The Grant Museum of Zoology is one of my favourites in London. The building is very near the Euston UCL campus, which to my mind is about as quintessential as London university buildings get (although my own alma meter, Goldsmiths, looked nothing like this!). Anyway, as we know, I love animals and I am passionate about animal rights so the Museums slant on ecology and biodiversity is perfect for me.
One of the most emotive exhibits is on extinct animals which includes the fur and skeleton of a thylacine – otherwise known as the Tasmanian Tiger. This animal went in extinct in the 1930s and remarkably we have video footage which I’ve linked below. I remember first seeing this short video when I was about 16 and basically weeping for hours; I was so moved to be seeing an animal that simply no longer existed and will never walk the earth again. I find it so upsetting to think of how many thousands of years it takes for each species of animal to evolve, and in the short time we’ve been around we are just watching species die. It’s those thoughts that enforce my resolve to try and live in a green and ethical way.
I was also really interested in the wall of slides. As the description said there are tons and tons of creatures that are too small to house in a cabinet so a slide makes more sense; in practise the wall of slides is overwhelming to look at! The slide that stuck out most to me was this one of “helobdella stagnalis”. It’s a species of leech so not the most instagrammable, but I was weirdly moved by the mother leech and her babies on the slide alongside the description that babies were “carried”.
On a side note, these images are the first featuring my new lens! I also just wanted to mention my readers blog survey – if you haven’t taken part there’s just one week left to tell me what you think and I’d be so grateful!
TAPE PARADE 
Very interesting post, thank you.
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The museum looks so interesting, I’d love to visit some day! x
fashionismyfirstlanguage.blogspot.ie
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Wow seeing that footage really is heartbreaking. There has been so much damage to the world and the wildlife within it. Filled out the survey! Feel free to check out my survey on my site incase you haven’t already.
-M
http://www.violetroots.com
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This looks really interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a museum like this before. I’d love to visit if I’m ever in that part of the world :-)
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looks a bit like the natural history museum in Vienna, but one day I’ll visit this one as well :)
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Looks like such a great place to visit.
Lizzie Dripping
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I visited here back in June and I thought it was excellent! Places like these are so intriguing, and I think it’s so interesting that they can preserve animals in this way and help us understand so more about their anatomy! Beautiful photos xxx
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What a beautiful building! (And interior, of course.) My favourite types of museums are probably natural history – the natural world is so fascinating! Although I find it kind of difficcult to recncile my animal rights values with taxidermy. There’s something a little gruesome (yet totally interesting) about spending an afternoon looking at dead animals. I suppose it’s no different to looking at viking skeletons. The tasmanian tiger is so alien looking! It’s devastating that we humans are causing such destruction, I try not to think about it too much xx
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This is utterly fascinating, well done! I feel so was for the poor last Tasmanian tiger. But also blessed to have spotted him here, thank you for sharing.
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