Archive · Books · Nature · Ethnography

A 17th-century English bestiary describes the Florida beast Succarath and how it was caught

In Florida, which is part of the West Indies, there dwells a beast that cannot be passed over in silence on account of its strangeness and ugliness. The natives call it Succarath, and the cannibals Su. It lives chiefly by rivers and along the seashore, and feeds on its prey.

Observations · Nature · Humour

Hannibal's War Elephants in the Crossing of the Alps, Their Supply, Losses and Role

Pity the Poor Beasts, Eh! Hannibal took some 37 war elephants with him across the Alps. Roughly as many as it takes to fill the runway at a Marina Rinaldi show. The elephants were most probably of the North African subspecies. An elephant requires an enormous quantity of fodder, some

Observations · Mores · People · Nature

Robespierre's Childhood Love of Birds and the Death of a Pigeon in a Storm

As a boy, Robespierre was mad about birds and kept sparrows and pigeons as pets. Once his sisters asked to borrow one of his pigeons and ended up leaving it outside during a storm, and the bird died. On learning of this, Robespierre flew into a rage and wept for

NB! · Archive · The East · Books · Nature

Fabulous Beasts from the Manuscript of the "Book of the Marvels of Marco Polo"

People · Pop Culture · Nature

Brigitte Bardot on living among animals and devoting her life to their protection

I chose to turn away from the bustle of the world, from its falseness, its wounds and its vanity, to take refuge in a sanctuary built with my own hands. Here, in this quiet haven where only nature and tenderness reign, I have found peace. The trees stretch their branches

NB! · Architecture · Nature

Vertical Greening That Did Not Quite Take

Archaeology · Observations · Nature

Homo erectus meeting the Flores man as a possible source of myths about hobbits and dragons

A pity about this good-natured fellow. In the first place, of course, he has a wife and children back in the den; and in the second, imagine yourself a fairly sturdy East Asian Homo erectus, in possession of a large brain, meeting a Flores or Luzon man, representatives of

NB! · Geography · Observations · Nature

Who would have thought Lake Titicaca was quite so high!

Who would have thought Lake Titicaca was quite so high! It turns out to stand at 3,812 metres above sea level. Baikal lies at an altitude of 455 metres. Lake Superior, of the American Great Lakes system, lies at 183 metres

Detail of a painting: two pink roses and green leaves with dewdrops in a glass vase on a marble ledge.

NB! · Art · Observations · Nature

Pink roses in a glass vase in a painting by Jean François van Dael

In my opinion, Jan Frans van Dael has captured the loveliest variety of rose in the world. I do not know what it is called, but these flowers are magnificent

NB! · Observations · Nature

Poor Capybara

Archive · Nature · Ethnography

Not Caught, but Given

An Italian woman in the commune of Bagnara Calabra, known as the swordfish capital, with what turns out to be the chief local souvenir Photograph of 1945

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Nature