Epitheria Collection

Sensory homunculus
This model shows what a mans body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its sensory perception

Mary Anning (1799-1847)
Pioneer fossil collector of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Oil painting by an unknown artist, before 1842. Golden Cap is visible in the background. Held at the Natural History Museum, London

Motor homunculus
This model shows what a mans body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its movement

Hominid crania
L to R: Australopithecus africanus; Homo rudolfensis; H.erectus; H. heildebergensis; H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens

Pterodactyls considered as marsupial bats
Pterodactylus crassirostris above P. brevirostris. Plate from Note on the Pterodactyle Tribe... Paper in The Zoologist, Vol 1, 1843 by Edward Newman

Australopithecus afarensis (AL 288-1) (Lucy)
A cast of the partial skeleton (nicknamed Lucy) of Australopithecus afarensis found at the Hadar, North East Ethiopia in 1974 by Donald Johanson

Zebra-drawn trap of Lord Walter Rothschild
Rothschild broke in and trained several zebras to pull a trap, which he memorably used to visit Buckingham Palace in 1898 Date: 1898

Australopithecus afarensis (AL 288-1) (Lucy)
A partial skeleton (nicknamed Lucy) of Australopithecus afarensis found at the Hadar, North East Ethiopia in 1974 by Donald Johanson

Neofelis nebulosa diardi, clouded leopard
Felis diardi. Plate from A Monograph of the Felidae, or Family of the Cats, 1833, by Daniel Giraud Elliot. One of 43 hand-coloured lithographs by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Joseph Smit (1836-1929)

Smilodon fatalis, sabre-toothed cat
Skeleton of an extinct sabre-toothed cat which lived about 15, 000 years ago in North America. It was about the size of a present day lion

Lama pacos, alpaca
Alpaca. Llama Alpaca, 1884

Cladognathus sp. stag beetle
A specimen of a large stag beetle from Asia. Stag beetles belong to the family (Lucanidae). Only male stag beetles have horns or antlers

Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937)
Carriage drawn by three zebra and a horse, driven by Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937), founder of the Natural History Museum at Tring, part of the Natural History Museum, London since 1937

Homo neanderthalensis in action at Swanscombe, UK
An illustration by Angus McBride showing a group of Homo neanderthalensis on the ancient banks of the river Thames in modern day Swanscombe, Kent

Ballyregan Bob, greyhound
Photograph of Ballyregan Bob, the famous racing greyhound. Specimen on display at the Natural History Museum at Tring

Greyhound design
Drawing 26 Vol 2 by Alfred Waterhouse for the ornamentation of the Natural History Museum, London, 1876. (Two separate negatives)

Indian elephant, c. 1898
Jung Pasha or Jung Pershad was one of four Asian elephants brought back to London Zoo by Bertie, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) following his tour of India during 1875-76

Accipiter striatus, sharp-shinned hawk
Plate 374 from John James Audubons Birds of America, original double elephant folio (1835-38), hand-coloured aquatint. Engraved, printed and coloured by R. Havell (& Son), London

Balaena mysticetus, bowhead whale

Mustela nivalis, least weasel
Plate from a collection of pencil sketches and watercolour drawings of British mammals c. 1890-1910 by Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)

Pipistrellus pipistrellus, common pipistrelle
Plate from a collection of pencil sketches and watercolour drawings of British mammals c. 1890-1910 by Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)

Proconsul africanus
An illustration of the extinct primate, Proconsul africanus. Like Dendropithecus, they mostly lived in tropical forests in East Africa during the Miocene about 50 million years ago

Homo habilis in action
An illustration by Angus McBride showing Homo habilis using tools to kill an Antelope. Homo habilis lived in East Africa between 1.6 and 2 million years ago

Physeter macrocephalus, Sperm whale tooth
Sperm whale tooth

Connochaetes taurinus, Blue wildebeest
watercolour by William Cornwallis Harris. Entitled Catoblepas gorgon, Brindled Gnoo

