It’s time to start preparing for TetZooCon – our annual Tetrapod Zoology Convention – and oh boy is a lot of stuff happening this year…

Once again, TetZooCon occurs at Bush House, Kings College, London (though in different parts of the building from previous events). This year, TetZooCon is a late September thing. We kick off with an evening discussion on Friday September 27th, and then continue across the weekend of September 28th and 29th. Doors open at 10am on both days and we’re generally done by 6pm. Tickets and further info can be found here.

As ever, we have a busy schedule of talks and events. I should note up-front that Mesozoic dinosaurs will be a prominent theme this year. Stalls will be present throughout, items on sale including art, stickers, plushies, animal figures, models, books and more… frankly, a frightening amount of merch, palaeoart and wildlife art. We’ll also have book-signing events – I, for one, am selling copies of Ancient Sea Reptiles and a few of my other books – and a silent auction will be happening too. We’re also hosting a palaeoart-themed art exhibition, and of course our patented* palaeoart workshop occurs on and off throughout the weekend.

* I use the term loosely.

**Caption:** if you’ve attended TetZooCon before, you’ll know that – oh boy – a lot of amazing stuff is on sale at the numerous stalls. The montage here includes (upper left) models, fridge magnets and more from Jed Taylor and Ruadhrí Brennan’s stall; prints and more on sale at Lee Brown’s stall (Lee runs DailyDinoSketch, and sells art, stickers, rock art and more **here at Etsy**); and some of the *All Yestersdays* figures made by Sam St Leger and available from the **Splendid Edition shop on Etsy**. Images: Ruadhrí Brennan, George Lathouris, Darren Naish.

We also hope to show a movie across lunchtime on Sunday, specifically the feature-length documentary Why Dinosaurs?, produced by Tony Pinto. Why Dinosaurs? has, so far in the UK, only been screened at special events (in London, Bristol and Sheffield, and in Lyme Regis for the 2024 Fossil Festival), so it’s a big deal that we’re able to show it.

Speakers 1. Talks kick off on Saturday morning with me; I’ll be discussing an unusual episode in the history of dinosaur research. We then welcome pioneering palaeoartist, author and researcher Greg Paul. Yes, Greg Paul in person. For those of you who don’t know, Greg was instrumental in constructing the view of dinosaur life appearance we have today, his technical, high-fidelity skeletal and muscular illustrations being among the first widely available images to properly depict dinosaurian anatomy. He has coupled this tradition of rigorous anatomical reconstruction with efforts to imagine Mesozoic dinosaurs in life, and his black-and-white drawings and colour paintings include some of the most influential illustrations in the entire history of palaeoart.

**Caption:** author, researcher, artist and publishing scientist Greg Paul will be speaking at **TetZooCon 2024**, and will also be participating in discussion events and more. Images: (c) Greg Paul, from **The Science and Art of Gregory S. Paul**.

**Caption:** Greg Paul’s books include some of the most influential volumes yet published on dinosaurs; I count 1988’s *Predatory Dinosaurs of the World* as among the formative of works I’ve read. In the 21st century, Greg has published a series of field guides through Princeton University Press. We hope to have these works on sale at TetZooCon 2024.

Later on Saturday, we welcome Natalie Lawrence, who’ll be talking about ‘Making Monsters’. Natalie’s book Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings is set to appear later this year, though I’m fairly confident that copies won’t be on hand in time for her TetZooCon talk, alas. Angela Julian, coordinator of Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, will also join us for her talk ‘Revealing the Secrets of the Vanishing Viper’, as will Jonathan Meiburg, author of the fantastic caracara-themed book A Most Remarkable Creature: The HIdden Life of the World’s Smartest Bird of Prey.

**Caption:** we welcome author and researcher Natalie Lawrence as a first-time speaker at **TetZooCon 2024**. Natalie’s previous books include (with Paco Calvo) *Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence* (2022) and *Feathers and Eggshells, The Bird Journal of a Young London Girl* (2005). Images: (c) **Natalie Lawrence**.

A lunchtime discussion revolving around the Apple TV+ / BBC Studios series Prehistoric Planet will also happen, as will an on-stage discussion relating to dinosaur life appearance and palaeoart, involving Greg Paul, John Conway, and myself.

Speakers 2. Moving to Sunday, our Mesozoic dinosaur theme remains apparent thanks to talks from Kai Caspar (‘How Smart was T. rex? Current Debates in Dinosaur Neurology and Cognition’) and David Hone, who’ll be speaking about dinosaur behaviour in lieu of his soon-to-be-published Princeton University Press book. Princeton themselves will have a stall at the meeting and we hope – though this can’t yet be confirmed – that they’ll have advance copies of Dave’s book on hand. It’s illustrated throughout by Gabriel Ugueto (whose other engagements mean that he’s unfortunately unable to attend. We tried to get him!). Princeton have also published Greg Paul’s recent books as well as my own Dinopedia, so it’s likely that those works will be present. If so, we’ll arrange signing events.

