PIN Grant Museum of Zoology

A compelling exhibition

The Grant Museum of Zoology is the only remaining university zoological museum in London. It houses around 68,000 specimens, covering the whole Animal Kingdom.

Founded in 1828 as a teaching collection, the Museum is packed full of skeletons, mounted animals and specimens preserved in fluid. Many of the species are now endangered or extinct including the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, the quagga, and the dodo.

Top Ten Things

1. Quagga Skeleton
There are only seven known examples of this South African zebra, extinct since 1883, making this the rarest skeleton in the world.

2. Thylacines
These dog-like carnivorous marsupials were deliberately driven to extinction in 1936. The Museum houses extremely rare preserved dissections and skeletons.

3. Dodo Bones
These icons of extinction had disappeared by 1681. The Grant Museum has a large assemblage of bones displayed in trays.

4. Giant Deer
This ice-age wonder went extinct about 7000 years ago. Its antlers were almost twice as wide as its height.

5. Blaschka Glass Models of Invertebrates
A famous collection of anatomically perfect models of species which were hard to preserve, made by renowned 19th century Czech jewellers.

6. The Micrarium: A place for tiny things
A beautiful back-lit cave of 2300 microscope slides giving a glimpse of the vast diversity of animal life, nearly all of which is minute.

7. Jar of Moles
One of the most bizarre objects in the Museum’s collection is a large jar crammed full of whole preserved moles.

8. Brain Collection
An unusual comparative anatomy collection displaying the differences between the brains of a number of mammals and a reptile.

9. African Rock Python Skeleton
This intricate 5m long snake skeleton is unusually displayed wrapped around a branch. The animal lived at London Zoo.

10. The Negus Collection of Bisected Heads
These preserved heads were prepared to compare the anatomy of animal throats:including a chimp, seal, orang-utan, red panda and alligator.

Opening hours & things

We are open to the public Monday - Saturday 1-5pm (including the bank holidays in May and August).

Due to the holiday closure of UCL, we are not able to open on a few days surrounding Christmas and Easter. This year, the museum will close at 5pm on Friday 23rd December 2016 and reopen at 1pm on Tuesday 3rd January. We apologise for any disappointment.

We are also open for group and research visits on weekday mornings 10am - 1pm, when advanced booking is required.

The Museum welcomes family visitors warmly. Children, however young, as well as adults get a great deal out of their visits but please note that children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult.

Any groups of ten or more must book in advance. This is to avoid clashes - the museum is used for a number of purposes and isn't suited to more than one large group at once.

Owner

Nadia Al-Nasser

Nadia is a student in London studying international development and naturally has a real interest in the development and potential of new areas. She combines this interest with a real love for our exciting city and found TripTide to really align with...