Science Spin July 2009

Visiting Ireland's wild past

By Tom Kennedy

Where in Ireland can you come face to face with a Tasmanian devil, a wolf, and a wild boar? They are all among the assembled animals in the National Museum at Collins Barracks in Dublin on show together with rocks, fossils and beautifully crafted translucent glass models.

Following the fairly abrupt closure of the Natural History museum in Merrion Street, all of these exhibits had been put away for storage, but earlier this year a selection of the best went back on public display. The lofty Riding School at Collins Barracks has become, in effect, the new Dead Zoo.

Visitors to the old museum might miss the Victorian clutter, but at the blacked out Riding School the darkened interior makes the illuminated exhibits stand out like art objects in a gallery. Many of the exhibits are, in fact, objects of amazing natural beauty, among them a petrified nest complete with eggs. Every intertwined twig has been perfectly preserved by being washed over by a stream of calcified water.

ROCKS

In one way, the new arrangement of exhibits marks a return to the original focus on rocks. The lead in, and a large part of the general display, is made up of geological specimens, starting with some of the oldest objects in the Universe, in the form of four million year old meteorites.

Minerals and fossils were not a big feature of the display at Merrion Street, but back in the 19th century, rocks formed the core of what eventually became the National Museum collection. At the time, the Dublin Society, now the RDS, mounted a big display of rocks and minerals in Leinster House to help "improving" landowners to identify natural resources on their estates.

At Collins Barracks, the rocks have made a welcome return, and they help to present a more complete picture of Ireland's past. From glittering quartzite, green serpentine, and brightly coloured mineral ores, we pass on to to the fossilized emergence of life. There are spiral gastropods, a starfish, trilobites, and the near perfect impressions left by the freshwater plants that grew around Kilkenny about four million years ago.

Compared to the fossil plants, the extinct animals from the Ice Ages are positively new. A massive tooth from Castlepook in Co Cork reminds us that woolly mammoths once roamed over the chilly countryside, and another extinct animal is represented by the complete skeleton of the giant Irish deer from Rathcannon in Co Limerick. It is thought that these animals had completely disappeared from the landscape before humans arrived in Ireland.

ANIMALS

Other species survived in Ireland for longer, including the lynx, the wolf and the wild pigs. Bones discovered in Kilgreany Cave, Co Waterford, suggest that the lynx was widespread almost 9,000 years ago, and both wolf and wild pigs are known to have survived much longer. Because these animals are more recent the museum can present us with more than just bones.

There is a handsome, silvery haired wolf, and a stiff bristled wild pig on display, both of which would have been a familiar sight to our rural ancestors. No doubt the clearing of forests played a significant role, but by the 17th century the pig was no more, and a century later the last wolf was hunted down to local extinction. The lynx, wolf, and wild boar we see, like the roaring tiger, came from zoos, but they are not just stuffed animals.

The 19th century taxidermists were experts in creating realistic displays for museums, and among the best firms was Williams & Son of Dame Street in Dublin. More than a century later, their work is still being admired in the National Museum, and even with species that we still have with us, such as the raven, the stuffed bird still gives us a much better idea of form, glossy texture and sheer size than any illustration.

MODELS

Preservation has always been a problem for museums, particularly of invertebrates and for this reason the Blaschka father and son team near Dresden began modelling soft bodied specimens in the late 19th century.

Fortunately this was also a time of expansion for the museum in Dublin, and between 1870 and 1888 about 500 Blaschka models were purchased. Most are of marine animals, and for detail, scientific accuracy, and dazzling beauty, these models have never been surpassed. For me, these amazing models, a selection of which is on display in Collins Barracks, have always been the highlight of a visit the Natural History Museum.