Collections

The whale hall at the Natural History Museum undergoes a deep clean.

Take a virtual tour of the Natural History Museum and explore the astonishing diversity of the natural world.

The private collections of Sir Hans Sloane formed the basis of the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the British Library.

Our scientists have contributed papers on everything from deep sea diversity to marsupial evolution. 

Fossils are physical evidence of prehistoric animals and plants, but there may be more to them than you ever realised. 

Welcome to the next era of natural history collections. 

Discover the contribution of Black people to the field of natural history.

It takes time, endless patience and skill to transform a fossil into a museum-worthy exhibit. 

Our new Women in Science: Women of Colour Tour tells some inspiring stories.

More surprising is that the vast majority of herpetology records are unsexed.

Trilobites survived for more than 250 million years. But what made them some of the most successful early animals?

Sharks have been around for millions of years. Their teeth are some of the most common fossils you can find.

If you know what you’re looking at, little bits of bone can add up to something big. 

Only four confirmed specimens are known to science.

Discover seven highlights from our exhibition Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur and uncover the secrets of the largest known animal to have ever walked the planet. 

Our scientists are looking for a rock that formed so long ago it was on Earth before complex life lived on land. 

An array of charming specimens collected from South Asia.

Our South Asian scientists share their research and their favourite specimen.

Explore our collections and discover some of the many specimens you won't see on a regular visit to the Museum. 

The Cretaceous Period is famous for ending with a massive asteroid impact, but what was our planet like in the millions of years before that?

A serendipitous discovery revealed that a beautiful mineral has been hiding a secret for over 170 years.

The specimens and objects held in museums around the world represent an astonishing resource. 

The Museum's new, free Women in Science: Palaeontology tour tells some inspiring stories of women in science.

Find out why dung beetles eat poo and how some use the Sun and stars when they travel. 

Dürer's woodcut print of a rhinoceros is as iconic as it is inaccurate. In this article we explore the legacy of this infamous artwork and how it shaped thinking on its subject for more than 200 years after its creation.

A new study reveals that there are many ways these animals bore through solid rock, but a lack of habitat may lock them into an evolutionary dead end.

Did you know that flies have been helping us solve crimes for hundreds of years?

It has never been more important to describe as much of the natural world as possible.

Two Museum experts highlight the stories and science behind some of our most festive flora.  

Discover the inspiration and concept behind the installation and gain a deeper understanding of what's on display.

A new species of extinct lizard has been described from the Museum's collections. 

Catch up on season one of our interactive behind-the-scenes live stream.

Frog lenses develop differently depending on what environment they will live in as adults.

The study could help in predicting how species will respond to the rapidly changing environment.

A large part of the asteroid belt may have been formed out on the fringes of the Solar System.

A new project aims to use the Museum's historic collections to investigate how the genome of wheat has changed.

Our new, free Women in Science: Space Tour explores the lives of women who've contributed to the study of space.

Researchers have caught a glimpse of the cosmos just two million years after the formation of the solar system.

Sometimes reminding ourselves of a conservation failure can be just as important as celebrating our successes.

Female wildebeest are engaged in an evolutionary arms race - but scientists aren't sure why. 

Over a century ago, one of the most important scientific expeditions in history departed from the UK to explore the oceans of the world. 

An insect last seen in 1869 has sung again, which could help give researchers clues about where the insect might still be living.

The days of the most distinctive bird species could be numbered as the most unusual forms bear the brunt of global extinctions.  

Digitising Museum collection leads to rediscovering a moth collected by Richard Owen

Fossil bones and antlers in the Museum's collection hold clues about the life and disappearance of Europe's biggest ever deer.

Think you know shells? The ones you see at the beach are just the tip of the iceberg. 

The specimen is currently on display at the Museum in the Minerals gallery.

Plankton which help feed the ocean, lock away carbon dioxide and even influence the weather may not be as vulnerable to climate change as feared.

Understanding how bats, which are one of nature's largest disease reservoirs, have changed over time can help scientists to identify new disease hotspots.

