Bullyland Ammonite on Display

We spotted an old friend whilst on a visit to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Oxford, England).  In a display case showing fossils of ammonites we noted that a Bullyland ammonite replica had been placed inside the display case to give visitors an idea of what an ammonite actually looked like.  Ammonite fossil shells may be relatively common, but it is surprising how few people understand that living inside the shell was an animal with tentacles, a creature related to today’s squid, cuttlefish and octopus.

 Spotted in a Museum Display Case – the Bullyland Ammonite Replica

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Bullyland Ammonite Replica

The ammonite model from Bullyland is a robust replica of this iconic mollusc primarily known from the fossil record of the Mesozoic.  It is a super addition to any fossil fan’s collection.  Ideal for creative play, school or home study and for use in museums as the display case at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History testifies.  It is wonderful to see a Bullyland figure used in such a way, helping to educate and inform.

To view the Bullyland ammonite model and the rest of the figures in the Bullyland range available from Everything Dinosaur: Bullyland Models and Figures.

The Bullyland Ammonite Figure as it Appears on the Everything Dinosaur Website

Helping Out at Many Museums

Lots of museums have fossils of ammonites within their invertebrate fossil collections, we suspect that many curators and exhibition managers have taken advantage of this excellent replica and used it to help illustrate what these enigmatic cephalopods looked like.  After all, when our team members visit schools to conduct dinosaur and fossil themed workshops, we use this same Bullyland ammonite replica to explain to children which bit of an animal is likely to become a fossil and which bits are not likely to fossilise.

At a little under eighteen centimetres in length and with a shell diameter of around nine centimetres, this model was certainly at home amongst the Jurassic ammonite fossils on display.  Seeing the Bullyland ammonite replica being used in a museum got us thinking, are there any other examples of prehistoric animal models and figures being incorporated into a scientific exhibition or display?

It was a pleasure to peruse part of the extensive fossil collection at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and to discover an old friend.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.