More than a Dodo

14 May – 29 September at the Museum of the History of Science

One of the things we’ve been working hard on recently (darkened, not dormant remember) is a temporary exhibition we are putting together with the Museum of the History of Science, just up the road in Broad Street. Taking over the MHS’s lovely special exhibition gallery is a neat way of getting some great specimens out and visible to the public while we’re closed. But there’s a bit more to it than that, as it also ties in with some nice history of the museums in Oxford.

A giraffe in the entrance gallery of the 'Old Ashmolean', now the Museum of the History of Science — A giraffe in the entrance gallery of the ‘Old Ashmolean’, now the Museum of the History of Science

The first public museum to open in Britain – and quite possibly the world – was the Ashmolean Museum, established in 1683 by Elias Ashmole in the building in Broad Street that is now the Museum of the History of Science. Although the current Ashmolean (in Beaumont Street) focuses on art and archaeology, the ‘Old’ Ashmolean’s collections were of both man-made objects and natural specimens.

They remained there – and grew – until the mid-19th century when our Museum was built in Parks Road. At this point, in 1860, the natural history specimens came here, where many of them remain. So the Natural Histories exhibition at the MHS represents a return of natural history to its original Oxford home in the building on Broad Street. There was even once a giraffe in the entrance gallery as you can see above.

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) — Magnificent Riflebird (*Ptiloris magnificus*)

But back to the exhibition. Natural Histories takes a look at some of the history of natural history itself. This is a big subject to tackle, so we’ve picked out just a few themes and stories – some important ideas and big name scientists, as well as some lesser-known but nonetheless significant naturalists. The displays will show specimens and ideas from throughout the centuries, right up to the present day.

There will be creatures collected by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s contemporary and co-originator of the theory of evolution through natural selection. We have got some examples of the oldest rocks on Earth; extinct plants and animals; and some of the very latest techniques being used in the Museum to reveal exquisitely preserved fossils.

There’s a lot of material to prepare and we’ve been mocking up shelf layouts and making sure everything is going to fit, as you can see in the picture below.

Testing case layouts. — A particularly busy display: what can you spot…?

And since this is the Museum of Natural History there will of course be some things you can touch. We’re also building in a special thread running throughout the exhibition just for families and children, which I think might well be narrated by our friend the Dodo.

We hope you’ll all come and see the exhibition and let us know what you think, either here or on Twitter. And if you can’t make it, there will also be a dedicated Natural Histories website – more on that and our programme of events and activities to follow.

One way or another, we’ll hopefully see you there…

Scott Billings, Communications coordinator

24 April 2013

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Oxfordshire Goes Wild!

The Education team had a fantastic sunny day out on Saturday at Oxfordshire Goes Wild. This annual ecology extravaganza sees many of the county’s nature and wildlife groups gather to bring us all a bit closer to the natural world.

In previous years the event has been held at the Museum of Natural History, but as we’re closed at the moment, we stepped out into the countryside… and we couldn’t have picked a better day for it! We arrived at the Earth Trust Centre in Little Wittenham in full sun and were given a beautiful spot to set up our activities, overlooking the Oxfordshire countryside.

20130420_102455 — Set up and waiting for the crowds

Several hundred children took the opportunity to dissect owl pellets and identify their prey in the sun, or learn about our collections through our Museum Mix-Up activities. Toddlers and grandparents alike were seen picking through the pellets to discover skulls, bones and claws; these owls clearly lived in very rich hunting ground!

We all managed to sneak a short break during the day to investigate the many other things that were going on. There were live animals galore in the shape of bats, reptiles, owls and a bounty of bugs. Also on offer was red kite nest building, pond dipping and crafts a-plenty.

We all left feeling tired but enthused and impressed. Well done to all involved for a fantastic event celebrating our diverse and fascinating wildlife. Even our stuffed owls enjoyed the day out!

Creepy crawlies get everywhere. A stick insect roams at the Minibeast Mayhem stall. — Creepy crawlies get everywhere. A stick insect roams at the Amateur Entomologists’ Society stall

20130420_161353 — Our expert navigators confer over the best route to Wittenham.

Rachel Parle, Education officer

22 April 2013

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What’s on the van? – Shark tooth fossil

_Lhwyd-1260-original

This week’s What’s on the van? comes from Paul Jeffery, assistant curator of the Museum’s Geological Collections.

The oldest known collection in the Museum is that of Edward Lhuyd (1660-1709), made during the 1680s-1690s. This collection formed the basis for Lhuyd’s ground-breaking monograph, Lithophylacii Britannici ichnographia – a systematic illustrated catalogue of the collection of fossils he was responsible for as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, which at that time was still based in its original building, now the Museum of the History of Science in Broad Street.

Lhuyd’s book set the framework for later works by authors such as Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and Gustavus Brander (1720-1787) who further systematised the naming and description of animals, plants and fossils, and introduced a Latin-based naming regime still used today.

