Rare chance to browse around museum’s strange treasures

The little-known Alfred Denny Museum, at Sheffield University, includes items from the world of natural history such as the skull of an extinct man-sized eagle, half a dolphin, tiny flying dinosaur skeletons and sun spiders complete with ferocious, poisonous jaws.

It is being opened-up as part of the Festival Of The Mind, which is bringing leading academics from the university together with a range of artists to bring their research to a wider audience.

The museum was founded in 1905 and is used to teach students in biology and related fields.

Its curator, Professor Tim Birkhead, will be providing a series of tours for interested outsiders. Prof Birkhead will also be outlining the story behind the museum’s treasure in a talk called The Cabinet Of Curiosities, which he will deliver in a rare Belgian circus tent made with stained glass windows and wooden pews.

In another Festival Of The Mind event, called Animal Magic, Prof Birkhead is teaming up with contemporary artist Paul Evans to create a series of giant 8ft bowerbird nest structures around Sheffield. Once built, artists will be stationed in the human-sized bowers – which in nature look remarkably like human-built huts adorned with trinkets – transforming them into full-scale interactive art pieces.

Prof Birkhead said: “This is a great way to show the public just how amazing nature can be.”

For more information visit www.festivalofthemind.group.shef.ac.uk