Sea Monsters, opening to the public on Wednesday 7 July, brings never-before-seen fossils from millions of years ago and life-sized casts from gigantic specimens to Aotearoa – including a 13-metre long Elasmosaurus and 9-metre Prognathodon.

Tickets are on sale on Wednesday 16 June for this record-breaking exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum. This awe-inspiring exhibition, with multimedia and interactives, boasts more than 70 displays, including incredible specimens such as a huge 1.4-metre Kronosaurus jaw, an ichthyosaur giving birth, and a 5-metre-long fish that died after swallowing another fish whole.

Sea Monsters follows a chronological narrative from the earliest ichthyosaurs right through to today’s ocean predators. It shows the evolution of these predators using huge cast skeletons, real fossil specimens that are millions of years old, a video projection, 12+ interactives including “Design your own Sea Monster” and “Terrible Teeth”, and the latest palaeontology research and techniques.

Sea Monsters also comes with school holiday programmes for families to further immerse themselves into the world of the ancient deep. In the July school holidays, families are invited to spend a night with some prehistoric ocean predators at Sleepover with Sea Monsters. Children can explore the darkened galleries and search for sneaky sea monsters hidden around the building, make their own prehistoric puppets, handle some fabulous fossils and learn about the time when these giant monsters ruled the seas. When it’s time for bed, they’ll fall asleep amongst life-sized replicas of Elasmosaurus, Prognathodon and other long-named specimens.

There will also be fun free storytelling sessions at Treasures and Tales: Dino Discovery. There, children will have the chance to get hands-on with some of the Museum’s most fascinating pre-historic objects in an interactive experience led by Auckland Museum’s learning team.

Also on display, in the Eastern Corridor of the Museum, will be a fossil from the Origins gallery. This is a slab of rock from the Kaikōura coast on the South Island, containing the fossilised remains of a Plesiosaur, a marine reptile that lived here 65 million years ago. Alongside this will be a recently revealed fossil specimen of a large cockle shell, recently unearthed at the Māngere Pump Station site of Watercare’s Central Interceptor project. The Central Interceptor is the largest wastewater infrastructure project in New Zealand history and will transport stormwater and wastewater via a giant underground tunnel running from Grey Lynn to Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant. The tunnel will help prevent wet-weather overflows and greatly improve water quality in Auckland’s waterways. Watercare and Auckland Museum have undertaken a partnership allowing the Museum to collect and process specimens, including the large cockle shell that will be displayed as part of the Sea Monsters exhibition.

Tickets are on sale from Wednesday 16 June for Sea Monsters at Aucklandmuseum.com

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Auckland Museum Membership, with three options to explore, provides unlimited free entry to all paid exhibitions, (including Sea Monsters) discounted event tickets and exclusive Member only events.

Find out more at: aucklandmuseum.com/membership

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