Anoplotherium commune & gracile, Palaeotherium
Sheet 4 of a series of posters called Extinct Animals by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins c. 1862. This collection of mammals could be found during the Eocene epoch some 50 million years ago

Panthera leo senegalensis, West African Lion
Plate 45 (117) Le Lion du Senegal. From Histoire Naturelle des Mammifcres, avec des figures originales, Vol. 1, 1819-42, by Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & Baron Georges L. C. Frederic D. Cuvier

Hydromys chrysogaster, water rat
Plate 1 from a collection of 49 original watercolour drawings of animals by Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (1760-1826), from the H.M.S. Investigator expedition to Australia, 1801-1803

Woolly Mammoth
Illustration of a woolly mammoth in a snowy landscape

Mammoth skeleton drawing
Plate 10 from Memoires de L Acadamie Imperiale des Sciences, Vol 5, 1815

Skull of a pigmy hippo
Model of a pigmy hippo skull from Cyprus

Tooth from a woolly mammoth
Tooth from an extinct woolly mammoth, specimen from the Natural History Museum, London

Hylobates sp. Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gori
Gibbon, orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla and human. Evidence as to Mans Place in Nature. Illustration published in Mans Place in Nature, Vol. 7 from a collection of essays by Thomas Henry Huxley, 1863

Australopithecus afarensis
Illustration by Maurice Wilson of extinct African hominids (Australopithecus afarensis) living 3-4 million years ago. They walked upright, although they retained the ability to climb trees

Salix caprea, goat willow tree
An illustrative plate of goat willow foliage and catkins from the Botany Library Plate Collection, held at the Natural History Museum, London

Pedigree of Man
Tab XV from Ernst Haeckel (1879) The Evolution of man: a popular exposition of the principal points of human ontogeny and phylogeny, London: Kegan Paul, 2 v: ill

Hominid reconstructions in chronological order
From left to right: Australopithecus, Early Homo erectus (Java Man), Late Homo erectus (Peking Man), Homo heidelbergensis (Rhodesian Man), Neanderthal man and Homo sapiens (Cro-Magnon)

Homo heidelbergensis in action
A reconstructed scene by Angus McBride showing Homo erectus killing an elephant. Homo heidelbergensis lived for about 1.5 million years and is believed to have used sophisticated tools

Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa, mole cricket
Detail from plate 456 of an illustration of a mole cricket from British Entomology: Original Drawings Vol 10, by John Curtis, 1862

Great Irish Elk, Megatherium
Original artwork by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, donated by his granddaughter Mary Hawkins

The Wolf by Edward Donovan
The Wolf, in Edward Donovans The Natural History of British Quadrupeds Volume 1. Held in the Library and Archives

Guy (1946-1978), a western lowland gorilla
Guy the gorilla was one of London Zoos best-loved residents. After his death, he lived on as a display and research specimen at the Natural History Museum

Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Greater kudu
Watercolour by William Cornwallis Harris. Entitled Strepsiceros capensis, Koodoo

Hunting the Giraffe by William C Harris
Colour lithograph c. 1836 Date: circa 1836

Stuart Stammwitz working on blue whale model, 1938, The Natu
Stuart Stammwitz is shown here working on the whales eye, before the model was painted

Prionailurus planiceps, flat-headed cat
Felis planiceps. Plate from A Monograph of the Felidae, or Family of the Cats, 1833, by Daniel Giraud Elliot. One of 43 hand-coloured lithographs by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Joseph Smit (1836-1929)

Ovis aries, sheep
Plate 2 from The Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Islands Vol. 2, 1842, by David Low (1786-1859). Entitled Breed of the Higher Welsh Mountains

Physeter catodon and Hyperoodon ampullatus
Sperm whale and northern bottlenose whale. Plate 45 from British Mammals Vol. 1 & 2 by Archibald Thorburn, 1920-21

