these animals are over

150 years old and the collection is one

of the biggest in the world. He looks

alive. His eyes.

But less than half of the collection is

on display.

At a top secret location far from the

museum, thousands more fill a giant

warehouse.

Some of them have just been on tour

abroad and today they're coming home.

Hello. Hi, it's Nicola from the Natural

History Museum. Oh, perfect. 10 minutes.

Okay. Getting them home safely means a

nailbiting morning for head of

conservation Lorraine Cornish. So, we've

got two lorries coming down here with

nine crates, over 70 specimens.

Nicola Farington is in charge of today's

delicate operations. We have crates that

contain really huge specimens like deer

and antelope. We've also got Arabian

orics and orangutans.

All hands on deck today to make sure

everything goes smoothly.

I think in there is a giant tortoise.

Don't quote me on that.

We're always watchful cuz we just want

them to arrive safely.

[Music]

The museum's stuffed animal store room

lies behind locked doors.

Lorraine is one of the handful of people

with access to this hidden world. You

put the lights on, everything is still,

but suddenly all the eyes are there just

looking.

It's a complete treasure trove for

anyone who gets the opportunity to come

and see behind the scenes.

People who are fortunate enough to come

into this space, and there aren't many,

are always completely amazed.

It's a world of wonder.

They've all got their charm,

some more charming than others,

possibly.

This one always amuses me. You've got

the fangs coming out here. Looks cute,

but also menacing all at the same time.

This probably stood in a Victorian

parlor or something.

You can see the wire. So, where the

claws are gone, he looks to me like

would have been holding a tray or

something.

So, just hiding around the corner

literally because they're too big to go

on any shelving. We've got some giraffes

just hanging about and I like to come

and see them. It makes me feel quite

small when I stand next to this one, but

it is rather lovely.

I like to come and stand amongst them.

It's quite calming.

To Lorraine's eagle eye, this

worldrenowned collection is more like a

stuffed animals. A&E.

I mean, everything I look at, I want to

treat.

Bit of a split bottom situation. This

one. Oh, just looking over and saying,

"Pick me. Pick me."

There was a bit of literal jaw dropping

on this one. So, they've just uh

improvised and they've done a bit of a

crate bandage just to kind of hold

everything together.

But there's one type of creature that's

never welcome inside the secret store.

Pests are our enemy number one when it

comes to protecting the collections. You

don't really see them, but if they get

in and they start eating their way

through a collection, there's nothing

left. So, we have to be vigilant. We

have to be on it. And it's just a war.

These stuffed animals returning today

can't just be unpacked. They need to be

quarantined in case they've brought back

any unwelcome visitors.

What we do is we put them into freezers,

take them all the way down to around

minus30 so we can make sure that

anything that has come back, little

pests, little beasts on the taxiderermy,

um, will not be alive when we take them

into the store room. With 70 specimens

returning today, it's a squash and a

squeeze to get them into the giant

freezer. Like a jigsaw, isn't it? We've

got an orangutan coming after just now.

There's a troublesome tuna that I'm

quite fond of. That's one I want to look

at.

It's now 72 hours of deep freeze before

Lorraine and Nicola can see whether

their animals have returned home safe.

Can't wait to get into the crates. We've

got to wait for a few days for that.

[Music]

Inside the dino gallery, robot T-Rex has

been out of action, needing urgent

repairs to his tail, which has been

making a worrying rattling noise. That's

the new part back in there. This is all

nice and tight now. That rattle's gone

nice straight back, knees bent. Today,

technicians Glenn and Alex hope that

he'll finally be ready to meet his

public again. You get the controller.

[Music]

Mind your back.

It was a good point.

We'll have the audience back in in the

next half an hour. A lot of smiling

faces. It's always a good thing.

With his tail firmly back in place, Rexy

is back up and running.

This is one of the better things to

repair. There's immediate um thanks

[Music]

at Hea Castle. Expert collectors from

the museum are busily raking the grounds

for rare British wildlife. It's part of

a unique nationwide project to make a

record of every species alive in the

British Isles today. All the grass here

is just absolutely full of insects and

spiders. There tons in here.

Insect expert Gavin Broad has just found

a rare wasp. We've got a housetoid wasp.

This is one of the wasps that eats other

insects alive. It's a kind of gruesome

biology, but it's fascinating from my

perspective. That's cleaning his back

legs now. Got to keep yourself looking

[ __ ] and span. It's got to go and

attract a female, hasn't it? So, look

good.

While fellow expert Ben Price has a very

different type of insect in his sights.

I'm catching dragonflies. This is a

blue-tailed damsel male. They're really

fast. You can't catch them from in front

because they'll just dodge out the way.

You got to sneak up behind them.

This is uh also a damsel fly. You can

see it's a incredible green color.

The hat, the shorts, sturdy boots, and a

net is uh pretty much unchanged from the

way insect collectors would have

collected 100 years ago. Ah, although

shorts were a bad choice today with all

these nettles.

I'm not quite tall enough. I can't reach

most of the branches on these trees.

Bug expert Max Barkley is beating rare

beetles out of their hiding places.

That's a rather nice insect. This is the

forest bug. It's one of the stink bugs.

Uh these produce a a very unpleasant

smell when you handle them. So I'm not

going to poke it too much.

So that's cryptophilus pucillus. This

little beetle here. I bet we haven't got

one of those on the project. The team

will only know if their wildlife

treasure hunt has been a success when it

comes to the final tally in just a few

hours.

There's more than 20,000 species of

insect in the UK. And uh it's always

exciting for me when I see something

that I've never seen before.

[Music]

Coming up, we find out if the stuffed

animals are still in one piece. There's

not often that you can say you've looked

into armpits. and an incredible new find

on the great British bug hunt. Oh, wow.

Yeah.

At the Natural History Museum's secret

offsite store, a group of precious

stuffed animals is returning from a

world tour. Today, the museum's head of

conservation, Lorraine Cornish, and

touring coordinator, Nicola Farington,

are about to find out if they're still

in pristine condition.

The next specimen is especially rare.

Looks good. Looks happy to be home. I

think

this is a bonan orangutan. Critically

endangered. Numbers are still in decline

at the moment. So may yet become

extinct. We certainly hope not. It's

nice to see it back safe and sound.

This is how he would have been in the

exhibition. So looking a bit more

natural really hanging out on a branch

or climbing on a branch. So we've got

the branch included here. They have to

get up close to make sure there's been

no nibbling by moths.

Can you see under here as well in the

armpit? There's not often that you can

say you've looked into armpits, but you

know, few people could say that, have

they? But no sign of any insects, which

is exactly what we want to see. Nothing

to see here, which is such good news.

Those eyes. They're quite dramatic. They

are, aren't they? Lorraine and Nicola

need to inspect the rest of the fragile

cargo to make sure they haven't been

damaged while on the road. We can take

the front off. That would be great.

It's obviously survived well, hasn't it?

Yeah. Done pretty good. Yeah.

So this is an Arabian orex which is a