Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The giant armadillo is native to South America and despite their large size (20-33kg) their favourite prey are ants and termites. These animals can use their sharp front claws to dig into not only ant and termite nests, but to dig up small animal burrows and even to break into bee hives.

Pedicure day! We are so grateful to our volunteers who have been working to clean up the bottoms of the statues and the capitols on the ground floor. These features have intricate details perfect for catching dust! But fear not, our statues officially all have the cleanest toes in Oxford.

Have you visited our free exhibition FAIR WATER? yet?

Water has the power to hold our lives in the balance. Issues of water insecurity impact not only humans but also freshwater species, including the Ganges River Dolphin, Helicopter Catfish, and the fish and insects native to Britain's waterways. Discover how communities and engineers in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh are working to provide access to drinking water and protection against hazards like floods and droughts. With striking photography from Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh, the exhibition reveals how life without clean water has an especially great impact on women's lives and futures.

In our new Amazonian Rainforest display you can find a poison dart frog (Ranitomeya amazonica ) sitting on the leaf of a Bromeliad. These small frogs will lay their eggs on the leaves of the bromeliad and use the small pools of water in the centre of these epiphytic plants to rear their young.

These frogs also conduct asymmetric reproduction, where the male takes care of the young and protects the territory, leaving the female free to roam the forest.

A stalactite is a type of speleothem, a word derived from the Greek words spelaion (cave) and thema (deposit). Stalactites, like the one pictured here, and stalagmites are both speleothems. Stalactites grow down from cave ceilings, whereas stalagmites grow up from the ground.

As water seeps through the ceiling of a cave it picks up carbon dioxide gas which creates carbonic acid. As this acid passes through the cracks in limestone caves, the mineral calcite is dissolved and redeposited on the cave walls when the water drops are exposed to air.

Have you seen our giant anteater has returned to the main court? After heading behind the scenes while we installed our new Present Day Ecosystems run of cases, they are back out in our Amazon Rainforest case.

This small, silky anteater is a blast from the past. This illustration is from our old teaching and display collection, which lives in our archive. The silky anteater is the smallest anteater in the world at about 180-400 grams while giant anteaters can reach 40 kilograms!

What does this lizard have to do with Ozempic?

Meet the Gila monster (pronounced hee-la), a native of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts. This venomous lizard will spend more than 90% of it's life in a burrow below the ground. Some Gila monsters will dug their own burrows using sharp claws, but others will utilise burrows created by others species or naturally occurring in rocky crevices.

This species use their venom largely for defensive purposes, as their favourite foods like the eggs of birds, tortoises, and snakes, are unlikely to fight back. The chemical composition of the venom has been widely studied and has even inspired drugs for diabetes and weight loss, one such drug called semaglutide, is known by the brand name Ozempic. This drug made news in the United States as shortages of Ozempic, a Type 2 diabetes medication, occurred after it was touted as be a popular weight-loss medication.

Did you know that the Museum is available to hire for the wedding of your dreams? Want a beautiful Victorian room with painted ceiling and dramatic windows? Try our Westwood room.

Prefer to get married underneath the dinosaurs? We can accommodate that too! Check out our website for more details about the Museum as a venue for your next event.

Coelacanths were once thought to have gone extinct some 65 million years ago, that is until one appeared in a fisherman's net in 1938 and was identified by Miss Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer.

According to the fossil record there were once some 90 known species of coelacanth, but today only 2 are known to have survived the last 360 million years (when they first appeared in the fossil record). These fish are unique amoung other living fishes and have a 'rostral organ' which allows for electrosensory and a intracranial joint in the skull which allows the mouth to open very wide. Neither of these characteristics exist in any other living vertebrate.

Then and Now

We first opened our doors in 1860, and we have evolved since then, along with the role of museums in society. When we first opened the Museum also housed the science departments for the University with the collections displayed to cater to university students and academics. Today we are still a leading centre for research, but our Museum displays now aim to teach everyone about the wonders of the natural world.

Come visit to see our new displays, which are almost complete, and visit our Please Touch tables!

First photo circa 1860-1890, second image from 2024

Last week we showed you a painted, paper butterfly in our collections. It was believed to have been created by William Jones who notoriously painted over 1,200 butterflies and moths into a compendium only published for the first time in 2021. The book, which is a collection of the six original volumes in our library, is called Iconotypes in recognition of the 231 species which were first described to science (by Fabricius) through his illustrations.

This ‘vivianite’ was made by gluing a billiard cue chalk to a rock by the head porter of the Museum in the 1980s as a practical joke. We have several items in our mineral collections that were created or ‘enhanced’ by individuals, some created with the intent to deceive, rather than this joke played by fellow staff members.

Swipe right to see the genuine vivianite specimen.

Did you know we have a Yeti specimen in the Museum? Well, not really… Scientist Osmond Hill had an interest in cryptozoology (the study of unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated) and collected these hair specimens from around the world, believing that some came from a Yeti. Some of these were later identified as different animal species such as rodents. However, some of the hair samples are so degraded they can no longer be identified.

HIRING

Are you keen to develop your event management skills and share a passion for biodiversity?

This summer, Oxford University Museum of Natural History will be running a combined WaterBlitz and BioBlitz in partnership with a number of other institutions and societies interested in natural environments and biodiversity.

To learn more and apply please visit: https://oumnh.web.ox.ac.uk/bioblitz-event-manager

What makes a specimen authentic? When a fake not meant to fool, is it really a fake at all?

