Oxford University Museum of Natural History Blog
By Eileen Westwig, Collections Manager in the Museum’s Life Collections. About 320 km south of Java in the Indian Ocean lies Christmas Island. Although discovered and named on Christmas Day in 1643, the island remained unexplored until its first settlement in 1888, a development which had dire consequences for some of its native species. Christmas… Continue reading →
Since the launch of our Kurt Jackson exhibition in March, the Museum has gone a bit bee mad. We’ve had themed events for all different audiences; expert beekeepers sharing their top tips with adults, right through to little ones trying on beekeeping outfits and building a giant beehive. There’s even more coming soon, including a… Continue reading →
Our changing Presenting… display offers a look at highlights, themes and topical material drawn from the Museum’s collections. The current display presents a rich selection of fossils taken from a formation known as the Gault Clay. This will be on show until 21 September (Madagascar is up next), so it’s almost your last chance to see it. The Gault Clay… Continue reading →
A new year, a nice new display case. You may already be familiar with the Presenting… series that we’ve been running since March 2013; it started as a way to showcase treasures from the Museum’s collection during our closure year. Something changing and engaging to see as you passed through our darkened museum into the Pitt… Continue reading →
The Museum’s architecture is adorned with plants. Stone ferns carved by the O’Shea brothers unfurl from the capitals and wrought iron palm fronds embellish the roof. But we actually have very few botanical specimens on display in the Museum itself. The Oxford University Herbaria, by contrast, have around 1 million plant specimens in their collection and,… Continue reading →
A few weeks ago we welcomed Dr Hilary Ketchum as our new collections manager for the geological collections. Hilary will be looking after all kinds of specimens, but especially the fossil vertebrate animals, including the dinosaurs. To welcome her, and to announce her arrival to the public, we have handed over our regularly-changing Presenting… display so that Hilary… Continue reading →
You’ve read about it in the press (probably), but now you can see Bruno Debattista’s rare trace fossil find for yourself in our Presenting… display, just inside the entrance of the Museum. Although we are closed, this changing exhibit can be seen by visitors coming through the building to the Pitt Rivers Museum. On display… Continue reading →
As readers of this blog will be well aware, most of the Museum’s exhibits are closed up and under wraps. But because visitors on their way to the Pitt Rivers Museum still pass through the Museum of Natural History we have decided to install a new changing display of a few treasures from the collection. The… Continue reading →
The delicate art of dressing fleas in tiny costumes, known as ‘Pulgas Vestidas’ in Spanish, flourished in Mexico for over two centuries. It is believed that the craft began in Mexican convents where nuns would fashion tiny pieces of clothing onto dead fleas. An important point to note is that the fleas themselves are not actually dressed — instead, they formed the heads of the figures. … Continue reading →
DISCOVERING YORKSHIRE’S ANCIENT BEASTS
When news of the discovery reached William Buckland, Professor of Geology at Oxford University, he decided to travel up North to visit the site. However, by the time Buckland arrived at the cave, local collectors had scooped up most of its contents. Nonetheless, he was able to retrieve and examine some of the cave’s remaining material, which led him to an astonishing conclusion — Yorkshire must once have been home to hyaenas, elephants, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, and what was now known as the Kirkdale cave was once a hyaenas’ den.… Continue reading →
More Than A Dodo 