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(pensive music)
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- [Narrator] London, a city
of commoners and kings,
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and at its heart, a museum
with secrets dark and strange,
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tales of espionage,
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(explosion booming)
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pickled creatures in hidden spaces,
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a cursed gemstone--
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(person gasping)
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- I won't touch it.
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- [Narrator] And Britain's
barbaric beginnings.
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(men grunting)
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Secrets hidden in plain sight
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inside the Natural History Museum.
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(tense dramatic music)
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The Natural History
Museum in London, England.
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It's a cathedral of nature,
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housing over 70 million specimens.
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During the day, thousands of
visitors tour the galleries
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but at night when they've all gone home,
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this place seems to come alive
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with unforgettable stories
about where we came from
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and where we're going.
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(eerie music)
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The galleries and dark
passageways invite those who dare
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to venture behind the
scenes, take a closer look,
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and discover secrets that are disturbing
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and sometimes brutal.
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- Well, we've got
material from Gough's Cave
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in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset,
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and this is some of the material we dug up
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in the late 1980s from
our excavations there
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in really just a small area of the cave.
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They're important because
they represent people
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near the end of the
last ice age in Britain,
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so they're the best
sample we have of people
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from Britain at that time.
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- [Narrator] 15,000 years ago,
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Northwestern Europe was a desolate,
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uninhabitable polar desert.
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But somewhere around 13,000 BC,
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the Earth began to warm up rapidly,
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revealing a massive land
bridge connecting Britain
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to continental Europe,
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a gateway for early nomadic man.
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- These people arrived
really quite rapidly,
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probably following herds of
animals migrating into Britain.
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We think that life was
quite hard for these people.
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(men grunting)
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When we were excavating,
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we obviously found not
just these human remains.
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There were remains of a
number of individuals.
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On this skull, which is an adult skull,
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we can see here cut marks
running across this region here.
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There are also marks on the frontal bone,
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suggesting that perhaps
the skin has been removed.
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On this jawbone, we've got
a series of cut marks here
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where the jaw was
disarticulated from the skull.
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So the material has been
pretty extensively worked over
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by humans and obviously there
are many different reasons
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why that might have happened.
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May have been an act of desperation,
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because, of course, we know cases today
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when there had been a crisis.
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People have been stranded somewhere.
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An airplane has crashed in the mountains
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and people, in the end, are
forced to eat other people.
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(men grunting)
(somber music)
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- [Narrator] British
cannibals, could this be true?
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If so, these bones offer evidence
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of what some of the very first Englishmen
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may have been eating
for dinner, each other.
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(solemn music)
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(water dripping)
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To investigate the mystery,
we go to Cheddar Gorge
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where paleontologists from
the Natural History Museum
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discovered the puzzling bones.
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- Here we are in Gough's
Cave, Cheddar in Somerset.
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The floor level would once
have been really quite high.
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This is the site of our excavation.
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Essentially, it's the area that
was protected by this rock.
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This is where all of our finds came from.
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We found very large numbers
of broken human bones
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all jumbled up with the remains of animals
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like horses and red deer,
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and we noticed quite early on
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that the horses and red
deer had been butchered
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for food and thrown away,
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and the human remains
appear to have been treated
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in exactly the same way.
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People have suggested pretty
complex ritual explanations.
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Archeologists use the word ritual
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when they don't know what's going on.
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- [Narrator] For more than 20 years,
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these bones have been locked away
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in a back room of the museum's
paleontology department,
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the source of the curious
cut marks left unknown.
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But recent advances in
three-dimensional imaging
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may provide Doctor Silvia
Bello the clues she needs
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to solve this ancient mystery.
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- Now the image is being
scanned three-dimensionally
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and you can notice that
this series of cut mark
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is being reproduced by the scan image.
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We can turn our image
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and have a proper look at the cut marks
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according which angle we prefer.
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This is a clear cut mark.
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These specific models tell
me, well, first of all,
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it's a series of marks
one next to the other
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so the movement, it was a
constant sort of fileting
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in this case of the mandible.
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The angle in this case is quite acute
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which means that it
was not a cutting angle
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but it was more of a
deflection angle in this sense.
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- [Narrator] The next step is
a trip to the town of Cheddar.
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Butcher Jim Baker will cut
up a pig using replicas
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of sharpened stones or
flints found at Gough's Cave.
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Silvia wants to see how
close the cut marks come
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to the cuts found on the
fossilized human bones.
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- These are the sort of tool
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that were probably found in Gough's Cave.
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- Well, I'm gonna start with this one
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'cause this looks like--
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- [Silvia] Very sharp.
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Are you actually using
more strength in this case?
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- Not really at the moment.
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You can feel that you're
right on top of the bone
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and there's a scraping
motion on the bone, so yeah.
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I think it'll get the cartilage out.
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(tense eerie music)
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- [Silvia] So the cutting
is not really a problem
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through the meat.
- Through the meat's
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not a problem at all, no.
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It's very, lots of sharp
little cutting motions
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rather than with a knife, it's a much more
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sweeping action, yeah.
- One single.
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(tense eerie music)
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- You can hear it on the bone,
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can't you, yeah, yeah.
- On the bone.
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- It's certainly not--
- It's coming gently.
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- It is, it's coming in small pieces,
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but, and again, there's that.
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(tense eerie music)
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That surprised me how
easy it was, actually.
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Ta-da, there we go.
- Wow, yeah.
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- Just curious to see if there are--
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- Yeah, well, it would be--
- Any cuts left.
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Think there's something.
