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Science enquiries

This service is provided on a commercial basis although basic non-commercial enquiries from the public are answered free of charge as part of the Museum's public access provision.

However, a payment may be requested where there is significant staff, postal or other costs, or for multiple enquiries. The Museum welcomes donations to support the considerable costs of this free service. Please direct your enquiry to one of the following:

  • Analytical imaging facilities
  • Biodiversity Liaison Officer /Global Taxonomy Initiative National Focus Point email
  • Birds email, +44 (0) 20 7942 6158
  • Bird rings recovered email
  • Fossils email, Palaeontology enquiries 
  • Insects and spiders email, Insect Identification Services   
  • Minerals, gems, meteorites and geology email, Mineralogy enquiries   
  • Plants: The Department of Botany is currently preparing to relocate a large part of its collection to a new building, the new Darwin Centre. This is expected to take several months. Please be advised therefore that until further notice we are regrettably unable to respond to e-mail, telephone, postal or other enquiries, except where these relate specifically to our bluebells distribution project. We expect to resume a full enquiries service towards the end of 2009. Thank you for your patience.
Zoology
  • General zoology enquiries email, +44 (0) 20 7942 6146
  • Annelids email ,+44 (0) 20 7942 5567
  • Crustaceans email, +44 (0) 20 7942 5668
  • Fish email, +44 (0) 20 7942 5753
  • Mammals email, +44 (0) 20 7942 5487
  • Microbiology email +44 (0) 20 7942 5086
  • Mollusca email +44 (0) 20 7942 5210
  • Molecular biology email +44 (0) 20 7942 5571
  • Parasitic worms email +44 (0) 20 7942 5563
  • Reptiles email +44 (0) 20 7942 5561

For commercial enquiries, please see NHM Consulting

Response time

A response will normally be dispatched within five working days. Depending on the nature of the enquiry, it may be possible to provide a priority service with a rapid reply by fax or email for an extra fee.

Charges

For routine commercial enquiries there is a standard minimum fee (price upon enquiry), but there is a great variation in the amount of expert time, laboratory or other costs that may be required. Please contact us to be advised of the likely charge, and to define your requirements. VAT is chargeable on fees.

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