Extinction Voices

The Extinction Voices exhibition has now finished.

To highlight the seriousness of the wildlife extinction crisis, we veiled Alfred the gorilla and 31 other animals in our World Wildlife gallery.

Among others the veils covered our rhino, tiger, giraffe and chimpanzee so we could begin to comprehend a world without these extraordinary creatures. All 32 animals are threatened with high to extreme risk of extinction.

Watch our short video about Extinction Voices

We did this because of a report released by IPBES in May 2019. It revealed that one million species are threatened with extinction because of humans – many within decades.

It’s not too late for us to make a difference and we hope this display inspired people to think about what we can all do to protect these unique and precious animals.

The histories of some of our animals were told for the first time, including our tiger which was shot by King George V in Nepal, 1911. This glimpse of the past is vital to understanding what is happening today.

Extinction Voices brought together the voices of local children, scientists and the museum. The title is inspired by a quote by environmentalist Paul Hawken: ‘Nature is noisy. It walks, it crawls, it swims, it swoops, it buzzes. But extinction is silent. It has no voice except our own.’