Can't visit our current exhibition? You can now walk through (online) our in-depth exhibition on Linnaeus’ classification of humans through his books and manuscripts. Watch below! This is a really nifty way of 'seeing' it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMHG...

What is it to be Human? | A Virtual Exhibition Tour

YouTube video by Linnean Society

youtube.com

🎉Exciting news! My new article, 'The ‘fancy of the private collector’: Walter Rothschild’s global animal procurement network and collaboration in the animal trade' has been published in BJHS Themes as FirstView and is available OA: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #naturalhistory #animaltrade

Such a good conference, looking forward to the final day, including contributions from ZSL snr staff

SHNH@sochistnathist.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🚨Last chance to book!🚨 Registration for our amazing summer meeting closes TOMORROW. So don't miss the chance to celebrate @zslofficial.bsky.social's 200th anniversary as we explore the history and science of the zoo, at the zoo! 🐒🐠🐻‍❄️🐘 Book your ticket NOW 👇 shnh.org.uk/the-zoologic...

Applications are open! For the annual Linnean Medal for significant and sustained dedication to the protection of nature including conservation, communication, education and advocacy. Deadline for nominations is 30 September. For all details and nominations: www.linnean.org/the-society/...

The Linnean Medal (for protection)

An awarded to scientists for an outstanding contribution to the natural sciences.

linnean.org

Looking forward to this conference 'The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) at 200: Science, Society, and the Natural World'. On Friday I'll give a talk titled 'Stars and stripes: What ZSL’s long history with giraffids reveals about the many dimensions of its scientific and conservation endeavours.'

Call for Writers! 📣 Are you a student or early career researcher? Science communicator? Know someone who is? We're looking for our next round of Guest Bloggers for our journal blog The Paper Trail! Check out our vacancies page to apply, and read some of our latest posts here: buff.ly/7JVQmSx 🧪 🌍

The audio version of my bk Discovering the Okapi is out on Audible today www.audible.co.uk

Marvellous review of @hopkinspress.bsky.social's DISCOVERING THE OKAPI by @s-pooley.bsky.social in the journal, Applied Animal Behaviour Science—"easy to read and surprisingly engaging." Buy the book in Europe! authors.elsevier.com/a/1nCAfcF2O%...

Law abiding pelican I encountered in St James's Park yesterday.

I have received the good news that I have been elected as a Fellow of the The Linnean Society of London - the world's oldest active biological society. It's not a great image, but you can just about see that the president's chair is backed with crocodile skin.

I am delighted with this insightful appraisal of my book Discovering the #Okapi published by @hopkinspress.bsky.social from a mentor & friend E.J. Milner-Gulland, now also an #okapi fan www.linkedin.com/posts/e-j-mi...

The 100-yr-old S African game reserve and Ramsar wetland of international importance dying in plain sight, attempts to save it ensnared in bureaucracy www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

We are looking for a 3-year postdoc to work on a self-defined research project in environmental history that places electronic or digital technologies at the center of its historical inquiry. More details in the announcement linked to below. #envhist

Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities@greenhouseuis.net · 5mo ago

We're hiring! 🌿 The Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities at the University of Stavanger invites applications for a 3-year postdoc in Environmental History. See thread for more details. #envhist #envhum

I'm delighted to say that after years of work we have published a definition of “human-wildlife coexistence” in a briefing document now available on our IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and #Coexistence Specialist Group (HWCCSG) Library here: www.hwctf.org/policies

Policies

Policies produced or supported by the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group.

hwctf.org

Now available for preorder (publishes in June 2026): Unsettling Extinction, edited by Roman Bartosch, Ursula Heise & Kate Rigby www.bloomsbury.com/uk/unsettlin... I have an article in this called "Extinction as Cultural Heritage"

My book Discovering the Okapi is now officially published in South Africa the SADC countries and Kenya now, in an affordable paperback edition by Wits University Press. More info on this edition of my #okapi book here witspress.co.za/page/detail/...

