Natural world
There's no better place to explore the wonders of the natural world than World Museum Liverpool, where you can see everything from live colonies of insects to historic zoological and botanical exhibits.
The 13th Earl of Derby founded the original museum with a major donation of zoological specimens in 1851, including many rare and ‘type’ specimens, the ones that act as standards for the species.
The museum’s collections have grown considerably since then and now also include important botanical specimens dating back over 200 years, which represent most of Britain and Ireland’s native flora.
Visitors can examine the collections up close in the award winning Clore Natural History Centre, which boasts a range of hands-on activities suitable for the whole family. There’s more interactive fun in the new Bug House and Aquarium, where you can also see live exhibits.
At the fantastic aquarium you can see beautiful fish and other creatures from around the world in their underwater habitats, and get up close to live exhibits.
Find out more about the Aquarium
Find out about the world of animals, plants, rocks and minerals with hands-on exhibits in one of the most popular attractions at the museum, now improved with even more to see and do than ever before.
Find out more about the Clore Natural History Centre
The origins of this collection date back to 1799 and it now contains over 350,000 specimens. The collection covers 98% of the British and Irish native flora, as well as specimens from around the world. Besides these extensive collections of flowering plants and ferns, there are large collections of economic botany, seeds, freeze-dried macrofungi and marine algae. There are also three important historic herbaria in the department's care and an important collection of original botanical drawings.
Find out more about the Botany collections
The donation of more than 20,000 specimens by the 13th Earl of Derby in 1851 formed the foundation of both the zoological collection and of World Museum Liverpool itself. There are now more than 1.2 million specimens held in the collection, including vertebrates, entomology, arachnids and conchology and are worldwide in origin. As well as important historic collections, such as items from the Challenger expedition, our curators are constantly adding to the collections through their own fieldwork around the world.
Find out more about the zoology collections
Get an insect's eye view on the world in this new home for creepy crawlies of all kinds, including enormous moving animatronic models, real live colonies plus lots of interactive fun.
Find out more about the Bug House