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OXFORD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Free entry 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.45pm). Booking required for groups of 10 or more.

Plan you visit

WHAT'S ON

From talks to tours, late nights, lectures and exhibitions, there's something for everyone.

See what's coming up

EXHIBITION: BREAKING GROUND

What the colourful archives of William and Mary Buckland reveal about science, status and society.

Find out more about 'Breaking Ground'

THE DEADLY SIX

Six sculptures by Scottish artist Angela Palmer created to mark the 30th anniversary of the Oxford Vaccine Group.

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LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

Just how similar are humans and bananas? One of many questions you can answer through our new displays.

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Book your 'Mega Late!' tickets

Mega Late!

Dinosaurs are not just for the kids! Join us for our Mega Late! An evening with crafts, art workshops, tours and pop-up talks with stalls of specimens and experts to chat to with a drink under our illuminated dinosaurs to celebrate our Breaking Ground exhibition, Oxfordshire’s very own Megalosaurus, and 200 years of dinosaur science.

Seven people in hi-viz jackets excavating dinosaur footprints in a quarry

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Major new footprint discoveries on Oxfordshire's ‘dinosaur highway’

In a stunning find, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints, creating multiple enormous trackways.

A footprint of a Megalosaurus with an excavator's trowel

Talk: The Jurassic Highway

Hear from researchers about recently uncovered fossil footprints (including those of a Megalosaurus) in North Oxfordshire that form part of a huge ‘dinosaur highway’.

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Museum Highlights

From the 4.5 billion year old 'Nantan meteorite' to the 450 million year old 'Trilobite wall'; a selection of some of the most important specimens and displays in the Museum, chosen by our collections managers.

Detail of a plesiosaur fossil showing skull, front limbs and ribs

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Palaeontology

Our palaeontology collections include one of the world’s most important collections of Middle Jurassic dinosaurs; exceptionally preserved specimens with intact soft tissues; and enigmatic fossils representing the earliest complex multicellular organisms. It features around 400,000 fossils, ranging from the Archean, ~2.7 billion years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, 11,700 years ago.

Go behind the scenes

Behind the scenes at Oxfordshire's ‘dinosaur highway’

Oxford may today be known for its ‘dreaming spires’ but it was once a land of tropical mires upon which colossal reptiles walked, leaving their marks to be found millions of years later…. Come behind the scenes to uncover one of the most exciting dinosaur trackways in the world.

Find out more and apply

Undergraduate Bursaries

Applications for the 2025 undergraduate scheme are now open.

The Undergraduate Bursary Scheme is designed to give undergraduate students hands-on experience working in a museum of natural history. The scheme accepts applications from students from underrepresented backgrounds who are ordinarily resident in the UK.

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The Oxford Dodo

In addition to our model dodos, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is home to the Oxford Dodo – the only surviving remains of dodo soft tissue that exists anywhere in the world. Read on to learn about one of the most iconic specimens in the Museum's collections.

300 BILLION TIMES THE SIZE

Arthropods and their staggering diversity

In the great scheme of nature, size matters. The size difference between the smallest and largest arthropods is greater than that between the Earth and Sun.

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EARTH'S MASS EXTINCTIONS

Told through five museum specimens

Huge volcanic eruptions, sea-level and climate changes, and massive meteorite strikes have all eliminated whole groups of organisms. In the aftermath of a mass extinction, new species and ecosystems may flourish, but the world will never be quite the same again.

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ANIMAL, VEGETABLE OR MINERAL?

How to categorise a coral

Sometimes, animals are easy to identify. Other times, they may be surprising, unfamiliar, or even invisible to the naked eye. Within the kindgom 'Animalia' are creatures whose lives are very different to our own, and whose categorisation stumped scholars for centuries.

Explore

Working on a sea star at the oxford Museum of Natural History

Research

Oxford University Museum of Natural History has been a centre of world-leading research and scientific debate since it opened in 1860.

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History

The Museum building is as spectacular today as when it opened in 1860. Learn more about the world's first purpose-built natural history museum.

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Collections

The Museum has over seven million historical and modern specimens encompassing the natural world.

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The Oxford dinosaur that started it all

Did you know that the Museum's own Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be named and described?

Discover 200 years of dinosaur science, beginning in the collections at OUMNH.

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Entry to the Museum is FREE

We rely on the generous support of the public to fund our events and exhibitions.

Donate £5

MUSEUM SHOP

Nature-themed gifts for all ages. Visit the Museum for our full range of products, or follow the link below to order online.

Shop online

Gliding lizard on display in the Museum.

ABOUT US

Oxford University Museum of Natural History holds an internationally-significant collection of natural history specimens and archives in a stunning example of neo-Gothic architecture. It is home to a lively programme of research, teaching and events focused on the sciences of the natural environment.

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