Top 10 Museum event news stories from 2010

From the arrival of a rare angle shark, sperm whale and colossal squid, to bringing extinct creatures back to life in front of your eyes, here are the top 10 favourite news stories about events at the Natural History Museum from our website in 2010

The Museum's interactive film Who do you think you really are? uses cutting edge technology to bring the evolutionary past to life in front of your eyes

1. Winning wildlife photos 2010 announced, October

The top news story was the announcement of the winners of the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The winning photo was the striking A marvel of ants by Bence Máté and images from the competition go on display each year in the exhibition at the Museum.

2. Cherry tree survey launches, April

The 2nd most popular story was the launch of the first UK cherry tree survey. People around the UK were asked to help Museum scientists collect important information about 9 different species of cherry tree and the survey was part of a bigger Urban tree survey launched later on in the year.

3. Museum brings extinct creatures to life before your eyes, November

A new interactive film Who do you think you really are? launched in the Museum’s Darwin Centre, was the 3rd favourite news. Guided by Sir David Attenborough, the film uses cutting edge technology to bring Coelophysis, and Homo erectus to life, in a story about evolution.

Penguin stabilisers help young skaters on the Natural History Museum's magical ice rink

4. Rare angel shark arrives at Museum, July

A rare and endangered angel shark caught in the Bristol Channel was brought to the Museum, by car, by Museum scientists. It was a valuable addition to the fish collection of around half a million specimens.

5. Museum ice rink opens with help from penguins, November

Young skaters got extra help this year at the Museum’s spectacular ice rink, with penguin stabilisers, in this 5th most popular story.

6. Colossal squid joins Museum tour, April

The 6th most popular story was about a colossal squid joining the Museum’s giant squid ‘Archie’ in the Museum’s spirit collections tours. Visitors can get a glimpse of some of the 27km of shelves of preserved specimens in these popular tours in the Darwin Centre.

7. Sperm whale arrives for the Deep Sea exhibition, April

The 7th favourite story was about the arrival of a 7-metre sperm whale model for the Museum’s summer exhibition, the Deep Sea, all the way from Berlin, Germany.

8. Skulls and maggots prepared for Friday night out, September

Behind-the-scenes specimens, like this Tower of London lion skull, on display for the Science uncovered event in September 2010.

This story was about an exciting one-night Science uncovered event at the Museum. Over 50 Museum scientists took part in activities, bringing out special specimens from behind the scenes, in this hugely popular after hours event.

9. Big-eyed horny caterpillar sightings up, September

Number 9 was about sightings of the big-eyed horny caterpillar that alarmed some enquirers to the Museum's Identification and Advisory Service. The striking insect was the harmless elephant hawkmoth.

10. Stars on ice at Museum rink for new Xbox 360 Kinect, November

Last on this list was news about singer Leona Lewis and boy band The Wanted performing at the launch of the Kinect for Xbox 360 on the Museum’s ice rink.

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