University of Oulu Zoological Museum

The Zoological Museum is in connection with the Botanical Garden, on the northern corner of the Linnanmaa campus area, near lake Kuivasjärvi. Street address is Kaitoväylä 5.

The Zoological Museum is not open to the public.

The Zoological Museum of the University of Oulu and its purpose and tasks date back to 1925, when Oulu nature lovers were founding an association in Oulu with the main purpose of creating a natural history museum. The museum of the Oulu Friends of Nature Association (OLY) was already on its own premises in 1932 and its collections included more than 400 animals. However, these were destroyed in the bombings of the Winter War.

OLY's reconstructed collections (more than 600 vertebrates and 15,000 invertebrates) were donated to the University of Oulu in 1960. At that time, the collection was located on the top floor of the Ainola library building. In 1961, the museum acquired its own premises in connection with the Department of Zoology from the Oulu YMCA building. In 1972, the Zoological Museum moved to the former Åström leather factory and operated there until it moved to Linnanmaa in 1984. After moving to Linnanmaa, the exhibition was expanded by building dioramas, which were created by conservator Heikki Kangasperko in 1984 - 92. In later years, the exhibition was supplemented by conservator Atte Lahtela among others. The exhibition of the Zoological Museum in Linnanmaa was closed in 2017.

In 2023, the exhibition at the Zoological Museum was continued at the Science Centre Tietomaa's functional Animal Tracks exhibition. The exhibition was designed as a collaboration between Science Centre Tietomaa and the University of Oulu. At the moment, Tietomaa, and thus Animal Tracks, is closed due to renovation and new construction. The exhibition will open again in 2026.

You can bring the dead animal to the museum (Kaitoväylä 5 90570 Oulu). Please submit the specimen as soon as possible after discovery (or store it in the freezer).

Please contact museum staff before you bring a dead animal specimen to the museum.

Attach the following information to the specimen: Location and date of discovery, name of person who made the discovery and method of discovery (e.g., found dead in the woods) or reason of death if known (flew into a windowpane).

Do not touch a dead animal found in a populated area with your bare hands.

Visiting address:

Kaitoväylä 5, Linnanmaa

Postal address:

Zoological Museum of the University of Oulu

P.O. Box 3000

FI-90014 University of Oulu

University internal mail:

3KASPU

Director:
Jouni Aspi, PhD
0294 481214
jouni.aspi(at)oulu.fi

Findings and samples of vertebrate animals:

Research Technician:
Tuula Pudas, MSc
0294 481263
tuula.pudas(at)oulu.fi

Conservator:
Jaakko Tauriainen
0294 481277
jaakko.tauriainen(at)oulu.fi

Findings and samples of invertebrate animals:

Senior Curator:
Marko Mutanen, PhD
0294 481256
marko.mutanen(at)oulu.fi

Museum Assistant:
Harri Jokinen
harri.jokinen(at)oulu.fi