Manchester Museum Manchester Museum Vivarium Review

[Water Dragon]

So I have just got back from a visit to Manchester Museum. I haven't been for a few years and it has really changed. I was only really focused on visiting the Vivarium section since I am a bit of a herp nerd. Also because I much prefer live animals to animals that stuffed, preserved or mounted skeletons. It was very noisy there. I guess it must be school holidays in Manchester right now. There were kids screaming and shouting everywhere so I didn't spend too much time there.
Anyway, the vivarium room specialises in amphibians but there are a few reptiles there as well and a couple of fish. The first viv that I visited held the most poisonous creature in the world - the golden poison dart frog. Next to it was a terrarium for the green tree python. I suppose that anyone who has visited there would comment on how the snake never moves but on my last visit the snake was actually active and a curator there said he had been working there for four years and this was the sixth time that he had ever seen it move! The next vivarium that we saw held some golden mantella frogs. There was quite a few frogs in there as well as a few fish in their pond (I think that they were some kind of dark goldfish). There was also a new exhibit there holding a pair of western sand lizards.
There is a large window revealing the on-show "off-show" area which holds all of the tree frogs. There was quite a few tadpoles in that room so I am guessing that they are having a lot of breeding success.
Now we come to the three large vivariums which held (left to right) a panther chameleon, a Fiji banded iguana, and a green tree monitor. I didn't see the tree monitor but they have one at Chester so it is not a total loss.
A large vivarium held both amphibians and reptiles such as blue-headed anoles, cone-headed lizards and a few species of poison dart frogs. A little viv to the side also held green-and-black poison dart frogs and strawberry dart frogs. Finally a former desert-themed vivarium is now a display which shows deforestation and how it affects animals, particularly the golden toad which is now extinct. A waste of vivarium if you ask me but beggars can't be choosers.
Overall, I was very impressed the vivariums that the museum displayed. They were all alive with live plants, water pools/features, and some even sprinklers to keep the vivariums humid! I should send in a request to get one of them for the water dragon vivarium that I look after. It would really save me having to spray it with that hose pipe every time. Then again, we did use to have a fog-machine in the exhibit but the water dragons broke it!
Anyway, I am going on a tangent. The rest of the museum was enjoyable. I did take a look at all the stuffed/preserved animals but it didn't last too long. I didn't go into the Egyptology section because the mummy scares me but I did visit the palaeontology hall because I do have a secret love for dinosaurs as well. I saw the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and the plesiosaurs but there was a new gorgosaurus skeleton in the foyer where an Indian swamp deer used to be..
All in all an alright visit but I should really visit during the school holidays to avoid all the crowds! It could be a while before I upload my photos onto the gallery because the USB on my camera has stopped working.They will be up there soon though.

 

[Pertinax]

I did take a look at all the stuffed/preserved animals but it didn't last too long. .

I believe a fair number are specimens from the late Belle Vue Zoo.

Can anyone list any species/specimens they know came from Belle Vue, plus any available extra data such as animal's name or dates/length of time in zoo would be interesting too.

 

[Water Dragon]

Quite a few were labled as being from Belle Vue but the only ones that I remember was the elephant skeleton, Maude the Tigon and a capybara. I can't recall any other info though because it was bottle-necked in there.

 

[Tim May]

Quite a few were labled as being from Belle Vue but the only ones that I remember was the elephant skeleton, Maude the Tigon and a capybara. I can't recall any other info though because it was bottle-necked in there.

A little more information:-

· The mounted skin of the tigon “Maude” has only recently gone on display; this tiger x lion hybrid was born in Dresden Zoo in 1932, arrived in Manchester in 1936 and died in Belle Vue, Manchester, in 1949. (There was another tigon “Kliou” at Belle Vue, also born in Dresden, with the same parents as “Maude”.) Gerald Iles provides a lot of information about these hybrids in his book “At Home in the Zoo”.


