News

This part of our website is where we announce items of news of interest to our museum visitors and users. Old items are archived, by date of posting, in the News archive.

If you have a news item that you think will be of general interest then please send it to the curator at m.gorman@abdn.ac.uk

Current news items

March 18 2008

The Zoology Museum acquires a passenger pigeon

The passenger pigeon Ectopistes migratorius was once the most common bird in North America. It is estimated that when Europeans colonized North America there were as many as five billion passenger pigeons. The pigeons lived in enormous flocks, and during migration, it was possible to see flocks of them a mile (1.6 km) wide and 300 miles (500 km) long, taking several days to pass and containing up to a billion birds.

During the 19th century, the species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction.

In 1857, alarm bells were already ringing and a bill was presented to the Ohio State Legislature seeking protection for the species. A Select Committee of the Senate reported "The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, travelling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced".

The last authenticated record of a wild bird was, on 22 March 1900 in Pike County, Ohio. Fifty-seven years later, on September 1, 1914, Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati Zoo, Ohio. She was frozen into a block of ice and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where she was skinned and mounted.

A number of factors led to the extinction, including habitat loss for agriculture during the European settlement and massive commercial hunting in the 19th century to provide a cheap food for slaves and the poor. The result was a slow decline in numbers between about 1800 and 1870, and then a catastrophic decline between 1870 and 1890.

Museums are now the only places you will see a passenger pigeon, but even they don't have very many specimens. Because the passenger pigeon was once so common, people did not think it was very important to have them in museums. By the time that people started to collect them they were already very, very rare.

The University of Aberdeen Zoology Museum is, therefore, extraordinarily fortunate in having just acquired a specimen of this enigmatic species.

We know very little about how the pigeon came to be in Scotland. It was discovered in a box of old bird skins by local taxidermist Stephen Caine in around 2000. Stephen refurbished the mounted bird and it was then acquired by the late Dr Robert Ralph whose wife Ann has kindly donated it to the museum.

Dr Martyn Gorman, honorary curator of the zoology museum says:

“This is a most valuable and important addition to our museum which was recently awarded the status of a recognised collection of national significance. We are deeply grateful to Dr Ralph for this most generous of gifts and we hope that it will help educate our students and the general public about the dangers of extinction.”

October 19, 2007

The Zoology Museum is recognised as a Collection of National Significance

The entire collection of the University of Aberdeen, including the Zoology Museum has been identified as being significant to the nation under the Recognition Scheme.

Funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Scottish Museums Council, the Recognition Scheme helps to make sure that important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience.

Minister for Culture Linda Fabiani said: “We have an array of wonderful collections in our museums and galleries across Scotland – and it’s important that we recognise this. I am pleased to see the Recognition Scheme adding another seven collections which will now be deemed ‘nationally significant’ and I hope will attract many more visitors.”

Douglas Connell, Chair of the Recognition Committee, which oversees the Recognition of collections of national significance, said:

“To achieve Recognition status, the applicants had to demonstrate the uniqueness, authenticity, comprehensiveness, and national value of their collection. The range of collections being awarded highlights the wonderful diversity of Scotland’s collections.”

Joanne Orr, CEO of the Scottish Museums Council said:

“Scotland’s museums and galleries house collections that celebrate our valued and distinguished identity. With two further rounds of the Recognition Scheme to come over the next year we can look forward to seeing more museums and galleries benefiting from the £1m earmarked for the scheme.”