From sixteenth-century cabinets of wonders to contemporary animal art, The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing examines the cultural and poetic history of preserving animals in lively postures. But why would anyone want to preserve an animal, and what is this animal-thing now? Rachel Poliquin suggests that taxidermy is entwined with the enduring human longing to find meaning with and within the natural world. Her study draws out the longings at the heart of taxidermy—the longing for wonder, beauty, spectacle, order, narrative, allegory, and remembrance. In so doing, The Breathless Zoo explores the animal spectacles desired by particular communities, human assumptions of superiority, the yearnings for hidden truths within animal form, and the loneliness and longing that haunt our strange human existence, being both within and apart from nature.

A member of the live arachnid collection in Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History takes the reader on a tour of the museum, introducing such treasures as Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex, as well as the secret specimens of animal fossils and human artifacts hidden away in drawers, cabinets, and bins.

Bring the prehistoric world back to life in your own ultimate dinosaur coloring adventure. Dinosaurs Live! features wonderfully detailed and scientifically accurate coloring pages from acclaimed artist and dino-enthusiast Ted Rechlin (Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jurassic). Each page is jam-packed with amazing facts and coloring areas of your favorite dinosaurs as fossilized museum mounts and in their full glory as they triumphantly roamed the Mesozoic earth. Featuring thirty-one dinosaurs in prehistoric scenes and species ranging from famous favorites to more recently unearthed finds, Dinosaurs Live! is the perfect coloring adventure for dinosaur lovers of all ages.

For more than one hundred years, the Field Museum's dioramas have engaged the imaginations of visitors of all ages, drawing them into vivid encounters with the wonders of our natural world. Theatres of Nature takes the reader on a journey around the globe, from the Kalahari desert to the Himalayas, to encounter some of nature's most impressive animals in their natural habitats. Beginning with the rich history of the personalities involved in creating these tableaux, this volume is an in-depth look at selected highlights as well as a comprehensive catalogue of every diorama in the museum's collection, divided into sections for mammals and birds.

Natural history museums have evolved from being little more than musty repositories of stuffed animals and pinned bugs, to being crucial generators of new scientific knowledge. They have also become vibrant educational centers, full of engaging exhibits that share those discoveries with students and an enthusiastic general public. Grande offers a portrait of curators and their research, conveying the intellectual excitement and the educational and social value of curation. He uses the personal story of his own career-- most of it spent at Chicago's Field Museum-- to explore the value of research and collections, the importance of public engagement, changing ecological and ethical considerations, and the impact of rapidly improving technology.

Located in Chicago, Illinois, the Field Museum holds one of the world’s most extensive natural history collections. The museum helps visitors understand how the natural world developed and changed over time. People can study its collection of more than 26 million items to learn more about the history of planet Earth. Discover more about this incredible museum and its collections in The Field Museum of Natural History, a Museums of the World book.