Lhuyd also advanced thinking on fossils, recognising them as organic in origin, rather than spontaneous mineral concretions or sports of the devil. This was daring and radical for its time – an era when religious orthodoxy still strongly influenced philosophical and academic thought.

This particular shark’s tooth comes from the extinct species Otodus obliquus. It is from the 50 million year old London Clay (Early Eocene), and was found on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. Such teeth can still be found on the beaches there today, washed from the crumbling clay cliffs by rain and wave alike.

It is an uncommonly large species of shark – teeth may exceed 75mm in length, and represents one of the earliest steps in an evolutionary “arms race”. During the Palaeogene and Neogene this lineage of lamniform sharks evolved ever larger and more comprehensively serrated teeth, along with proportionately increased body sizes, to keep pace with early whale evolution, as they too increased from modest proportions to the giants of today.

It was a race the whales eventually won in the Early Pleistocene. Otodus’s descendant – the giant Carcharocles megalodon, a 20m long super-predator – disappeared around this time: outgrown by the whales, out-competed by new predatory species and displaced by global climatic cooling.

We will be exhibiting some of Lhuyd’s fossils in Natural Histories, a collaborative exhibition based at the Museum of the History of Science, opening on 14 May. More information about this will follow very shortly.

Paul Jeffery, Assistant curator of Geology

19 April 2013

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Presenting… Bruno’s fossil find

Presenting Bruno's fossil find

Limulus polyphemis You’ve read about it in the press (probably), but now you can see Bruno Debattista’s rare trace fossil find for yourself in our Presenting… display, just inside the entrance of the Museum. Although we are closed, this changing exhibit can be seen by visitors coming through the building to the Pitt Rivers Museum.

On display we have Bruno’s shale rock, found in Bude, Cornwall last year, which shows faint tracks left by a pair of horseshoe crabs as they crawled up an ancient, muddy shore more than 300 million years ago. Although the species of horseshoe crab which made these tracks is long extinct, we are displaying two modern specimens for comparison. One is around the size of the animal which left the original trackway; the other is a full size horseshoe crab which lives in the Atlantic Ocean – Limulus polyphemus.

We should also point out that horseshoe crabs aren’t really crabs at all. Crabs are crustaceans, but horseshoe crabs are more closely related to the arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions. Fossil and horseshoe crab

Scott Billings – Communications coordinator

16 April 2013

More than a Dodo19 Comments

Roof revelation

8588044846_75091db95d_b — Up in the rafters
Credit: Mike Peckett

Our beautiful Victorian roof is a masterpiece of wrought and cast iron topped with 8,500 glass tiles. It’s one of the first things our visitors notice when they enter the Museum, and its leaks are the reason we’re closed this year. But what many people don’t notice is that the glass is supported by decorated wooden struts, painted with bright geometric patterns, and contrasting surprisingly with the organic Gothic detail of the rest of the building.

Whilst the construction team from Beard were up in amongst the rafters last week, they spotted a surprising addition to the paint work. Hidden high up, and out of sight of even the most observant of visitors, was a message from the past. The roof decorators had left their names and the date of their work painted onto the woodwork for future generations to discover.

The message reads “This roof was painted by G. Thicke and J Randall, April 1864”. In general, we don’t approve of graffiti inside the Museum, but this discovery felt pretty special. Well done Randall and Thicke, you did a great job!

Rachel Parle, Education Officer

15 April 2013

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What’s on the van? – Heliconius hecale

This week’s What’s on the van? comes from Zhengyang Wang, an undergraduate volunteer in our Hope Entomology Collection

Belonging to the genus of Heliconius, this species of butterfly can be seen from Southern Mexico to north-central Bolivia, from dense forests to open savannah. Like many other species of this genus, Heliconius hecale has many different forms of a single species. The picture illustrates the form felix of this species, which is commonly found in Munchai, Rio Beni and Bolivia.

In one of the cabinets of the Hope Entomology Collection here at the Museum, you can find another form of the same species but of slightly different wing pattern, vestustus, usually found in Columbia. Sometimes the visual differences between forms of the same species can be quite stark: the fornarina form of Heliconius hecale from Guatemala, for example, is only black and white.

In fact, morphological differences within species is quite common among butterflies. As well as sexual dimorphism, where male and female body shapes differ, species found at different localities, different climates, and in different seasons can also exhibit variations in morphology.

Speaking of morphology, it also needs to be mentioned that many other species from different sub-families of brush-foot butterflies, such as Danaini and Ithomiini, mimic the morphology of these Heliconius butterflies. Why is that? It’s because many Heliconius butterflies are quite unpalatable to their predators, so a mimicry of them might tell predators “Don’t eat me, I’m poisonous.” This kind of mimicry of other species’ warning signals is called Mullerian mimicry.

Thanks to their choice of plant food, their differing wing patterns and the relative ease with which they can be monitored, the butterflies from the genus of Heliconius have also been widely studied to understand genetic evolution and co-evolution between butterflies and plants.

Zhengyang Wang, visiting student at Hertford College, Oxford and volunteer in the Hope Entomological Collection