Walter Rothschild's second Great Auk skeleton: a history of its posthumous voyage.

ABSTRACT: The second complete Great Auk skeleton (Pinguinus impennis) formerly in Walter Rothschild's possession, previously thought lost, has been located. It was sold by Rowland Ward in 1905 to Georg Albert Girtanner, St Gallen, Switzerland. After Girtanner's death in 1907 the skeleton p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of Natural History
Main Author: STEINHEIMER, FRANK D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Edinburgh University Press 2002
Subjects:
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
History
Anthropology
Rowland
Great auk
Pinguinus impennis
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2002.29.3.337
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT: The second complete Great Auk skeleton (Pinguinus impennis) formerly in Walter Rothschild's possession, previously thought lost, has been located. It was sold by Rowland Ward in 1905 to Georg Albert Girtanner, St Gallen, Switzerland. After Girtanner's death in 1907 the skeleton passed to the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Frankfurt, Germany. A newly discovered letter, from Girtanner to Ernst Hartert, curator of Rothschild's collection at Tring, helps to reconstruct the posthumous voyage of this Great Auk skeleton.

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