Dr Joanne Cooper

I am a senior curator of the avian anatomical collections, including both the avian osteological and spirit collections, some 35000 specimens in total. I am responsible for the ongoing development of these collections, including the preparation and curation of skeletal and spirit specimens. As I see it, my role is to curate the collections in order to inform the present, understand the past and anticipate the future.

After nearly 20 years working on the skeleton collection in particular, I have become an internationally recognised authority in avian osteology and have particular experience and expertise in the taxonomic identification of bird bones. This leads into my research interests in the environmental and archaeological interpretation of fossil bird assemblages. I am presently working on a fascinating Late Pleistocene bird assemblage from the Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, Morocco and also maintain an interest in the fossil birds of the New Zealand region.

I am also keenly interested in the history of the bird collections, and am currently investigating Charles Darwin’s domestic birds, Captain Fitzroy’s bird collection from the famous 1831-36 voyage of HMS Beagle and John Gould’s collection of hummingbird cases. A common theme is that these were all well-recognised collections in their day but subsequently fell into obscurity. I’m intrigued by the stories these specimens have to tell of the history of scientific ideas and am hoping to re-establish them in modern natural history culture.

In addition to more academic work, I also like to pursue the odd creative project. Over the past few years, this has been the ‘Secret Life of the Beetle Colonies’ time-lapse films produced with Brian McClave of Site-Eye Time-Lapse Films. Parts of the anatomical collections date back to the mid-1700s, but I find there’s always a new way to look at these ever-growing natural archives…