THE SPECIMEN IS A POIGNANT REMINDER OF AN INTREPID CREW OF EXPLORERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO MODERN SCIENCE
By Andrew Nodell
Embarking on a three-masted wooden sailing vessel, the crew of the Royal Research Ship Discovery set sail on August 6, 1901, from the Isle of Wight with their eyes set on exploring the largely unknown and treacherous landscape of Antarctica. Led by British Royal Navy officer Robert Falcon Scott, the Discovery Expedition – officially known as the British National Antarctic Expedition – was the first official British exploration of the region and included notable explorers Ernest Shackleton, Edward A. Wilson, Tom Crean, William Lashly and the aptly named Frank Wild. Supported by a ragtag team of sailors and 25 Siberian sled dogs, their aim was to advance our understanding of biology, geography and zoology.
After collection, the addled and unviable Adélie penguin egg available in Heritage’s August 28 auction was blown and labeled, leaving a hole where the embryo was extracted, allowing the shell to preserve.
Faced with bad food, scurvy, harsh winds, brutal temperatures and none of the materials, vehicles and tools available to modern explorers, the crew limped home to Great Britain by September 1904. But their contributions to scientific study did not go unnoticed, including research on the species native to the coast of Antarctica. One such species was the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), the most widespread penguin species on the continent. In January 1902, the explorers collected an addled, unviable Adélie penguin egg, a rare souvenir from this historic journey and one of the many exceptional pieces available in Heritage’s August 28 Nature & Science Signature® Auction.
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During breeding season, Adélie penguins build their nests on rocky ground. Photo by Mike Lucibella, NSF (public domain).
With their classic black-and-white “tuxedo” plumage, flightless Adélie penguins inhabit the coast of Antarctica in swaths, mating along the continent’s rocky shores and laying their eggs in nests made of pebbles. Observing the birds on the Discovery Expedition, the ship’s acting junior surgeon, zoologist and expedition artist Dr. Edward A. Wilson wrote: “Such a sight! There were literally millions of them.” Given the proliferation of this species on the continent, what makes the 1902 Adélie penguin egg so remarkable? “Antarctica is still a rather unknown commodity, and it’s certainly wrought with danger,” says Craig Kissick, Vice President of Nature & Science at Heritage Auctions. “These explorers were in a rudimentary wooden ship going through icebergs, and the unknown was the biggest fear factor. There’s something so epic about this expedition, and this is a tangible object from that moment in history.”
Accompanying the Adélie penguin egg is a copy of Edward Wilson’s ‘Diary of the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic 1901-1904.’
While Adélie penguins were first discovered in 1840 by French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville, who named the species after his wife, there was little scientific research on them by the turn of the 20th century. Beyond this, the Adélie penguin egg offered by Heritage was collected on January 9, 1902 – the very day that the Discovery made landfall at Cape Adare, South Victoria Land, East Antarctica, for the first time. Wilson noted the find: “[Second Lieutenant Michael] Barne and [Dr. Reginald] Koettlitz brought home a number of skua fledglings and young penguins in different stages and many of their eggs. Koettlitz was kind enough to blow all these eggs for me, a true labor of love, as nearly every one was rotten.” It was Wilson who aimed to support Darwin’s Theory of Evolution with this discovery in hopes of finding the missing evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds. Marked with streaks of mud and yellowed with time, the Adélie penguin egg bears an inscription marking the momentous expedition.
“The historical value of this rare specimen from its association with the Discovery Expedition alone makes it something very special,” Kissick says, “but the deeper scientific information obtained by studying such specimens in offering a broader impact on our overall scientific understanding adds another priceless level to the piece.”
ANDREW NODELL is a contributor to Intelligent Collector.