Museum voor Dierkunde
Ledeganckstraat, 35
B - 9000 Gent
Free accessible to the public on special exhibition days (announced in the press. During the week of the 'Gent Feasts' (week of the 21th of Juli) from sunday to sunday, from 09.00 till 12.00 a.m., guided tours at 09h15 and 10h30 a.m.
The museum is accessible to groups all year round, after an appointment is made with the curator on the following number : +(0)9-264 52 28 or +(0)474-97 58 53; group visits coasts 20,- Euro for a group of up to 25 people (guided tour included).
Founded in 1817 the Zoology Museum aimed to assemble a scientific collection of preserved animals to illustrate the zoology courses given at the University of Ghent. Nowadays the collection is still used and studied by university students, but on the same time the museum is made more accessible to a larger public.
The museum houses a historically important collection with representatives of all groups of the Animal Kingdom. The collection holds animal organs (Comparative Anatomy section) and entire animals preserved on alcohol or formalin, as well as stuffed animals and skeletons.
The upper museum floor (level -1) contains the Invertebrate Section, with animals such as sponges, cnidarians, worms, molluscs and artropods. Type specimens of some groups are cared for.
The lower museum floor (level -2) shows the Vertebrates, such as fish, amfibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, and the Section of Comparative Anatomy.
Accessible to groups all year round, with appointment : +32(0)92645228