The Cole Museum of Zoology is a university museum, part of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading. It is located on the ground floor of the Health and Life Sciences building on the university's Whiteknights Campus in the town of Reading, Berkshire, England.

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Cole Museum of Zoology

The skeleton of the circus elephant that dominates the main floor of the museum
Location within Reading
Established	Early 20th century
Location	Reading, Berkshire, UK
Coordinates	51.442375°N 0.945414°W / 51.442375; -0.945414
Type	University museum
Collection size	Zoology
Curator	Dr Amanda Callaghan[1]
Website	reading.ac.uk/colemuseum/

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The collection was established in the early 20th century by Francis J. Cole (Professor of Zoology), Dr Nellie B. Eales (who catalogued the collection), and Mr Stoneman, from 1907 to 1939 when Cole retired.^[2] On Cole's death in 1959, the University also purchased his library of books, which are kept as a special collection in the main library.

The museum has recently been moved to the new Health and Life Sciences building. It contains about 4,000 specimens of which about 400 are on display at any one time. Specimens are arranged in 14 cases in taxonomic sequence, thus enabling a complete tour of the diversity of the animal kingdom. Specimens include a male Indian circus elephant skeleton, a 5-metre reticulated python skeleton containing 400 vertebrae, a fossil of the largest spider to ever have lived, and a false killer whale skeleton.

• University of Reading