NB! · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature
Section
· 627 stories
Nature
Books · Society · Nature · Ethnography
Reindeer transport units of the 14th Army in the Arctic during the war
"In the first winter of the war, reindeer transport units began to be organised in all the divisions of the 14th Army. Sámi, Nenets and Komi served in them. The reindeer were often used not only for evacuating the wounded and delivering military supplies, but also for inserting scouts
NB! · Art · Nature · Humour
Two horses, two grooms, two parrots and a dog in a painting by Roelant Savery
Two splendidly maned horses, two dwarf grooms in lemon-yellow breeches, two parrots, a scarlet macaw and a Moluccan cockatoo, and one little dog. Thank you, Roelant Savery
NB! · Art · London · Science · Mores · Nature · Humour
The squirrel in women's portraits of early modern England and the spread of leprosy by rodents
In Early Modern England the squirrel symbolised prostitution, so this rodent in a woman's portrait augurs nothing good. Though it has recently been proved that squirrels also spread leprosy
NB! · Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature
The first complete mammoth skeleton ever displayed in a museum belongs to the Lena mammoth; in this photograph its tusks are fitted wrongly: in reality they curved inwards, not outwards
Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature · Saint Petersburg
Adams's mammoth from the Lena valley stood with wrongly set tusks until 1899
A little about the errors of scholars. In 1806 a frozen mammoth was found in the valley of the River Lena. Apart from the missing internal organs, part of the muscle mass and the front right leg, it was a whole carcass, badly mauled by the wild beasts that had
NB! · Observations · Nature · Humour
Masyusya the cat greets visitors at the Khmelita estate and sees them off to the park
And this is a very clever little cat who lives on the grounds of the estate. Masyusya greets the guests, and she saw us off into the park. If you go to Khmelita, take a treat for the little paw-bearer
NB! · Observations · Heritage · Nature
One of the three-hundred-year-old oaks of the Khmelita formal park, beneath which Griboyedov loved to rest
One of the three-hundred-year-old oaks of the Khmelita formal park, beneath which Griboyedov loved to rest. The oaks are now entered in the atlas of the oldest and most remarkable trees of Russia (I do not remember the exact title)
NB! · Heritage · Mores · Nature
The system of ponds in the Khmelita estate parks, where fish were bred, has survived to this day
Footbridge on the Khmelita Pond. In the estate's heyday, a system of ponds was laid out within the grounds of the parks, where fish were bred for the household and the master's table. The ponds have survived to this day
Cinema · People · Nature · Humour
The legend of Georgy Sedov's dog Fram and the fate of the dogs on his polar expedition
Remember the boy in the film "The Foundling" who dreamed of becoming a border guard dog, if nothing else? He probably just did not know the story of the legendary hound Fram. Fram belonged to Georgy Sedov, who perished during the ill-fated expedition to the North Pole
NB! · Archive · People · Nature
The wife of the Russian explorer Georgy Sedov with one of his dogs
Archive · London · Observations · Mores · Nature
Byron's 1813 visit to Chunee the elephant and the animal's killing in 1826
On 14 November 1813 Byron paid a visit to Chunee, London's celebrated elephant. The seven-tonne giant was the star of the menagerie at Exeter Change. The elephant would take off visitors' hats, accept a coin and hand it back, and open doors. Byron was delighted by