This article is an extract from Issue 44 of the Natural History Museum's Evolve Magazine, written by Kate Whittington. For more information on Membership, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/membership

This December, you’re invited to enter an extraordinary world where mythical animals roam, where spiky fossils look like dragon skulls, and where natural curiosities are revealed.

Our new exhibition – Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature – celebrates creatures, real and magical, through the lens of J.K. Rowling’s spellbinding world of magic and adventure.

In the wizarding world, Newt Scamander is a Magizoologist on a mission to study and describe magical animals in his book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Step into our exhibition, created in partnership with Warner Bros., and you’ll follow in his footsteps, surrounded by props from the Fantastic Beasts films and real specimens from the Museum’s collections.

Uncover the origins of mythical animals, explore parallels between the remarkable creatures Newt cares for and real-life species, and discover how we’re fighting to protect them.

ZONE 1: FROM DRAGONS TO DINOSAURS

For centuries, humans have whispered tales of mysterious creatures. Some are terrible and fierce, others pure and benevolent, and many boast remarkable magical properties.

Mythological creatures such as unicorns, dragons, merpeople and sea serpents are given a wizarding-world twist in the pages of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But could they have their origins in nature?

Scholars think that early descriptions of these extraordinary creatures may have been inspired or reinforced by encounters with real, but unfamiliar, wild animals. So for each fantastic beast, the exhibition explores the real-life species that may be responsible for the myths.

The most iconic of these creatures is the dragon. Its likeness appears in many cultures throughout the ages. Could this firebreathing behemoth be inspired by snakes or crocodiles with their smooth scales, long tails, sharp teeth and often impressive sizes?

Or might human imagination have conjured up giant reptilian creatures after seeing strange bones pulled from the earth?

MEET THE HOGWARTS DINOSAUR

In 2004, a spectacular dinosaur skull was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota in the US. It bore a close resemblance to a Western fairytale dragon, with its bony head covered in spikes and knobs.

Fossil collectors Brian Buckmeier and brothers Steve and Pat Saulsbury donated their find to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and, in 2006, a team of scientists formally described the new species. Inspired by its dragon-like appearance, they named it Dracorex hogwartsia, which translates as the ‘dragon king of Hogwarts’, in honour of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dracorex proved to be a type of ‘bone-headed’ dinosaur known as a pachycephalosaur. Despite its fearsome spiked skull, these dinosaurs are thought to have been mainly plant-eaters that lived sociably in small groups. As with many herd animals, individuals may have competed with each other for mates.

Indeed, the vertebrae show evidence of strong neck muscles that supported its flat-topped head. Experts think Dracorex may have fought by pressing their heads together and pushing, using upward thrusts to force their opponent backwards, a behaviour seen in some types of cows today.

The ridges and knobs on the skull of Dracorex may also have helped to stop its head slipping when pressed against another’s in a battle of strength. Scientists have speculated that Dracorex may have used its horns to gore the flank of its opponents or in defence against predators, a behaviour seen in modern-day antelope known as oryx. Though it may not have been able to breathe fire like a mythical dragon, Dracorex was clearly not a dinosaur to be messed with.

Thanks to modern scientific techniques, we can infer how a dinosaur might have behaved from a fossil. Yet take one look at the extraordinary Dracorex skull in the exhibition and you’ll see why people pulling fossils from the ground hundreds of years ago might have taken them for enormous, horned reptiles.

ZONE 2: AMAZING ABILITIES

Leaving behind creatures of ancient legend, the next step on your journey of discovery takes in modern-day marvels. Like many real-life naturalists, Newt Scamander travels the world observing the remarkable adaptations and abilities of his fantastic beasts in their natural environments. From the Mooncalf’s elusive lifestyle to the Demiguise’s ability to vanish, and the Niffler’s compulsive collecting to the Erumpent’s fondness for dance, all of these ‘magical’ powers have parallels among real-life animals.

THE OCCAMY

Newt describes the Occamy as a ‘plumed, two-legged winged creature with a serpentine body’. He explains that the Occamy is ‘choranaptyxic’, a word invented by Rowling to describe the animal’s magical ability to change its size to fit the available space. Though the instant and dramatic shape-shifting displayed by the Occamy – which expands to fill a room and then shrinks to fit into a teapot – has not been observed in real animals, some species can alter their size and shape in surprising and impressive ways.

When threatened by a predator, the porcupinefish can triple the volume of its body by drawing water into its extremely stretchy stomach. Its skin is covered in sharp spines, which are forced upright as the fish expands.

