We are excited to announce that this year’s BioBlitz will be taking place in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden from 5pm on Saturday 19 September to 5pm on Sunday 20 September. During this 24 hours we will be counting as many species as we can in the garden. You can take part by visiting the garden and adding your data to the Cambridge BioBlitz 2020 … Continue reading BioBlitz 2020 at the Botanic Garden
Swastika Issar, PhD student, writes: “I’ve always been fascinated by how new species can emerge from the way populations adapt to their local environments. For my PhD, I worked on the burying beetles. These incredible insects turn the carcass of a small vertebrate, such as a bird or a mammal, into an edible nest for their larvae. I was interested in studying how local adaptations … Continue reading Studying evolution through the specialisations of burying beetles
Have you noticed some of the amazing insect life living around us this summer? Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology has been keeping a photo diary of insects this year. Here it continues with some lovely metallic insects, a stone-like bush cricket, and some fabulous action shots: You can see more of Bill’s photographs on the blog: An Insect A Day for bee … Continue reading An Insect A Day Part 11
Stanley Quek, an MPhil student focusing on assessing the effectiveness of the Nature Ways network in Singapore, writes: Singapore is an island country in the biodiverse region of Southeast Asia. Singapore is also a large city, with urban landscapes dominating the island. In the past, Singapore was completely covered with dense primary forests and mangroves, however, much of that has been lost with the development … Continue reading Singapore’s Nature Ways
Join us every Tuesday as we make an alphabet from the animals in the Museum of Zoology. Today is the letter R: R is for rhinoceros, robin, reindeer, red admiral, raccoon, razorbill and red panda. Can you think of any others? Join us next week as we explore the animals in the Museum beginning with the letter S – including something that moves very slowly… Continue reading Animal Alphabet: R is for Rhinoceros
Beetles are insects, which means that their body is made up of three parts; a head, a thorax and an abdomen. Antennae are found on the head, and six legs attach to the thorax in the middle. If a beetle has wings for flying, they are usually found protected underneath a hard carapace on the abdomen. Beetles come in many different shapes and sizes. Discover … Continue reading Build a Beetle
Sara Steele, Museum learning assistant says: With 400,000 named species of beetle found across the world and over 4,000 species in the British Isles, beetles are a diverse bunch even among invertebrates. They come in all shapes and sizes, from long and thin soldier beetles to rounded ladybirds. This diversity points in part to their distribution; being found in every habitat except the sea and … Continue reading Basking Beetles
Have you been following the insect photo diary of Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology? Here it continues with beautiful butterflies, unusual moths, and surprising flies. You can see more of Bill’s photographs on the blog: An Insect A Day for bee fly, orange tip buttefly and parasitic wasp. An Insect A Day continues for scorpion fly, shield bug and click beetle. An … Continue reading An Insect A Day Part 10
Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology continues his insect photo diary with soe wonderful portraits of damselflies, a bush cricket, and images of predation in action as a spider and a robber fly feast on hoverflies. You can see more of Bill’s photographs on the blog: An Insect A Day for bee fly, orange tip buttefly and parasitic wasp. An Insect A Day … Continue reading An Insect A Day part 9
Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology continues his insect photo diary with a beautiful longhorn beetle, a selection of fascinating flies, and a wonderfully camouflaged caterpillar. You can see more of Bill’s photographs on the blog: An Insect A Day for bee fly, orange tip buttefly and parasitic wasp. An Insect A Day continues for scorpion fly, shield bug and click beetle. An … Continue reading An Insect a Day Part 8
To celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month the Museum is sharing the stories of 27 inspirational women, alongside the animals they work with the most. Dr. Sarah Luke Department of Zoology “I am interested in the effects of habitat change on biodiversity, and development of possible strategies for conservation. My current work is based in oil palm plantations in Indonesia where we are … Continue reading Restoring river borders for biodiversity
Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology continues his insect photo diary with a portrait of a beautiful pearly lacewing, butterflies, damselflies, hoverflies and more. You can see more of Bill’s photographs on the blog: An Insect A Day for bee fly, orange tip buttefly and parasitic wasp. An Insect A Day continues for scorpion fly, shield bug and click beetle. An Insect A … Continue reading An Insect A Day Part 7
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Zoology Live! last week. Your questions for our experts were wonderful, and we all really enjoyed sharing our love of wildlife with you. We would love to know what you thought of the event. Please do complete our online survey: Please note that the survey prize draw for a Wildlife Explorer Kit has already taken place. The … Continue reading Zoology Live! A Wonderful Week of Wildlife
Did you join us for Zoology Live last week? We had a wonderful week talking to experts about local wildlife, and finding out how we might watch the nature on our doorsteps. In this Nature Classroom we will be taking a look back at some of the things we learnt last week, from interviews with wildlife experts to insect surveys and more. These activities support … Continue reading Zoology Live! Nature Classroom
Welcome back to the final day of our online Zoology Live festival. We hope you have enjoyed our week of wildlife. Today we have a series of short YouTube Live events, where we will be sharing this week’s wildlife findings and more with you. 11am: Moth Trap results! Museum Research Assistant Matt Hayes will be showing us the results of his moth trap, and will … Continue reading Zoology Live Day 6: A Week of Wildlife
Museum of Zoology Blog 