Look once and you might miss it – tucked away in our insect collections is a Clifton Nonpareil moth (Catocala fraxini) looking subtly different from the other individual it sits besides. This species of moth is one of the largest native to Britain went extinct in the UK in the 1960s, but has begun to re-establish itself from immigrant moths from mainland Europe.

William Jones, author of the Iconotypes series featuring over 1,500 watercolours of butterflies and moths, is believed to have painted the specimen on the left, made of paper wings glued on top of another species of moth from the Catocala genus. These moths were incredibly rare during Jones life (1745-1818) so it is likely he painted this as an example to house alongside is other collections.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM BUCKLAND!

In case we haven’t shouted about it enough... Oxford Prof William Buckland wrote the first ever scientific description of a dinosaur!

He described Megalosaurus using fossils such as the iconic jawbone in our collection.

Following a recent acquisition, OUMNH is now home to the largest and most important collections of material relating to William Buckland. The Buckland Archive consists of correspondence, geological notes and family papers, notebooks, watercolours, prints, photographs and more!

Spend the day with natural dye specialist Kate Turnbull, learning how to dye fabric using locally foraged plants and kitchen biowaste in the Museum.

This hands-on workshop will also guide you through ways in which you can reduce water consumption during the dyeing process, and use your exhausted dye baths to colour additional fabrics and eventually compost back into your garden to enrich your soil.

All materials will be provided, and you will get to take your work home with you.

Find more information on the What’s On section of our website, or visit the link in our bio.

We are celebrating 200 years of Dinosaur science here at the Museum, where we are home to the fossils used to describe the Megalosaurus bucklandii by William Buckland on this day in 1824.

While the term ‘dinosaur’ would not come into usage for nearly another 20 years, the Megalosaurus was the first animal described from what would one day be the wonderful group of dinosaurs that have captured the fascination of many.

We are celebrating with activities and tours of our Megalosaurus treasures as well as items from our Buckland archive.

Volunteer Emma Coleman-Jones supplied this beautiful weaving made from (a copy of) the original paper from 1824 in fragments and showing tantalising words relating to the discovery. We’ll be showing you more megalosaurus inspired art from our volunteers over the coming weeks.

Have something to say about Megalosaurus? Use to join in the party!

The Oxford Dinosaur that started it all...

Happy 200th Birthday Megalosaurus bucklandii!

in 1824, William Buckland presented Megalosaurus at a Geological Society of London meeting...

Little did Buckland know, he had just identified the first of a group of animals that would later become known as 'the dinosaurs'.

Learn more about Megalosaurus and 200 years of dinosaur science in Oxford

Megalosaurus Discover 200 years of dinosaur science, starting in the collections at OUMNH

We're gearing up to celebrate 200 Years of Megalosaurus bucklandii at the Museum, next Tuesday. We will have free (booking required!) behind the scenes tours of Buckland treasures and the original Megalosaurus fossil, and an evening with drinks and chats with researchers!

The first dinosaur was named 200 years ago. We know so much more now On Feb. 20, 1824, English naturalist and theologian William Buckland addressed the Geological Society of London, describing an enormous jaw and limb bones unearthed in a slate quarry in the village of Stonesfield near Oxford.

Want to learn more about our summer Undergraduate Bursary Projects? Attend the online information session 9 Feb.

https://oumnh.web.ox.ac.uk/registration-2024-bursary-online-information-session

Verdigris is a green corrosion often found on old pins within entomology collections (as well as elsewhere, on things like statues and copper pipes).

Verdigris forms when copper or a copper alloy reacts with water, oxygen, carbon dioxide or sulphur. While a beautiful shade of green, the substance is damaging in natural history collections, where it can actually develop inside specimens.

Verdigris is often attributed with entomological collections, coming from the copper alloy pins used to secure specimens in place. However, verdigris can be found anywhere copper or copper alloys were used in specimen mounts.

Katherine Child, illustrator, created her own paint using verdigris from the Museum’s collections while she was working as an image technician. It took three years of collecting, and was finally able to paint this collection of moths and other insects.

If you have visited our FAIR WATER? Exhibition, on now, you might have seen the Ganges river dolphin, which received care and cleaning before going out on display.
A copper alloy support was used in this osteology specimen, which ultimately resulted in verdigris building up in the vertebrae. The specimen was cleaned and repaired by our life conservator, Jackie, and is now on display.

Danielle, our librarian-in-chief, pulled out some treasures from our William Buckland collection to show staff members. We recently acquired another large set of letters and other materials to better round out our Buckland Archive.

This year we are also celebrating the 200 year anniversary of Buckland’s announcement of the first scientifically described dinosaur (megalosaurus). Keep your eyes on our website and social pages to see when we will start opening this collection up to celebrate this amazing anniversary.

Applications are NOW OPEN!

The Undergraduate Bursary Scheme provides students from underrepresented backgrounds with 5-6 weeks of hands-on work experience in a museum.

Projects cover natural sciences research, museum collections management, and public engagement with science.

The bursary also includes: a £3000 stipend, free housing provided by the Museum. The closing deadline to apply is Feb 22, please share!

Find out more on our website or check the link in our bio

EVENT CANCELLED - Join us on 23 January (6pm) to hear from Dr Kevin Grecksch about global water security and what this means for people around the world.

Dr Grecksch is a social scientist who specialises in analytical aspects of governance, particularly with regards to water and climate change adaptation.