Grant Museum of Zoology – London, England - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

AO Edited

Grant Museum of Zoology

London, England

The only university zoological museum in London houses extinct animals, bizarre natural history specimens, and a Micrarium of microscopic creatures. 

View all photos
A Nicobar Tree Shrew in the Grant Museum of Zoology Tom Mooring/Flickr (Tom Mooring)
A Nicobar Tree Shrew in the Grant Museum of Zoology Tom Mooring/Flickr (Tom Mooring)
Grant Museum of Zoology Wikimedia (Wikimedia)
Porcupine Fish in the Grant Museum of Zoology Neil Turner/Flickr (Neil Turner)
The Micrarium at the Grant Museum of Zoology Grant Museum of Zoology (Grant Museum of Zoology)
User submitted
User submitted
User submitted
The head of a Javan pangolin Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Python head with dissected tarsier primate in background Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Some slides of the micrarium Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Honey possumn , a tiny Australian marsupial Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Slides in the micrarium Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Preserved monkey faced fruitbat (real name) Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
Extinct thylacine skeleton and preserved skin Monsieur Mictlan (Atlas Obscura User)
923
3035
Related Stories
Primate specimens at London's Grant Museum of Zoology.
natural history museums

In London, Natural History Museums Confront Their Colonial Histories

It's not as easy as returning stolen statues.
Sabrina Imbler October 14, 2019
These mystery specimens don't have identification numbers to compare against the museum's register.
natural history museums

A Researcher's Quest to Decode the Specimens on a Museum's Mystery Shelf

Sifting through the old, unlabeled, puzzling jars that fill a collection's junk drawer.
Jessica Leigh Hester April 20, 2018
Top Places in London
Hodge the Cat, looking slightly grumpy
Monument to Hodge the Cat
London, England
Nobrow Comics
London, England
David Bowie Graffiti Mural
London, England
 See All

With over 67,000 specimens, the Grant Museum of Zoology is the last of the university zoological museums in all of London.

Along with its examples of extinct animals, like the bones of a Dodo and the bones and skins of a Quagga and Tasmanian Tiger, the museum houses numerous jarred specimens and skeletons. Here you may see jars crammed full of moles or bats, bisected chimpanzee and sea lion heads, kangaroo and manatee fetuses, pickled tree shrews, lion skeletons, and Tapir skulls.   

There are specimens from Robert Grant himself, along with Thomas Henry Huxley, bisected heads from the collection of Sir Victor Negus, and glass models made in the 1800s by the Blaschka family.

In 2013, the Grant Museum opened the Micrarium in a formerly unused office space. It’s a backlit cavern of microscopic and lantern slides celebrating the tiniest creatures in the world.

Know Before You Go

Fancy helping out this unique museum? The skeleton and specimen collection kept by the museum requires annual maintenance which all cost money. A unique way of helping the museum in its upkeep of these grizzly treasures is to adopt a specimen. For a small price, you can adopt anything from a Cassowary heart to a pickled flying fox, receiving an adoption certificate and a plaque with your name on it beside the specimen. You can visit the museum by booking free tickets online from the website. 

two headed animals dodos blaschka models wax anatomy anatomy museums extinct animals natural history museums taxidermy natural history museums and collections animals museums
Nearby
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
0.08 miles
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Vectors of Disease Frieze
0.15 miles
Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon
0.15 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
London, England

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

An small and easily overlooked archaeology museum chock full of Egyptian artifacts.
The Gilded vectors of disease facade.
London, England

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Vectors of Disease Frieze

The Art Deco artwork depicts gilded carriers of deadly illnesses.
Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon in its new location in 2020
London, England

Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon

The remains of the great moral philosopher reside in a university in London.
London, England

Pamela Colman Smith's Fireplace

Inside a London bookstore, a fireplace that once belonged to the illustrator responsible for a famous set of tarot cards.
Related Places
Museum für Naturkunde
Berlin, Germany

Museum für Naturkunde

Berlin's natural history museum houses the world's largest mounted dinosaur and the late beloved polar bear Knut.
A taxidermy hippo.
Tervuren, Belgium

Royal Museum for Central Africa Natural History Collections

A fascinating and enormous collection of natural history exhibits stained by a dark colonial legacy.
One of the museum's dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.
Birchington-on-Sea, England

Powell-Cotton Dioramas

An English explorer's vast natural history collection has the first realistic dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.
London, England

Natural History Museum of London

Eighty million natural history specimens call this gargantuan museum home.
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web