Oxford University Museum of Natural History
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Oxford University Museum of Natural History
@morethanadodo
Official Twitter of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a stunning Victorian building home to 7 million objects. Free entry, open 10-5 every day.
- Ooh here she comes… she’s an 🐜🐜👩🍳
00:00 - The Maid of Kent (Emus hirtus). A hairy bumble-bee mimicking beetle. Very few people have seen this species in the wild, but it probably still occurs at a few places in North Kent.
- Everything is coming up crabs... Did you know that a 'crab-like' body plan ahs evolved independently at least 5 times over the last 250 million years? The process of evolving into, well, a crab, even has its own term: carcinization.
- It's been a long, lonely time but we are almost ready to open our doors once again. We and @Pitt_Rivers will reopen on 22 September. Booking is now essential, but entry is free. We're looking forward to seeing you. Get the info and ticket low-down here: oumnh.ox.ac.uk/visit-us
- In 1826 Mary Anning discovered a fossil belemnite (squid relative) with dried fossilised ink contained inside. Her friend Elizabeth Philpot revived the ink and used it to illustrate her own ichthyosaur fossil, which was thought to be the same age as the belemnite (200 mya).
- Verdigris historically used as a pigment tends to form on old pins. This painting was made using verdigris from the Hope collections #sciart
- Squawk! It's #NationalBirdDay! Much as I'm tempted to promote myself (again), here instead is a little look at how we birds got here. Yes, birds are dinosaurs!
- On this day 162 years ago Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was first published. Let’s appreciate not only this seminal work, but also this photograph we have of Darwin about which he wrote: “I like this photograph of me much better than any other…”
- Happy birthday #DavidAttenborough! This is a cast of the skull of the plesiosaur Attenborosaurus conybeari, named after David by palaeontologist Robert Bakker in 1993. A bomb destroyed the original skeleton in Bristol during World War II.
- You don’t always have to get on your hiking boots to find some amazing geology. Here is a Devonian fossil fish 🐟 in a paving slab in Edinburgh, which has since been moved to @EdinCulture. #rockdown
- Seth (6) is over the moon that the #fossil he found in the school playground is part of a 300-million-year-old brachiopod as confirmed in the letter from Earth Collections Manager Eliza.
- The Oxford Dinosaur that started it all... Happy 200th Birthday Megalosaurus bucklandii! #OnThisDay in 1824, William Buckland presented Megalosaurus at a Geological Society of London meeting...
- Let's take a closer look at the *GIANT* E. coli that's landed here. @lukejerram's artwork is 28 metres long - 5 million times bigger than the real bacterium! Discover lots more about #bacteria in #BacterialWorld from 19 October. oum.ox.ac.uk/bacterialworld @UniofOxford @BBSRC