Uintatherium skull
Skull measures 740 mm left to right. Uintatherium, a horned ungulate from the mid Eocene of western U.S.A, stood about 1.6m at the shoulder

Talpa europaea, European mole
Plate 123 Common Mole. Original watercolour drawing from The Naturalists Library, Mammalia, Vol. 3, 1833-1843, by Sir William Jardine (1800-1874)

Sketch of an elephant, with descriptive notes
Original watercolour drawings and illustrated MS relating to Indian Birds, forming one of a set of volumes from which the illustrated MS work by Tickell on Mammals, &c

Mandrillus sphinx, Mandrill
Watercolour and bodycolour by John Keulemans, 1907 Date: 1907

Common dormouse, sketch C016 / 5883
Common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). Plate from a collection of pencil sketches and watercolour drawings of British mammals circa 1890-1910 by Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)

Muntiacus muntjak, Indian muntjac
Zoological drawing 6 (1:6) Cervus plicatus

Sus moupinensis, wild hog
Plate 80 from Recherches pour servir a l histoire naturelle des Mammifcres, Vols. 1-4, 1868-74, by Dr. Henri Milne-Edwards (1800-1885) & Dr. Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835-1900)

Varecia variegata, ruffed lemur
LS Plate 74 of the John Reeves Collection of Zoological Drawings from Canton, China, 1774-1856

Buffalo cart with wheels, Manila, Luzon, Philippines
A photograph taken during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger (1872-1876) funded by the British Government for scientific purposes

Kita a Norwegian elkhound, photographed by Harry Taylor

22, 000 - 30, 000 years old Venus figures
Left to right. a) In fired clay from Moravia. b) In mammoth ivory from France. The Willendorf Venus c) In limestone from Austria. d) In mammoth ivory from Ukraine

Cetiosaurus
A sauropod dinosaur which grew up to 60 feet long. It lived about 160 to 170 million years ago in the Midlands and Southern England, during the Upper Juassic perid. Painting by Neave Parker

Lynx sp. lynx
Stuffed specimen from the collection of the Natural History Museum at Tring, part of the Natural History Museum, London

Plecotus sp. long-eared bat
A long-eared bat in flight (a microbat belonging to the Vespertilionidae family of vesper or evening bats). Photograph published in Bats by Phil Richardson, a Natural History Museum publication, 2002

Mastodon in Geological Gallery, December 1919
The Guide Lecturer, John Henry Leonard, took this shot of two girls inspecting a primitive elephant or mastodon (Mammut americanus), in December 1919

Catopuma badia, bay cat
Felis badia. Plate from A Monograph of the Felidae, or Family of the Cats, 1833, by Daniel Giraud Elliot. One of 43 hand-coloured lithographs by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Joseph Smit (1836-1929)

Pterodactyl and scimitar-toothed lion design
Drawing by Alfred Waterhouse for the ornamentation of the Natural History Museum, London, 1875-1876. Waterhouse designed the museum in the 1860s, and it first opened its doors on Easter Monday 1881

Gorilla gorilla, western gorilla
Oil painting on canvas of a western gorilla by Henrik Gr� ld (1858-1940), undated. Original held at the Natural History Museum at Tring, part of the Natural History Museum, London

Upper Palaeolithic tools 18 - 30, 000 years old
L-R: a) Bone used to make needle blanks. b) Bone needle. c & d) Harpoon head and Barbed Point carved from antler. e & f) Two heads carved in mammoth ivory

Babyrousa babyrussa, babirusa
Plate 106 from the Loten Collection (1754-57), a painting by Pieter Cornelius de Bevere (1722-c. 1781)

Geological Gallery Natural History Museum 1892
Photograph of the Geological Gallery, with American mastodon in the foreground. July 1892. Archive ref: PH/173/243 Date: 1892

Yellow-throated marten, artwork C016 / 5897
Yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula). Plate from the collection of drawings of mammals and birds from Nepal (1818-1858), by Bryan Houghton Hodgson (1800-1894)

