iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 16h

Mammals big and small, far and near: a terrible video of two iconic South African beasts - a southern right #whale and a rock hyrax. #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica #whales

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Some Excellent South African Birds: 🦉 Spotted eagle owl. 🍬 Cape sugarbird. 🪡 Cape weaver (and its nest). 🌌 Speckled pigeon. #SouthAfrica #birds #birding

A Cape weaver among reeds, sat below a green woven nest

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

White #rhinos are famously grazers (grass-eaters), and have wide square lips to help them crop short grass, while black rhinos have pointed lips for browsing on shrubs, BUT... here we have some rule-breaking white rhinos clearly browsing shrubs. 🦏🌿 #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Delighted to share that we won the Cambridge Research Impact Awards (Climate & Nature) for our experiment with Nature Perspectives to test if enabling @zoologymuseum.bsky.social visitors to have AI-powered chats with specimens deepened their engagement with nature. www.cam.ac.uk/stories/clim...

A University of Cambridge Research Impact award trophy and certificate in front of a taxidermy wildebeest in the Museum of Zoology. The certificate reads:
Climate and Nature Research Showcase 2026
Impact Award Winner
Mr Jack Ashby
Talk to the Animals: AI-powered conversations with specimens in the University Museum of Zoology

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The African horn collection: - Buffalo: classic🤵 - Eland: no nonsense 🤺 - Black wildebeest: bike handles🚲 - Klipspringer: bebe👶 #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica

An African Cape buffalo drinking from a puddle

A large male eland sat on a patch of grass

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Looking majestic with a full blow-dry effect. 💨🦁 #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica #lions

A male lion stood on the skyline on top of a rocky ridge, with his mane blown out in the wind

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A weaverbird weaving in the wind. Here's the very start of the process of a Cape weaver building its nest of knotted reeds between two stems. The final result will be an intricate protective sphere around the size of a large grapefruit. #birding #SouthAfrica #birds

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Meet the tiny tilcayo - the first new species of cat to be described in over a century. This Bolivian micro-cat was identified from an individual that had once been a family pet. 🐈 #cats share.google/Zk1XogLTl7xR...

share.google

New species of wild cat discovered in Bolivia’s cloud forest | Discover Wildlife

Leopardus tilcayo is the first wild cat species described by scientists in more than a century

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The klipspringer should be everyone's favourite #antelope: they're the size of a small dog, have the face of a teddy with tiny spike-horns, and they walk on the tips of cylindrical hooves that grip the rocks they live among (their name means "rock-jumper" in Afrikaans). #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica

A klipspringer stood on a rocky slope, looking into a patch of grass and shrubs

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It's amazing that perhaps the world's best place to see an awesome wild cat - the caracal - is right on the edge of a big city. Climbed #TableMountain today from #CapeTown with a tiny hope of seeing one, & was delighted to find some poo. Half the joy of #MammalWatching is just knowing they're there

Jack Ashby with a cave behind, with a waterfall flowing over it

A view of Cape Town and Table Bay from the top of Table Mountain

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Meet the bontebok, an #antelope that is only found in the fynbos habitat of the Western Cape of #SouthAfrica. All surviving bonteboks are descended from a population of just 22 individuals, which were saved in 1931 by being fenced into the newly created Bontebok National Park. #MammalWatching

A large antelope with a dark brown body, and a white face, tail, belly and lower legs. It is stood among low bushes and rocks

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

No offence to #birds in general, but #penguins are such good animals that they're basically honorary #mammals. 🐧🌍 #SouthAfrica #AfricanPenguins #birding

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Got a lot of love for South Africa's rock hyraxes - they are giving serious #wombat vibes. #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

More #birds should wear wigs. New favourite bird: the crested guineafowl. 🦰🦃

A taxidermy crested guineafowl. It is a chicken-sized black bird with white spots, and curly feathers on its head that loll like a black wig. On display at Iziko South African Museum.

A close-up of the head of the taxidermy crested guineafowl, showing curly feathers on its head that loll like a black wig. On display at Iziko South African Museum.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm at Iziko South African Museum to talk about the entwined human and environmental costs of #colonialism, so it's rather fitting that the museum's gardens are teeming with highly invasive American grey #squirrels, which were introduced to #SouthAfrica by none other than #CecilRhodes. #SPNHC2026

A grey squirrel by a tree in a planted flower bed.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Natural history #museums in the Northern Hemisphere all highlight giant deer, and in #SouthAfrica, they had a giant buffalo, with horns that were 3 metres across. They died out only 4000 years ago. 🐮📏↔️

An African giant buffalo on display at Iziko South African Museum

A museum interpretation panel with an illustration of a giant buffalo rearing up at two lions. The text reads:
Reconstruction of Syncerus antiquus and lions, in Elandsfontein (near Langebaan, South Africa)
Elandsfontein (kufuphi e-Langebaan, South Africa) ukubunjwa kwakhona kwezilo eziziqu zikhulu zakudala kunye neengonyama
Elandsfontein (naby Langebaan, Suid-Afrika) rekonstruksie van Syncerus antiquus en leeus.

