Los Barrios Museum of Natural History

Insects are amongst the oldest organisms to inhabit the earth. The oldest evolved during the Devonian period, about 400 million years ago. They were wingless and earthbound. They were joined during the Carboniferous period about 300 million years ago by the first winged insects. Some early dragonflies had wingspans of 2 metres. The Carboniferous gave way to the drier Permian period that ended climactically with the biggest extinction known about 250 million years ago. 70% of land families and 95% of marine families became extinct and nobody really knows what happened. Theories range from massive volcanic activity and climatic change related to the creation of the super continent Pangea to a meteor impact. Only the fossil record allows us to imagine the animal and plant life that existed before this cataclysm. One of the creatures that did not survive is the ubiquitous trilobite, possibly the most successful life form with 17,000 known species.

A few insects survived into the Cretaceous period and they were joined by the evolving orders of modern insects. During the same period flowering plants evolved and the first butterflies and moths evolved with them. Meanwhile Pangea had split up. Antarctica, India and Australia made the break about 200 million years ago followed by Africa and South America 135 million years ago, Greenland and North America broke away from the European/Asian landmass during the Cretaceous itself, about 65 million years ago. The plants and insects on each continent were isolated from one another and evolved in different ways giving us the wonderful diversity we see today.

The enormous amount of tectonic activity, earthquakes and volcanoes, that occurred when the continents parted and then reformed can barely be imagined but even these destructive forces created beautiful objects that, millions of years later would be highly prized. Minerals dissolved in the super heated water under extremely high pressures beneath the earth’s crust were forced up fissures in the overlying rock where the water evaporated and crystals formed. Deep blue minerals of copper like azurite, large cubes of iron pyrites, often known as fools gold and delicate red crystals of cinnabar from which mercury is derived also formed. Occasionally a base metal like gold or even, much more rarely, copper would be dissolved out of the hydrothermal vents. Precious and semi precious stones like opal, ruby and garnet are all mineral crystals.

The same period of time, 250 million to 65 million years ago is also known as the age of the dinosaurs. Only in the last decade has it been known that dinosaurs laid and incubated eggs lending support to the theory that birds are descended from these creatures. In the seas some ammonites grew to an enormous size, well over a metre in diameter and the first fish that could be described as ‘modern looking’ evolved.

The world of natural history is a fascinating place, some people prefer the natural history as it exists today and some prefer natural history as it appertained back to the creation of the world. For either the Los Barrios museum of natural history is a place to visit.

This little known museum of natural history in a little known (to foreigners) town has a very good collection of marine fossils dating back to the Cambrian period. The fossils include corals and long extinct shellfish, not to mention an enormous ammonite. For those who have never seen a dinosaur egg then this museum gives you the opportunity to do so.

Minerals and crystals are well represented but pride of place has to go to the massive collection of butterflies, moths, spiders and beetles from all over the world. You will find the aptly named Rhinoceros beetle (Dynastidae) from Africa, a large brown hairy spider labelled Mygale, otherwise known as the tarantula from South America, and hundreds, possibly thousands of butterflies and moths of all colours and all sizes from every continent apart from Antarctica.