Birds
View specimens ranging from a tiny hummingbird to a giant ostrich and meet the now extinct Mauritius dodo.
Our beautiful and varied collection of preserved specimens, which began in the eighteenth century, ranges from exotic birds threatened with extinction to more common blackbirds and swans. Instead of actively collecting, the Museum now focuses its work on a range of conservation projects.
The Mauritius dodo is probably the world’s most famous extinct bird. For 200 years it was thought there were two species – the Mauritius dodo and the white dodo of Réunion Island. But the white dodo was really an ibis.
With its feathers, teeth and long, bony tail, the Archaeopteryx is thought to be the link between modern birds and dinosaurs. You can see a cast of this rare fossil in our collection.
The kakapo parrot, largest and among the most rare of all parrots, is flightless and nocturnal. Native to New Zealand, where it lives in the mossy forests, it was nearly wiped out by predators brought by Europeans and is now being actively conserved.
Bird nests come in all shapes and sizes as our display shows, but they all have to provide a safe place for eggs to hatch. That means keeping out predators, such as snakes, as this baya weaver’s nest is designed to do.
Toolbox
The Museum's smallest members of staff are our flesh-eating beetles, Dermestes maculates, who strip carcasses to the bone.