From ROGER COGGAN
I was amused to see that Feedback had been flicking through the Natural
History Museum’s Christmas catalogue and spotted that they had classified
a frog as a reptile rather than an amphibian (Feedback, 23 November). Did
you also spot the mug depicting adult king penguins apparently rearing emperor
penguin chicks? The base of this mug bears the legend ‘Endangered Species
of the World’. Does CITES list either the king or emperor penguin as endangered?
l think not.
Maybe you could run a ‘Natureballs’ column for the festive season to
include similar items of inaccuracy. 1’ll start the ball rolling with a
real collector’s piece: the Cotswolds Wildlife Park has recently been flogging
inflatable ‘dolphins’-but the tails move from side to side, as in fish,
rather than up and down, as in cetaceans. Shurely shum mishtake.
Roger Coggan British Antarctic Survey Cambridge