Faced with a large, spiky ball, most predators will think twice before trying to take a bite. While porcupinefish expand to avoid death, queen termites expand to produce life. The queen begins life around 17mm long, the same size as most other termites. But once the queen has mated, its body grows to up to seven times its original size. When its abdomen is around the size of a human finger, it’s too large to leave its small underground cell. The queen will remain there for the rest of its life, being cared for by its normalsized offspring, while it lays around one egg every three seconds.

That’s about 30,000 eggs a day and as many as 219 million eggs in its roughly 20-year lifespan. The queen produces the entire colony, hatching workers that build the termite mound, collect food and nurse young, soldiers that defend the colony, and winged adults that start new colonies of their own.

While the Occamy’s ability to expand is not unheard of in nature, shrinking is a much rarer and more challenging biological feat. Galapagos marine iguanas have adapted to shrink during times of stress. Living on the rocky coasts of the Galapagos islands, these lizards feed only on algae and seaweed. During El Niño years – a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean – the iguana’s food becomes scarce.

Their usual diet of green and red algae is replaced by brown algae, which they struggle to digest. Scientists measuring the lizards’ body lengths noticed they became shorter by up to 7cm, around 20 per cent of their regular length. If the average person were to shrink by 20 per cent, they would become around 33cm shorter.

It’s thought that by reducing in size, marine iguanas can reduce their need for food and therefore expend less precious energy foraging. When their favourite food regrows, the iguanas return to their original length. The shrinking process can take up to two years, so it’s not as fast as the magical Occamy, but still a remarkable feat.

ZONE 3: PROTECTING FANTASTIC BEASTS

Newt’s book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is not just an ID guide – it aims to inspire his fellow wizards to love and protect all magical creatures. He explains that many magical beasts are hunted for their valuable horns or silver eggs, or are persecuted due to fear or misunderstanding. So we felt it was important that the exhibition highlights some real-life endangered creatures and reveals how – just like Newt – conservationists are working to change people’s opinions in order to save ‘unpopular’ species from extinction.

When developing any exhibition, many ideas are explored and developed that don’t make the final line-up. Outside of the exhibition, it’s been interesting to learn about some of the wizarding world’s less charismatic beasts, and explore how our perceptions of animals can influence the way we treat them and, as a result, affect their survival.

In the wizarding world, werewolves are outcasts, and people living with the condition are seen as evil and corrupt. In the Harry Potter series, the character Remus Lupin was a Hogwarts Professor and a werewolf.

Unbeknown to many, Lupin struggled with his ‘furry little problem’ until he was eventually forced to resign from Hogwarts when his condition was revealed. However, Lupin was the first werewolf to be awarded the Order of Merlin, and his kindness and courage helped challenge the stigma faced by all werewolves.

In real-world mythology, werewolves are similarly feared and reviled, and some people feel the same antipathy to their natural world counterpart, the wolf.

Whether they’re depicted as evil, gluttonous predators, respected hunters, or symbols of wildness, wolves stir strong feelings in many cultures. Popular Western fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs cast wolves as sly and untrustworthy predators to be defeated.

However, unlike werewolves, wolves are highly unlikely to attack humans, though occasional depredations on farmers’ livestock can bring them into conflict with local communities.

In response, humans have driven wolves to extinction across much of their natural range.

Yet these top predators are incredibly important to the health and diversity of their environment, and help control populations of grazing animals, such as deer. With rewilding initiatives on the rise, wolves are steadily returning to much of their former European range. As populations recover, conservationists are trying to find ways to help us live with the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ once more.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

From killer whales to vampire bats, the names we give to animals can have a lasting negative influence on how they’re perceived. In the wizarding world, the unfortunately named ‘Swooping Evil’ is feared for its ability to suck the brains out of its prey. However, its venom, when properly diluted, can be used to erase bad memories.

To counteract negative attitudes, scientists are trying using names to improve how we ‘see’ animals. Tom Saunders, an entomologist from the University of Auckland, wanted to challenge people’s dislike of wasps by naming a newly discovered species Lusius malfoyi, after the Harry Potter character Lucius Malfoy. Though widely considered a villain for his work as a Death-Eater under the Dark Lord, Voldemort, Malfoy later gives evidence against other Death-Eaters, aiding in their capture.

Humans can’t survive without nature, and as we discover more about how interconnected our world truly is, conservationists like Newt are working to transform our feelings from fear and dislike to respect and admiration when it comes to animals such as wasps, wolves, spiders and sharks. We hope the exhibition will help inspire a love of all beasts, furry, scaled, slithering, flapping and crawling.

