In his new collection of essays, Jan Bondeson tells ten
fascinating stories of myths and hoaxes, beliefs and Ripley-like
facts, concerning the animal kingdom. Throughout he recounts--and
in some instances solves--mysteries of the natural world which have
puzzled scientists for centuries.
Heavily illustrated with photographs and drawings, the book
presents astounding tales from across the rich folklore of animals:
a learned pig more admired than Sir Isaac Newton by the English
public, an elephant that Lord Byron wanted to employ as his butler,
a dancing horse whose skills in mathematics were praised by William
Shakespeare, and, of course, the extraordinary creature known as
the Feejee Mermaid. This object became the foremost curiosity of
London in the 1820s and later in the century toured the United
States under the management of P. T. Barnum. Bearing a striking
resemblance to a wizened and misshapen monkey with a fishtail, the
mermaid was nonetheless proclaimed a genuine specimen by
"experts."
Bondeson explores other zoological wonders: toads living for
centuries encased in solid stone, little fishes raining down from
the sky, and barnacle geese growing from trees until ready to fly.
In two of his most fascinating chapters, he uncovers the origins of
the basilisk, considered one of the most inexplicable mythical
monsters, and of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. With the head and
body of a rooster and the tail of a snake, the basilisk was said to
be able to kill a person with its gaze. Bondeson demonstrates that
belief in this fabulous creature resulted from misinterpretations
of rare events in natural history. The vegetable lamb, a mainstay
of museums in the seventeenth century, was allegedly half plant,
half animal: it had the shape of a little lamb, but grew from a
stem. After examining two vegetable lambs still in London today,
Bondeson offers a new theory to explain this old fallacy.
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