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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen
@perfect-specimen.bsky.social
140 followers 15 following 91 posts
A lighthearted look at natural history via objects in the NHM London collections, hung loosely on a different adjective every episode. Podcast available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6w4ihPqk5_LOTuw-VhlaqEn1CctPqWGB
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The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · May 29
Welcome to “The Perfect Specimen” a new podcast from NHM London with science writer @joshlukedavis.com and scientist @nhcooper123.bsky.social. Each episode Josh and Natalie pick two objects each to represent an adjective given to them by their producers and attempt to amaze and surprise each other.
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 23h
Yep fair point! Though note the Chordata overload is partly due to OVERRATED which was less than complimentary!
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 1d
Who ❤️ data? Our 36 specimens (31 animal, 5 plant) so far represent 8/31 (25%) animal and 2/14 (14%) plant phyla/divisions. Chordata/mammals are winning (but many of these appeared in OVERRATED). @joshlukedavis.com and @nhcooper123.bsky.social have done OK so far but there's more diversity to cover!
Barchart showing distribution of specimens across animal phyla. Chordata = 15, Arthropoda = 8, Mollusca = 3, Annelida, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Nemertea and Onychophora = 1. Chordata is coloured to show that we have most mammals (7) then fishes/reptiles (3), then birds/tunicates (1). Bar chart showing that 4 plant specimens were angiosperms and 1 was a bryophyte
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 1d
See we did actually answer your Qs!
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 9d
Here’s the Q and A. Fixing @nhcooper123.bsky.social terrible error in NOXIOUS (among other things) m.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ji...
Natalie gets schooled on tentacles | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep10
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 1d
Want to know more about arms and tentacles? www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOKw...
What's the plural for octopus? | A closer look at arms and tentacles
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
www.youtube.com
Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
nhcooper123.bsky.social
Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 9d
🐙. With additional apologies to @marcehjones.bsky.social for mocking his alternative podcast name 🤣
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 9d
Here’s the Q and A. Fixing @nhcooper123.bsky.social terrible error in NOXIOUS (among other things) m.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ji...
Natalie gets schooled on tentacles | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep10
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 9d
Here’s the Q and A. Fixing @nhcooper123.bsky.social terrible error in NOXIOUS (among other things) m.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ji...
Natalie gets schooled on tentacles | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep10
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
nhm-london.bsky.social
Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 11d
Do you know where baby snakes come from? 🤔

Contrary to popular belief, only about 70% of snakes lay eggs - many species, like the anaconda, give birth to live young! 🐍

Discover why they do this and how it works in this week’s #SurprisingScience 🥚
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Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
nhm-london.bsky.social
Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 14d
Did you know there's not just one species of mammoth?

There were two living in North America - the woolly and the Columbian - and it turns out they were breeding together!

