An original watercolour which has been cropped to show the tail of an unknown animal. It is shades of grey and light brown and looks a bit like a centipede.
Not the time to bury your head (or tail) in the sand, come on what curious creature does this tail belong to?
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
In 1863 Richter and Gould's work was published in 'Mammals of Australia'.
View a digitised copy of this work via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49738000
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA
A original watercolour cropped to show just the ned of two tails, of an unknown animal. The top part of the tails are thin and light brown in colour, the lower end is black and bushy. In the background are faintly sketched rocky out crops and some branches.
Hang on, are these really tails and not some sort of grass?
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
An original watercolour cropped to show the end of a tail of an unknown animal. The shape is oval, shades of orange in colour, with lines and black dots
This tail might be harmless but watch out for the venomous spines!
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Original watercolour cropped to show just a black and white tail of a bird.
This feathery forked delight is usually found in the Himalayas, Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and southern China.
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
A historical coloured illustration depicting two hummingbirds hovering over some branches. The birds are dark green and black, with a white belly and throat.
Phaethornis anthophilus (Pale-bellied hermit - hummingbird)
From vol 1 of 'A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds' (1849-1861)
by John Gould (1804-1881) and H C Richter (1821-1902).
[Copy info: bit.ly/4gHQNYr]
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
An original artwork cropped to show only the tail of an unknown animal.
Blink and you'll miss it! What tiny but mesmerising animal could this be?
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
A page from an old book showing colourful illustrations of five fish of varying shapes and sizes. Each illustration is numbered and has a small amount of writing next to it, written in either Dutch, French or Malay.
Renard's work depicts 466 marine creatures, 41 of which are crustaceans.
These colour illustrations were ground breaking at the time and essential for enabling identification. It must have caused great excitement to those lucky enough to see a copy.
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
A landscape sized colour illustration on a page from an old book. The top image shows a mermaid-like creature, the front part being human and the rest a body of a long multi-coloured fish tail. The bottom image is of a long multi-coloured crayfish.
A mermaid-like creature (based on an account).
From 'Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes...' (1718-1719) by Louis Renard (1678-c1746). One of the 1st publications to depict in colour the marine life of the East Indies.
[Copy info: bit.ly/3PmdEN4]
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
An historical colour illustration, cropped to show just the end of a fish like tail. It is green, blue and red.
Is it a fish or some other intriguing aquatic creature?
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Original watercolour drawing of two weedy seadragons, with a blank background. They are shades of orange, pink and yellow.
Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Common seadragon).
Original watercolour by Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) from a collection depicting animals collected when he accompanied Matthew Flinders on a voyage to Australia.
See the complete collection via our #DigitisedCollections bit.ly/3OSmOkj
#WTIIA
Cropped part of an original watercolour, showing the tail of an unknown animal. The tail is shades of pinkie orange and has bits coming off each side at intervals
Nothing mythical (or weedy) about this incredible creature!
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Black and white illustration cropped to show just the tail of an unknown animal wrapped around a branch.
Which animal does this beautifully engraved prehensile tail snuggly wrapped around a branch belong to?
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Wilson's work was published in 'A history of British mammals' (1910-1921) by Gerald E. H. Barrett-Hamilton.
View a digitised copy of this book via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social
https://buff.ly/49z2CgN
#OpenAccess #WTIIA #WhoseTailIsItAnyway
A watercolour showing six golden brown dormice in dense branches, around a small nest.
Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius)
In 1912 artist, naturalist and physician Edward A Wilson (1872-1912) perished alongside Robert F Scott in Antarctica. A few years before, he painted these dormice that along with many other mammals.
#SpecialCollections #WTIIA
An original watercolour cropped to show the slim brown tail of an animal. Behind are branches and leaves.
This tail belongs to a (very) little golden gem which is one of the smallest and rarest mammals in Britain.
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
An original watercolour drawing of a green caterpillar on a narrow branch. The caterpillar has diagonal black lines and black spots at regular intervals along its body. Behind the caterpillar is a pink flower and some green leaves.
A Convolvulus hawk-moth caterpillar by John C Dollman (1851-1934).
Part of 540 original watercolours of British moths and butterflies.
Explore his work via our #DigitisedCollections bit.ly/3VCQUfs #WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Part of an original artwork, cropped to show just to end of a green insect and part of a pink flower.
Can you make head or tail of this one? Sometimes found in gardens on cultivated bindweed
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
A large old book open at a double paged illustration (Plate 51) depicting multiple animals and objects. Dominating the pages is a large hedgehog and an ostrich. Along the top are smaller images of a bird, a baby hedgehog (on all fours and on its back), a round object in a gold cage and two grass heads.
Title page of an book dated 1734. The beginning of the title reads 'locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio'.
Explanatory half page of text accompanying table LI.
Explanatory half page of text accompanying table LI.
A common ostrich (Struthio camelus).
Plate LI from: Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, per universam physices historiam, &c. Albertus Seba (1665-1736), volume 1.
[Copy details: bit.ly/49yZAZZ]
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA
Cropped illustration showing the feathery tail of an unknown animal. The tail has tones of yellow, white and grey in it.
Does it hop? Two legs of four?
Don't be fooled!
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Published image showing two stripy wild cats on a snow covered ground. The cats are light brown with black stripes.
Text from a book explaining the image of the two cats, it is titled 'Felis manul Pallas's Thibetan cat.'
Pallas's Cat (Otocolobus manul).
Plate X from: A monograph of the Felidæ, or family of the Cats by Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915), published in1883.
[Copy details: https://bit.ly/3De6lnL]
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Cropped illustration showing the end of the tail of a furry mammal, it is light brown and has black stripes.
Practically puuuuuurfect in everyway especially their fabulous face! This furry feline was first described in 1776 by someone called Peter ….
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #WTIIA #SpecialCollections
Individual plastic letters lying on a surface which spell out 'Whose tail is is anyway? #WTIIA'
Hello January! As we welcome in the New Year how about a game of #WhoseTailIsItAnyway.
Using a variety of original and published images from our collections, can you guess the owner of the tail (or bottom) before the full image is shown in all its glory? #WTIIA #SpecialCollections #Archives
