Category: informationboards

In use since the late 19th century This type of diving suit protected divers at greater depths from water pressure and supplied them with breathing air. It was made from a single piece of rubber; the diver had to be assisted into the suit through the neck opening by several people. The equipment was weighted […]

Beavers, large rodents, had gone extinct in the Netherlands. They have been successfully reintroduced. Some places where you might see them include the Biesbosch (North Brabant and South Holland), the Millingerwaard (Gelderland), and the Leudal (Limburg). Their numbers are steadily increasing. However, beavers have been present in the Netherlands for a very long time. Throughout […]

In this display case is the skull of an extinct beaked whale. Beaked whales are the least known of all dolphins and the world champions of deep-sea diving. Yet there are no fewer than 23 different species of beaked whales. Some of them – reaching lengths of up to 12 meters – are the giants […]

Alongside whales and giant sharks, other sea creatures were part of the marine fauna of the eight-million-year-old North Sea. One of these was an extinct leatherback turtle nearly two meters in size. During one of the expeditions in the Westerschelde, an enormous and very rare piece of carapace was recovered, showing bite marks from a […]

Livyatan, as you can see here, closely resembled the modern sperm whale. The difference lies – apart from its massively muscular body – in its large jaw with sharp teeth in both jaws (the modern sperm whale only has small teeth in its lower jaw). The modern sperm whale is the last surviving member of […]

At the bottom of the model’s head, you can see the throat grooves that are so characteristic of baleen whales. These grooves allow the whale to take in a huge gulp of water (the throat expands) and then force the water out through the baleen. The food is trapped and licked off by the tongue. […]

There are many reconstructions of the Megalodon. Often, the creature is depicted as a large great white shark with similarly serrated teeth, but bigger. However, this is inaccurate. Contrary to popular belief, the Megalodon is not directly related to the great white shark. A defining feature of the Megalodon is its short snout. Teeth and […]

An original tooth of Livyatan. This tooth, recovered from the Westerschelde, confirms by its size that a predator sperm whale of the genus Livyatan also existed in the Westerschelde. It is one of only four teeth of the enormous predator sperm whale found in Europe so far.

It takes a lot of time, money, and effort to recover the unique fossils from the Westerschelde. They lie not only 30 meters deep, in the middle of one of the busiest shipping routes in Europe, but are also extremely heavy. To recover them, you need a fisherman with a specialized ship, willing to lose […]

This life-size model of the De Vos Baleen Whale is based on the skeleton displayed below it. Nehalaennia was a baleen whale that fed on small creatures filtered from the water, much like the blue whale still does today. Very different from modern dolphins – like Flipper – that catch and eat fish with their […]