THE FIRST FOSSIL MAMMAL
FROM SOUTH AFRICA

The African giant buffalo is the largest bovid ever described from
Africa. It was a larae animal, weiahina 1800 ka, with horns that
measured 3 m from tip to tip and was such an impressive find that
Charles Darwin presented this fossil to the Geoloaical Societv of
London in 1839

Unlike the other extinct animals on display, humans were around
to watch this giant roam the African grasslands and savannahs
but sadlv due to a combination of hunting and changing climates,
this animal went extinct around 4000 years ago.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It's Day One of the big international conference for natural history collections professionals. I was asked to contribute to the opening session, which focussed heavily on issues of social justice in natural science #museums. It just goes to show how mainstream this work is becoming. #SPNHC2026

A powerpoint title slide, reading:
"Adding values: social, environmental and scientific relevance in natural history museums
Jack Ashby
Assistant Director, University Museum of Zoology"
A photograph of a manatee diorama is included in the slide.

Jack Ashby speaking at a conference podium, with a slide behind reading:
"But how do we tell these stories?
NHMs are perfectly placed to discuss environmental threats as a legacy of colonialism."

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The hyrax life: lounging around on rocks, bathing in the sun in spots that predators aren't likely to get you. Despite looking like a cross between a chubby #rodent and a seal, hyraxes are actually more closely related to #elephants - part of the Afrotheria mammal group. #MammalWatching #SouthAfrica

A rock hyrax on a clifftop, with a city (Cape Town) in the distance below

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

First 8 hours in #CapeTown: what's not to love about a city where you can land at 10am, explore the National Gallery before a boozy lunch, climb Lion's Head for sunset, then find some fur #seals frolicking around the Waterfront restaurants for dinner. #SPNHC2026

SUE WILLIAMSON's sculpture Messages from the Moat - 1319 bottles suspended in a hammock in the National Gallery courtyard

A red-winged starling perched on a cliff with Cape Town behind

Miranda Lowe, Jack Ashby and Natalie Jones in a restaurant with the Waterfront behind

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

We have a really exciting #MuseumJobs opportunity as Project Manager for a major digitisation programme across some amazing natural history #museums. You have this weekend to apply!

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

🚨IT'S BIG #MUSEUMJOBS TIME🚨 We are looking for a talented and engaged Project Manager to oversee the delivery programme across the Central England Digitisation Hub, as part of #DiSSCoUK – a nationwide programme to digitise the UK’s natural history collections. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/project...

static.klipy.com

Alex The Lion: Is There A Manager We Could Talk To?

Alt: Alex The Lion: Is There A Manager We Could Talk To?

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A beautiful new addition to the #Mammals bookshelves, covering the fascinating #marsupials, #bats & #rodents (and a sadly large number of invasive species) of the Southwest Pacific islands. The species descriptions are coupled with great photos and illustrations. 🤩🦘🦇🐀 @csiropublishing.bsky.social

The cover of Mammals of the South-West Pacific, by Tyrone Lavery and Tim Flannery

A page-spread covering the eastern common cuscus and the Woodlark cuscus, with a photo, map and illustration

A page-spread covering the mountain and island tube-nosed bats, with a map and full-page illustration

A page-spread covering the New Britain water rat and two species of melomys, with illustrations and maps

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

The deadline for these important natural history digitisation #MuseumJobs is this Monday 3rd August - so do get applying! #DiSSCoUK

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Dr Sarah Hewitt @s2hewitt.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Well so they do! Every day's a school day.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I'm late to the party, but @andreawulf.bsky.social's masterpiece is utterly brilliant. I knew almost nothing about Humboldt, but his impact on how we see nature in the West - both ecologically and emotionally - was nothing short of immense. But more than that, the story is brilliantly told. Read it!

The cover of "The Invention of Nature: the Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt The Lost Hero of Science " by Andrea Wulf

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This #wombat is feeding so frantically it's as if the grass is about to run out. #WombatWednesday #fieldwork #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombats

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Aquatic #hedgehog!! 🦔🌊 #Hedgehogs are surprisingly good swimmers - their spines are hollow so they float easily. This one was swimming from rock to rock to get across the stream. #BreconBeacons #WildWales #MammalWatching

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

🚨 #MUSEUMJOBS KLAXON🚨 We're looking for a Senior Digitiser and two Digitisers to work across @zoologymuseum.bsky.social & @camplantsci.bsky.social to help create biodiversity data for the researchers who need it, through #DiSSCoUK. 1. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/senior-... 2. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/digitis...

