Norman the elephant turns 175 at University museum

An elephant who was once part of a travelling animal show in the late 1800s has celebrated his 175th birthday at the University of Reading's Cole Museum of Zoology.

Norman, an Asian elephant whose skeleton is the centrepiece of the museum on the University's Whiteknights campus, toured the UK with Manders Menagerie in the 1850s and 1860s. Local newspapers of the time reported that he could run races, jump hurdles and play the piano.

Staff and students from the University's School of Biological Sciences gathered to mark Norman's milestone birthday on Tuesday 22 September.

From travelling show to teaching collection

Norman died in 1867, at the age of sixteen. Professor Francis Joseph Cole, founder of The Cole Museum, bought Norman's skeleton from Liverpool Museum in 1921 for £30 - roughly £1,900 in today's money.

The Cole Museum was originally located on the London Road campus. It moved to Whiteknights campus in the early 1970s. Before the museum moved to its current home in the Health and Life Sciences building in 2020, a specialist conservator cleaned and rebuilt Norman's skeleton and made replicas of his tusks.

Professor Amanda Callaghan, Curator of the Cole Museum of Zoology, said: "Norman has had an extraordinary life, and an even more extraordinary afterlife. He entertained crowds up and down the country in the 1800s, and more than 150 years later he is still teaching our zoology students and delighting visitors of all ages.

"He is a much-loved part of the University of Reading, and we couldn't let his 175th birthday pass without a celebration."

A collection built to teach

The Cole Museum was founded in 1907 to teach zoology at what was then University College Reading. It now holds around 38,000 specimens, including skeletons, taxidermy, fluid-preserved dissections and fossils. Many were collected by former students and friends on their travels, and others were gifted by governments and museums around the world, including a platypus and echidna from the Australian Government. 

Students on the University's BSc Zoology course still study specimens from Cole's collection in their practical classes.

Alongside Norman, visitors can see the skeletons of a camel and a false killer whale, as well as cases of preserved animals.

The Cole Museum of Zoology is free to visit and is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9am – 4.30pm.

The space is also available for school and community groups to visit.