An original watercolour depicting a long tailed bird perched on a low branch. The bird is facing away and looking to the left. It is mainly different shades of blue, with a white and cream tummy, and white cheek. The tail feathers have black horizontal lines along it at regular intervals.

Blue jay.

Born in England, artist John Abbot (1751-1840) spent the majority of his life in America. This jay is one of 116 watercolours in an album titled Birds of Georgia, dated 1827.

View the collection via #DigitisedCollections buff.ly/4aBFezx
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

An original watercolour cropped to show just the end of a feathered tail. It is mainly blue with black lines at regular intervals along the length. The background is mainly blank apart from the bottom right which shows some basic greenery and sandy ground.

Looks more like a fan than a tail?

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

An original watercolour sketch of three red pandas. There are two in the background, drawn in black and white, depicted curled up. The panda in the foreground faces to the right and is coloured red / brown, with white ears and a black tummy and feet. Beneath in link is handwritten 'Ailurus fulgens. The Wah. Extra sheet'.

Red panda (Ailurus fulgens).

Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 - 1894) drew this beautiful mammal during his twenty-three years in Nepal for the British East India Company. He noted that one of it's local names was 'wha', resembling the animal's loud call.

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

An original watercolour artwork cropped to show just the end of a tail. The tail is fluffy and dark brown with a dark tip.

Who owns this tail?
It's not a black and white issue!

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

A sepia photograph showing a skeleton of a monkey standing on all fours on a plinth. It's tail is curled. Under the photograph is handwritten '151. Skeleton of black-handed spider monkey'.

Spider Monkey.

In the early years of the @nhm-london.bsky.social, it was policy to only allow visitor photography on the condition that a copy was then given to the museum.

Miss Katherine M. Reynolds (1860-1932) took this photo during a visit in 1892.

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #MuseumArchives

The name of this beautiful animal could fool you into thinking it has eight legs 🤔
Now that would be a sight!

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #MuseumArchives

A watercolour showing two white stoats with dark brown tips on the end of their tails. They are depicted on snow with a base of a tree trunk behind them and behind that snow covered bushes.

Stoat (Mustela erminea)

Watercolour by Florence R. Mold (1904-1990), who was employed by the museum as an artist. She was based in the Entomology department, and alongside postcard designs, provided illustrations for the Insect gallery.  

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #MuseumArchives

A chilly tail on a chilly day, but who does it belong to?

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

An original watercolour of a sandworm, it is drawn with its head at the top and tail at the bottom of the image, with the rest of body winding between. The centre of the body is green and blue, where as the ends are more grey and brown in colour.

Alitta virens (sandworm).

This colourful worm was captured in watercolour by Roberta McIntosh (1843-1869) after being found off the Scottish coast at St Andrews. It featured in her brother William's A Monograph of the British marine annelids.

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

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

v.1 (1863) - The mammals of Australia - Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library works collaboratively to make biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.

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

An original watercolour depicting two small light grey long tailed mammals. One is shown on the ground and the other perched on a plant root just just above. Their tails are slim, light brown at the base, black and hairy from half way along. The background shown is minimal showing rocky ground and a brown root and grasses.

Red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura)

Original watercolour by Henry Richter (1772-1857) from a collection of drawings by him and John Gould (1804-1881) of Australian mammals.

See the collection via our #DigitisedCollections bit.ly/3PpQdSW

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway

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 depicting an elaborate fish. It has thirteen spines along the top and in addition to the three small fins shown, a large and elaborate fin on the side. The fish is varying shades of orange with different sized black spots throughout.

Lionfish (Pterois miles) Drawn by John Whitchurch Bennett (1790-1853) from live specimens and published in 'Fishes found on the Coast of Ceylon' (1830).

See his collection via our #DigitisedCollections https://bit.ly/4gZg4Np

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #SpecialCollections

Definitely a fish (confidence! ha!) and maybe a scorpion fish or, less likely, a lionfish.
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway

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

An original watercolour of a black and white bird standing on a rock.

Spotted Forktail (Enicurus maculatus).

A watercolour from an album of Himalayan birds drawn by Lady Mary Bentinck (d.1843) painted during her husband's role as Governor General of India.

See the collection via #DigitisedCollections bit.ly/4fLSFOu
#WhoseTailIsItAnyway #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

v.1 (1849-1852) - A monograph of the Trochilidæ, or family of humming-birds - Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library works collaboratively to make biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.

View a digitised copy of this edition of 'A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds' via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social

https://bit.ly/4gJgBmR

#WhoseTailIsItAnyway

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

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

Full page black and white illustration from 'Memoires pour servir a l'histoire naturelle des animaux' (1671-1676) by Claude Perrault. The top part depicts the skeleton and internal organs of a chameleon and the bottom illustrates a chameleon on a branch.

Printed text from 'Memoires pour servir a l'histoire naturelle des animaux' (1671-1676) by Claude Perrault, which describes an illustration of a chameleon. It is in French and is headed 'Explication de la figure du Cameleon'.

Title page of the book 'Memoires pour servir a l'histoire naturelle des animaux' by Claude Perrault, dated at the bottom in roman numerals 1671.

A chameleon.
From 'Memoires pour servir a l'histoire naturelle des animaux' (1671) by Claude Perrault (1613-1688).

This was an early comparative anatomy and broke new ground for the scientific community.

[Copy details: bit.ly/4gzJVMD]
#SpecialCollections #WhoseTailIsItAnyway

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

v.2:pt.14-21 (1913-1921) - A history of British mammals - Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library works collaboratively to make biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.

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

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