Natural History Museum

Giant deer, bizarre insects and super-sized birds – millions of species that once roamed the planet are no longer around. Yet, while 99 per cent of the species that ever lived on Earth have met their demise, a vast diversity of life has sprung up to take their place. Extinction: Not the End of the World? takes you beyond dodos and dinosaurs to explore the crucial role extinction plays in the evolution of life

Suitable for

• Any age

Extinction: Not the End of the World? takes you beyond dodos and dinosaurs to explore the crucial role extinction plays in the evolution of life.

The exhibition combines astonishing images, real specimens and interactive installations to bring to life species that disappeared long ago. Exploring the latest scientific findings, it also looks at today’s endangered species, such as the tiger and orang-utan, and asks whether conservation can save them.

You can have your say on conservation, discover remarkable success stories and find out whether we are on the verge of causing the next mass extinction.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Adult £9*, child and concession £4.50*, family £24*

Website

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/extinction

Giant deer, bizarre insects and super-sized birds – millions of species that once roamed the planet are no longer around. Yet, while 99 per cent of the species that ever lived on Earth have met their demise, a vast diversity of life has sprung up to take their place.

The exhibition combines astonishing images, real specimens and interactive installations to bring to life species that disappeared long ago.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Adult £9*, child and concession £4.50*, family £24*
Adult £8, child and concession £4, family £21

Free for Members, Patrons and children under four

Website

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/extinction

The world premiere of Sebastião Salgado’s photographic exhibition Genesis, edited, designed and curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, opens this month. The majesty of nature and the balance of human relationships with our fragile planet will be explored through more than 200 spectacular black-and-white photographs by the world-leading photographer.

The culmination of eight years’ work, Sebastião Salgado: Genesis draws together images of landscapes and wildlife, alongside those of human communities that continue to live in accordance with their ancestral traditions and cultures. The exhibition builds on the Museum’s reputation as the home of the planet’s best nature photography.

Suitable for

Admission

Adult £10*, child and concession £5*, family £27*
Adult £9, child and concession £4.50, family £24
Free for Members, Patrons and children under four

Dive into our tropical butterfly house to take on butterfly challenges, try out fun games and exciting activities as you discover one of the planet’s most amazing life cycles.

Experience the magic of walking among hundreds of free-flying tropical butterflies and come face to face with a huge variety of these incredible and beautiful creatures.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Adult, child and concession £4*, family £14*.
Adult, child and concession £3.60, family £12.60.

Website

http:// www.nhm.ac.uk

Revealing nature photography in its purest form, this collection of images uniquely combines the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs with leading lights of the profession from around the globe. The images celebrate the beauty and magnificence of the world we live in, while providing a stark reminder of the fragility of our environment

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

£5.40-£12, family ticket £30-£33

This year marks the hundredth anniversary since the death of Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the world’s greatest naturalists and co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Continuing this month is the Wallace Discovery Trail. Families can become intrepid explorers and follow the trail around the Museum to see some of Wallace’s most important specimens. There are also lively, interactive Nature Live talks about Wallace in the Attenborough Studio

Suitable for

• Any age

Travel through the Cocoon experience deep into the heart of the collections to glimpse the working life of our scientists. See the previously hidden world of scientific research through viewing decks, video, intercom and more than 40 high-tech installations and hands-on interactive activities. Visitors will be able to interact with learning activators stationed throughout Cocoon and discover more about scientific techniques used in labs at Science Focus activity points near the viewing decks

Suitable for

• Any age

Explore the Dinosaurs gallery and come face-to-face with an animatronic T-rex

Suitable for

• Any age

Indulge your passion for natural history, botanical illustration and scientific investigation. This permanent gallery showcases highlights from the Museum’s extensive collection of prints, watercolours and oil paintings, alongside intriguing scientific images. The art of India is the theme for this year’s temporary exhibition, which showcases Indian botanical and zoological watercolours commissioned by those working for the British East India Company during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also on display is a modern response to this work by contemporary Indian artist Sunoj D

Suitable for

• Any age

Become a scientist in our hands-on education space where you can examine hundreds of real natural history specimens

Suitable for

• Any age

Highlights include a collection of 296 naturally coloured diamonds known as the Aurora Pyramid of Hope, Medusa, a giant, one-of-a-kind emerald from Zambia, and Tissint, a Martian meteorite that landed in Morocco last year

Suitable for

• Any age

See 22 of the most valuable and significant items in the Museum’s collection. This cabinet of curiosities includes unique, famous and surprising specimens from the worlds of botany, mineralogy, zoology and palaeontology. Highlights include Charles Darwin’s pigeons, which provided him with the crucial evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection, and the skull of a Barbary lion, which is thought to have lived in the Tower of London around 1280–1385

Suitable for

• Any age

Visit the handling station and explore some interesting specimens with the help of science educators.

Suitable for

• Any age

When

2-5pm

Using real specimens, activities will encourage you to look closely, make comparisons, discuss ideas and develop your knowledge and understanding of Antarctica's penguins, adaptations and habitats

When

11am-1pm

Now you can find out as Dino Snores for Grown Ups, one of the UK’s most extraordinary sleepovers, is set to return as a regular event for 2013.

