polecat Copyright All rights reserved by StanHornagold

Bringing polecats back to Britain

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 Katie Sainsbury Department of Zoology “For my PhD, I researched ecological and social aspects of the changing status of polecats in Great Britain. Since almost being eradicated from Britain in the nineteenth century, polecats have been recolonising … Continue reading Bringing polecats back to Britain

saras9690July 23, 2020July 17, 2020Leave a comment

Wildlife from your Window

Mammals: Otters

Wednesday 27 May 2020 is World Otter Day. To celebrate, explore the otterly fabulous world of the Eurasian otter with us. Not an animal you will see from your window, but if you are very lucky you might see evidence of otters on a walk by your local river or lake. Measuring around a metre from nose to tail, the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra, is … Continue reading Mammals: Otters

rcw30May 27, 2020May 27, 20201 Comment

Nature Classroom

Jaws! Feeding Adaptations in Mammals

Animals have to eat. Unlike plants, we can’t make our own food. We can see that animals have lots of features geared up to making sure they don’t go hungry, from the senses that help them find food to the mouthparts that eat it and digestive system needed to break it down. In this Nature Classroom we will be exploring some of thefeeding adapations found … Continue reading Jaws! Feeding Adaptations in Mammals

rcw30May 18, 2020May 19, 20209 Comments

Our Changing Planet

Conserving Britain’s Carnivores

For International Women’s Day 2020, Dr Kate Sainsbiry of the Department of Zoology gave a fascinating talk about her research into the conservation of British carnivores. Populations of these charismatic animals have gone up and down over the years. Here you can discover why, and what has been and is being done to protect them. Here are some things to think about from watching this … Continue reading Conserving Britain’s Carnivores

rcw30May 12, 2020May 11, 20203 Comments

Nature Classroom

Animal Lifecycles

Spring is in the air. Birds are nesting, frogspawn is hatching, and insects are buzzing all around. To celebrate, why not try some of our activities all about animal lifecycles, inspired by the collections at the Museum of Zoology. We have arranged these activities by type of animal. Make nests and make a sock puppet to experiment with the colours of chick mouths in the … Continue reading Animal Lifecycles

rcw30April 27, 2020April 24, 20202 Comments

Photograph of a taxidermied nine-banded armadillo

Research Stories

Body temperature and life history in armadillos

Dr Robert Asher, our Curator of Vertebrates, is an evolutionary biologist based in the Department of Zoology, and Fellow of Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. In this video he shares a recent scientific paper on temperature and skeletal variation in the nine-banded armadillo. Continue reading Body temperature and life history in armadillos

rcw30April 17, 2020April 14, 2020Leave a comment

Wildlife from your Window

Mammalwatch: Squirrels

Roz Wade, Learning Officer at the Museum of Zoology, writes: Welcome to our first Mammalwatch post in Wildlife from your Window. We thought what better way to start than with a post about that terror of the bird feeder – the grey squirrel. The grey squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, is a familiar sight in our gardens. The body is around 25cm long, and the tail is … Continue reading Mammalwatch: Squirrels

rcw30April 17, 2020April 15, 20203 Comments

Wildlife from your Window

Open Your Window Bingo!

Open your window and watch the wildlife. Take part in Open Your Window Bingo! and turn your wildlife sightings into points. Keep a record of what you’ve seen and see how it changes over the coming weeks. Continue reading Open Your Window Bingo!

rcw30April 6, 2020February 1, 202113 Comments