How Did We Get These Specimens? The Case of the Edward’s Pheasant

One of the most common questions I’m asked as Curator of Vertebrate Zoology is “Where and how do you get your specimens?” The standard answer is that they died of natural causes or from medical complications in captivity or at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, which is how we get the bulk of our specimens. However, we do have some fascinating stories of how various specimens were obtained. Off the top of my head, in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at HMNS we do have some rare specimens such as blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti), which are Critically Endangered in nature, and…