Darwin's Big Idea exhibition at the Natural History Museum

The museum invites visitors to "explore Charles Darwin's life and the revolutionary big idea that changed our understanding of the natural world and our place within it" Photograph: Corbis

A mock-up of Darwin's study at Down House in Kent Photograph: Anna Gordon

Hairs from Darwin's beard were discovered wrapped in tissue in 'Etty's Box', his daughter's collection of keepsakes of her father Photograph: Ken Lennox/PA

Hair from the great man's beard ,,, Photograph: Ken Lennox/PA

A pair of mocking birds brought back from the Galápagos by Darwin. The exhibition promises to "retrace his life-changing journey aboard HMS Beagle and follow the clues that helped him develop his ideas" Photograph: Anna Gordon

Marine iguanas bask under the museum's electric lights on a mockup of the islands' rocky coastline Photograph: Anna Gordon

The Galápagos islands' most iconic native fauna, giant tortoises Photograph: Anna Gordon

Out of Eden: Vestigial legs on the skeleton of a reticulated python reveal its evolutionary history Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP

The Ascent of Man: Hominid skulls Photograph: Anna Gordon

An exhibit illustrating the evolution of longer legs in quadrupeds Photograph: Anna Gordon

More lovely bones Photograph: Anna Gordon

A museum assistant comes face to face with a distant relative Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP