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Stories

  • Book extract

Eating their own kind

In his grisly history of cannibalism, zoologist Bill Schutt asks what drives an animal to feast on its own flesh and blood.

  • Article

Bubbles of history

Since the 1960s, scientists have been able to study the air from past centuries by analysing particles in Arctic ice samples. But as the polar ice melts, the future of this research is changing.

  • Article

Living with less for spiritual gain

Today, a minimalist lifestyle is trumpeted as a route to happiness. Find out what religious ascetics from history and modern proponents of the spartan-looking home can teach us.

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Images

  • A white bear (Polar bear) standing on an ice floe. Coloured wood engraving by J. W. Whimper.
  • Silver King, a polar bear, being taken by ship away from his homeland. Colour lithograph.
  • A polar bear encountered by Captain Cook on his third voyage (1777-1780). Engraving by P. Mazell, 1784, after J. Webber.
  • A polar bear standing on an ice floe in the Arctic sea. Etching by S. C. Miger, ca. 1808, after N. Maréchal.
  • A polar bear standing next to its prey, a dead seal, on an ice floe in the Arctic sea. Colour lithograph after W. Kuhnert.
  • Two polar bears meet near the North Pole: despite the cold, the female bear is wearing an off-the-shoulder dress, which the male bear attributes to high tolerance of cold among northern females. Lithograph by CMK (?).
  • The 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis, Missouri: the US Government building: natural history exhibit featuring stuffed wild animals: elks and a polar bear. Photograph, 1904.
  • Ornamented borders of Tartary oak (Quercus McCormickii), anchors and a polar bear round images of the Antarctic Sea with penguin and boat. Pencil drawing, c.1844.
  • A polar bear plunges into the sea from a very steep iceberg while fishermen look on from a nearby trawler. Coloured engraving by R. Havell after J. Ross.
  • A polar bear is devouring its prey, a seal, on an ice floe in the Arctic sea while three arctic foxes watch eagerly from an adjacent ice floe. Colour lithograph.
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Catalogue

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