Overview

Natural history museums contain many thousands of zoological specimens and each has a tale to tell - often involving extraordinary people, daring explorations, unquenchable scientific curiosity, and strange coincidences. This perfectly presented book, with its engaging pictures, is rich in stories and unveils many secrets. Read about: the fate of a tortoise given as a gift by Captain Cook; the epic international voyage of the biggest known moa egg; the admiration induced by an ape from the jungles of Borneo; the barn owl of mysterious origins; the unfortunate fate of an angry young elephant; the quest to discover how a New Zealand heron turned up in a Florence museum; the strange arrival of an Australian banjo frog and many other mind-boggling mysteries. The author is a fabulous storyteller, and this book will be loved by museum-goers, animal-lovers, and anyone with a curiosity about the natural world.

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9781877551130

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Reviews

Delightfully whimsical. . . . You won't find a whiff of ponderous pedantry or academic plodism in the pages of this small but perfectly formed book. -- Waikato Times

An informative and entertaining collection of stories about some of the weird and wonderful things that have ended up in museum collections around New Zealand. --Kia Ora magazine A gently digressive collection where slivers of autobiography weave through clearly articulated scientific explanations. --Weekend Herald Delightfully whimsical. . . . You won't find a whiff of ponderous pedantry or academic plodism in the pages of this small but perfectly formed book. --Waikato Times

Delightfully whimsical. . . . You won't find a whiff of ponderous pedantry or academic plodism in the pages of this small but perfectly formed book. --Waikato Times A gently digressive collection where slivers of autobiography weave through clearly articulated scientific explanations. --Weekend Herald An informative and entertaining collection of stories about some of the weird and wonderful things that have ended up in museum collections around New Zealand. --Kia Ora magazine

Author Information

Brian Gill is curator of birds and other land vertebrates at Auckland Museum, author and co-author of many books, including New Zealand's Unique Birds, The Kiwi and Other Flightless Birds and New Zealand Frogs and Reptiles, and a contributor to New Zealand Geographic and Forest and Bird.

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