Around fifty children will tomorrow (Friday, May 27) get the chance to create their own mini-museum at the University of Aberdeen.
The two to five-year-olds will be finding out what a museum is by exploring the University’s Zoology Museum. They will also be finding out how animals are displayed as skeletons, preserved in bottles, and as fur or feathers with skins.
Youngsters will be allowed to handle many examples of these, including tiger, bear and walrus skulls, dolphin bones, platypus, stoat and rabbit. They will also see lots of insects.
Mandy Tulloch, Development Co-ordinator of the University’s Natural History Centre, said: "May is Museums and Galleries Month which we are celebrating by showing some of our younger visitors what goes into making a Zoology Museum.
“Many people are unaware but animals nowadays are not stuffed. Instead taxidermists make fibreglass models of the insides of the animal onto which they sew the cured skin.
“We will also be making a mini-museum to take home and, depending on the weather, we will collect some interesting finds from the garden to put in the museums.
“I expect items such as elm seeds, cherry blossom and monkey puzzle leaves will be among the favourites.”
For more information on Museums and Galleries Month - http://www.mgm.org.uk/home.html