Our "cabinet of curiosities' story is dedicated to trilobites.  Trilobites are marine arthropods which evolved over an extraordinarily long period of time, some 270 million years from the early Cambrian to their demise at the end of the Great Permian Extinction when 90 per cent of life on earth was eradicated (521-252 million years ago).  Over 25,000 species of trilobites reigned amongst aquatic niches with dazzling displays of many shapes, sizes, and ornamental characteristics.  They are the first group of animals to develop complex eyes, persisted twice as long as the dinosaurs and lived more than a thousand times longer than our own human species so far….