Home

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ye2ABYCNjYs

First Animals exhibition

12 July 2019 - 24 February 2020

Animal life first evolved in the oceans over half a billion years ago. Exceptional fossils from across the globe help to tell the remarkable story of the origin of animals.

Free and unticketed.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bFnwn_AmW6c

The Museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm.
Entry is free, including to temporary exhibitions.
Groups of ten or larger must pre-book.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History was founded in 1860, and today it holds an internationally-significant collection of natural history specimens and archives. Housed in a stunning neo-Gothic building inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, the Museum is home to a lively programme of research, teaching and public events.

New blog post: A Grasp of the Past

Few creatures look weirder – or are cooler, in my opinion – than mantidflies. There are around 400 species of these small predatory insects known worldwide – a scarce diversity by insect standards.

A new paper that a colleague and I have published presents a new fossil mantidfly from Spanish amber that is important in understanding the evolution of their gripping – or raptorial – forelegs. The finding is presented in the open access journal Scientific Reports today.

Secondary schools young people at the Museum

Visiting with a group?

If you're visiting with a group of ten or more (including school groups and foreign language/summer school groups), please book in advance

Join Natural History Investigators

We're now open for this years' application for 'Natural History Investigators' (suitable for key stage 4 students). Investigators interested in the natural world have an opportunity to pursue an extended project of their choice. Investigators meet on Saturdays from 10.30am to 12.30pm for ten weeks.

Early career opportunities

We welcome approaches from postdoctoral researchers carrying out collections-based research in these areas who are interested in holding externally funded fellowships in the Museum. For applications for Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships in 2020, we ask that potential applicants send us a one-page summary of their planned research, including details of how they will make use of collections and other facilities at the Museum, together with a CV with up to five best publications highlighted by 30th June 2019.