The tropics have long been perceived as being a riot of colour.

The Museum's new, free Women in Science tour tell some inspiring stories of women in science.

Walter Rothschild acquired animals from all over the world to study and display at his museum.

John James Audubon was a self-taught ornithologist and artist. He was also a contradictory figure.

The digitisation of these collections could be worth two billion pounds to the global economy.

A century ago, the era of 'heroic' Antarctic endeavours came to an end as the Quest expedition made its way home.

Elusive yellow butterfly from isolated Colombian mountain rediscovered twice.

New 3D scans of soft tissue show how ammonites functioned.

Dippy the Diplodocus is coming home to the Museum after a tour that saw them meet over two million new friends around the UK.

The economic benefit of digitising an entire museum collection has been quantified for the first time.

Climate change could leave birds and their eggs unprepared for the extreme weather being thrown at them. 

The rare natural black diamond was on display from October 2021 to April 2022.

As you're taxiing to the runway, spare a thought for what the impact of your flight might be.

Understanding the extraordinary diversity and differences between insects can help us figure out how these species evolved.

Take a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation work undertaken for the Fantastic Beasts™: The Wonder of Nature exhibition.

Many animals are very difficult to spot in the wild. Get to know some of nature's most elusive creatures.

Find out what eDNA is and how it can be used for conservation. 

It is the first meteorite fall to have been recovered in the UK for 30 years.

Data on three bat families will be released on an open platform and made available to researchers all over the world.

The algae could also be of interest in developing new drugs. 

Last year an expedition to the Mariana Trench made history by conducting the deepest crewed dive ever.

New 50p coin collection honours fossil hunter Mary Anning.

The often tightly wound shells of ammonites may be a familiar sight, but how much do you know about the animals that once lived inside?

A pristine pair of ancient beetles were discovered in the Museum collection. They date back nearly 4,000 years.

One species is known only from a single specimen in the Museum's collection. 

New minerals from the UK are very rare. 

Miranda Lowe makes it onto BBC's Woman's Hour Power List 2020.

The most remote inhabited island in the world has become one of the biggest wildlife sanctuaries on the planet.

The Popa langur lives on an extinct volcano in Myanmar.

If you can't get out to the beach to find fossils, why not make your own ammonites instead?

Discover more about the people behind the headlines and how they have been overlooked by the history books. 

John Edmonstone was a former enslaved man who taught the young Charles Darwin the skill of taxidermy.

Canisius Kayombo is a remarkable researcher who is enriching our understanding of plants and science.  

Before Instagram pet accounts and dog-related memes were a thing, Wolverley Chummie was a bona fide four-legged superstar.

The first taxonomically verified checklist of the plants of New Guinea is complete.

These exhibits all have a story rooted in London, from the banks of the River Thames to Trafalgar Square and all the way to the Tower of London. 

Gilbert White's talent and passion for observing and recording nature inspired many future naturalists, including Charles Darwin.

Who is looking after the collections while the Museum is in lockdown?

It was once widely believed that ammonites were coiled snakes turned magically to stone.

Discover how we're helping some of the most threatened animals on Earth.

Extraordinary notebooks from the Terra Nova Antarctic expedition are available for study for the first time.

For over 100 years palaeontologists thought this dinosaur didn't exist.

The Museum has over 23 million specimens stored in alcohol in the spirit collection. Explore some of the must-see specimens.

Samples collected on the HMS Challenger are teaching us about climate change. 

Adventuring unchaperoned in seventeenth century Suriname, Maria Sibylla Merian blazed a trail for women and science.

Did you know that there are more species of fly in the UK than there are mammals on the planet? And they perform some pretty important jobs.

The footprints were made when an ancient amphibian walked across a river delta. 

Explore an interactive story about Museum experts' adventure to Wyoming, USA, when they went off-grid in search of Jurassic dinosaurs.

A new partnership between the Museum and  Farrow & Ball brings the colours of nature from the page to your home.

Female specimens are under represented in collections.