Explore animals in the collection 
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Start your animal adventure at the Museum 🐾
A pair of blue elephants.

Dear Andrew,

This week in Young Friends, we’re going to meet some of the wild and wonderful animals hiding in our collection! Read on to discover how your favourite animals have helped shape history.

This week you can…
🐈‍⬛ Make your own Gayer-Anderson cat
🕵️‍♀️ Go on an animal trail across the Museum
🐸 Create your own origami animals
🐝 Learn about the history of bees in the collection

For older Young Friends, learn more on the influence of tigers in traditional Chinese culture and uncover hidden animal images in the Iron Age Witham shield with curator Julia Farley.

Discover even more at the Museum with our Museum explorer trail and enjoy seeing the amazing creations from other Young Friends. We would love to see what you make too, please share your creations with us!

Read on to get involved! 

The Young Friends and Schools and Family Programmes Teams

Activities to try at home 
Bronze sculpture of the Gayer-Anderson cat.

Gayer-Anderson cat

The Gayer-Anderson cat is a bronze sculpture that depicts the ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet. Have a go at making your own.
Get crafting
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An Aztec sculpture of a snake with two heads composed of mostly turquoise pieces applied to a wooden base.

Arty animals trail 

Go on a safari around the world and discover the wild and wonderful arty animals found in the Museum.
Get exploring
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Coloured woodblock print of a crab and fish.

Origami animals

Origami is the ancient art of Japanese paper folding. Try creating your own origami inspired by Japanese prints in the collection.
Make now
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Enamelled gold cravat-pin.

The bee's knees

People have been keeping bees across the world throughout history. Explore the fascinating objects in the Museum related to beekeeping and bees.
Learn more
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Some of these are articles are taken from Remus magazine. Visit our digital archive to dive into new and past issues of Remus.

Older Young Friends

Ages 14+ 
Crouching tiger among reeds.

China's talismanic tigers

Learn more about how, in traditional Chinese culture, the image of a tiger was used as a symbol of bravery, and how its depiction also acted as a defensive talisman.
Learn more
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Close up of the Witham shield with a white play button over.

Hidden animals in Celtic art

Join curator Julia Farley as she shares the hidden images of animals found on the Witham shield, a British Iron Age shield found in the River Witham in 1826.
Watch now
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Pair of porcelain Kakiemon elephants, woodcut of a rhinoceros, three tigers crossing a river.

Find the connection in the collection

What is the connection between these three objects? Hint: think carefully about how accurately each object represents its animal. 

Read on below to find out. 

Visiting the Museum soon?
Ceramic figure of a camel carrying coiled silk and folded fabric.

Museum explorer trail

Fantastic creatures

Voyage around the world to discover how people have painted, carved, hunted and farmed animals throughout history.
Download now
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Connection in the collection answers 

All three objects were created by artists who never actually saw the real animals!

🐘 The elephant sculptures were likely based on drawings and sketches from Buddhist sources that depicted Asian elephants.
 
🦏Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) based his rhinoceros woodcut on an anonymous written description and a quick sketch of an Indian rhinoceros brought to Lisbon in 1515.

🐅 Maruyama Okyo (1733–95) faced the challenge that there weren’t any live tigers in Japan at the time. So, he used pictures from China, studied cats and imagined how a tiger might move and behave based off this. One theory even suggests he studied tiger skins, which might explain the flattened tiger faces in his work! You can watch the video below to find out more. 
Watch now
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Two children in an Egyptian Nemes headdress.

Crafts corner 🖌✂️

Take a look at the Nemes headdresses Young Friends Thomas and Isabel (aged 6) have created! Share your Young Friends’ creations with us for a chance to be featured in an upcoming Young Friends email.
Share now
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Connect with us

Images:

Calling-card case, Jaipur, 1800s–1900s.

The Gayer Anderson cat, Egypt, 712–323 BC.

Double-headed serpent mosaic, from Mexico, 1400s–1500s.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), From an untitled series called Uo-zsukushi (Every Variety of Fish, Mackerel (saba), crab (kani) and morning glories. Colour woodblock print on paper, 1840s.

Enamelled gold cravat-pin, England, around 1870. 

Crouching tiger among reeds, ink and colours on paper, China, about 1800–1909. 

Copper alloy decorative front of a shield, River, Witham, England, 400–300 BC.

Kakiemon elephants, Japan, late 1600s.

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Rhinocerus. Woodcut, 1515.

Maruyama Okyo (1733–95), Tigers Crossing a River. Painting, 1781–82. 

'Sancai’ (three-colour) ceramic tomb figure of a camel, said to be from the tomb of General Liu Tingxun, China, AD 728.

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