As Newt Scamander says: ‘Why do we continue… to attempt to protect and conceal magical beasts, even those that are savage and untameable? The answer is, of course, to ensure that future generations of witches and wizards enjoy their strange beauty and powers as we have been privileged to do.’

For centuries, humans have whispered tales of mysterious creatures. Some are terrible and fierce, others pure and benevolent, and many boast remarkable magical properties.

Mythological creatures such as unicorns, dragons, merpeople and sea serpents are given a wizarding-world twist in the pages of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But could they have their origins in nature?

Scholars think that early descriptions of these extraordinary creatures may have been inspired or reinforced by encounters with real, but unfamiliar, wild animals. So for each fantastic beast, the exhibition explores the real-life species that may be responsible for the myths.

The most iconic of these creatures is the dragon. Its likeness appears in many cultures throughout the ages. Could this firebreathing behemoth be inspired by snakes or crocodiles with their smooth scales, long tails, sharp teeth and often impressive sizes?

Or might human imagination have conjured up giant reptilian creatures after seeing strange bones pulled from the earth?

MEET THE HOGWARTS DINOSAUR

In 2004, a spectacular dinosaur skull was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota in the US. It bore a close resemblance to a Western fairytale dragon, with its bony head covered in spikes and knobs.

Fossil collectors Brian Buckmeier and brothers Steve and Pat Saulsbury donated their find to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and, in 2006, a team of scientists formally described the new species. Inspired by its dragon-like appearance, they named it Dracorex hogwartsia, which translates as the ‘dragon king of Hogwarts’, in honour of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dracorex proved to be a type of ‘bone-headed’ dinosaur known as a pachycephalosaur. Despite its fearsome spiked skull, these dinosaurs are thought to have been mainly plant-eaters that lived sociably in small groups. As with many herd animals, individuals may have competed with each other for mates.

Indeed, the vertebrae show evidence of strong neck muscles that supported its flat-topped head. Experts think Dracorex may have fought by pressing their heads together and pushing, using upward thrusts to force their opponent backwards, a behaviour seen in some types of cows today.

The ridges and knobs on the skull of Dracorex may also have helped to stop its head slipping when pressed against another’s in a battle of strength. Scientists have speculated that Dracorex may have used its horns to gore the flank of its opponents or in defence against predators, a behaviour seen in modern-day antelope known as oryx. Though it may not have been able to breathe fire like a mythical dragon, Dracorex was clearly not a dinosaur to be messed with.

Thanks to modern scientific techniques, we can infer how a dinosaur might have behaved from a fossil. Yet take one look at the extraordinary Dracorex skull in the exhibition and you’ll see why people pulling fossils from the ground hundreds of years ago might have taken them for enormous, horned reptiles.

ZONE 2: AMAZING ABILITIES

Leaving behind creatures of ancient legend, the next step on your journey of discovery takes in modern-day marvels. Like many real-life naturalists, Newt Scamander travels the world observing the remarkable adaptations and abilities of his fantastic beasts in their natural environments. From the Mooncalf’s elusive lifestyle to the Demiguise’s ability to vanish, and the Niffler’s compulsive collecting to the Erumpent’s fondness for dance, all of these ‘magical’ powers have parallels among real-life animals.

THE OCCAMY

Newt describes the Occamy as a ‘plumed, two-legged winged creature with a serpentine body’. He explains that the Occamy is ‘choranaptyxic’, a word invented by Rowling to describe the animal’s magical ability to change its size to fit the available space. Though the instant and dramatic shape-shifting displayed by the Occamy – which expands to fill a room and then shrinks to fit into a teapot – has not been observed in real animals, some species can alter their size and shape in surprising and impressive ways.

When threatened by a predator, the porcupinefish can triple the volume of its body by drawing water into its extremely stretchy stomach. Its skin is covered in sharp spines, which are forced upright as the fish expands.

Faced with a large, spiky ball, most predators will think twice before trying to take a bite. While porcupinefish expand to avoid death, queen termites expand to produce life. The queen begins life around 17mm long, the same size as most other termites. But once the queen has mated, its body grows to up to seven times its original size. When its abdomen is around the size of a human finger, it’s too large to leave its small underground cell. The queen will remain there for the rest of its life, being cared for by its normalsized offspring, while it lays around one egg every three seconds.