A pinned moth is positioned within a light box, with a camera positioned above

A museum drawer containing tens of pinned tiger and emerald moths lined up in rows

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Bat Conservation Trust @batconservation.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

🦇 If anyone wants to help us learn more about Daubenton's bats and how they are doing in the UK, have a look at our Waterway Survey: www.bats.org.uk/our-work/nat... . Sign-up and take part in this year's survey season in August :)

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SCCS Cambridge 2027 @sccscambridge.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

📢 Apply now to SCCS 2027 🎉 The 26th Student Conference on Conservation Science will take place between 30 March – 1 April 2027 at the University of Cambridge. Check the website for further details and to apply: www.sccs-cam.org

sccs-cam.org

Student Conference on Conservation Science - Welcome

SCCS helps young conservation scientists gain experience, learn new ideas and make contacts that will be valuable for their future careers.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Daubenton's #bats have a distinctive flight pattern, swooping in figures-of-eight over the water's surface to swoop up bugs. (But it's still cool to have the Echo Meter bat detector to confirm the ID). 🦇🔊 #MammalWatching #WildWales #BreconBeacons

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

So excited for our partnership led jointly by us in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge University Herbarium, Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Oxford University Herbaria to retrieve and share data from our collections that will make major contributions to biodiversity research

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Back in the same spot in Bannau Brycheiniog six months later, still searching for #otters, only this time with more leaves, less water, and more midges. 🦦🦟🏞 #MammalWatching #WildWales #BreconBeacons

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

How are specimen collections used by CSIRO (Australia's national science agency) researchers to help save the world? I reviewed Andrea Wild's book "Wild Collections" (@csiropublishing.bsky.social) for Archives of Natural History (@sochistnathist.bsky.social): www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...

The cover of "Wild Collections: Specimens, Stories and Science from CSIRO" by Andrea Wild

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

As well as it being the 200th anniversary of @zslofficial.bsky.social this year, today marks 200 years since the death of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of the Zoological Society of London (& key colonial figure in Southeast Asia: the founder of modern Singapore). He was also born #OTD in 1781.

A black and white etching of Sir Stamford Raffles

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mouldwarp @mooncalfed.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

baculum erasure is real!!

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Coypu nest in long burrows (the damage these burrows cause is one of the reasons they're such a problem as #InvasiveSpecies), but in the daytime, they rest on grassy "beds". It looks like there's no room in the bed for this big fella though. #MammalWatching #WildFrance #rodents

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

NICE big piles of #PlatypusMatters on show at #LondonZoo shop! 🤩 (@zslofficial.bsky.social we're kind enough to grant me the ZSL Award for Communicating Zoology for this book.)

A display titled "Adult Books" at London Zoo shop, including Platypus Matters

A tall bookshop pile of Platypus Matters

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Did sturgeon breed in Britain? A team (to which I made a small contribution) used 19th- & 20th-century newspaper reports, archives & museum specimens to conclude that these giant fish are indeed native British breeders. 🐟 @royalsocietypublishing.org #ROSOS royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Did sturgeon ever breed in Britain? Evaluating historical evidence and conservation implications

Abstract. Historical archives can provide unique perspectives on past biodiversity and have the potential to reconstruct life-history cycles for lost popul

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Through their live collections, museum, fellows & publications, @zslofficial.bsky.social has been one of the UK's most influential institutions in the history of natural history. This week, we're at #LondonZoo to celebrate their 200th anniversary, for @sochistnathist.bsky.social's Summer Meeting.

The white-stone entrance to the Zoological Society of London, with a modern green banner above, reading "ZSL: 200 years of wildlife".

A conference advertising poster, showing a historic zoo illustrated print of four penguins. with the text:
ZSL at 200
Science, Society and The Natural World

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A very exciting parcel has arrived: my first copies of #NaturesMemory in a foreign language! 🤩 The Korean edition looks gorgeous (and has a new foreword to set a context in #Korea's relatively young natural history #museums sector). 🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷

Two copies of the Korean-language versions of Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, flanking the UK hardback edition.

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

A mindful minute of a big old #coypu preening itself. Swimming mammals have to keep their fur in top condition so or stays waterproof, so they spend a lot of time scratching. Also, check out the size of those webbed feet! #MammalWatching #WildFrance #rodents

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Lucy Jackson @lej-palaeo.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Finally got round to reading this! Loving it so far @jackdashby.bsky.social

Book ‘Nature’s Memory’ by Jack Ashby with a green shell on the cover held up in a garden

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