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CROC '! Evolutionary history of crocodiles: 2021 temporary exhibition at the Paléospace museum in Villers sur Mer

As every year, a new temporary exhibition is offered for the summer season at the Paléospace museum in Villers sur Mer. From April 17th and during all the summer long 2021, the museum presents the evolutionary history of crocodiles: CROC ‘!

Easily identifiable with their flattened bodies and their skin covered with large scales, crocodiles are at the top of the food chain. Their big mouths equipped with big conical teeth leaving no doubt about their carnivorous diet make them formidable predators! Very feared, they have always fascinated Human. But the current look of crocodiles does not reflect the diversity of their predecessors. Over 250 million years and several major biological crises have shaped these animals and their sometimes surprising lifestyles. Discover the fascinating evolution of crocodiles, ranging from 250 million years old fossil specimens to modern species over 4m long, during this temporary exhibition.

Ideally located on the marshes of Villers sur Mer, near the beach and the Falaises des Vaches Noires, the Paléospace is an atypical museum that offers visitors, young and old, curious and passionate about paleontology, to return to Jurassic times, 160 million years ago, when a warm sea was covering Normandy.

The temporary exhibition « CROC ‘! » is a continuation of the museum, which is organized into several thematic spaces built around 3 sites of natural and scientific interest in Villers: the Vaches Noires cliffs, the Villers-Blonville marsh and the Greenwich Meridian. A planetarium also completes the visit!

Rich in a large collection of fossils, result of 200 years of collection at the Vaches Noires cliffs paleontological site, the Paleospace enhances this site known worldwide for its fauna and flora fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous period.

In a subdued light and a Jurassic flora atmosphere, with sound effects, the large carnivores and herbivores are revealed in the dinosaur room of Normandy: the Streptospondylus, the Lexovisaurus from Argence, the Dubreuillosaurus valesdunensis from Conteville … A real immersion in the scenery of the « dinosaurs of Normandy« ! These fossil remains, discovered on the Normandy lands, represent a first in France. To go further, the Jurassic gallery tells the history of the Vaches Noires cliffs and Jurassic Normandy fossils. Large skeletons and small fossils make it possible to understand what was the environment that sheltered these living marine beings and how they reached us after 160 million years.

The alcove of the marsh invites visitors to discover the history of the 110-hectare coastal marsh, and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. It is the only natural green space on the Côte Fleurie. Yet close to the sea, it is a freshwater marsh.

Villers sur Mer is the entry point into continental Europe and the only French coastal resort located on the Greenwich Meridian. The Greenwich Meridian Room invites visitors to set off in search of longitude by following in the footsteps of the great scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries who went beyond the knowledge of their time to find a reliable method of measurement.

Finally, the 360 ​​° planetarium allows you to discover the cosmos on a commented journey through the Milky Way, constellations, planets and stars …