A BIG Foot sculpture representing humans as the most destructive species on earth was erected in front of the Oxford Museum of Natural History yesterday.

The life-size metal sculpture was titled 'a new species of human being', Homo magno pedites, and is part of a campaign by charity Population Matters.

It is to mark Earth Overshoot Day raising the issue of humans using more resources than the planet can renew annually.

Richard Vernon of Population Matters’ Oxford Group said: "In Oxford, we’re rightly proud of the international standing of this museum and fortunate to have it here in our community.

"It will serve the people here even better if it uses its position and educational power to inform people about the worsening crisis in our natural world.

"We hope the museum will heed the recent warnings of leading scientists about the ‘biological annihilation’ of all other life on Earth and use its respected and powerful position to alert people to the facts and available solutions."