Animal heads and horns

Summary: 68 items, mainly African hunting trophies together with British deer heads and horns used as hat racks, over 90% in store.

The earliest objects were an elephant's skull and other bones donated in 1910, which are displayed in the Cabinet of Curiosities. Numerous horns were given by individual donors during the early years of the museum's existence, mainly being displayed in the Great Hall or Long Gallery rather than in the Natural History rooms.

A large collection of African hunting trophies were donated by Captain Astley in 1956. Most still survive and are stored in the space above the Great Hall where they can be seen on back room guided tours. Now the only animal heads on public display are British deer heads, displayed in the Servants' Hall.

The collection was recorded on index cards in the 1970s making use of the 1938 catalogue md7a but, as with much of the natural history collection, were never entered into the later accession registers. The index cards have been used as the basis for entries in the Modes database.