⭐️ 4,900 specimens- six galleries – four floors ⭐️
WOW!
This museum is quite the experience! It won’t be everyone’s bag – it’s essentially a museum of stuffed animals and replicas – but it is a truly fascinating experience. Seeing the animals up close is extraordinary and the ones which are life-size are particularly amazing. Lions, polar bears, penguins, giraffes, elephants, dodo, giant panda. seals, bison, snakes, kangaroos and thousands more!
The animals were acquired by Walter Rothschild, the museum’s founder, from all over the world to study and display at his museum. Sometimes dead animals from London Zoo were sent to taxidermists who sold them to him, but he also used professional collectors, accepted donations from the public and traded with other collectors and museums. I watched the beginning of a video about taxidermy at the museum but had to stop 😳
This museum is considered to be one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom. As well as the galleries there are also loads of events going on. SEN sessions, tactile sessions for blind and partially sighted children and their families, museum by torchlight, trails and toddler sessions. Nearby Tring park is good for a wander too.
