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
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
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
Storyteller Marion Leeper takes us on a journey around the Museum of Zoology gallery with Chicken Licken. Who might she meet? Made with ages 0-5 years in mind, all ages welcome. This video has been created as part of the Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival 2021 Discover more tales from Marion Leeper in Love Stories for the Earth There’s plenty more to explore from the … Continue reading Chicken Licken with Marion Leeper
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
Please note that the Breaking Point exhibition has now ended. These resources remain here to be stand-alone and hope to still spark conversations around conservation, plastics and the natural world. Explore our Breaking Point exhibition with dementia friendly resources. These resources have been created in partnership with Dementia Compass, for adults with dementia and their care partners in mind. While they were initially created for participants … Continue reading Portals to the World: Exploring Breaking Point
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Go on safari in Cambridge’s green spaces to discover the plants and animals that live in these city centre wildlife havens. Follow the map and clues below to discover the wildlife of central Cambridge. Our Wildlife Safari Trail can be followed on a smartphone here, downloaded to your own device, or printed at home before your journey: Use the Cambridge Wildlife Safari map and the clues below to find … Continue reading Cambridge Wildlife Safari Trail
Join us online for this year’s Zoology Live! Festival. We were live on YouTube at 7pm every evening from Wednesday 30 June to Friday 2 July. Missed it? Fear not – you can still catch up on all the livestreams. Just scroll down and you can find them in this blog post. You can also take part in our challenges all summer. This year we … Continue reading Zoology Live! 30 June – 2 July 2021
May 10-16 2021 is Mental Health Awareness Week. Spending time in nature has been shown to have huge benefits for our mental health, reducing stress and anxiety as well as improving physical wellbeing. While being out in the wilds of the countryside, up high on a mountain or down by the sea provide us with wonderful experiences of the natural world, don’t despair if you … Continue reading Solace In Nature
Sunday 2 May 2021 is International Dawn Chorus Day. To celebrate, we went out early one morning in late April to Coldham’s Common in Cambridge with ornithologist Dr Rob Pople to record the birds singing as the sun was rising. Here you can watch highlights of our dawn chorus walk, and listen to the main species singing with tips on how to recognise them. Why … Continue reading Dawn Chorus Day 2021
Museum Research Assistant Matt Hayes writes: With many of us currently having to work from home, spending our days sitting and staring at screens, it is important to take breaks, get up and look to the outside world when we can. Since lockdown, the kitchen table has become my new office and I am very lucky to have a small garden, which the kitchen backs … Continue reading Five minutes in nature: Tea break window watching
Museum Volunteer Anne French writes: Cherry Hinton Hall park, a short walk from where I live, is blessed with a chalk stream that used to power a water mill. The chalk stream supports many forms of wildlife such as kingfishers, water voles, sticklebacks, chubb and perch. But recently, I have found myself heading down there to see some birds I thought were terns but it … Continue reading Five minutes in nature: Black-headed gulls at Cherry Hinton Hall
Join us as we explore five species with Museum staff and Department of Zoology researchers, then have a go at a different art activity inspired by the featured animals. These videos and resources have been created in partnership with Dementia Compass, for adults with dementia and their care partners in mind. While they were initially created for participants of our Portals to the World course, … Continue reading Portals to the World: resources for adults with dementia and their care partners
With the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch taking place from the 29-31 January, we have chosen to celebrate our fine feathered friends with a special Nature Classroom all about British birds. We will be uncovering what it is to be a bird, unfurling an amazing world of feathers, and creating a key together for common garden birds. Get your eye in by trying some of our … Continue reading Our Feathered Friends
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