From floor to ceiling filled with rare animal bones, fossils from aeons ago, jars filled with insects and moles, and perfectly preserved specimens of every animal you could think of, the Grant Museum of Zoology is quite literally filled with the top zoological specimens.
It’s one of the city’s quirkiest, most curious places to visit that has you simultaneously grossed out but also incredibly intrigued by its natural history collection, which is one of the oldest in the UK might I add. So you’ll be glad to know that after its year-long closure, the Museum of Zoology is opening its doors once again in February.
After closing in March 2023 for the museum to undergo renovations as part of an ‘improvement programme’ that will shift the focus of its exhibitions on the issue of the climate crisis, the Grant Museum will reopen on February 6. Around £300,000 went into revamping the museum, with the makeover including revised displays that explore the global loss of biodiversity and the role of human intervention in it, entitled ‘Species under Threat’.
The Grant Museum is home to an impressive collection of roughly 68,000 zoological specimens, several of which are incredibly rare, namely one of only seven known skeletons of the extinct quagga zebra, dodo bones, and Tasmanian tiger specimens. Other curious oddities include the museum’s famous jar of moles, a brain collection, the Micrarium showing some of the tiniest specimens in the animal kingdom, a collection of bisected heads, and plenty more skeletons, taxidermy and preserved animals.
The Grant Museum of Zoology will open from Tuesday to Friday from 1pm-5pm and on Saturdays from 11am-5pm, from February 6. Entry remains free and booking is not necessary.
Find the Grant Museum of Zoology at Rockefeller Building, 21 University Street, WC1E 6DE.