This week, I have mostly been pondering the baculum. A wonderful friend, "glidergoth", brought me one as a present from her trip to the States, and the wonderful Museum of Osteology (previously mentioned here). I cannot speak to the truth of anyone using this as a toothpick or a coffee stirrer. But is has been a conversation piece, and raised a number of questions. The first question is: "which way around does it go?" I had thought it was sort of obvious. One end has that dou

I never fail to be astonished by the weird and wonderful things out on display in museums that people don't even notice. And the infinite variety of ways that zoologists and anatomists find to slice up and bottle animals. I finally got the combination of time, energy and a willing accomplice to visit the Horniman Museum. I heard about the marvellous walrus years ago, and have long wanted to visit. (If you haven't heard of it, imagine a bewildered taxidermist being supplied wi

Years after first hearing about it, the circumstances have come together that, next week, I will finally get to visit the Horniman Museum, and it's famous walrus. (Image courtesy of the Horniman Museum) It is such a star, it even has its own twitter account. Wondering why it is so special? Or what looks so odd about it? It is a wonderful example of taxidermy performed without knowing what the animal looked like. So the taxidermist just filled the skin. Compare this to a walr