Consider which of the animals from the trail you might encounter as live beings. How might the way you observe these animals change between an encounter in a museum and in the wild? 

Exercise 1: Imagined landscapes

Choose an animal in the museum and imagine its life in the wild. You may need to do further research. What habitat does this creature need to thrive? You might write descriptions and/or sketch the habitat, and creatures it coexists alongside.

Exercise 2: Field notes

Imagine you are a naturalist who studies one of the animal species in the Museum. Write a story about the animal, moving between the ‘field’ where you observe live specimens and the Museum.

Exercise 3: Wish you were here

Write a postcard about one of the animals in the collection. You might write it in your own voice, to someone you’d like to share your encounter at the Museum with. You might write it from the perspective of a Museum curator or educator. You might write it from the perspective of the animal, reporting about life in the Museum.