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The Grant Museum of Zoology is one of London’s most fascinating museums.
It’s a small but mighty museum that’s off the tourist radar, and home to some of the strangest displays we’ve ever seen in a museum, namely a jar of moles and a wall of mouse bones.
The jar of moles seems to be a favourite among visitors, to the extent that it has been turned into a pin badge for sale.
It’s unclear why 18 moles are kept in a single jar, but storing multiple specimens in one jar has benefits.
It reduces costs by efficiently storing multiple specimens and makes them easier to transport.
These specimens could have belonged to a researcher studying moles, who required multiple, or they would have been dissected by a class, one per student.
Should you wish to access the museum for research visits, you can do so on weekday mornings between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, and must book in advance by emailing museums@ucl.ac.uk.
A Brief History of the Museum
Situated within University College London, the Grant Museum of Zoology is the last university zoology museum in London and one of the UK’s oldest natural history museums.
Established in 1828 by Robert Edmond Grant, the museum was intended to serve as a comprehensive teaching resource for his zoology students.
Grant was a pioneering figure in comparative anatomy and evolution who envisioned curating a collection that showcased the sheer breadth of animal life, facilitating knowledge sharing and discovery.
Today, the museum houses 68,000 specimens from across the animal kingdom, including rare specimens of extinct animals.
The Unique Stuff
The museum has a lot of stuff for such a small space.
It’s jam-packed.
Aside from the moles and mice bones already mentioned, the Grant Museum is home to tons more interesting exhibits, and here are their top ten exhibits:
- The Brain Collection – a load of brains from The Gordon Museum Brain Collection, including a tiger cub, domestic dog and turtle, all preserved in alcohol and suspended in jars using thread.
- Quagga skeleton – one of only seven left. With its faded stripes, this distinctive South African zebra vanished in the 1880s due to relentless hunting for its pelt. The last of its kind died at Amsterdam Zoo on 12th of August, 1883.
- Thylacines – another example of modern extinction. The thylacine, also known as Tasmanian tigers and related to Tasmanian devils, was hunted to extinction because it was believed to prey on sheep.
- The Micrarium – in just 2.52 square metres (the size of their old store cupboard!), you’ll see 2,323 of the tiniest specimens in the museum’s collection and 252 lantern slides, all wonderfully back-lit.
- African Rock Python skeleton – a typical snake skeleton might not be particularly interesting, but this one is constructed in a captivating way. It’s wrapped around some wood, packed in a display cabinet, and was documented as a green anaconda. However, a member of the public wrote in to say it’s not a green anaconda but an African Rock Python, noting differences in a 1960s photograph.
- Dodo Bones – the dodo’s story holds profound significance as an early, stark demonstration of humankind’s capacity to drive a species to extinction. The Grant Museum’s two boxes of dodo specimens, unearthed from the Mare aux Songes in southeastern Mauritius, serve as a tangible reminder of this loss.
- Giant Deer – as you enter the museum, you’ll notice these antlers behind the desk because they are massive. They belong to the big deer that lived from Ireland to Siberia, which existed between 40,000 and 7,000 years ago. It has been said that they are the largest of their kind in the UK.
- Blaschka Glass Models of Invertebrates – Marine invertebrates are challenging to preserve. Hence, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph set out to create these anatomically accurate glass models of sea creatures. The Blashchkas began their careers as jewellers in Dresden, Germany, and were from a long line of Chechen artisans.
- The Negus Collection of Bisected Heads showcases a fascinating diversity of bisected heads, each with one intact side and a revealing cross-section. Prepare to see the inside of the heads of a chimpanzee, wallaby, sloth, seal, pangolin, dog, lemur, wolffish, calf, rabbit, and shrew.
Visitor Information
📍 Rockefeller Building, 21 University St, London, WC1E 6DE
💷 Free
🕙 Tue-Fri 1 pm – 5 pm, Sat 11 am – 5 pm, Sun-Mon closed
📞 0203 108 9000
Grant Museum of Zoology Photos
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