Discovering the Okapi

The book offers a riveting portrait of the okapi and unpacks layers of Western science and Indigenous knowledge that shaped the world’s understanding of it. Showing how colonial politics and scientifi...

witspress.co.za

The first in-depth review of my #okapi book is now out (OA) in Oryx, a lovely review by Chloe Hodgkinson www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

If you like drawing & wild animals, esp. the strangely beautiful okapi, join us for this live online drawing class. I've asked that my fee goes to Okapi Conservation Project. So help #okapi while learning about them from me & how to draw them from Jennie: wildlifedrawing.eventcube.io/events/93842...

Wild Life Drawing Online: Okapis

April Fools! Or is it...? Well, no actually it's the Okapi. Shrouded in myth and legend, dubbed the African unicorn or forest giraffe, this shy and elusive animal was believed to be made up until 1901...

wildlifedrawing.eventcube.io

Lovely idea here are some reds from my home study

NHM Library and Archives@nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Some folk give a bunch of red roses for Valentine's Day. But surely a bunch of red books is better? #ModernCollections #BookSky #BlueSkyBooks #ValentinesDay #Bookcovers Alt text: a reel showing the red covers of books from NHM Library collections.

I'm pleased to see the @linneansociety.bsky.social have posted a video of my talk on Discovering the Okapi on their YouTube channel, here youtu.be/MCOHAGII0a0?...

Discovering the Okapi

YouTube video by Linnean Society

youtu.be

What counted as knowledge in Britain’s age of exploration...and who decided? On Wed 4 Feb, @edwinrose.bsky.social explores how natural knowledge was shaped by travel, collecting, and exchange - and whose voices were left out. 6–8pm · Burlington House Find out more: buff.ly/ypMIRvt

Join us later today for an okapi talk

The Linnean Society of London@linneansociety.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Join us this Friday lunchtime for an online talk with @s-pooley.bsky.social exploring the remarkable history of the okapi: a rainforest giraffid that became a symbol of scientific discovery, colonial power, and modern conservation challenges. buff.ly/9Xr2iCf Fri 23 January | 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Join us this Friday lunchtime for an online talk with @s-pooley.bsky.social exploring the remarkable history of the okapi: a rainforest giraffid that became a symbol of scientific discovery, colonial power, and modern conservation challenges. buff.ly/9Xr2iCf Fri 23 January | 12:30pm to 1:30pm

📍 Online Lecture 📆 Jan 23, 12:30 -1:30 ✨ Join Simon Pooley as he discusses the okapi, a rainforest giraffid which has become a symbol of scientific curiosity, colonial power, and conservation challenges. Grab your free tickets here: buff.ly/CGq6rfy

What counted as knowledge in Britain’s age of exploration...and who decided? On Wed 4 Feb, @edwinrose.bsky.social explores how natural knowledge was shaped by travel, collecting, and exchange - and whose voices were left out. 6–8pm · Burlington House Find out more: buff.ly/ypMIRvt

I had fun completing Marshal Zeringue's page 99 test, based on Ford Madox Ford's assertion that "Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you." Read more on what I discuss on p.99 of my book here: page99test.blogspot.com/2025/12/simo...

Simon Pooley's "Discovering the Okapi"

Simon Pooley is the Lambert Reader in Human-Wildlife Coexistence at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the coeditor of Histories of Bioi...

page99test.blogspot.com

This article on human-wildlife #coexistencs & ethics, justice and representation is now available as Open Access. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... I'm grateful to Birkbeck for support: if you've taught at research uni big beasts & moved to smaller institutions, you know the challenges

Beyond polarization for coexistence with biodiversity: Reply to Bruskotter et al. (2025)

Click on the article title to read more.

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

My #okapi story is published in The Scotsman today. Best viewed in the print edition, but you can read it here: www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scots...

On Friday 13 Feb I’ll be at the perfect place to talk about extinction in natural history museums: Oxford University Museum of Natural History @morethanadodo.bsky.social. Free tickets available for “Dead as a Dodo: The Haunted Heritage of Extinction” oumnh.ox.ac.uk/event/dead-a... #extinction

Dead as a Dodo: The Haunted Heritage of Extinction’

In the halls of natural history museums all over the world, you can peer through the glass and come face-to-face with the ghosts of extinction.

oumnh.ox.ac.uk