The paleontological collection of vertebrates consists of approximately one million remains of extinct animals with a backbone. The collection of large vertebrate animals contains about one million fossil specimens. Popular items include the skeleton of Trix, the Tyrannosaurus rex found in America, and the assembled mammoth skeleton, both of which are on display at Naturalis. The collection also contains fossils of many other extinct animals, such as the giant deer, the steppe bison, and several species of dinosaurs. Of course, smaller animals are also represented. For example, we have an extensive collection of fossilized mouse teeth.
Highlights
The origin of the collection is very diverse. A large portion was collected by Naturalis staff themselves (various island faunas, Winterswijk, small mammals, shark teeth, Triceratops Dirk). A relatively large part was added to the Naturalis collection through transfer from other institutions. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, some items were also purchased for exhibitions. These were often large, impressive objects, such as the skeleton of the cave bear, the giant deer, and various marine reptiles. For the opening of the exhibition in 1998, the Camarasaurus and Edmontosaurus were acquired. The skeleton of a mammoth was partially assembled from material in the own collection. In the very latest Naturalis, of course, you can find T. rex Trix and Triceratops Dirk. New objects are regularly added to the collection, often through donations of single items or entire collections.
Dinosaurcollection
The dinosaurs at Naturalis are major crowd-pullers. Almost the entire dinosaur collection is on display in the exhibition. Tyrannosaurus rex Trix was excavated in the United States for the renovated Naturalis. She has been a highlight in the dinosaur hall for several years now. During the search for Trix, several Triceratops were also found, which have now been excavated, prepared, and are displayed as an impressive herd in the exhibition. The work on the dinosaurs, however, is far from finished. The Dinolab is already busy with a new project!
Mammothcollection
Naturalis has one of the largest collections of mammoth bones in the world, with around 9000 specimens. The majority of these come from the North Sea. When thinking of mammoths, the first thing that comes to mind is their size, and indeed, the collection mainly consists of large and heavy objects. However, smaller details, such as the first milk tooth of a baby mammoth and the fragile hyoid bone, are also represented in the collection. A freeze-dried dung and hair from a mammoth can be admired in the Ice Age hall.
Ice Agecollection
A large part of the Ice Age collection comes from the seabed of the North Sea. Bones of Ice Age mammals are brought up as bycatch while fishing for flatfish. For many years, former curator Gerhard Kortenbout van der Sluijs maintained contact with fishermen, who then donated their bycatch to the museum. Additionally, some specimens come from dredging activities in the major rivers (mainly the Maas and IJssel) and from ground suction operations. A significant portion of the collection is on display in the Ice Age hall.
Duboiscollection
The Dubois collection consists of around forty thousand objects, almost all of which are fossils, with a large portion coming from Indonesia. These fossils still play a significant role in scientific research. Naturalis is an international hub for research on human evolution, and the tens of thousands of fossils collected by Dubois are crucial research material in this field.
The collection includes several Homo erectus fossils, including the tooth, femur, and the skull cap that Dubois used for his species description of Homo erectus. There is also a shell with mysterious scratches on it. Could Homo erectus have been an artist? Recent research, in which Indonesian researchers and Naturalis staff collaborated, suggests that it is still uncertain whether the tooth and femur actually belong to a Homo erectus. Research and collections are closely intertwined at institutions like Naturalis, continuously providing new insights.
Winterswijkcollection
In the Winterswijk quarry, shell-bearing limestone is extracted. This limestone was deposited about 245 million years ago, when the area was a muddy coastal plain. In the now-fossilized mud, bones can be found from Sauropterygia, a group of extinct reptiles that were equally at home on land and in the water. In addition to reptile bones, many remains of fish are found in the quarry, as well as occasional remains of arthropods (such as pill bugs) and other invertebrates. The footprint impressions left by the animals in the mud are also recovered.
Kor & Botcollection
The Kor & Bot collection consists of over 3000 fossilized teeth and bones of land mammals. They have been collected since 1951 from the seabed of the Oosterschelde in Zeeland. The name of the collection refers to the steel nets (korren) used to fish up the bones (botten) from a mussel ship.
At the invitation of the Zierikzee mussel-fishing family Schot, paleontologists from Naturalis sail each year for a day with the mussel cutter ZZ10 to fish for fossils off the south coast of Schouwen-Duiveland. The fossils allow research into the subtropical fauna, which included mastodons, hyenas, giant beavers, and saber-toothed cats that lived here nearly 2 million years ago. Land mammals of such an age can only be found in a few places in the Netherlands.
Campercollection
This is a small part of the collection of Petrus Camper (1722-1789). In 1974, the fossils were transferred from the University Museum of Groningen to the National Museum of Geology and Mineralogy as part of the redistribution of collections. The medical instruments and minerals, which were also part of the larger Camper collection, remained in Groningen.
The most notable items in this collection are the fossils of the American mastodon, which were found in Kentucky in 1766. Before they came into the possession of Camper, they were studied by John Adams (the second president of the U.S.), Daubenton, Buffon, Hunter, and Blumenbach. After Camper's death, the fossils were also described by Cuvier. In addition to the mastodon fossils, the collection includes several fossils of other species that were gathered and purchased by Camper.
CollectionKruimel
This collection was transferred from the Zoological Museum Amsterdam. The material was collected at the beginning of the 20th century in the Ultima Esperanza cave in Patagonia, Chile. At the time, the material was offered for sale to European travelers by traders and ended up in various museums. In 1908, this part of the collection was purchased by Jan Herman Kruimel on behalf of Max Weber for the ZMA.
The collection consists of bones from guanacos, giant ground sloths, pumas, and saber-toothed cats from the Late Pleistocene. A feces and a piece of skin from the giant ground sloth have also been preserved. The remains are of very high quality and still contain a lot of collagen, making them suitable for various dating methods, ancient DNA, and isotope research.
Shark teethcollection
The vast majority of the shark and ray teeth collection was gathered by Naturalis staff in the 1960s to 1980s. During that time, many drillings were made for stratigraphic mapping, and the mostly small shark teeth were collected from these drillings. The teeth are generally of Miocene and Pliocene age. Additionally, a large number of specimens were collected in the area around Antwerp during the construction of roads and docks.
Small vertebratecollection
This collection contains many fossils from sites that are no longer being sampled (e.g., Tegelen and Gargano). The material is of great scientific importance because research on topics such as endemism is conducted using this collection.
The microvertebrate collection includes about 280.000 fossils of smaller extinct animals with a backbone. Many of them are mounted on LEGO bricks, making it easy to examine them under a microscope. The collection contains large numbers of mouse teeth, as well as bones from rodents and small reptiles from all over the world. Most of these fossils were found by sieving through ancient sedimentary layers, where they had been hidden for a long time.
Whoworks with this
Projects
Origins of the Naturalis collections
Homo erectus fossils in Trinil
Importantpublications
M.S. Hoogmoed, M.E. Gassó Miracle (Maria Eulalia) and L.W. van den Hoek Ostende 2010: Type specimens of recent and fossil Testudines and Crocodylia in the collections of the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/358748