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Hannah Cornish

@hannahcornish.bsky.social

240 followers 140 following 16 posts

Curator at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology. Animals, museums, fibre arts, nerdery. She/her. Views my own.

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 4

I thought my first post on Bluesky should be something positive and motivational

Cross stitch embroidery of beetles and the words: But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything. C Darwin to C Lyell 1861

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · 10d

My job is very glamorous

Tannis Davidson @tannisdavidson.bsky.social · 10d

If you ever wondered how to photograph a gorilla skeleton without a studio …

Hannah Cornish and Alice Holloway holding up a black drape behind UCL Grant Museum’s male gorilla skeleton ‘Hugo’ for some quick photos. They are smiling but their arms are screaming.

Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Tannis Davidson @tannisdavidson.bsky.social · 10d

If you ever wondered how to photograph a gorilla skeleton without a studio …

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Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Tannis Davidson @tannisdavidson.bsky.social · 17d

So the answer to the question ‘how many people does it take to hang a python skeleton’ is five.

African rock python skeleton articulated around a branch and temporarily suspended between coat racks. Which is the best use of coat racks ever.

Emilia Kingham holding branch with python skeleton before mounting in newly refurbished case. Alice Holloway crunching the numbers in distance.

Alice Holloway, Cyrus Shroff and Hannah Cornish ease python skeleton into case for positioning.

She’s up! Python skeleton hanging in case at UCL’s Grant Museum of Zoology.

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Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Tannis Davidson @tannisdavidson.bsky.social · 19d

One of the benefits of decanting thousands of specimens for casework and redisplay is that you have the opportunity to deep dive into their histories and records. Just connected the archival dots of this pink fairy armadillo and it is an original @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social specimen from 1828!

Taxidermy pink fairy armadillo specimen on black base with decanted Grant Museum specimens on tables in the background.

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · 26d

Why is @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social closed for two weeks? We are refitting some cases, so right now, it looks like this. Trust me, it's more organised than it appears! I'm enjoying sharing a desk with my lion skeleton coworker

An office with a lion skeleton on one of the desks and large jars of fish specimens on another

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Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Seirian Sumner @waspwoman.bsky.social · Jun 25

Huge thanks to @tannisdavidson.bsky.social and team for making the impossible dream come true:

THE WORLD'S FIRST ART-SCIENCE WASP EXHIBITION!
www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-coll...

...from wasp researchers behind #WorldOfWasps @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social...

@cintiaoi.bsky.social @idrisadams.bsky.social

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Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Grant Museum of Zoology @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social · Jun 18

See the life of wasps as master architects, pest controllers and pollinators. Discover the delightfully relatable social goings-on inside our virtual nest at our upcoming exhibition from 25 June. www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-coll... #GMZWasps

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · Jun 18

Yes!

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · Jun 18

Everyone needs a jar of moles

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · Jun 17

I flipping love Operation Mincemeat! I cried twice. 11/10, would watch again.

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · Jun 17

It's finally here, the totebag to end all totebags from @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social

A beige totebag with a black and white image of a jar full of moles on it. In the background is the Micrarium, a glowing alcove with walls made of microscope slides

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · Jun 16

Don't miss what is almost certainly the world's first museum exhibition all about wasps, opening on 25th June. The Grant Museum will be buzzing 🐝

Grant Museum of Zoology @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social · Jun 12

Zoom inside a virtual wasp’s nest and experience the hidden, intimate ‘World of Wasps’ – their homes, their lifestyles and their relationships. See our upcoming exhibition based on @ucl.ac.uk research. www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-coll... #GMZWasps

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 16

Crabs in name only

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 16

What's on the @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social trolley today?

Close up of four large brown horseshoe crabs in a glass jar. The fronts of their bodies are domed and horseshoe shaped with a serrated triangular back end and a long, pointed tail

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Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · May 9

A lot of #museums are removing human remains from display if they don't have explicit consent from the person. They're often replaced with casts sourced commercially, but @hannahcornish.bsky.social at #NatSCA2025 pointed out that often these casts are made from remains that also don't have consent.

Hannah Cornish stood at a lectern with her title slide behind her. It reads:
"Making an exhibition of ourselves: displaying and not displaying human remains in the Grant Museum" and shows images of two museum displays

A PowerPoint slide reading "But then..." showing a comemrcially available plastic cast skull being unpacked from a cardboard box.

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 7

How do you move a 3 metre long, 150 year old dugong skeleton?

The @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social dugong (known as Dougal or Derek to its friends) has been taken off display to be re-mounted by conservator Nigel Larkin. It will be back in the new year looking better than ever.

Three smiling people carry the ribcage of a large animal on the pavement outside the Grant Museum, while a fourth checks for traffic.

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 6

On the trolley today at the Grant Museum @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social

Animal specimens including skulls and jars

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 5

Yes, I think it's still a font. I adapted it from an 1873 sampler to get the mid-Victorian vibes right

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 5

I love this! I recently finished a piece with 100,000 stitches, so clearly, I am to be feared!

Reposted by Hannah Cornish

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · May 5

When it comes to certain parts of anatomy, #museums have been deliberately teaching people the wrong thing.
Most #mammals have a bone in their penis but natural history museums usually remove them from display, as I told @iflscience.com (& wrote in #NaturesMemory):
www.iflscience.com/where-have-a...

The Surprising (And Very Unscientific) Reason Why Penis Bones Are So Rare In Natural History Museums

#NotAllMuseums (but a lot of them) seem have to banished the penis bone. Why?

www.iflscience.com

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Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 5

And barnacles are harder to cross stitch

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 4

This was brilliant!

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · May 4

Have a listen! 📻
I'll be chatting about #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History #Museums, with the legendary @cerysmatthews.bsky.social at 11ish today on BBC Radio 6 Music. 🤩
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

A screenshot of the episode's page
A Joyous Exploration: Jack Ashby and Hannah Barry
Cerys Matthews

Cerys handpicks your Sunday soundtrack and welcomes zoologist Jack Ashby to discuss his new book Natures Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, sharing stories on enormous mounted whale skeletons to cabinets of impossibly tiny insects.

She also explores Peckham's art scene with gallerist and curator, Hannah Barry who runs non-profit art organisation Bold Tendencies, established in the rooftop space of South London's multi-storey carpark.

Author Alice Vincent leaves a message on her new book, Hark looking at how women listen and Cerys reaches into her mixed record bag from her vintage and classic collection, in addition to her favourite new finds this week.

Hannah Cornish @hannahcornish.bsky.social · May 4

I thought my first post on Bluesky should be something positive and motivational

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