Notice on the Opening of the Special Exhibition “The history of an anonymous penguin”
In January, the JP Tower Museum INTERMEDIATHEQUE (IMT) is opening the special exhibition “The history of an anonymous penguin”.
At the Intermediatheque, we store many stuffed bird specimens entrusted from the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology. Junichi and Hitomi Oshima, private penguin researchers, recently certified the history of a penguin specimen from the Yamashina collection. It was caught in 1911 during the First Japanese Antarctic exploration by Nobu Shirase and was donated to the Meiji Emperor. This was suggested to be the first penguin collected by a Japanese around the Antarctic zone. The exploration log enabled us to identify the precise location where the specimen was collected. According to the location and morphological traits, this individual initially believed to be a Rock-hopper Penguin was re-identified by the Yamashina Institute as an Erect-crested Penguin. The Erect-crested Penguin is an endangered species breeding only in some isolated islands around New Zealand, and we have only one more specimen in Japan.
We finally unveil this penguin, anonymous until we identified its history and true name after 102 years. We hope that the audience hereby feels the epoch when people tried to conquest both Poles, as well as the biological specialization of penguins and the long history that this individual penguin experienced.
Key Information
［Title］“The history of an anonymous penguin”
［Dates］January 19, 2014 – March 2, 2014
［Opening Hours］11:00-18:00 (open until 20:00 on Thursday and Friday; last entry 30 minutes before closing) *Opening hours may change.
［Closed on］Mondays (or the following Tuesday if Monday is a National Holiday), Year-end holidays. May close irregularly.
［Venue］STUDIOLO, Intermediatheque 3rd floor
［Organizers］The University Museum, The University of Tokyo (UMUT)
［Support］Yamashina Institute of Ornithology + Jinchodowhompo
［Address］JP Tower 2/3F, 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
［Admission］Free of charge
［Access］JR lines and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line Tokyo Station. Direct access from the Marunouchi Underground Pathway.