Over the last 180 years the Yorkshire Museum has amassed a biology collection which now contains over 200,000 specimens from all the major biological groups.

The 140,000 insects make up the majority of the collection, but there are also over 40,000 plant and fungi specimens and over 10,000 each of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

There are birds’ eggs from Iceland, sea shells from Fiji and a vast and scientifically important collection representing the fauna and flora of Yorkshire.

The museum also holds many rare and globally important specimens including two Great Auks, from a collection of only 80 or so worldwide, examples of the extinct passenger pigeons and one of the most complete specimens of the Moa in the world.

Online Collection

Explore our extensive biology collection using our online collections area.

Please note: The Yorkshire Museum is home to an extensive and varied collection of items and artefacts. Whilst we make every effort to display a broad spectrum of our collections it is not always possible for all our collections to be on display at once.