More than 2,000 trained volunteers are chipping rock from a nearly 6-meter Mastodonsaurus skeleton in a glass-walled lab at Warsaw’s Copernicus Science Centre.
Millimeter-by-millimeter work with pneumatic chisels and ultraviolet light is needed to separate bone from rock on the 240-million-year-old fossil, discovered in southern Poland in 2023.
Scientists say the 1,300-kilogram skeleton is larger than other known Mastodonsaurus finds—typically 2 to 3 meters long—and already shows body features new to science.
When restoration ends, likely in October or November, the fossil is expected to become the world’s largest Mastodonsaurus skeleton exhibited in a museum.
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World's Largest Mastodonsaurus: The Six-Meter Polish Giant, Its Restoration, and the 2026 Warsaw Exhibition
Overview
In 2023, scientists made a groundbreaking discovery in southern Poland: a nearly complete, six-meter-long Mastodonsaurus skeleton. This ancient amphibian, which lived about 240 million years ago, was an apex aquatic predator and is now recognized as the largest and most complete specimen ever found. The exceptional scale and preservation of the Polish Mastodonsaurus allow for detailed anatomical studies, offering new insights into its biology and reshaping our understanding of Middle Triassic ecosystems. This find not only refines knowledge of Mastodonsaurus’s adaptations but also highlights the significance of such discoveries for paleontology.