Warsaw volunteers restore massive Mastodonsaurus skeleton

More than 2,000 volunteers are helping Polish scientists uncover and restore the skeleton of a Mastodonsaurus, a 240‑million‑year‑old aquatic amphibian, at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw. Participants, ranging from managers to tattoo artists, receive training and protective gear before spending two‑hour sessions chiselling rock away from the bones with pneumatic tools while ultraviolet light highlights bone edges.

Coordinator Tatyana Kozyk said, "I imagine those bones were lying underground for 240 million years and I am the first human on earth to touch them." The nearly 20‑foot (six‑metre) specimen, weighing about 1,300 kg (2,865 lb), is expected to become the largest Mastodonsaurus skeleton on display anywhere in the world once restoration is complete. The fossils were discovered in southern Poland in 2023 by paleontologist Tomasz Sulej and geologist Wojciech Pawlak.