What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 10am - 4:30pm Wednesday 10am - 4:30pm Thursday 10am - 4:30pm Friday 10am - 4:30pm Saturday 10am - 4:30pm Sunday 12pm - 4:30pm

Museum of Zoology, Cambridge

Home
United Kingdom
Cambridge
Museum of Zoology, Cambridge

The University Museum of Zoology is home to a huge variety of recent and fossil animals.
(325)

Displays trace the evolution of animal life, and admission is free.For further information visit www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk

19/06/2026

Pride Month Mini-Series:

Today's focus is the behaviour of oystercatchers.

Want to learn more? Book onto our next FREE Pride in Nature tour on 21st June. Tickets can be booked via our website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/pride-nature-lgbtq-tour-18

Transcript:

Slide 1: Oystercatchers are typically monogamous with both the mother and father heavily involved in raising chicks. But in a 1998 field study Dik Heg and Rob van Treuren reported a surprisingly high frequency of stable ‘trios’ forming. Two females and a male share a territory and nest. Together they act cooperatively to attend to their young and defend the territory

Slide 2 : Within the trio the two females regularly copulate with each other as well as the male. The female-female copulations are behaviourally indistinguishable from the male-female copulations, with the females adopting either the male or female ‘role’.

Slide 3: Join our upcoming Pride in Nature tour on the 21st of June - link in bio

+ .

18/06/2026

Pride Month Mini-Series:

Today we are talking about the Laysan albatross!❤️🧡🤍 🩷

Want to learn more? Book onto our next FREE Pride in Nature tour on 21st June. Tickets can be booked via our website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/pride-nature-lgbtq-tour-18

Transcript:

Slide 1: A 2008 study reported that 31% of Laysan albatross pairs on Oahu Island were female-female. This is attributed to the population's skewed s*x ratio, with fewer males. While some of these pairings are temporary until a male becomes available for reproduction, others remain lifelong.

Slide 2: One ‘le***an’ couple has been together for 17 years! The same age as the Oahu colony. In this time, they’ve raised 8 orphan chicks and become grandparents.
Birds in F/F pairs engage in the same elaborate courtship rituals and preening present in male-female pairs.

+ .

17/06/2026

📢On Tues 23 & Wed 24 June the Museum will be CLOSED for essential maintenance 📢 We're really sorry if you were hoping to visit on those days.
The shop & café will be open, plus you can still see our 21 metre fin whale, which hangs above the shop 🐳

13/06/2026

Pride Month Mini-Series:

Today, we are highlighting the meaning and importance of the Lavender Rhino.🦏💜

Want to learn more? Book onto our next FREE Pride in Nature tour on 14th and 21st June. Tickets can be booked via our website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/pride-nature-lgbtq-tour-17

Transcript:

Slide 1: In 1973, Gay Media Action created a series of ads for the subway, featuring a Lavender Rhino. The ads were designed to encourage the visibility of Boston’s LGBTQ+ community. The rhino was chosen as a “maligned and misunderstood animal, a feeling many in the LGBTQ+ community shared. The colour from mixing pink and blue, a symbolic combination of masculine and feminine”.

Slide 2: Despite approving the designs, Metro Transit Advertising refused to run the ads on a ‘public service rate’, tripling the cost and halting the ad campaign. In 1974, at Boston’s Pride Parade, the Lavender Rhino was used as a symbol to protest the price rise, appearing on badges, t-shirts and a giant papier-mache sculpture. This visibility helps Gay Media Action raise funds to pay for the ads, which run for a year on the Green Line.

Hashtag sections:
+ .

12/06/2026

Pride Month Mini-Series:

Happy Pride Month: let's talk about bears in LGBTQ+ Culture!

Want to learn more? Book onto our next FREE Pride in Nature tour on 14th and 21st June. Tickets can be booked via our website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/pride-nature-lgbtq-tour-17

Transcript:
Slide 1: ‘Bear’ is a term popularised within the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s to describe a gay or bi man of large build with lots of hair, inspired by the animal. This illustration comes from a 1979 article published in Advocate titled "Who's Who in the Zoo: A Glossary of Gay Animals", which is thought to be one of the first recorded usages of the term "bear" to describe men in gay subculture.

Slide 2: Incidentally, Bruce Bagemihl reports in Biological Exuberance (1999) decades of data documenting same-s*x behaviour among black, brown, grizzly, and polar bears.

+ .

11/06/2026

Pride Month Mini-Series:

Happy Pride from the Museum of Zoology! To celebrate, here are some fun facts about both LGBTQ+ themes in nature and themes of nature in LGBTQ+ culture.

Want to learn more? Book onto our next FREE Pride in Nature tour on 14th and 21st June. Tickets can be booked on our website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/pride-nature-lgbtq-tour-17

Transcript:
Slide 2: Giraffes have been described as the ‘gayest’ animal in the animal kingdom, with homos*xual behaviour present in both males and females in the wild. One study of giraffes in Tanzania found 94% of all observed s*xual activity was between two males.

Slide 3: Much of what we know of giraffes is thanks to Anne Innis Dagg, and in her 1958 paper “The Behaviour of the Giraffe”, she observed that “Homos*xual behaviour is much more in evidence than heteros*xual behaviour.” In 1984, she used her research to support gay and le***an rights, combating the argument that homos*xuality was ‘unnatural’.

09/06/2026

🐳Why is there a fin whale skeleton in Cambridge? 🐳 What can our dodo skeleton tell us? Curious about what Darwin collected whilst he was studying? Join us for a FREE expert guided tour! Tours are monthly, next tour: Friday 12 June at 3pm https://ow.ly/hrsk50Z9puA

03/06/2026

This take a look around the Museum with our Pride In Nature trail. It's about how q***r perspectives help us to understand the natural world & how 'science' has actively hidden same-s*x behaviour in animals. Trail & Museum entry FREE

28/05/2026

📢SAVE THE DATES! 📢
🐝Our biggest family event of the year ZoologyLive! is on Sat 4 July, all activities FREE, everyone welcome
🐞PLUS don't miss ZoologyLive! - The Livestream, online Thurs 2 July. We'll be talking about ladybirds - get your questions ready!
Check our website for all the details over the coming weeks!🙂

27/05/2026

in Nature 🏳️‍🌈 tours coming on Sunday 14 & 21 June at 1pm. Book your FREE place & discover the stories that are sometimes left untold... Tours led by expert volunteers. Everyone welcome. Book ahead https://ow.ly/smzo50Z4C8N

Address

Downing Street
Cambridge
CB23EJ

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	10am - 4:30pm
Thursday	10am - 4:30pm
Friday	10am - 4:30pm
Saturday	10am - 4:30pm
Sunday	12pm - 4:30pm

Telephone

+441223336650

Website

http://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Museum of Zoology, Cambridge posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Museum of Zoology, Cambridge:

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in Cambridge?