![]() ![]() Iceland enjoys the dubious distinction of being the bird’s last known home, and the specimen I’d come to look at was killed somewhere in the country-no one is sure of the exact spot-in the summer of 1821. The reason I’d arranged to visit the institute was to see its great auk. ![]() These specimens, as I learned on the day of my own appointment, include: a stuffed tiger, a stuffed kangaroo, and a cabinet full of stuffed birds of paradise. It was designed as a research facility, with no public access, which means that a special appointment is needed to see any of the specimens in the institute’s collection. The building has a tilted roof and tilted glass walls and looks a bit like the prow of a ship. The Icelandic Institute of Natural History occupies a new building on a lonely hillside outside Reykjavik. Published February 2014 by Henry Holt and Company. Excerpted from THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. ![]()
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