Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
Encyclopedia
The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild
, today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum
. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed
mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom
. The museum was first known as the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, however in April 2007 the Natural History Museum
changed its name.
The museum is located on Akeman Street
, in Tring
, Hertfordshire
, the United Kingdom
, HP23 6AP.
The Natural History Museum at Tring was once the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild
, and is located in the grounds of the former Rothschild family home of Tring Park
. The building was constructed in 1889 to house his collection of mounted specimens and first opened to the public in 1892. The Rothschild family gave the Museum and its contents to the nation in 1937. Lionel Walter bred hybrids between zebras and horses (zebroid
s) and a hybrid foal is on display. He was frequently seen riding a zebra-drawn carriage. The museum's Zebra Cafe alludes to Lord Rothschild's love of zebras and has photographs of his trained zebras harnessed to open carriages.
, thylacine
, great auk
and reconstructions of the moa
and dodo
. Oddities include hybrids and examples of abnormal coloration. The dogs display was relocated to the Rothschild Zoological Museum from the Natural History Museum
, South Kensington, London after World War II. These show how domestic dogs have changed shape due to selective breeding and include the tiny Russian and Mexican lapdogs as well as famous racing greyhound
s. The Museum has six galleries, each one of which houses a different set of animals. The first gallery contains bird
s, large carnivorans
and primate
s, the second is used to show temporary exhibits, the third crocodilia
ns, crustacean
s, fish
es, insect
s, large mammals and marine invertebrates
, the fourth accommodates kangaroos
and odd-toed ungulate
s, the fifth holds bovid
s, hippopotamus
es, pig
s and marine mammals, and finally the sixth gallery contains amphibians, bat
s, various British mammals, domestic dogs
, ratite
s, lizard
s, snake
s, turtle
s and small mammals. The Museum also contains a Discovery Room, designed for young children and the Rothschild Room which is a room set out to recreate the surroundings that the Rothschild family would have worked in. It became part of the Natural History Museum in 1937. In April 2007 its name was changed to the Natural History Museum at Tring.
The site is also home to the ornithological research collections (Bird Group, Department of Zoology) and the ornithological library (Department of Library and Information Services) of The Natural History Museum, but these are not open to the public. There are small special themed exhibitions throughout the year showcasing specimens not normally on display, as well as activities for youngsters.
s and quetzal
s from Central
and South America
as well as birds of paradise from the island of New Guinea
. The police announced on 12 November 2010 that a 22 year old US citizen had been arrested, in the Tring area, in connection with the theft and the majority of bird skins had been recovered. Edwin Rist, a student at The Royal Academy of Music, pleaded guilty to the theft on 24 November 2010. In April 2011 Rist was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and a supervision order. He was also required to repay £125,150, the estimated proceeds from selling the skins through such outlets as eBay
. The police also advised 191 intact bird skins had so far been recovered, of which only 101 had labels recording the birds' key scientific data.
the other a White Rhino
, using, it was believed a large hammer. However, in the light of recent thefts from other museums, three months before the break-in, curators had replaced the real rhino horns with replica ones made from resin which had no commercial value.
which is two miles from Tring. Buses and taxis run during commuter times, but buses are infrequent outside rush hours and taxis do not wait at the station at weekends. The nearest taxi company is at Berkhamsted
.
Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild FRS , a scion of the Rothschild family, was a British banker, politician, and zoologist.-Biography:...
, today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The museum was first known as the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, however in April 2007 the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
changed its name.
The museum is located on Akeman Street
Akeman Street
Akeman Street was a major Roman road in England that linked Watling Street with the Fosse Way. Its junction with Watling Steet was just north of Verulamium and that with the Fosse Way was at Corinium Dobunnorum...
, in Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, HP23 6AP.
History
Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild FRS , a scion of the Rothschild family, was a British banker, politician, and zoologist.-Biography:...
, and is located in the grounds of the former Rothschild family home of Tring Park
Tring Park
Tring Park is a large country house near Tring, Hertfordshire.The Manor of Tring is first mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is referred to as "Treunge" and was owned by Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, a countryman of William the Conqueror...
. The building was constructed in 1889 to house his collection of mounted specimens and first opened to the public in 1892. The Rothschild family gave the Museum and its contents to the nation in 1937. Lionel Walter bred hybrids between zebras and horses (zebroid
Zebroid
A zebroid is the offspring of any cross between a zebra and any other equine: essentially, a zebra hybrid. In most cases, the sire is a zebra stallion. Offspring of a donkey sire and zebra dam, called a zebra hinny, or donkra, do exist but are rare. Zebroids have been bred since the 19th century...
s) and a hybrid foal is on display. He was frequently seen riding a zebra-drawn carriage. The museum's Zebra Cafe alludes to Lord Rothschild's love of zebras and has photographs of his trained zebras harnessed to open carriages.
