Our @colezoology.bsky.social display on animal symmetry for the visually impaired was finished by conservator Fred. Thanks to the friends of the @uniofreading.bsky.social for funding. Come and have a feel! #animalsymmetry #brailledisplay

It’s that time of the year. First year zoology practical with some great specimens from @colezoology.bsky.social @wetconservatrix.bsky.social

I wandered lonely as a cloud #lonelycloud #titchfieldhaven

Species list from our Devon field course

Near the end of our undergraduate biodiversity fieldcourse in Devon. Lots of species and much fun had #universityofreading

Murder on the car roof @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @hatbirder.bsky.social #robberfly #Machimus?

It’s graduation day!!! Congratulations to all our students #graduation

Charles Lyell was a famous geologist who had a strong influence on Darwin. He was interested in taphonomy and studied dried samples of mud with bird tracks and rain drops. We are lucky to have some of these featured (Figure 20) in his famous Principles of Geology! @colezoology.bsky.social

What if we measured progress not just by income or life expectancy - but by how well we live with the rest of nature? A major new paper proposes the 'Nature Relationship Index (NRI)' - a bold rethink of development metrics. Here’s why it matters.👇 #NatureRelationshipIndex #GlobalThreads

@colezoology.bsky.social welcome to Bluesky!! Looking forward to seeing cool specimens. In the meantime here we are with Norman the elephant.

Happy Summer Solstice 2025 to all my pagan friends. Summer is officially here.

Please may I have one?

Fossicking along the Fleet always results in small treasures!! Move over Lyme Regis.

Don’t just sit there, eat them!!!!!!

Found a stunning Harlequin ladybird larva on my garden but it wasn’t interested in eating my greenfly. @hatbirder.bsky.social

We have been waiting for this to happen. Hopefully an isolated incident. West Nile virus killed many elderly people in the US. #arboviruses #mosquitoesinBritain

Our most common urban mosquito, Culex pipiens, is carrying Usutu virus in Southern England, killing blackbirds. These mosquitoes breed in standing water, so you could be growing them in your garden. #climatechange #mosquitobornevirus #gardenbirds

Weymouth and Chesil Beach looking magnificent at the weekend #lovedorset #seathrift

Ammonites, belemnites, beautiful crinoids and a tooth of some kind (?) from Oxford Clay #JurassicCoast #Tidmoorpoint #fossilhunting

Why just draw a frog when you can build one? #historyoflifeonearth #practicalclass #zoologyuniofreading

These large oil beetles from Andalusia, Spain, are beautiful! Cool enough that they are a bit dozy. #springtimeinSpain #beetles @hatbirder.bsky.social

Interested in working with a zoology collection? Could you be our next lecturer in invertebrate zoology? www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMP841/l... #lectureshipzoology #universityofreading

40 million year old molluscs are easy pickings from the Barton clays at Barton on Sea, Hampshire. #fossils #fossilmolluscs

More palaeo models have arrived for teaching and Cole Museum of Zoology display! Thanks to Bruce Currie. Eurypterid, Brachiopod, Rangeomorph paleozoo.com.au #palaeoteaching #UniofReading #Historyoflifeonearth

Flappy flappy flappy

Finally got to visit the Great Bustards on Salisbury plains. Probably the heaviest flying birds on the planet. Saw a group of 12 males displaying. greatbustard.org

How many frogs do you need?

Early fish practical today, I do love my models. #historyoflifeonearth #earlyfish #palaeozoology

Pleased with my finds from a fossil hunt in Ramsholt, Suffolk. #coral #bryozoa #molluscs #londonclay #redcrag #coralline

Giving undergraduate students modelling clay definitely makes them engage with material in the Cambrian life practical. #palaeontology #uniofreading #historyoflifeonearth

Palaeontology trilobite practical tomorrow and I’m hoping the students appreciate these wonderful trilobite eyes. #trilobite #palaeontologyatUoR #Colemuseumofzoology @unirdgento.bsky.social @uniofreading.bsky.social

Cole Museum Volunteer session today sorting through some of our molluscs. Although the specimens are 100 years old the shells look so fresh #mollusccollection #uniofreading #extracurricularlearning

History of Life on Earth practical today with real Ediacaran fossils for students to study up close. #ediacaran #dickinsonia #uniofreading

This Cole Museum mussel was put out in class to demonstrate the bivalve to find that it has a little pea crab inside! Pinnotheres pisum. #colemuseumofzoology #uniofreading #invertebratezoology #peacrab #parasite #joriescolourpreservation @wetconservatrix.bsky.social @hatbirder.bsky.social

Some surprising mollusc morphology in today's invertebrate zoology practical with @acallazoo.bsky.social 👀🐌

Semester began this week which means practicals and dusting off things in jars for students to see. #zoology #invertebrates #molluscs #urochordates

Excited to have some new museum models from paleozoo.com.au which arrived from Australia in a record short period of time. Here is Sanctacaris uncata, (Holy crab?) a Cambrian stem group arthropod.

It’s #WorldBivalveDay! Corculum cardissa, the heart cockle, is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae found in the Indo-Pacific. If viewed from the side, it looks like a heart. There is a lot of colour variation in shells, but they often have patterns in coral pink like those 🧵

Just had a peak in the amazing new collections storage space of the #ColeMuseum This is @wetconservatrix.bsky.social modelling a GIANT polychaete with @chrisfoster.bsky.social, @acallazoo.bsky.social and myself have specimen selfies with it

Fingers, tongues and toes. Part of the historic collection that has been used continuously for the last 100 years (and more) by students at the University of Reading #ColeMuseum @acallazoo.bsky.social @wetconservatrix.bsky.social

On the surface of sand dunes of Fuerteventura lie thousands of ichnofossil solitary bee nests. Many show signs of predation. natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1012366/...

Watch out Fuerteventura! Ready to emerge in January!! #mosquito #fuerteventura

What can you spot? #fossilcollection #colemuseumofzoology #uniofreading

Application deadline 6th January! Please share #vbd

Say hello to the beautiful Anthaxia amandae, a jewel beetle (Buprestidae) new to science. Published today by Graham Holloway. centerforsystematicentomology.org/default.asp?...

Happy Winter Solstice to everyone. The shortest day in the northern hemisphere and longest in the southern. It’s the beginning of Winter! Picture (c)timeanddate.com

The things you find in cupboards

Have you immortalised your pets in your publications? Doris is acknowledged in our paper on fibre ingestion (she donated) and is featured on the Cole Museum of Zoology carnivore backboard.

The Cole museum, Univeristy of Reading, has the best models! Of course Eurypterids are amazing 🤓

Great animal form and function practical class today with Cole Museum specimens. Showing a pair of tortoise lungs, swan lungs and a single long snake lung, Not something you see often. Lucky zoology students! #UniofReading