Video: Produced by Nicole Cardos

Only 13 specimens of Archaeopteryx — and one special feather — are known to exist since the first Archaeopteryx fossils were discovered in 1860.

Almost all come from the same deposit of Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, Germany — rock that began to form when the region was covered by a shallow prehistoric sea.

Most of the specimens are housed in German institutions, some are in the hands of private collectors, and one has gone missing.

The Chicago Archaeopteryx at the Field Museum of Natural History is the only specimen owned by a public natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere.

• “The feather” was discovered in 1860/61. It consists of two counter slabs, housed at separate institutions.
  • Locations:
    • Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie in Munich (Germany)
    • Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin (Germany)

• London specimen
  • Data point: First skeleton identified
  • Condition: Missing most of its head and neck
  • Location: Natural History Museum in London (England)

• Berlin specimen
  • Condition: Considered the GOAT of Archaeopteryx specimens, in terms of completeness and beauty
  • Location: Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin (Germany)

• Maxberg specimen
  • Data point: Missing since 1991
  • Condition: Specimen is a torso; no head or tail
  • Location: Unknown. The Maxberg specimen was once exhibited at the Maxberg Museum in Solnhofen (Germany), which has since moved and been renamed.

• Haarlem specimen
  • Data point: This was actually the first specimen found, but because it was misidentified the London specimen was the first announced.
  • Condition: One of the least complete specimens — mostly limb bones and isolated cervical vertebrae and ribs
  • Location: Teylers Museum in Haarlem (Netherlands)

• Eichstätt specimen
  • Data point: Smallest specimen
  • Condition: Excellently preserved skull
  • Location: Jura Museum in Eichstätt (Germany)

• Solnhofen specimen
  • Data point: Largest specimen
  • Condition: Missing portions of the neck, tail, backbone and head
  • Location: Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen (Germany)

• Munich specimen
  • Data point: Displayed at the Field Museum in 1997 as part of a special exhibit
  • Condition: Nearly complete, with excellently preserved hind limbs, including a tightly flexed claw
  • Location: Paläontologisches Museum München (Germany)

• Daiting specimen
  • Data point: Not discovered in Solnhofen limestone, but in younger sediments
  • Condition: Fragments, including a skull
  • Location: Museum of Evolution at Knuthenborg Safaripark (Denmark)

• Bürgermeister-Müller specimen
  • Data point: Nicknamed “chicken wing”
  • Condition: Fragment of a single wing. See: nickname
  • Location: On loan to the Bürgermeister-Müller Museum in Solnhofen (Germany)

• Thermopolis specimen
  • Data point: First specimen housed outside Europe
  • Condition: Some bones preserved in three dimensions; considered second only to Berlin for beauty
  • Location: On long-term loan at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (Thermopolis, Wyoming)

• 11th specimen
  • Data point: Privately owned and not given a name
  • Condition: Missing the skull and one forelimb
  • Location: On loan to the Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt (Germany)

• 12th specimen
  • Data point: Privately owned, announced in 2014, not given a name
  • Condition: Largely intact skeleton with dislocated skull
  • Location: Dinosaurier Museum Altmühltal in Denkendorf (Germany)

• Chicago specimen
  • Data point: Announced May 2024
  • Condition: One of the most complete specimens, with beautifully preserved skull and vertebrae
  • Location: Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, Illinois)

Read More:

• The Field Museum Now Has an Incredibly Rare Fossil Proving Birds Are Dinosaurs. Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes Look at How They Got It
• Birds Are Dinosaurs: How a Family Tree That Spans T. Rex to Pigeons Informs Our Understanding of Life on Earth
• Meet Jingmai O’Connor, the Punk Rock Paleontologist Who Leads the Field Museum’s Archaeopteryx Team