Fish FossilNairn Museum This unusual object is actually a fossilised ‘armoured’ fish from the Middle Devonian period, which is often termed ‘the Age of the Fishes’. It was towards the end of the Devonian period that fish crawled out onto land and would...
A Piece of Thatch from Marram GrassNairn Museum This triangular shaped piece of marram grass was a piece of thatch taken from a Fishertown house. It was gifted by Mr John Mackintosh of Cawdor Village Store in 2004. Marram grass was often used to thatch houses in...
Hoof FungusGlencoe Folk Museum This hoof fungus, or fomes fomentarius, is found growing in the Highlands on silver birch trees. Its name comes from its unusual shape, like a horse’s hoof. This particular example was intended for making shinty balls, more usually...
Taxidermy StoatGrantown Museum Taxidermy is the practice of preserving and mounting animal skins in lifelike postures and was very fashionable with Victorian collectors. This taxidermy specimen would have been of interest because it shows the stoat in ermine – in...
Whale VertabraTarbat Discovery Centre A vertebra is a section of a spine. This belonged to a sperm whale, and measures over a metre across. It is believed to belong to a whale that became stranded on the rocks near Portmahomack in 1796. The dead whale, which was...
