A giant extinct ground sloth looms over you in the Ice Ages Hall. A delicate fossil of Smilodectes peers at you from a tree branch in the Tertiary Mammals Hall. These fossil skeletons of extinct mammals are at the end of a long journey from discovery to display; a journey that might begin thousands of miles from the museum and that can take many years to complete.

In this multimedia adventure, you will follow what paleontologists do in each stage in the life of a vertebrate fossil. You will learn about:

• Deciding whether they are worth collecting.
• Getting permission to collect.
• Digging them up and getting them back to the laboratory.
• Preparing fossils for research and exhibition.
• Understanding what they say about past life.