George the elephant, 1935
Two attendants brush down the African elephant George in the Central Hall in one of several shots of Museum staff taken by Weekly Illustrated photographers for an article that appeared in February

Panthera tigris, tiger
Felis tigris. Plate from A Monograph of the Felidae, or Family of the Cats, 1833, by Daniel Giraud Elliot

A Malayan forest, with its characteristic birds
Plate 9 from Alfred Russel Wallaces The Geographical Distribution of Animals, (1876)

Mesoplodon bidens, Sowerbys beaked whale
Plate 12 The Diodon of Sowerby. Hand-coloured engraving of a drawing by James Hope Stewart (1789-1856), from The Naturalists Library, Mammalia, Vol

Delphinus delphis, short-beaked common dolphin
Plate from a collection of pencil sketches and watercolour drawings of British mammals c. 1890-1910 by Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)

Mammal and Whale Gallery
Models of an Asiatic elephant (left) and an African elephant (right), on display in the Mammal and Whale Gallery (number 24) at the Natural History Museum, London

Loxodonta africana, African elephant
A close-up of an African elephant adult male bull, on display in the Mammal and Whale Gallery (number 24), at the Natural History Museum, London

Gorilla gorilla gorilla, western lowland gorilla

Augustus H. Bishop with elephant tusks, May 1912
Augustus Bishop arrived at the Museum in 1904, aged 23, after three years training as a taxidermist

African elephant in Central Hall, February 1910
Photographed in 1910 just three years after his arrival, the African elephant later nicknamed George, was obtained from the taxidermists Rowland Ward Ltd

The Natural History Museum at Tring
Gallery 3 at the Natural History Museum at Tring, the sister museum of the Natural History Museum, London

Eulemur macaco, black lemur
Plate 217 from Capter 7 of Gleanings of Natural History Vol. 5 by George Edwards (1694-1773), published 1758-1764. Entitled The Black Maucauco

Tooth from Coelodonta antiquitatis, woolly rhinoceros
This woolly rhino tooth, together with two others were found in 1668 at Chartham, near Canterbury in Kent by natural historian John Somner

George in the entrance, April 1927, the Natural History Mus
The removal of George the African elephant from the Central Hall in April 1927 for remounting

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"Exploring Epitheria: From Lucy to Lord Rothschild's Zebra-Drawn Trap" Epitheria, a term derived from the Greek words "epi" meaning upon and "therion" meaning beast, encompasses a vast array of fascinating creatures that have roamed our planet throughout history. One intriguing aspect of these beings is their sensory homunculus - a representation of how different body parts are mapped onto the brain. In the realm of paleontology, we cannot overlook the remarkable contributions made by Mary Anning (1799-1847). Her groundbreaking discoveries shed light on ancient life forms, including hominid crania. Among them stands Australopithecus afarensis (AL 288-1), affectionately known as Lucy. This iconic fossil provides crucial insights into our evolutionary journey. As we delve deeper into epitherian anatomy, another captivating concept emerges - the motor homunculus. Just like its sensory counterpart, this map reveals how various body regions control movement within the brain. Lucy once again takes center stage in this discussion as her skeletal remains offer valuable clues about locomotion in Australopithecus afarensis. Shifting gears from primates to an eccentric tale involving Lord Walter Rothschild and his zebra-drawn trap. This peculiar contraption showcases both human ingenuity and curiosity towards capturing exotic animals for study or display. While mammals dominate the world of epitheria, other species deserve recognition too. Ballyregan Bob, a legendary greyhound known for his speed and agility; Indian elephants majestically roaming c. 1898 landscapes; Neofelis nebulosa diardi with its mesmerizing clouded coat; Lama pacos enchanting us with their soft alpaca wool – all exemplify nature's diversity within this group. Not forgetting insects' contribution to epitheria's tapestry. Cladognathus sp.