All creatures great and small
Hancock Museum
From Egyptian mummies to the extinct Dodo all manner of creatures can be found at the Hancock Musuem.
The foremost Natural History Museum in the North East, the Hancock houses internationally renowned collections including the largest collection in the world of the water colours and engravings of the Newcastle born artist and wood engraver Thomas Bewick, the so-called ??father of wood engraving??. Pieces displayed in The Bewick Shrine include engravings featured in History of British Birds and A General History of Quadrupeds.
Many collections in the museum continue to be used today by researchers from all over the world studying speciation, geographical distribution and evolution and the collections number over half a million items. Throughout the museum you can view a wide range of objects including the Sea Dragon or Ichthyosaur from Whitby, the skeleton of a Moa and the preserved body of Sparky Williams the famous talking budgie! You can also hear recordings of Sparky talking!
The Hancock also has a small collection of Egyptology including two New Kingdom Mummies, one of which remains wrapped and was subject to pioneering CAT scanning in 1991.
Submitted by: Sarah McLeod, 25 January 2005
