Collecting and conserving

Find out everything you need to know to become an amateur bug collector. What equipment should you use? Which colours attract flies? And why is leopard dung useful?! Also, learn about the history of butterfly and moth collection, including stories from recent Natural History Museum expeditions around the world.

Discovering butterflies in Colombia

Find out about a Museum curator's fieldwork in Colombia that involved camping in the mountains and discovering a new species of butterfly.
Museum butterfly collection stories

Phil Ackery discusses the Museum’s extensive collection of butterflies and collecting expeditions of the past.
Big Trees, Small Moths: A Taxonomist's Rainforest Odyssey

Museum entomologist Gaden Robinson discusses his expeditions to the jungles of West Malaysia and Brunei.
Rhinoceros beetle CT scan

Watch this short video of rhinocerous beetle images captured by the Museum's state-of-the-art scanning technology.