WASHINGTON, DC.- The story of prehistoric ocean life that emerged in the South Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Africa 72 to 87 million years ago is explored in a new traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian. Created by the National Museum of Natural History and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, the exhibition opened Sept. 27 at Turtle Bay Museum in Redding, California. It will remain on view through Jan. 11, 2026, before continuing on a national tour through 2028.

“Sea Monsters Unearthed” showcases fossils from the earliest invasion of the South Atlantic by marine lizards and sea turtles, as well as an extraordinary excavation site in Angola that fills in a missing chapter in Earth’s history. The exhibition features a full skeleton of a 23-foot mosasaur and other mosasaur species. Photomurals and video vignettes will transport visitors to field sites along Angola’s modern rugged coast, where scientists unearthed the fossil remains from this lost world.

An international group of scientists, including Angolan, American, Portuguese and Dutch researchers excavated these fossils, which were then prepared for the exhibition by a team of scientists and students at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. These fossils give a new perspective on this ancient world, providing fresh evidence to understand how Earth has changed over time.

The exhibition explores the time when Africa and South America—continents that once fit together like puzzle pieces—split apart, and “sea monsters” like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs lurked in the newly formed waters of the South Atlantic Ocean. Visitors can dive into Cretaceous Angola’s cool coastal waters and examine the fossils of striking marine reptiles that once lived there.

As Africa and South America drifted apart and a new ocean basin formed, trade winds blowing along the new Angolan coastline created the conditions for upwelling, an ocean process that drives the circulation of nutrients from the deep ocean to its surface. These nutrients in turn jump-started the food web that attracted the ferocious marine reptile predators featured throughout the exhibition.

“Sea Monsters Unearthed” was created by the National Museum of Natural History and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.