Museum Collections

 Dry holdings are primarily skeletal material, including comparative anatomy specimens used for identification, research, and teaching. Skeletal collections provide durable, information-rich reference material for understanding species variation, functional morphology, and evolutionary relationships. Their value is often comparative: a single specimen can be informative, but collections become significantly more powerful when they enable researchers to compare across taxa, geographies, or time periods. The museum prioritises stable labelling, traceable documentation, and appropriate housing to protect delicate or diagnostically important features. 

The museum’s collections are maintained as active research resources and are available to support scholarly research, teaching, and publication. Access is provided by arrangement and is subject to approval to ensure that proposed work is appropriate, feasible, and consistent with the museum’s scientific and collections care responsibilities. 

Approved access is granted on the understanding that all specimens are handled in accordance with museum guidance and professional standards. Any sampling, invasive analysis, or preparatory work requires explicit prior approval and may be subject to additional review and conditions.

Researchers must comply with our Collection Policies and all relevant legal & ethical requirements throughout the project.

All publications or outputs resulting from research using the museum’s collections must acknowledge the Natural Sciences Museum and include relevant specimen or catalogue references. Permission must be obtained from the museum prior to publication where images, detailed specimen data, or sensitive information are included.

Researchers are asked to provide copies or citations of resulting publications to support the museum’s records and ongoing collections documentation.