Description
The extensive collection, housed in several rooms, includes extinct animals and birds such as the quaggaQuagga
The quagga is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra, which was once found in great numbers in South Africa's Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State. It was distinguished from other zebras by having the usual vivid marks on the front part of the body only...
, thylacine
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
, great auk
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
and reconstructions of the moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
and dodo
Dodo
The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....
. Oddities include hybrids and examples of abnormal coloration. The dogs display was relocated to the Rothschild Zoological Museum from the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, South Kensington, London after World War II. These show how domestic dogs have changed shape due to selective breeding and include the tiny Russian and Mexican lapdogs as well as famous racing greyhound
Greyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
s. The Museum has six galleries, each one of which houses a different set of animals. The first gallery contains bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, large carnivorans
Carnivora
The diverse order Carnivora |Latin]] carō "flesh", + vorāre "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" can refer to any meat-eating animal...
and primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s, the second is used to show temporary exhibits, the third crocodilia
Crocodilia
Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period . They are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria...
ns, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, large mammals and marine invertebrates
Marine invertebrates
Marine invertebrates are animals that inhabit a marine environment and are invertebrates, lacking a vertebral column. In order to protect themselves, they may have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton, but this is not always the case....
, the fourth accommodates kangaroos
KangaROOS
KangaROOS are an American brand of sneaker originally produced from 1979 through the 1980s, with a later revival that continues in present. They were notable for having a small zippered pocket on the side of the shoe, large enough for a small amount of loose change, keys, or more recently,...
and odd-toed ungulate
Odd-toed ungulate
An odd-toed ungulate is a mammal with hooves that feature an odd number of toes. Odd-toed ungulates comprise the order Perissodactyla . The middle toe on each hoof is usually larger than its neighbours...
s, the fifth holds bovid
Bovid
A bovid is any of almost 140 species of cloven-hoofed ruminant mammal at least the males of which bear characteristic unbranching horns covered in a permanent sheath of keratin....
s, hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
es, pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s and marine mammals, and finally the sixth gallery contains amphibians, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, various British mammals, domestic dogs
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
, ratite
Ratite
A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum—hence the name from the Latin ratis...
s, lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s and small mammals. The Museum also contains a Discovery Room, designed for young children and the Rothschild Room which is a room set out to recreate the surroundings that the Rothschild family would have worked in. It became part of the Natural History Museum in 1937. In April 2007 its name was changed to the Natural History Museum at Tring.
The site is also home to the ornithological research collections (Bird Group, Department of Zoology) and the ornithological library (Department of Library and Information Services) of The Natural History Museum, but these are not open to the public. There are small special themed exhibitions throughout the year showcasing specimens not normally on display, as well as activities for youngsters.
Bird skins
On 24 June 2009 a theft occurred from the museum involving removal of 299 brightly coloured stuffed birds mostly male trogonTrogon
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family contains 39 species in eight genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the mid-Eocene. They might constitute a member of the basal radiation of...
s and quetzal
Quetzal
Quetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family . They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico...
s from Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
as well as birds of paradise from the island of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The police announced on 12 November 2010 that a 22 year old US citizen had been arrested, in the Tring area, in connection with the theft and the majority of bird skins had been recovered. Edwin Rist, a student at The Royal Academy of Music, pleaded guilty to the theft on 24 November 2010. In April 2011 Rist was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and a supervision order. He was also required to repay £125,150, the estimated proceeds from selling the skins through such outlets as eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. The police also advised 191 intact bird skins had so far been recovered, of which only 101 had labels recording the birds' key scientific data.
Rhinoceros horns
in the early hours of 27 August 2011 thieves broke in through the museum's front doors and removed the horns from two rhinoceros exhibits, one Indian RhinoIndian Rhinoceros
The Indian Rhinoceros is also called Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and belongs to the Rhinocerotidae family...
the other a White Rhino
White Rhinoceros
The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...
, using, it was believed a large hammer. However, in the light of recent thefts from other museums, three months before the break-in, curators had replaced the real rhino horns with replica ones made from resin which had no commercial value.
Directions to the museum
The museum is best accessed by car. The nearest rail station is at Tring StationTring railway station
Tring railway station is 1.5 miles outside the small town of Tring, close to the Grand Union Canal and actually nearer the village of Aldbury in Hertfordshire, England. The former Royal Station Hotel and Restaurant has been converted into residential accommodation and beyond that is a small...
which is two miles from Tring. Buses and taxis run during commuter times, but buses are infrequent outside rush hours and taxis do not wait at the station at weekends. The nearest taxi company is at Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted
-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...
.