Research Collections
Quex Museum has zoological collections of skeletons and skins that attract a large number of students from around the world. These academics, ranging from University professors to young, undergraduate students embarking on their first research, find a truly astounding collection, available for study by appointment.
There are representative series of most of the large mammals from Africa including rarities such as wolf, Ibex, and mountain nyala from Abyssinia (Ethiopia), giant sable antelope from Angola, wild ass and Mrs Gray's lechwe from the Sudan, and Hunter's hartebeest from Southern Somalia.
The skeletons and skins of many species are held by the Museum in sufficient numbers to include male, female, young and old - giving excellent study samples. Large collections of note include duiker, hartebeest, bushbuck and other grazing and browsing animals from Africa and Asia. The skin collection also now forms an invaluable DNA bank for research and active conservation projects in the wild.
The Museum's most prized zoological collection is of African primate material - chimpanzee, gorilla and galago (bush babies), along with baboons and smaller monkeys - collected mainly from West Africa between 1928 and 1932. The holdings for the higher primates are substantial. Additional data supporting the specimens can include map references, detailed body dimensions, external pathology, even names of the local hunters who killed the animal.
Such attributes place this study collection amongst the foremost ranking in the world. Alongside the large numbers of students from UKC, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, recent research projects at Quex have been conducted by students coming from as far afield as Australia, New Mexico, Norway and South Africa.
Human Origins Database
Quex Museum has been pleased to assist a project at the the George Washington University to create a database of collections of primate skeletal material worldwide.
This project is still in the development stage but will be of enormous assistance to researchers studying the origins of humankind and the connections with primate species. The aim is to make available to researchers detailed information on fossil hominin specimens as well as extant ominoid specimens, including skeletal elements present for a particular specimen as well as measurements. An example of a datasheet for a specimen from the Powell-Cotton Collection is shown below -
