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Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy

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Coordinates: 51°31′26″N 0°08′03″W / 51.5238°N 0.1343°W / 51.5238; -0.1343
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Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy
The exterior of the Grant Museum
Map
Established1828; 196 years ago (1828)
LocationUniversity Street
London, WC1
United Kingdom
TypeNatural history
Public transit accessLondon Underground Euston Square; Warren Street
National Rail Euston
WebsiteGrant Museum

The Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy is a natural history museum that is part of University College London in London, England. It was established by Robert Edmond Grant in 1828 as a teaching collection of zoological specimens and material for dissection. On his death Grant left his own collection to the museum. In 1875 Edwin Ray Lankester added to the museum collection. Later lecturer curators include W. F. R. Weldon (1860–1906), Edward Alfred Minchin, an embryologist named J. P. Hill and a palaeontologist named D. M. S. Watson. After 1948 the museum was under the care of professional curators.

The collection contains around 67,000 zoological specimens, many of which are very rare and several of which have been rediscovered only recently in storage.[1] The collection contains specimens from a number of former university collections, including specimens from Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London in addition to material from London Zoo and various London hospital comparative anatomy collections.[2]

In 2011, the museum moved from its previous location in the Darwin Building on the UCL campus to new quarters in the Thomas Lewis Room in the Rockefeller Building, formerly the UCL Medical School library.[3]

  • Megaloceros giganteus which was discovered hanging in an Irish hotel and then acquired by the museum
    Megaloceros giganteus which was discovered hanging in an Irish hotel and then acquired by the museum
  • Dodo bones which had been stored away for a century until being rediscovered in 2011 while the collection was moved to a new building
    Dodo bones which had been stored away for a century until being rediscovered in 2011 while the collection was moved to a new building
  • Quagga skeleton which was not identified as such until 1981
    Quagga skeleton which was not identified as such until 1981
  • Rhamphorhynchus fossil which was assumed to be a plaster cast, but turned out to be a real fossil
    Rhamphorhynchus fossil which was assumed to be a plaster cast, but turned out to be a real fossil

References

  1. ^ Kennedy, Maev (21 February 2011). "Half a Dodo Found in Museum Drawer". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  2. ^ "History of the Grant Museum". Grant Museum of Zoology. Grant Museum of Zoology UCL. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Moving the Grant Museum". GrrlScientist: Hosted by the Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 21 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
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