Museum left red-faced after boy, 10, spots dinosaur error
THE Natural History Museum has changed a dinosaur display after an eagle-eyed 10-year-old spotted a mistake.
Charlie Edwards was enjoying a birthday sleepover at the world famous attraction when he noticed a silhouette display which was meant to represent an Oviraptor – a small carnivore with a parrot-like beak – was in fact a completely different dinosaur.
Museum staff had mistakenly used a silhouette of a Protoceratops, which was a sheep-sized herbivore.
Charlie told his parents – Justin and Jade Edwards, both 29 – about what he had spotted, but their initial reaction was uncertainty as they could not believe the museum would make such an error.
The passionate amateur palaeontologist refused to back down and after returning home Charlie’s family sent an email to the Natural History Museum to see if he was correct.
Mrs Edwards was delighted to receive a reply confirming that Charlie’s instinct was spot on, and the museum even sent him a letter thanking him for his efforts. She said her boy was delighted with his find at the Dino Snores for Kids sleepover at the museum, which gives youngsters a chance to stay for the night at the world famous museum.
“I am really proud of him,” she said. “Charlie has Asperger syndrome and tends to find a subject he loves and tries to learn so much about it, so it’s really nice that he’s been able to show that knowledge base. He was beaming from ear to ear.”
Charlie said: “I saw the side-by-side comparison to a human and it had the names. I knew from reading my books it was not right so I told my mum and dad.”