WELCOME TO THE NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

THE COLLECTIONS

The University has been collecting zoological specimens for teaching and research for over three hundred years. The early history of its collections was often turbulent and dominated by colourful and controversial individuals. The present collection, which is in fact the third, was assembled over the last hundred years and represents the entire invertebrate phyla and vertebrate classes. Although its assembly was a less eventful process than the acquisition of the first two collections, the story is just as fascinating and involves equally intriguing personalities. The Natural History Collections are one of the University Collections registered with the Museums and Galleries Commission.

THE EXHIBITS

The invertebrate and vertebrate specimens are displayed within a taxonomic framework to illustrate the diversity of the Animal Kingdom. The exhibits are located in the original Museum Suite in the Ashworth Laboratories, at King's Buildings. The exhibits are open to visitors throughout the year by arrangement with the curators Mark Blaxter or Graham Stone

THE WEB SITE

This web site was created to enable people, who cannot visit the Natural History Collections in person, to enjoy our specimens as they are currently displayed in their original home in the Ashworth Laboratories. The pages are not intended to be a comprehensive survey of the whole Animal Kingdom, as many such web sites exist. The most important sources used to gather information on the biological significance of our specimens are listed in the bibliography.

As part of an educational institution, we are delighted if viewers down load photographs of specimens for private study but would point out that copyright for all material, unless designated otherwise, is held by the University of Edinburgh. We would be pleased therefore if anyone wishing to use our material for academic and/or commercial purposes would request permission to do this from the curators. For our own records, we like to know how the website is benefiting others. Whilst we are delighted for people to use the photographs displayed on the web site, we are unable to provide the pictures in any other format. If anyone wishes to use material that is specifically attributed to any other organisation, please would they request permission directly from that organisation.