And you thought dinosaurs were scary…

Then why not take a trek down to Gallery Oldham and find out what life was like before dinosaurs roamed the earth?

The blockbuster touring exhibition: ‘Carboniferous Monsters 150 Million Years before the Dinosaurs’ opens this Saturday at Gallery Oldham – its first UK showing.

Step back to the Carboniferous period and visit tropical forests and swamps teeming with bizarre and ferocious ancient monsters, some of which had larger teeth than T-rex!

Meet the dinosaurs’ distant ancestors, the very first reptiles, the largest creepy-crawlies ever to live, and prehistoric animals unlike anything you’ve ever seen before!

Come face-to-face with scorpions the size of dogs, millipedes the length of crocodiles, and giant meat-eating dragonflies the size of seagulls.

This blockbuster national touring exhibition features stunning 350-million-year-old original fossils, reconstructed giant prehistoric animals, and skeleton casts from museums around the world, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before.

This exhibition shows what Oldham was like 300 million years ago and explores how the remains of prehistoric plants were the source of the carbon which eventually formed coal.

Discover how these ancient forests and swamps are linked to fossil fuels that powered the industrial revolution and which has resulted in the enormous problem of climate change facing the world today.

If you want to get even more hands on there is a gallery talk at 2pm on Wednesday 22 November where fossils from Gallery Oldham’s collection will be available for handling.

The exhibition runs until Saturday 27 January 2024 and is suitable for prehistoric monster fans of all ages!