Find out about these hybrid mammoths 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Hybrid mammoths roamed North America following interspecies breeding | Natural History Museum
Columbian and woolly mammoths were breeding together for thousands of years.
www.nhm.ac.uk
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 13d
Forgot to share the crisp menus we mentioned in RELIABLE. Found in Walthamstow here: prettydecentbeer.co
Crisp list set menus. Surf and Turf: scampi fries, bacon fries, skips. Ploughman’s: pickled onion monster munch, cheese quavers, ready salted hoops. Kids menu: Pom bears, skips, scampi fries Crisp List. - Something to Start: peanuts - Full bodied: Pairs well with dark beers and west coast IPAs. Bacon fries, Scampi fries. - Mineral: All rounders, will complement most beers. Pom bears, big hoops. - Zippy: stands up to a big fruit sour. Discos salt and vinegar, pickled onion monster munch. - Funky: pairs perfectly with a NEIPA. Trust us. Skips, quavers.
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 14d
Have you listened to NOXIOUS yet? ☢️
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d
Love venom? Check out NOXIOUS m.youtube.com/watch?v=6C67... And @joshlukedavis.com cheats with three specimens!
Natalie brings a very venomous golf ball with legs | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep9
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
joshlukedavis.com
Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 22d
Ask us questions! Please! We need something to talk about!
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 22d
Last chance to ask us any questions about the last 9 episodes of Perfect Specimen as we’re recording the Q&A tomorrow!
Taxidermy wildcat posed lying down and baring its teeth as if meowing angrily, in front is a dead looking red squirrel
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 22d
More info here on lovely reef building polychaetes baynature.org/2019/06/06/m...
The California Naturalist | Meet a Worm that Builds Castles - Bay Nature
Phragmatopoma californica breathes over its entire body, poops from near its mouth, and reproduces with other worms despite living inside a tube.
baynature.org
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 22d
And an amazing video of the proboscis of *G.repens* in action: youtube.com/shorts/2mUMT...
The Ribbon Worms Don't Really Like Humans #shorts
YouTube video by ZoneA
youtube.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 22d
Some more fun details on the slug love darts!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rhL...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQh7...
Meet the snails that don't need Cupid #shorts #snail #darts
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
www.youtube.com
Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
nhcooper123.bsky.social
Natalie Cooper @nhcooper123.bsky.social · 22d
Got so excited by @joshlukedavis.com remora clutch bag I forgot to post the pictures of my lovely “worm” friends!
Close up of the tube of a honeycomb worm made up of tiny grains of sand Jar containing alcohol and a colony of Sabellaria alveolata in their tubes made of sand grains View into the jar containing Gorgononorhyncus repens. The worm is in a tube within the jar. It has its proboscis sticking out looking like a mess of hair. Beautiful handwriting on a jar reading Gorgononorhyncus repens. The lid is painted red showing it is the holotype.
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 22d
Last chance to ask us any questions about the last 9 episodes of Perfect Specimen as we’re recording the Q&A tomorrow!
Taxidermy wildcat posed lying down and baring its teeth as if meowing angrily, in front is a dead looking red squirrel
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d
Featuring several mentions of this excellent paper www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... by our colleague Ronald Jenner.
What is animal venom? Rethinking a manipulative weapon
The scientific study of animal venoms covers a broad phylogenetic domain. We argue that the true extent of this domain has been obscured by researchers having overlooked the biological essence of veno...
www.cell.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d
Love venom? Check out NOXIOUS m.youtube.com/watch?v=6C67... And @joshlukedavis.com cheats with three specimens!
Natalie brings a very venomous golf ball with legs | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep9
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d
*worms (damned autocarrot)
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Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
joshlukedavis.com
Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Sep 2
ok but how would you hold this??

The best thing I learnt about remora fish though is that people used to hunt with them! They would attach a metal collar around its tail and release it into the water when a turtle was near. The fish would stick to the animal, and the fishers would reel them in!! 🐟
A dried and taxidermied ramora fish specimen being held from the bottom by a hand.
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d
Amazing pictures of one of our works from TACKY!
seafloorscience.bsky.social
Dr Rachel Hale Marine Biologist @seafloorscience.bsky.social · 24d
Ok, back to the worms!
Meet Sabellaria alveolata. This beautiful polychaete worm has a golden crown.
This worm is also know as the honeycomb worm for the honeycomb like tubes they create in aggregations.
📸Auguste La Roux, Catherine Boyen
A close up of the head end of the worm. Another close up of the head end.
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Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
nhm-london.bsky.social
Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · Sep 3
Have you ever wondered how we care for Hope, our beloved blue whale? 🤔🐳

Twice a year, our conservators carry out detailed inspections of her 25-metre skeleton. This work includes cleaning and making essential repairs, ensuring Hope can continue to inspire and be admired by generations to come.
The large blue whale skeleton in Hintze Hall. Behind the skeleton, there’s a red cherry picker with two people wearing hard hats looking up. Two people on the cherry picker, wearing high vis jackets, hard hats and gloves. The person on the right-hand side is examining at the blue whale skeleton by pointing at the bones. A person on the cherry picker, photographed from underneath. They’re performing a repair on the blue whale skeleton.
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · Sep 3
For more quality facts like this listen to TACKY today! 🐟
joshlukedavis.com
Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Sep 2
ok but how would you hold this??

The best thing I learnt about remora fish though is that people used to hunt with them! They would attach a metal collar around its tail and release it into the water when a turtle was near. The fish would stick to the animal, and the fishers would reel them in!! 🐟
A dried and taxidermied ramora fish specimen being held from the bottom by a hand.
Reposted by The Perfect Specimen
perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · Aug 31
Ah yes it’s that time again. Please enjoy TACKY m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bku... where @joshlukedavis.com tries to work out how to best carry a fish and @nhcooper123.bsky.social becomes obsessed with worms…
Josh carries a fish like a clutch bag | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep8
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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perfect-specimen.bsky.social
The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · Aug 31
Ah yes it’s that time again. Please enjoy TACKY m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bku... where @joshlukedavis.com tries to work out how to best carry a fish and @nhcooper123.bsky.social becomes obsessed with worms…
Josh carries a fish like a clutch bag | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep8
YouTube video by Natural History Museum
m.youtube.com
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