Some of the most impressive paleontological discoveries in Europe have been made in Bulgaria. Yes, really!

Near Asenovgrad, Dimitar Kovachev and his students discovered one of four (only four!) almost fully preserved deinotherium skeletons in the world. The deinotherium was a gigantic mammal, a forefather of the modern elephants. Today you can see it at the Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.”

And that’s far from the full story! The biggest paleontological site in Europe – with 27 animals unknown to science (whaaaat?) – was discovered near the village of Dorkovo by a Bulgarian-French expedition, led by Professor Nikolay Spasov, the current director of the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and the French paleontologist Herbert Thomas.

Here in Muzeiko’s home, we inspire children to learn about the science of paleontology by telling them about the work of paleontologists, who discover the remains of ancient animals and plants from past geological epochs. Let’s piece together a picture of prehistory by putting together a puzzle of an orinthomimosaur (whaaat?). Yes, o-rinth-o-mi-mo-saur!

Find out what it feels like to move eggs with awkwardly shaped limbs and fearsome claws or discover the difference in size by comparing your own leg to that of deinotherium.