X Close

Events

Home

UCL events news and reviews

Menu

A Hands On History of Hands at the Grant Museum

By James M Heather, on 9 February 2012

The UCL Grant Museum of Zoology is currently running its ‘Humanimals’ series, where it explores the relationships between ourselves and other animals.

Last week (2 February), I went along for A Hands On History of Hands; a whistlestop tour of the evolution of hands and forelimbs through the ages, stopping to look at some of the interesting examples along the way.

The guides on our tour were zoologist Jack Ashby and palaeontologist Mark Carnall, with a little help from Stan, the resident (replica) skeleton.

The Grant Museum was founded as a teaching collection, and it seems that the current crop of curators are keen to continue this legacy. This is the second night like this that they have run, and for a modern museum it seems to a pretty radical idea; not only can enthusiasts visit and explore the museum after hours, but we are actually given the chance to interact with some of the exhibits.

The evening consisted of several tables of guests listening to the hosts talk us through various elements of hand history, giving each table actual specimens as examples to illustrate their points. This was a thorough talk; there were hand outs and everything.

(more…)