Cole Museum of Zoology

What to see at the Cole Museum of Zoology

The museum has around 4000 items in its collection with around 10% of these on display at any one time.

The museum’s exhibits are arranged in taxonomic sequence, which essentially means that a tour of the museum will give you a complete introduction to the diversity of the animal kingdom.

Highlights of the museum include skeletons of a 19th-century circus elephant and a false killer whale, a five-metre reticulated python, an Ichthyosaur fossil and a fossil of the largest spider to have ever lived.

Visiting the Cole Museum of Zoology

The museum is located on the campus of the University of Reading, which is 3.2km (2 miles) southeast of the town centre. Local bus routes 9, 21 and 21a run between central Reading and the university.

It is free to visit the museum. The museum is open Monday to Friday except on specific days when the university is closed (this is usually bank holidays plus some days either side of Christmas or Easter).

The museum is accessible to visitors with wheelchairs.

It is a relatively small museum, just one room, that you should be able to visit in around an hour. While you’re in the area, you can also take a look at the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, which is also located on the university campus.