That’s about 30,000 eggs a day and as many as 219 million eggs in its roughly 20-year lifespan. The queen produces the entire colony, hatching workers that build the termite mound, collect food and nurse young, soldiers that defend the colony, and winged adults that start new colonies of their own.

While the Occamy’s ability to expand is not unheard of in nature, shrinking is a much rarer and more challenging biological feat. Galapagos marine iguanas have adapted to shrink during times of stress. Living on the rocky coasts of the Galapagos islands, these lizards feed only on algae and seaweed. During El Niño years – a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean – the iguana’s food becomes scarce.

Their usual diet of green and red algae is replaced by brown algae, which they struggle to digest. Scientists measuring the lizards’ body lengths noticed they became shorter by up to 7cm, around 20 per cent of their regular length. If the average person were to shrink by 20 per cent, they would become around 33cm shorter.

It’s thought that by reducing in size, marine iguanas can reduce their need for food and therefore expend less precious energy foraging. When their favourite food regrows, the iguanas return to their original length. The shrinking process can take up to two years, so it’s not as fast as the magical Occamy, but still a remarkable feat.

ZONE 3: PROTECTING FANTASTIC BEASTS

Newt’s book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is not just an ID guide – it aims to inspire his fellow wizards to love and protect all magical creatures. He explains that many magical beasts are hunted for their valuable horns or silver eggs, or are persecuted due to fear or misunderstanding. So we felt it was important that the exhibition highlights some real-life endangered creatures and reveals how – just like Newt – conservationists are working to change people’s opinions in order to save ‘unpopular’ species from extinction.

When developing any exhibition, many ideas are explored and developed that don’t make the final line-up. Outside of the exhibition, it’s been interesting to learn about some of the wizarding world’s less charismatic beasts, and explore how our perceptions of animals can influence the way we treat them and, as a result, affect their survival.

In the wizarding world, werewolves are outcasts, and people living with the condition are seen as evil and corrupt. In the Harry Potter series, the character Remus Lupin was a Hogwarts Professor and a werewolf.

Unbeknown to many, Lupin struggled with his ‘furry little problem’ until he was eventually forced to resign from Hogwarts when his condition was revealed. However, Lupin was the first werewolf to be awarded the Order of Merlin, and his kindness and courage helped challenge the stigma faced by all werewolves.

In real-world mythology, werewolves are similarly feared and reviled, and some people feel the same antipathy to their natural world counterpart, the wolf.

Whether they’re depicted as evil, gluttonous predators, respected hunters, or symbols of wildness, wolves stir strong feelings in many cultures. Popular Western fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs cast wolves as sly and untrustworthy predators to be defeated.

However, unlike werewolves, wolves are highly unlikely to attack humans, though occasional depredations on farmers’ livestock can bring them into conflict with local communities.

In response, humans have driven wolves to extinction across much of their natural range.

Yet these top predators are incredibly important to the health and diversity of their environment, and help control populations of grazing animals, such as deer. With rewilding initiatives on the rise, wolves are steadily returning to much of their former European range. As populations recover, conservationists are trying to find ways to help us live with the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ once more.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

From killer whales to vampire bats, the names we give to animals can have a lasting negative influence on how they’re perceived. In the wizarding world, the unfortunately named ‘Swooping Evil’ is feared for its ability to suck the brains out of its prey. However, its venom, when properly diluted, can be used to erase bad memories.

To counteract negative attitudes, scientists are trying using names to improve how we ‘see’ animals. Tom Saunders, an entomologist from the University of Auckland, wanted to challenge people’s dislike of wasps by naming a newly discovered species Lusius malfoyi, after the Harry Potter character Lucius Malfoy. Though widely considered a villain for his work as a Death-Eater under the Dark Lord, Voldemort, Malfoy later gives evidence against other Death-Eaters, aiding in their capture.

Humans can’t survive without nature, and as we discover more about how interconnected our world truly is, conservationists like Newt are working to transform our feelings from fear and dislike to respect and admiration when it comes to animals such as wasps, wolves, spiders and sharks. We hope the exhibition will help inspire a love of all beasts, furry, scaled, slithering, flapping and crawling.

As Newt Scamander says: ‘Why do we continue… to attempt to protect and conceal magical beasts, even those that are savage and untameable? The answer is, of course, to ensure that future generations of witches and wizards enjoy their strange beauty and powers as we have been privileged to do.’

Fantastic Beasts™: The Wonder of Nature opens on 9 December 2020 and is free to Members and Patrons.