All you need to enjoy the night is an enquiring mind, a sense of adventure and a sleeping bag, of course. A whole host of fantastic activities will be on offer throughout the night, with highlights including the opportunity to sleep under Dippy, the much loved Diplodocus skeleton in the famous Central Hall, a science show featuring gruesome forensics and the sex lives of insects, plus stand-up comedy and live music.

The evening will be topped off with a three-course evening meal and breakfast in the morning before the doors open to the public. Please check online for a full schedule of activities.

Dino Snores for Grown-ups is for adults only. No under-18s will be admitted and proof of age may be requested.

Suitable for

• Any age

When

7:30pm-9:30am

Admission

£175, £160 for Members

Website

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Visit the handling station and explore some interesting specimens with the help of science educators.

Suitable for

• Any age

When

2-5pm

Using real specimens, activities will encourage you to look closely, make comparisons, discuss ideas and develop your knowledge and understanding of Antarctica's penguins, adaptations and habitats

When

11am-1pm

Charm a worm, catch a water boatman or explore a wildlife haven – Big Nature Day, is back at the Natural History Museum with fun-filled hands-on activities for nature lovers of all ages.

The largest event of its kind in the UK, Big Nature Day is an annual fair that encourages people to get involved with nature and the outdoors. With lots of activities for children, displays from more than 50 natural history groups and talks from Museum scientists, the whole family can explore the best of British wildlife.

Throughout the day you’ll learn about all varieties of nature, from bugs and birds to fossils and flora, in the Darwin Centre’s atrium and courtyard, Wildlife Garden and west lawn. Get one-on-one advice and information from scientists, and take part in demonstrations, games and talks.

Highlights of the event include:

• scientific experiments to take part in
• real specimens to examine
• the chance to walk through the Museum’s wildlife garden – home to a variety of urban wildlife
• pond dipping activities
• worm charming workshops
• a ladybird hunt
• the opportunity to make a bug hotel
• dressing up activities – dress up as a scientist and strike a pose in the super-sized display case
• information on how to attract creatures to your garden

When

11am-5pm

Admission

Free

A celebration of hedgerows, wildlife and autumn produce with talks in the Darwin Centre and activities and displays in the Wildlife Garden. Visitors will be able to join in a hedge-planting session and learn how to plant a hedge for wildlife, find out about hedgerow plant-lore, try some tasty hedgerow foods, make a winter bird-feeder, enjoy some hedgerow-inspired crafts and meet a hedgehog

Suitable for

• Any age

When

12-5pm

This year marks the hundredth anniversary since the death of Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the world’s greatest naturalists and co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Wallace was also a pioneer of biogeography, the study of species distributions through space and time. Humans play a major role in shaping the distributions of species, a fact well understood by Wallace, but not widely appreciated by many of his contemporaries.

This month's Wallace lecture, presented by Dr Tom Fayle from Imperial College, explores the impact of Wallace's ideas on the disciplines of biogeography and conservation biology. Free but ticketed, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/wallace100

Suitable for

• 18+
• 16-17

When

4:30-5:30pm

Discover what really happens at the Museum when the staff and visitors have gone home.

Stalk the corridors as night descends, join a torch-lit trail in the Dinosaurs gallery, watch an amazing live show by our scientists and snuggle down at midnight in the shadow of our Diplodocus skeleton in the Central Hall.

Before the doors open to the public in the morning, ogle owls and marvel at meerkats as we host a spectacular live animal show with Animal Man, Nick Spellman

Suitable for

• 7-10

When

7pm-9:50am

Admission

£49/£44

Visit the Museum after hours and experience a unique Friday night out. Visit the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. Relax to the sounds of artists performing open-mic live in the Central Hall and enjoy British farmers' market-style fare from a pop-up restaurant

Suitable for

• Any age

When

6-10:30pm

Admission

Free entry to Central Hall. Entrance to Wildlife Photographer of the Year 5.40-£12 (family ticket £30-£33). Visit www.nhm.ac.uk/lates

There's no need to go to Africa for your safari fix - discover some of nature's most fascinating specimens in the mysterious setting of the museum at night.

Meet in the Museum’s iconic Central Hall when the doors have closed to the public and relax with a drink in the bar before you begin your tour to get up close and personal with our scientists' favourite creatures. As you trail through the Central Hall and adjoining galleries, you'll see some of the museum's most famous exhibits and learn about their fascinating backgrounds through one-on-one chats with our scientists

Suitable for

• 18+

When

From 6:30pm

Admission

£28, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/afterhours

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Who Do You Think You Really Are? uses screens, webcams and specially designed, hand-held devices to take visitors on a virtual journey through their evolutionary past. Extinct creatures appear to roam around in the studio using augmented reality – the blending of computer graphics into real life. Using CGI models developed with the support of the Wellcome Trust, BBC natural history footage and interviews with leading Natural History Museum scientists, the interactive film explores how we have gradually evolved from the earliest life form. Thanks to an innovative partnership with BBC Research & Development, this is the first time augmented reality has been used in a high-profile public space.

Takes place daily at 3.30pm; most weekends at 11am.

Suitable for

• Any age