Biodiversity Heritage Library Makes 150,000 Animal and Botanical Illustrations Available to Download For Free

Biodiversity Heritage Library Squid

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a veritable storehouse of natural history documentation that provides open access to its digital library, which includes over 150,000 animal and botanical illustrations that can be downloaded for free. The mission of the BHL is to make its gathered documentation openly available to the public as a tool for biodiversity education.

The BHL portal provides free access to hundreds of thousands of volumes, comprising over 57 million pages, from the 15th-21st centuries. In addition to public domain content, BHL works with rights holders to obtain permission to make in-copyright materials openly available under Creative Commons licenses.

These images are available for download through their site, Flickr and Instagram.

Biodiversity Heritage Library Octopus Detail

Biodiversity Heritage Library Angler Fish

Biodiversity Heritage Library Blue Orange Fish

Biodiversity Heritage Library Butterflies

Biodiversity Heritage Library Duck

Biodiversity Heritage Library Flora

Biodiversity Heritage Library Fox.jpg

Biodiversity Heritage Library Octopus

Biodiversity Heritage Library Small Mammal

Biodiversity Heritage Library Snake

Biodiversity Heritage Library Squirrel

Biodiversity Heritage Walking Stick

via Colossal

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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