PROWL BEHIND SCENES AT CITY MUSEUM
best office of the whole museum. The long, tall room on the top floor is full of natural light needed to work on the various paintings lined up on easels throughout the studio.
If you walk down enough stairs from the conservationists’ office you’ll find something that at first glance looks more like a science lab.
Right underneath the main hall of the museum sits a massive room full 750,000 different specimens of weird and wonderful creatures from the ocean that’s normally off-limits to the general public. On long racks of shelves you’ll find hundreds of jars containing preserved marine invertebrates – from minuscule worms that you can barely see with the naked eye to pretty terrifying looking squid and some less than handsome octopuses.
Part of the department’s work is to keep a check on any invasive species that may have entered the waters around Wales and to monitor the state of the seabed.
Senior curator Kate Mortimer-Jones said: “The work that we do is extremely important – it’s important to know what animals are out there and where they are because all of the things that we do as human beings have an impact on the environment.
“And it’s important to know where they live so you can protect them. We also use the collection for education but this collection is used by scientists all around the world who find new species as well.”
The department often gets phone calls from people who believe they may have found something interesting. Kate said: “But a lady called in with a stick insect once and it turned out to actually be a stick.”
After more than 20 years at the museum Kate compared the building to something from a Roald Dahl book.
“The museum is a bit like the Willy Wonka factory – you never see people come and go, but here we are,” she said.
A short trip from the basement, provided you don’t get lost, is another of the museum’s collections.
The mollusca collection, which includes snails, clams, slugs and mussels, has around two million lots.
Manager of the mollusca collection Harriet Wood processes any new additions and helps loan out specimens across the world.
Harriet said: “Scientists from everywhere want to research them, find out new species and compare things to specimens in our collections.
“I did my degree next door and I actually just started volunteering here many years ago now and I was lucky enough to get this post.
“I feel very privileged to work here every single day, the beauty of the collection and the history behind it.”