· The skeleton is of the elephant “Maharaja” who was at Belle Vue Zoo from 1872 to 1882. There is a book “The Elephant Who Walked to Manchester” (David Barnaby) about this elephant.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

It really is an excellent collection; I visited myself on Sunday, as I tend to do when passing through Manchester.

The next vivarium that we saw held some golden mantella frogs. There was quite a few frogs in there as well as a few fish in their pond (I think that they were some kind of dark goldfish).

Worth noting that although some utter twit keeps deleting the listing from ZTL on the basis they are no longer signposted, this vivarium also contains a handful of Yellow-headed Day Gecko (Phelsuma klemmeri)

There is a large window revealing the on-show "off-show" area which holds all of the tree frogs. There was quite a few tadpoles in that room so I am guessing that they are having a lot of breeding success.

With a little luck, it is possible to spot quite a few very juicy species within this area including one or two held nowhere else in a European public collection!

A large vivarium held both amphibians and reptiles such as blue-headed anoles, cone-headed lizards and a few species of poison dart frogs.

Also a good few Phyllomedusa sp.

 

[Tim May]

It is many years since I last visited the Manchester Museum although I intend to return to see the tigon “Maude” which was not on display on any of my previous visits.

Belle Vue was famous for exhibiting both gerenuk and lesser kudu at a time when these were very rare antelopes in zoos. It seems probable that the Belle Vue specimens of these antelopes ended up in the Manchester Museum; can anybody confirm, please, if that is the case?

Further to my previous post in this thread, an additional comment about another ex-Belle Vue specimen on display in the museum:-

The hippopotamus “Gracie” was born in Amsterdam Zoo in 1930 and acquired by Belle Vue in 1937. On 5th December 1938 she gave birth to “Nicholas“ at Belle Vue; exactly six years later, on 5th December 1944, “Nicholas” attacked and killed his mother.

Part of Gracie’s skull is on display in the museum and the wounds caused by her son’s teeth can be seen.

 

[Armchair Safari]

The desert enclosure used to have a couple of monitor lizards in it. Going back a while im sure i have some snaps from around 2008/2009. V. a. albigularis if memory serves. Also have a vague memory of some other python species or possibly boa's.

Worth noting they do tours of the behind the scene viv's on Thursdays at 12 noon except for during school holidays, adults only and you have to book in advance by calling 0161 275 2648. Well worth doing, they have quite a few species of rare amphibians that are parts of breeding programs that don't go on display. If you get a chance then look up Project Lemur Frog, a collaberative conservation project with the Manchester Museum, Bristol Zoo, Nordens Ark Zoo and also Manchester Frog blog which is the herp departments blog. Manchester Musuem is very very internet/social media savy so lots of places sharing info about exhibits inc FB, Youtube, Twitter, Blogs etc.


Manchester Museum has literally hundreds of skins from Belle Vue, not sure if I have ever seen mention of any named animals though other than those already mentioned in this thread though. Believe they had an arrangement of sorts where Belle Vue Zoo would donate the bodies of dead animals to the museum. The museums zoology department would then perform necropsies and the results would be reported back to the zoo with the hope it could help them better understand the animals and how to look after them. The museum then got to keep the remains, quite a deal for them as they didn't pay for them. Quite often the skins were kept as study specimens rather than as taxidermy mounts, one thats quite well known is that of a male mandrill aka the Manchester Mandrill from the early 1900's. Little info about who the mandrill was but fascinating history of what happened to it afterwards including details of how it was prepped. There is an essay in one of my books - will have to look up which one but the essay itself is titled something like Under the Skin: Manchester Mandrill.

