Natural History
Bones
This collection has over 1,900 bones consisting mostly of skulls, vertebrates, teeth, sternums, carapaces, horns and antlers from a wide range of carnivores, herbivores and insectivores from around the world.African hippo skulls, Sri Lankan elephant skull, American alligator’s teeth and a New Zealand moa bird bones, too name but a few of our non-British animals. The British collections of bones are from domestic cats and dogs along with wild red fox, small bird and badgers.
One of our major bone collections was donated by Surgeon-General Slaughter, who gave our museum over 300 small bird sternums from India and Burma in 1922.
Highlights from the Collection
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| Hippopotamus Skull from Africa |
Hippopotamus means ‘river horse.’ This reflects the Ancient Greek belief that hippos were related to horses, but in fact recent research has proved that their closest living relatives are cetaceans, the order containing whales and dolphins.
Hippos can weigh over 3 tonnes. They tend to live in groups of up to 40 animals. They spend most of the day partially submerged under water to cope with the strong heat of the sun and their skin also produces a red coloured sunscreen.
Primates, with their large brains, are the most intelligent mammals and many, especially monkeys and apes, have good memories. All have excellent eyesight, with forward-facing eyes.
