Birdle: wordle for bird-lovers
A word-based puzzle game where the answer is always a species of British bird. This can include migrant and visiting birds, or birds that stay all year-round. Have a go and share with your friends! How to play Guess the Birdle in 6 tries. Each guess must be a valid word, the answer will be the name of a bird that lives in the UK. … Continue reading Birdle: wordle for bird-lovers
In with the Insects Trail
For the Cambridge Festival 2022, follow the trail around the Museum to find out about insects and plants and how they evolve together. Follow the trail on your device below, or download and print to take with you here: Follow on your device… Flowering plants often need the help of insects to share pollen to create seeds. Insects carry pollen from one flower to another, … Continue reading In with the Insects Trail
Butterflies Through Time: Researcher’s stories
The Butterflies Through Time Project aims to link historical museum collections with contemporary conservation, bringing people closer to the natural world in the process. To celebrate the launch of the Butterflies Through Time exhibition, we have invited some of the researchers featured in the exhibition to speak more about their research. Our ‘researcher’s stories’ series will be a set of talks from six different butterfly researchers … Continue reading Butterflies Through Time: Researcher’s stories
A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
If you visit the Museum of Zoology Butterflies through Time exhibition (from 15 March – September 2022), you will be greeted by a magnificent collaborative artwork created by children from three Cambridgeshire Schools – The Grove Primary in Cambridge, Lantern Primary in Ely and Lionel Walden Primary in Doddington – led by artist Eleanor Chaney. Find out more about Eleanor and her project The Library … Continue reading A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
Celebrating Women in Science
For International Women’s Day 2022, the Museum of Zoology hosted a special online event featuring four brilliant female scientists based in the Department of Zoology talking about their research and inspiration, all on a theme of animal evolution. Here you can find the recording of this event: This event was run on Zoom on Tuesday 8 March 2022. Here is a running order of the … Continue reading Celebrating Women in Science
Build a Dormouse Den
Gather up your blankets, sheets and cushions to build a nest fit for a dormouse. Join the Museum of Zoology to discover how dormice create a cosy winter hide-away and have a go at creating your own giant nest, big enough for you to take a nap in. Dicover more about dormice nest building behaviour from The People’s Trust for Endangered Species: Can dormouse nests reveal more about their … Continue reading Build a Dormouse Den
Birdsong in Early Spring
For Twilight with the Museums this year, the Museum of Zoology worked with other Museums across Cambridge to develop a digital sleepover – activities that families could do together at home inspired by the Museums’ collections. As part of this, our Curator of Birds Dr Daniel Field and learning officer Dr Roz Wade ventured out early one morning in February to see which birds were … Continue reading Birdsong in Early Spring
Giraffes: celebrating LGBTQ+ history month
February is LGBTQ+ History Month and to celebrate the Museum of Zoology is sharing the story of giraffes and the work of scientist Anne Innis Dagg. Read on for our tutorial on how to create your own rainbow giraffe fabric, perfect for your next sewing project! When we see wild animals behaving in a particular way, one of the first things we ask is ‘why?’. … Continue reading Giraffes: celebrating LGBTQ+ history month
Penguin Puppets
Did you know that January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day? At the Museum of Zoology we have a number of penguins on display, from the handsome emperor penguin standing over a metre tall to the little penguin at closer to 30cm tall, and rockhopper penguin with its plumes of feathers sweeping back on top of its head. These are just three of the 18 species … Continue reading Penguin Puppets
Winter Waterbirds
Look out of your window and you may be looking on trees bare of leaves, and missing the comforting buzz of summer insects or dazzling colour of a butterfly wing. But not all wildlife is dormant over the winter. Although you may think it is cold in the UK, our islands provide a balmy respite for many birds that breed further north in the Arctic. … Continue reading Winter Waterbirds
Winter Wildlife: conservation storytelling
For Winter Wildlife 2021, members of the Zoology Club (13-18 year olds) met to discover and write about bird migration and the threats of climate change to migratory species. See the stories they created at the bottom of this post, or continue below to create your own story. Why migratory bird species? Scientists have calculated that climate change has affected around ⅓ of all UK … Continue reading Winter Wildlife: conservation storytelling
Winter Wildlife: Colourful Present Wraps
Everyone likes to experience the surprise of opening a gift from a loved one. Over the holiday period the United Kingdom alone throws away enough wrapping paper to reach the moon! That’s a lot of gift-giving but also a lot of waste. Last year we shared how you can create recyclable festival wrapping paper at home to help save on landfill waste. This year, we’re … Continue reading Winter Wildlife: Colourful Present Wraps
Winter Wildlife: Who Should Pull Santa’s Sleigh?
We all know that Santa has a team of reindeer to pull his sleigh around the globe on Christmas Eve delivering presents. But are reindeer really the best animals for the job? In this Nature Classroom post, we do the maths together to work out what is needed from these magical animals, and compare it with some of the wonders of nature. Why not combine … Continue reading Winter Wildlife: Who Should Pull Santa’s Sleigh?
Winter Wildlife: Wonderful Waxwings
Our Young Zoologists Club members have been busy creating a waxwing irruption to feature in our Winter Wildlife: ZoologiCOOL livestream on December 1st. Why not make one yourselves at home and join in when you see these models flapping on screen. They are quite simple to make and don’t require any special materials or equipment. Just download the template and follow the instructions below to … Continue reading Winter Wildlife: Wonderful Waxwings
Winter Wildlife: ZoologiCOOL
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
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