Museum Staffer's Childhood Fossil Love Sparks New Exhibit

The fossil that changed Cody Phillips' life sits at the heart of a new exhibition opening at New Zealand's Tūhura Otago Museum this week.

When Phillips first saw a cast of an archaeopteryx as a child, something clicked. "This species is the one that made me go 'oh my goodness, science!'" she recalls. That moment of wonder launched her into a career in paleontology.

Now the museum's natural science collection manager, Phillips is bringing that same sense of discovery to visitors through "Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction." The exhibition features an 8-meter-long tarbosaurus, a juvenile oviraptor, and a T-rex skull that transport visitors back millions of years.

Phillips studied zoology, evolution, and ecology at the University of Otago, driven by fascination with how ancient creatures connect to modern life. As a kid, she'd position her own arms and legs to match dinosaur skeletons. "I could be the dinosaur," she remembers thinking.

The exhibition showcases two remarkable casts from 150-million-year-old fossils discovered in Solnhofen, Germany. Visitors can see the archaeopteryx that inspired Phillips, along with a compsognathus, a small one-meter carnivore with beautifully preserved leg bones.

A special display honors Joan Wiffen, New Zealand's pioneering fossil hunter who proved scientists wrong in 1975. For over 150 years, experts believed no dinosaur fossils existed in New Zealand. Then Wiffen, still an amateur without formal university training, discovered a tail vertebra in Hawke's Bay that changed everything.

The fossil confirmed dinosaurs roamed New Zealand 70 to 85 million years ago. Wiffen had only attended geology night classes, yet she made one of the country's most significant paleontological discoveries.

Why This Inspires

Phillips loves that an amateur scientist made such a groundbreaking find. It proves you don't need fancy credentials to contribute to science, just curiosity and determination. The collaboration between the museum and University of Otago's Geology Department shows how sharing knowledge creates opportunities for everyone.

"All you have to do is bring your excitement and you could potentially do amazing things and become part of history," Phillips says, hoping to inspire future citizen scientists to make their own discoveries.