How are animals adapted to the cold of winter? Why do some escape it, and are their migrations being affected by climate change? And as for the most important winter journey of all – are reindeer really the best animals to pull Santa’s sleigh? These are all questions we will be looking into in our Winter Wildlife: ZoologiCOOL livestream on Wednesday 1 December. Join us … Continue reading Winter Wildlife: ZoologiCOOL
Are you spooked by spiders? Far from being a fan of rats? Minded to avoid moths or backtrack at the sight of a bat? This blog post is here to set the record straight. These animals that may seem creepy or frightening showcase some amazing biology and perform important roles in the habitats where they live. Here staff, students and volunteers from the Museum of … Continue reading Creepy Creatures?
Monday 4th October 2021 is World Habitat Day. To celebrate habitats from around the world, here we look at some of the animals that live in different ecosystems from the African plains to the deep ocean floor, written by staff, students and volunteers at the Museum of Zoology. World Habitat Day was set up by the UN to reflect on urban habitats, with this year’s … Continue reading World Habitats Day 2021
What do you call groups of different animals? In this Puggle Club story we explore some of the collective nouns for different animals, from a pride of lions to a shiver of sharks… Want to see more of the Museum of Zoology? Check out our Animal Alphabet for under 5s and go on a tour of the animal kingdom from Aardvark to Zebra: Continue reading A Paddle of Platypuses
We have a special treat for you as part of the Open Cambridge Festival 2021: not one but three virtual tours of the Museum. Go behind the scenes for a tour of the Bird Room with Curator of Ornithology Dr Daniel Field and a tour of the Insect Room by Research Assistant Matt Hayes. Then follow Assistant Director Jack Ashby as he guides you around … Continue reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum for Open Cambridge 2021
Did you make a rainforest with us last summer? With the end of the summer holidays coming, why not relive seaside memories and make your own rockpool habitat out of recycled materials? We have some inspiration and ideas for you here, but you can let your imagination run wild and make creatures from crabs to sea anemones, starfish to periwinkles… Read on to discover rockpool … Continue reading Recycled Rockpool
It’s the summer, and so in the last of our posts celebrating National Marine Week we are having a go at our favourite beach holiday activity: rockpooling. Join Learning Officer Dr Roz Wade as she explores the animals living in the rockpools of the west coast of Scotland. Watch the feeding tentacles of sea anemones, the slow but steady movements of sea snails, darting fish, … Continue reading Pondwatch: Rockpools
Anna Guasco: Interdisciplinary Methods to Study Stories Told About Whales I’m Anna, the author of the blogs in this series for National Marine Week and a PhD student in the Department of Geography. I’m from the United States. What do I Study, why do I study it, and how did I come to study it? I study the stories people tell about historical and contemporary … Continue reading How to Study: Whales
In this blog series for National Marine Week, Geography PhD Student Anna Guasco describes the many ways Cambridge postgraduate researchers study life in the ocean. Here she interviews: Tamara Fernando: Marine Historical Ecology and Archival Methods Tamara is a PhD student in the Faculty of History. She is from Sri Lanka. Using a historian’s tools to explore these stories of underwater change, ecosystem variance, and … Continue reading How to Study: Pearls of the Past
In this blog series for National Marine Week, Geography PhD Student Anna Guasco describes the many ways Cambridge postgraduate researchers study life in the ocean. Here she interviews: Lily Bentley: Seabird Movement Ecology Lily Bentley is PhD Student in the Department of Zoology. She is from Australia. “We can’t hope to conserve or manage populations of animals that travel vast distances unless we know where … Continue reading How to Study: Seabirds
In this blog series for National Marine Week, Geography PhD Student Anna Guasco describes the many ways Cambridge postgraduate researchers study life in the ocean. Here she interviews: Frédérique Fardin: Mangroves, Fisheries, and Conservation Frédérique is a PhD student with the Department of Geography and the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre. She is an affiliated researcher with the Nippon Foundation Nereus Program and a … Continue reading How to Study: Coastal Ecosystems and Conservation
In this blog series for National Marine Week, Geography PhD Student Anna Guasco describes the many ways Cambridge postgraduate researchers study life in the ocean: Cambridge isn’t exactly known for marine life. Instead, when thinking of Cambridge, you might picture cows grazing in Midsummer Common or along the River Cam. Pathways winding along the Backs of the old Colleges. Weeping willows and wildflowers. Swans and … Continue reading How to Study Marine Life in the World’s Changing Seas
July 17-25 is National Moth Week 2021. To celebrate, we are revisiting a moth trap from 2020, and finding out more about some of the British moths in our collections with Research Assistant Matt Hayes. Why not join us at the BioBlitz in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 July to find out more about moth surveying and see some … Continue reading National Moth Week 2021
Conserving an endangered butterfly into the future: long term requirements of the Duke of Burgundy. Research Assistant at the Museum of Zoology Matt Hayes writes: Seeing butterflies on the wing is usually a sure-fire sign that warmer weather has arrived and for most of us, I hope they are a common sight on sunny days in spring and summer. In fact, one of my favourite … Continue reading The Duke of Burgundy Butterfly
We are working again with the Botanic Garden to try to count as many species as possible in 24 hours, and we would love you to join us. This year’s BioBlitz is taking place from 5pm on Friday 23 July to 5pm on Saturday 24 July. From hands-on wildlife surveying activities to natural history walks with experts at the top of their field, there is … Continue reading BioBlitz Cambridge 2021
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