From a single beginning, countless millions of stories from the animal
kingdom have - and continue to - run their course.Museum objects allow
us to investigate some of those stories. Animal Kingdom journeys through
both the evolutionary history of animals, and the ways that people have
interpreted them in museums. Animals in museums are not only
representatives of their entire species, but they also tell us something
about the time in which they were collected. They provide windows into
the past as well as data for the present. They embody centuries of
natural ecosystems and human cultures.Through a selection of 100
objects, telling 100 stories, this beautifully illustrated book explores
the diversity of animal life over the past 600 million years, and delves
into some of the most exciting mechanisms in evolution. By understanding
some of the key stories of how nature operates, we can gain amazing
insight into the systems underlying life itself.