If you like dead things in jars, then I know the perfect place. At the Grant Museum of Zoology in London you will find cabinets filled with skeletons, taxidermy and specimens preserved in fluid.
Ever since I was a child I’ve had a fascination with dead things. I can remember going to the supermarket with my dad every Sunday for the weekly food shop and I’d see the fish laid out on a bed of crushed ice. When no-one was looking I’d reach out and poke their cold, jelly-like eyes and it gave me a thrill. It was like I expected the fish to come alive in response to a single human touch.
I also remember the times when I’d go to the beach with my family during school holidays and I’d spend the afternoon hunting for jellyfish that had washed up on the shore. On numerous occasions I had been warned to stay away from them but I couldn’t. Instead I devised my own logic and believed that they couldn’t possibly sting if they were dead and that’s how I dared myself to touch one.
To my surprise it didn’t sting me.
So feeling confident that I had dispelled an old myth about jellyfish I pick it up to show my parents. But the very moment my fingers touched underneath the jellyfish it got me! I screamed in pain and ran over to my parent’s for comfort. But I found little sympathy from them, instead replying with the words every person hates to hear, I told you so. Needless to say, I learnt my lesson and there have been no more cases of jelly-fish poking, but I do still have a great curiosity for dead things in all shapes and sizes.
Fast forward many years, and all these memories of running around looking for matters belonging to the underworld, and discovering all kinds of creatures came back to me when I visited London’s Museum of Zoology. 
Inside the Museum of Zoology
The museum was founded by Prof Robert Edmond Grant, who was one of the two people who introduced evolution to Charles Darwin. In fact, it was the first place in an English university where evolution was taught.
As you enter the unassuming doors, you enter a world full of creatures, many of which you never knew existed. The museum also contains 67,000 creatures, many rare and endangered species, including extinct animals, from the dodo to the Tasmanian Tiger.
A visit to the museum is a cool educational trip, it’s an opportunity to learn lots of awesome things about the weird and wonderful world of animals.
Found in Eastern Europe, Midwife toads carry their eggs around their legs to protect them from predators. Furthermore, when a Surinam toad gives birth, her eggs hatch out of her back – see the image further down!
It’s a science trip as well as a trip into the unknown recesses of Mother Nature. Cabinets are filled with jars containing creatures in formaldehyde (preservative fluid), many of which have been preserved for over 100 years. You’ll see baby pigs and moles crammed inside big glass jars; hundreds of different types of amphibians and animal skeleton heads.
Is it wrong to think these pickled pig embryos look cute?
Who knew anacondas had such, well… big bones? Am I the only person who believed snakes slithered around in a spineless state of being?
The Grant museum is only a small museum, no bigger than one room, but it’s packed with a dark world of creepy crawlies, slithering centipedes, and gross looking foetuses. This is a museum which will fright, excite and truly unlock the wonderful diversity of life. I dare you to enter…
The damage after child birth!! Now the prospect of having a child doesn’t seem so horrendous after I compare myself to this poor toad!!
And just in case you can’t envisage the birth, please watch this National Geographic video:
All I can say is that I’m glad I’m not female Surinam toad!
It’s easy to say, the Grant Museum of Zoology is the type of museum that will leave you gasping with excitement and disgust instead of yawning with boredom.
If you’d like to visit similar museums then check out the curiosities at Hunterian Museum in London and Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh you won’t be disappointed!
4 Responses
Ahh! Isn’t it lovely!? I’ve visited Kunstkamera, St Petersburg, Russia. Still have vivid images in my head 🙂
Wow I had not heard of Kunstkamera before, and it looks absolutely beautiful. I’m already dreaming about it! Thanks for the tip-off, it’s greatly appreciated especially since I’m planning a trip to St. Petersburg this year (fingers crossed). Kunstkamera will be one of the first places I visit fo’sho!
Wow! This is both scary and amazing! I wish I knew about it earlier when I lived in London, but for sure next time I travel there this is a must-see! Great blog, by the way 🙂
It’s a little scary gem isn’t it? Hope you stop by there when you’re next in London Sofia. It’s only a two minute walk away from Euston Station (maybe I should write this in the main body of my post… directions are always useful!).