Smithsonian’s Sea Monsters Unearthed Exhibition Coming to the Mayborn Museum

Smithsonian’s Sea Monsters Unearthed Exhibition Coming to the Mayborn Museum

WACO, Texas — The story of prehistoric ocean life that emerged in the South Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas 87–72 million years ago is explored in Smithsonian’s Sea Monsters Unearthed. The exhibition will be on view at the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University from May 30-August 30.

Sea Monsters Unearthed showcases fossils from the earliest invasion of the South Atlantic by marine lizards and sea turtles, as well as discoveries from an extraordinary excavation site in Angola that fills in a missing chapter in Earth’s history. The exhibition features a full skeleton of a 23-foot mosasaur, along with additional mosasaur species. Large-scale photomurals and video vignettes transport visitors to field sites along Angola’s rugged modern coastline, where scientists unearthed fossil remains from this long-lost world.

An international team of scientists—including Angolan, American, Portuguese, and Dutch researchers—excavated the fossils featured in the exhibition. The specimens were prepared by a team of scientists and students at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Together, these fossils offer new perspectives on ancient marine ecosystems and provide evidence of how Earth’s environments have changed over time.

The exhibition explores the moment when Africa and South America—continents that once fit together like puzzle pieces—split apart and “sea monsters” such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs dominated the newly formed waters of the South Atlantic Ocean. Visitors can immerse themselves in Cretaceous Angola’s cool coastal waters and examine the fossils of striking marine reptiles that once lived there.

As Africa and South America drifted apart, trade winds along the emerging Angolan coastline created conditions for ocean upwelling, a process that brings nutrients from the deep ocean to the surface. These nutrients fueled a rich food web that supported the formidable marine reptile predators featured throughout the exhibition.

Sea Monsters Unearthed was created by the National Museum of Natural History and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The exhibition was made possible by ISEM at Southern Methodist University, with thanks to Projecto PaleoAngola.

In collaboration with Southern Methodist University’s Shuler Museum of Paleontology, the Mayborn Museum will also feature additional fossils from both institutions’ collections, highlighting the marine reptiles that once swam the ancient seas of Texas and connecting global prehistoric oceans to regional natural history.