A dramatic image from the 2012 restoration of the Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals. 

Watch a video about the restoration of the taxidermic mounts:

AMNH/R.Mickens

I have always wondered this. How did medieval seafarers turn trees into boat parts?

Archaeology and forensic anthropology confirm survival cannibalism at Jamestown

Come Meet Jane

Blondel de Nesle - either Jean I of Nesle (c. 1155 – 1202) or his son Jean II of Nesle (died 1241) - was a French trouvère.

The name ‘Blondel de Nesle’ is attached to twenty-four or twenty-five courtly songs. He was identified in 1942, by Holger Dyggve, as Jean II of Nesle (near Amiens), who was nicknamed ‘Blondel’ for his long blond hair. He married at the time of his father’s death in 1202, and that same year, went on the Fourth Crusade; he later fought in the Albigensian Crusade. However, in 1994, Yvan Lepage suggested that the poet may have been Jean I, father of Jean II, who was Lord of Nesle from 1180 to 1202; this Jean took part in the Third Crusade, which may explain the subsequent legend linking him with Richard I of England.

Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow toy from 1978:  You give her water and make her drink it by pumping her tail, and then you milk her and “pretend milk" comes out of her udders.  Seriously.  (via WookieCookie youtube)

Because a children’s game in which you get hit in the face with a pie at random is just an excellent idea, 1960s (via D Heine’s youtube)

If you’re scared of clowns…don’t watch this Post Sugar Rice Krinkles commercial from the 1960. (Via Sam Strouth’s youtube channel)

Museum Can’t Explain Why Ancient Statue Suddenly Started Spinning - Gawker

A time-lapse video released by the museum shows the 4000-year-old relic of Neb-Senu slowly turning around inside its case without any apparent assistance from the outside world.

Found in a mummy’s tomb some 80 years ago, the statue has been kept encased at the museum ever since.

Its current caretaker, Campbell Price, was the first one to notice the strange phenomenon, and says he first realized something was off when he found the statue askew, reset it, and then found it askew again the following day.

“In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit,” Price, and Egyptologist by trade, told the Manchester Evening News. “Maybe that is what is causing the movement.”

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Horrible Histories — The 4 Georges: ‘Born 2 Rule’