The Grant Museum of Zoology is the last university zoological museum in London. It was established in 1828 by Robert Edmond Grant (1793-1874) to serve as a teaching collection at the newly founded University of London (later University College London). He was the first Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in England and upon arrival at the University found no teaching materials with which to conduct his courses. He immediately began to amass specimens, material for dissection, diagrams and lecture notes and these form the basis of the Museum today. The Museum has been in continuous use by students at UCL since 1828 and first opened to the public in 1996.

The Grant Museum has around 68,000 zoological specimens. Notable specimens include the world’s rarest skeleton, the quagga; thylacine specimens; dodo bones and fine collection of models including the Blaschka glass models, Ziegler wax models, and Vernon Edwards extinct fish models. The collection contains specimens from a number of former university collections such as Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London in addition to material from London Zoo and various London hospital comparative anatomy collections.

This free one-hour guided tour of the Grant Museum is exclusively available to UKAT Annual Conference delegates and will take place at 4pm on Monday 7 April. Registration is essential for this tour. You can join the tour by adding a free tour ticket to your conference registration.

Places are strictly limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.