 

[amur leopard]

I think also worth mentioning the newly-described species that had been sitting completely under the radar within the museum for years (assumed to be a Splendid leaf frog) called Sylvia's leaf frog. I believe the frog occasionally goes on show in the public area but is otherwise in the 'off-show' area which can be viewed through a window. Truly astonishing species find - if anyone has a photo of the species, would love to see it in the gallery as there aren't any photos of the species there yet. If anyone hasn't heard about the story of this species, I would strongly encourage them to read up about it. The video in the link below is a great place to start:

Vivarium | Manchester MuseumVivarium | Manchester Museum

 

[FBBird]

The desert enclosure used to have a couple of monitor lizards in it. Going back a while im sure i have some snaps from around 2008/2009. V. a. albigularis if memory serves. Also have a vague memory of some other python species or possibly boa's.

Worth noting they do tours of the behind the scene viv's on Thursdays at 12 noon except for during school holidays, adults only and you have to book in advance by calling 0161 275 2648. Well worth doing, they have quite a few species of rare amphibians that are parts of breeding programs that don't go on display. If you get a chance then look up Project Lemur Frog, a collaberative conservation project with the Manchester Museum, Bristol Zoo, Nordens Ark Zoo and also Manchester Frog blog which is the herp departments blog. Manchester Musuem is very very internet/social media savy so lots of places sharing info about exhibits inc FB, Youtube, Twitter, Blogs etc.


Manchester Museum has literally hundreds of skins from Belle Vue, not sure if I have ever seen mention of any named animals though other than those already mentioned in this thread though. Believe they had an arrangement of sorts where Belle Vue Zoo would donate the bodies of dead animals to the museum. The museums zoology department would then perform necropsies and the results would be reported back to the zoo with the hope it could help them better understand the animals and how to look after them. The museum then got to keep the remains, quite a deal for them as they didn't pay for them. Quite often the skins were kept as study specimens rather than as taxidermy mounts, one thats quite well known is that of a male mandrill aka the Manchester Mandrill from the early 1900's. Little info about who the mandrill was but fascinating history of what happened to it afterwards including details of how it was prepped. There is an essay in one of my books - will have to look up which one but the essay itself is titled something like Under the Skin: Manchester Mandrill.

Isn’t there a story about a Mandrill who used to pull up a chair and watch firework displays?

 

[gentle lemur]

The desert enclosure used to have a couple of monitor lizards in it. Going back a while im sure i have some snaps from around 2008/2009. V. a. albigularis if memory serves. Also have a vague memory of some other python species or possibly boa's.
Worth noting they do tours of the behind the scene viv's on Thursdays at 12 noon except for during school holidays, adults only and you have to book in advance by calling 0161 275 2648.

I think you may be referring to a pair of Varanus acanthurus and a green tree python. But I would advise against planning a visit at the moment: the whole Museum is currently closed for renovation. It is due to reopen late this year.

Spiny-tailed monitor

• gentle lemur
• 15 Mar 2008
• 1

Varanus acanthurus (known as 'ackie' in the pet trade), Manchester Museum, 9th March 2008

Green tree python

• gentle lemur
• 15 Mar 2008
• 1

Manchester Museum, 9th March 2008

 

[MagpieGoose]

I think also worth mentioning the newly-described species that had been sitting completely under the radar within the museum for years (assumed to be a Splendid leaf frog) called Sylvia's leaf frog. I believe the frog occasionally goes on show in the public area but is otherwise in the 'off-show' area which can be viewed through a window. Truly astonishing species find - if anyone has a photo of the species, would love to see it in the gallery as there aren't any photos of the species there yet. If anyone hasn't heard about the story of this species, I would strongly encourage them to read up about it. The video in the link below is a great place to start:

Vivarium | Manchester MuseumVivarium | Manchester Museum

I've just uploaded a photo one of the Sylvia's leaf frog from my visit a few years ago

@ThylacineAlive also uploaded a photo of one in 2019 also

 

[Jambi]

For a second there when I saw this thread I thought the Museum was back open after its construction work, but fair enough. I went to the Museum back in July, not knowing there even was a Vivarium until I saw it. I'll be going back to Manchester this October for an event, so if the Museum reopens by then I'll pay another visit.