Museums aiming to combine forces for monster exhibitions

Giant sea monster remains are among the artefacts which could be used as part of a joint education partnership which is being discussed by museum chiefs in York and Scarborough.

Early talks have begun which could lead to resources being pooled at the two museums to give youngsters wider access to a collection of rare prehistoric bones.

Scarborough Museums Trust (SMT) displays two fossilised plesiosaurs at its Rotunda Museum, which specialises in geology, while York Museums Trust has a large exhibition of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs skeletons at the Yorkshire Museum.

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Will Watts and Ian Read from SMT visited the Yorkshire Museum to meet the 180-million-year-old specimens and hold discussions with curatorial and education staff at York on how best to work together.

Ian Read, learning manager at SMT, said: “We are lucky at Scarborough to have two plesiosaurs, but to be able to get together with York and give people access to at least three times that many is an exceptional opportunity. We’re discussing a variety of possibilities, including some unique learning packages.”

Plesiosaurs were long-necked marine reptiles, known as “sea dragons”. Scientists recently found evidence they gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs.