The Grant Museum in London has thousands of mini species on display in a new exhibition.
The Huffington Post reported that Jack Ashby who is in charge of the Grant Museum of Zoology said that he is "trying to give dragonfly nymphs, tortoise mites, and sea spiders the attention they deserve, unveiling a "Micrarium" devoted to some of the animal kingdom's smallest subjects."
He said to The Huffington Post, "You go to any natural history museum and it's normally full of big animals, but actually the huge majority of life on Earth is absolutely tiny, and we thought we'd right that wrong. We want to give people a chance to see what makes up most of the animal kingdom."
According to the Grant Museum's website, it is the only remaining university zoological museum in London. It has around 67,000 specimens that cover the entire Animal Kingdom.
Included are specimens of skeletons, mounted animals and preserved species. They have even collected specimens from extinct specieis including the Dodo and the Quagga.
The Micrarium exhibit features slides which include mini species such as baby cuttlefish to tortoise beetles. The exhibition is a place for tiny things, says the museum's website.
"It's often said that 95% of known animal species are smaller than your thumb, but have you noticed how most museums fill their displays with big animals? We intend to right this wrong, and in January 2013 we'll be building a Micrarium.," the museum's website states. "We are converting an old office/storeroom into a beautiful back-lit cave displaying some of the tiniest specimens in the collection, on wall-to-wall microscope slides. Museums very rarely display objects like this, and we are experimenting with an aesthetic way of doing so."
The Grant Museum's collection stretches back to before the Victorian era. Ashby said to the Huffington Post that the Micrarium has 2,323 slides of mini species. Many of the slides were once used as study aids for British anatomy and zoology students and some date back to 1850." He added that visitors who have trouble making out the ancient slides will be equipped with magnifying glasses," reported The Huffington Post.
The Micrarium is open to the public and free of charge.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
