Sur les traces des dinosaures

In the Petite Galerie, on the first floor of the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution, the exhibition “On the Trail of Dinosaurs” recreates the ecosystems of the Charentes region 140 million years ago. Fossils, skeletons, films and drawings by Mazan connect discoveries at the Angeac-Charente fossil site with the day-to-day work of palaeontologists.

The exhibition begins in the field, with a recreated excavation area and a laboratory tent. It shows why researchers collect tiny remains as well as large bones: every fragment helps them understand the environment in which these animals lived. Collections from the Musée d’Angoulême are brought together with those of the Muséum to reconstruct a region once inhabited by crocodiles, turtles, fish and dinosaurs.

A 2.10-metre-long sauropod femur and two reconstructed ornithomimosaur skeletons convey the scale of these lost worlds. Mazan’s illustrations place the animals in their landscapes, while the exhibition also explores the transition from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous. The Angeac fossils offer a way to understand this transition through complex environmental changes, rather than simply as a mass extinction.

Practical information
• 10 am to 6 pm. Last access to the ticket desks at 5 pm.
• Open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays outside school holidays; every day except Tuesday during school holidays, for all French school holiday zones.
• Closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
• The ticket includes admission to the permanent collections of the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution.