Grant Museum of Zoology, London

Last Friday I travelled down to London for a PhD studentship interview. I didn't have much time in between travelling, so the only sight seeing I got done was a quick visit to the Grant Museum of Zoology. 

Walking through the doors of this museum, the first thing you see is a large jar filled to the brim with moles, letting you know that this museum is a bit different. Beautiful glass cases reaching up to the grand ceiling are full of various skeletons and interesting displays. 

I particularly enjoyed seeing the Jerboa skeleton with its impressively long legs, and the Tarsier skull with its huge eye sockets. There were also some really interesting additions to the typical zoology museum setup. 

The vast majority of animals are incredibly small, but most museum displays focus on larger animals. To highlight this, the Grant Museum of Zoology has a display called the "Micrarium" with large light panels displaying a large number of microscope slides of tiny animals. As you can see from the image below, it makes for a breathtaking display.

Another unique part of this museum were the art pieces by Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva dotted throughout the displays. These art pieces were parts of animals made into something new. The museum also had a lovely display of Blaschka glass models.

Overall I had a great time looking around the museum and I enjoyed the innovative and different things they were trying.