**Caption:** dinosaur and pterosaur research Dr David Hone will be speaking at **TetZooCon 2024**; his talk is titled ‘Uncovering Dinosaur Behaviour’ and is connected to his soon-to-be-published book of the same name. Images: Dave Hone/Princeton University Press.

Later on Sunday, Katrina van Grouw (The Unfeathered Bird, Unnatural Selection) will be talking about progress on The Unfeathered Bird II. If you’ve seen any of the new illustrations that Katrina has been preparing, you’ll know that her plans involve extending her thoughts well beyond the limits of Aves as we know the group today…

**Caption:** artist, author and researcher Katrina van Grouw is probably best known today for her spectacular *The Unfeathered Bird* of 2013 (which I reviewed **here**, though I can’t see that article as it’s paywalled to me). *TUB* is out of print today and only available at extremely high prices. So it’s great news that a second edition is currently in prepration — come to **TetZooCon 2024** and hear how it’s coming along! Images: (c) Katrina van Grouw.

I’m very pleased to report that we’ll also be joined by TV presenter, photographer, author, artist and conservationist Chris Packham, who’ll be talking about Nextinction. Chris is an outstanding naturalist and natural historian and – for those of you outside the UK who might not know this – he’s one of the most prominent and respected people working in the promotion of conservation and natural history today.

**Caption:** Chris Packham CBE is best known to British people of a certain age for his association with the BBC’s *The Really Wild Show* (1986-1995). Today, he co-presents the BBC Natural History Unit’s flagship series *Springwatch*. Chris also has associations with a large number of conservation and wildlife organisations, including the RSPB, Butterfly Conservation, the Wildlife Trusts, Hampshire Ornithological Society and others. Image: (c) Jo Charlesworth.

Also on Sunday, we’ll once again be hosting cosplay and an on-stage competition will be led by my daughter Hel. Sunday evening will end with our regular quiz, featuring – as usual – a range of excellent prizes. So, that’s a lot of stuff; we hope that attendees enjoy it.

TetZooTour! One thing above all others will make TetZooCon 2024 unusual relative to its predecessors, and that’s that – for the first time ever – we’re leading a coach tour, a TetZooTour, of select sites about southern England. This is a separately ticketed event from TetZooCon proper and its cost includes hotel accommodation, morning and evening meals, and entry to the respective venues. I’ll be going along as a guide, as will other organisers. I’ve worked as a tour guide in the past and will be providing commentary on the journey.

We board our coach at 10am on Monday September 30th (in Surrey Street, adjacent to Bush House) before disembarking for the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London, for a special visit to the Dinosaur rEvolution exhibit before it goes off show. The images and models featured in Dinosaur rEvolution are based on the art and imagery of TetZooCon regular Luis Rey, and I’m happy to say that Luis will be accompanying us during our time at the Horniman.

We then set off to the English south-west, first staying overnight in Bournemouth, Dorset, before driving on Tuesday October 1st to historic Lyme Regis. Here, we’ll spend time at Lyme Regis Museum – built on the site formerly occupied by Mary Anning’s house – and will also visit the shore for fossil collecting. We’ll be guided by Lyme Regis Museum staff Natalia Jagielska, Paul Davis and Kieran Satchell. At this point in the year, it’s difficult to know what conditions will be like in early October, but the general forecast is that it’s due to be somewhere around 14° C and with a possible chance of rain. Keep this in mind.

**Caption:** Lyme Regis remains ground zero for British palaeontological research, and it’s a beautiful place with a unique charm. Lyme Regis Museum is an unusual building with a good amount of interesting local material on show, and it’ll be great to visit it during our tour. I can’t guarantee that we’ll have time to visit the Mary Anning statue, shown here during May 2024, but we’ll see. Images: Darren Naish.

**Caption:** East Beach, Lyme Regis, during May 2024. We won’t be exploring the shore directly beneath the cliffs – that’s dangerous! – but will be visiting at least part of the shore, time and conditions permitting. Image: Darren Naish.

Once done at Lyme Regis, we head east for a second overnight stay, this time at Folkestone in Kent, and we then disembark on Wednesday October 2nd for Howletts Wild Animal Park, near Canterbury. Howletts is home to African elephants, rhinos, tapirs, gorillas, African wild dogs, dholes, European wolves, spectacled bears, silver-cheeked gibbons and much, much more. And that’s the end: we leave at 3pm, and then return to our drop-off point in central London, hopefully by 5pm. And that’s it. Hopefully, things will work out and it’ll be a great trip.

**Caption:** images from a 2014 trip I took to Howletts. Their selection of bovids, canids and primates is really impressive, and they hold the largest herd of African elephants (all *Loxodonta africana*) in the UK and possibly in Europe. Images: Darren Naish.

Tickets for TetZooCon 2024, including for the tour, are already selling fast. GO HERE to buy tickets now (there are no physical tickets: you’re added to a list and everything is electronic). It should be a great event with a great crowd, and we look forward to seeing you in London for what might be the biggest and best TetZooCon so far. As ever, we encourage sharing of things as they happen on social media, and a full report of everything will appear here as and when time allows.

For previous articles on other TetZooCons, see…