Jack Ashby

@jackdashby.bsky.social

3292 Followers 283 Following

Award-winning author #PlatypusMatters & #NaturesMemory. Assistant Director of @ZoologyMuseum.bsky.social at Cambridge Uni. President of the Society for the History of Natural History. Australian mammal nerd. He/him. Own views.

A wombat sticks its head in the side of a grass tussock, chewing rapidly
In torchlight, a hedgehog swims across a narrow section of a dark shallow stream, climbing on to a rock, before finding the easiest way off, and swimming again to the next rock before disappearing into the dark
A pinned moth is positioned within a light box, with a camera positioned above
The torchlight follows several small pale bats flying over still water, before the camera pans down to a phone screen showing the graphic representation of the bats' calls being read on the screen, before popping up with the identification: Daubenton's myotis
The cover of "Wild Collections: Specimens, Stories and Science from CSIRO" by Andrea Wild
A wombat stands on a massive tussock of button grass, with mist rising in front of the hills behind
A black and white etching of Sir Stamford Raffles
A large coypu and two babies lie on a 40cm-wide round grass platform in the water in front of a reed bank. Another, larger coypu swims up, starts to climb into the bed, and then has to turn around and swim off again
A display titled "Adult Books" at London Zoo shop, including Platypus Matters
The white-stone entrance to the Zoological Society of London, with a modern green banner above, reading "ZSL: 200 years of wildlife".
Two copies of the Korean-language versions of Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, flanking the UK hardback edition.
A large coypu stands on huge webbed feet at the water's edge in front of some reeds, using its hands to scratch its head and body
A coypu feeds on reeds in shallow water, before swimming on
A smooth snake head and neck among dry grass. It has a sandy grey base colour, with a chestnut eye-stripe, triangular blotch on its head, and small spots down its body
A view of a slow-moving river at sunset , with a few old trees
The camera zooms onto a pine marten scuttering along a river bank in low dusky light. It stops at a patch of earth, looks at the camera and wanders on
Notre-Dame de Paris behind a stone bridge across the River Seine
a taxidermy lesser blind mole-rat next to a fake nest, among fake grass. It is about 15cm long, covered in very short sand-coloured fur, with two massive front teeth projecting from its lower jaw, and a horizontal line in the fur - which appears like a sewn seam - extends horizontally across its eye-less face
A label from the Museum of Natural History in Bucharest. It has a photo of their taxidermy platypus, and reads : Australia PLATYPUS Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799) Distribution Australia and Tasmania. Biology These are primitive mammals exhibiting characteristics both of reptiles and their own class, with their bodies covered in fur. They are distinguished by their elongated jaws and mandibles, which form a broad bill similar to that of a duck. Their shoulder girdle is also unique, resembling the pectoral girdle of reptiles. They lay large eggs, encased in a hard, transparent shell with abundant yolk, of the telolecithal type typical of reptiles.
A taxidermy platypus in a diorama.
A taxidermy echidna at the Natural History Museum in Bucharest. Its hindfeet have been twisted to pint forwards, leaving a damaged patch of skin on the ankles
A taxidermy ringtail - a species of racoon with a brown body anchor black and white rings along its bushy tail
A taxidermy wombat with shining black fake eyes, which really catch the attention. It also looks to be smiling
A really crap taxidermy Mediterranean monk seal, with human eyes, a wonky nose, and obvious gashes sewn up across its face
A taxidermy wolverine (albeit quite faded)
A diorama including Romanian woodland wildlife: deer, wild sheep, foxes and mustelids
A pile of bear poo, with a boot for scale. The word "bear" has been written on the photo
A Carpathian chamois stood in an grassy meadow
Three fox cubs on a grassy alpine meadow, surrounded by lush green grass and clover
A mole cricket on gravel
A wild boar mounts the back of another
A bear sat on its haunches on grass, outlined in rimelight, with a large lens flare above
The camera pans over a shallow brown muddy puddle, as dark and light brown newts swim around, stirring up more mud
A huge scarred wild boar walks around a clearing as four bears feed around him
Two bears face-off to each other on a grassy ridge with their jaws agape. One backs off, and then a third bear walks across the foreground
A massive European brown bear walks across a clearing
A huge bear footprint next to a boot for scale
A pile of dark bear poo, with a boot for scale
A screenshot of a government alert. It reads: RO-ALERT: Extreme alert A fost semnalata prezenta unui urs in mun. Brasov, pe strada Dupa Iniste! Evitati zona, ramaneti in locuinte. Pastrati distanta fata de animal si nu incercati sa va fotografiati cu acesta sau sa il hraniti. Fara sa va expuneti pericolului proteiati animalele din gospodarie. The presence of a bear was reported in Brasov on Dupa niste street! Avoid the area, stay indoor! Stay away from the anima and do not try to take pictures of it or feed it. Protect your pets/livestock without putting your life in danger ISU Brasov
A sea squirt. It is a ghostly white, semi-translucent blob, with a slightly more opaque centre. Three brown seed-like lumps can be seen - these are the parastic molluscs
A round jar with several brown preserved lancelets. The label reads: CEPHALOCHORDATA Amphioxus lanceolatus Plymouth, 1960
A dog skull being held so we can see the underside of its jaw. A stick is wedged horizontally across the palate, stuck firmly between the molar teeth.
A display with a taxidermy cat surrounded by dead birds
A display of different antelope skulls and horns, all mounted with the underside of the skull against the wall, except the sable antelope, whose horns curve backwards so much that it has to be put with its cheek against the wall
Two skulls side by side at Museum der Natur in Hamburg: a tiny mouse lemur and a huge male gorilla
A taxidermy wolverine with a pink label below (see next)
A brilliant taxidermy aardvark, posed crouching
A correctly shaped taxidermy echidna
A massive brown bear stands on the very edge of the moat around its enclosure, facing me from a couple of metres away, looking as if it considering jumping
A polar bear struts over a fake rockscape, with "glaciers" behind, and a moat in front
A brick and plaster stegosaur being attacked by a ceratosaurus
A slab of dark grey rock, with straight, light grey fossil graptolites criss-crossing across its surface
A preserved sea potato in a rectangular glass jar. The specimen is rounded, not quite a sphere, with brown spiny protusions across its surface, except in a five-pointed star-shaped bare patch that spreads across the upper surface
A historic advertising poster for London Zoo showing block-colour prints of penguins on a yellow background, with the title "ZSL at 200: Science, Society and the Natural World", the Society for the History of Natural History logo, and the text: SHNH Summer Meeting, 1-3 July 2026 Zoological Society of London Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY
A small preserved penis worm inside a large rectangular jar. The label reads: CLASS: Priapuloidea PRIAPULIS Sp Loc: St Andrews Mus. No. M.11
A round glass jar containing tens of pink preserved nematode worms. The jar has a paper label with the typewriter text that reads: NEMATODA Ascaris lumbricoides var. suis. Female + 1 male
A warehose containing giant whale skulls and huge shelving units holding their bones (it's the Smithsonian Insitution's whale storage facility)
A fossil square limestone slab showing a clear fossil impression of a dragonfly