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#coronavirus Lock-in Day 106. Public galleries closed @NMIreland, staff still mainly working from home. Nosy neighbours? This giant anteater was collected in the wild by H. Julatson in Chiriquí Province, Panama. Acquired in 1904 from William Rosenberg, a London dealer. (1/6)
(2/6) Taxidermy of this anteater was by Rowland Ward of London. It takes nosiness to be a curator and find out all this information. The Internet has revolutionised how we do this. Work through thread to see how.
(3/6) The specimen is numbered NH:1904.521 which leads to our museum register for 1904. That records a purchase from ‘Rosenberg’ for £2 of an anteater skin from ‘Chiriquí, C. America’.
(4/6) William Frederick Henry Rosenberg (1868–1957) was a dealer who travelled in Ecuador and Colombia in the 1890s then set up a business in England, with field collectors in Central and South America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Frederick_Henry_Rosenberg
(5/6) The anteater skull was acquired as well as its skin. In its box is a label with what looks like the word ‘Julatson’ and when you search online this turns up a specimen in the US National Museum @smithsonian in Washington, also from Chiriquí and dated 1911.
(6/6) Their online database has a Smithsonian number USNM:172935 which leads to their register entry with the collector clearly identified. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/object/nmnhvz_7260463