- There's definitely cut marks
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down through there.
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- Yeah, so it'd be very interesting
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just to see is it exactly reproduction
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of what we have on fossil
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which we can prove that they
were using the same technique
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and possibly the same
tool that we have here.
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(tense eerie music)
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- [Narrator] The pig bones
from the butcher shop
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are cleaned, dried,
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and ready to go under Silvia's microscope.
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This is quite interesting
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because the location of
the cut marks in here
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are exactly the same,
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so this is the one that has
been butchered by the butcher
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and there is all this
series of cut marks almost--
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- Oh, I can see it from here.
- Perpendicular,
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and you can see exactly the same,
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the same orientation, the same location
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on the fossil in Gough's Cave.
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There's also, you can see
all the internal striation
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which is the indication--
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- Oh, that's fabulous.
- That it's
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produced by a stone tool.
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- [Andrew] Yeah.
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- [Silvia] This one, kinda
see the same kinda twisty,
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the forking at the end.
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Microstriation over there and over here,
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so they are very similar.
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- So we're looking animal remains--
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- There will be no doubt.
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- It'd be butchering.
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- For human, we can't be
100% sure it was cannibalism
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but with this evidence, I am 99% sure.
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(tense eerie music)
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- [Narrator] It's a startling glimpse
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into Britain's dark past,
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leaving little doubt some
of the first Englishmen
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were indeed eating each other.
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(men grunting)
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The Natural History Museum is home
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to some odd and disturbing artifacts,
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but what can be found in its extensive
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and impressive galleries is
only the tip of the iceberg.
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Behind the scenes, the
collections stretch for miles,
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and tucked away in the
bowels of the museum
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is one of the most extraordinary
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and bizarre rooms in the world.
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(dramatic music)
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(pensive music)
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The Natural History
Museum in London, England
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is probably most famous for its connection
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to the legendary British
naturalist Charles Darwin.
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His statue graces the main gallery,
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a tribute to the scientist who,
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in the mid 19th century, changed the world
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with his revolutionary
theory of evolution.
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Today, only a fraction of
Darwin's specimens are on display.
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The rest are hidden away in
vast storage rooms like this one
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where the museum's collections line more
207
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than 27 kilometers of shelving,
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00:10:09,860 --> 00:10:12,473
including their vast spirit collection.
209
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This is the tank room.
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Here, thousands of
specimens pickled in alcohol
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and formaldehyde stare
from jars lining the walls.
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It's one of the biggest
collections of its kind,
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00:10:29,180 --> 00:10:31,320
and it keeps getting bigger.
214
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(eerie music)
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Carrying on the Darwin tradition
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is head curator, Oliver Crimmen.
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For nearly 40 years he's
been adding unique specimens
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for future research.
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- This is why we call it the tank room.
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The larger specimens are here in tanks.
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We like our Victorian glass bottles,
222
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but for some of the bigger things,
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it's not practical to have a glass jar.
224
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This is an arapaima from the Amazon River.
225
00:11:05,300 --> 00:11:08,070
This one is a particular
old favorite of mine.
226
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I used to watch it swimming around
227
00:11:10,300 --> 00:11:12,780
in the London Zoo Aquarium
when I was younger
228
00:11:12,780 --> 00:11:15,240
and years later, I found
my old friend again
229
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,840
in the museum tank when I
got a job at the museum,
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00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,193
so I've known this fish for some years.
231
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The collection goes
back hundreds of years.
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That means that we have
Captain Cook's specimens
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00:11:27,810 --> 00:11:31,330
in the collection, Charles
Darwin's specimens.
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00:11:31,330 --> 00:11:33,580
You can think of it as
a sort of Noah's ark
235
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in a sense that specimens here
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that are no longer available in the wild.
237
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One of my favorites is
the deep sea relative
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of the angler fish.
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That mouth is full of sharp fangs
240
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and on the head, there is
the fantastic luminous organ.
241
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All you would see of it is
the little luminous spots,
242
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probably like a little
crowd of luminous shrimps,
243
00:11:58,250 --> 00:12:00,720
and coming to investigate that,
244
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,743
you'd be unaware of the
mouth waiting below.
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00:12:05,630 --> 00:12:08,280
- [Narrator] They may look
like your worst nightmare
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00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,100
but to scientists around the world,
247
00:12:10,100 --> 00:12:12,410
there's endless potential
for new discoveries
248
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in these pickled treasures.
249
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- This is the head of a basking shark.
250
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It's one of the giant sharks in the world.
251
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It's too big to go chasing
around after big prey
252
00:12:26,370 --> 00:12:31,370
so it's swimming along with
its cavernous mouth open,
253
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mopping up little shrimps in the sea.
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The hydrodynamic trick
that sharks have learned
255
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of having little teeth all over their skin
256
00:12:42,630 --> 00:12:45,200
has been very useful to a shark
257
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,619
that's on the move all of its life.
258
00:12:47,619 --> 00:12:49,360
(dramatic music)
259
00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:50,830
- [Narrator] All along a shark's skin
260
00:12:50,830 --> 00:12:52,733
are V-shaped teeth or denticles.
261
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:57,420
These denticles direct
the flow of water away
262
00:12:57,420 --> 00:12:59,080
from the shark's skin,
263
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,423
greatly reducing the
forces of drag on its body.
264
00:13:05,330 --> 00:13:07,950
- Very important if you're a massive fish
265
00:13:07,950 --> 00:13:08,870
moving through water.
266
00:13:08,870 --> 00:13:11,410
Water's 800 times as dense as air,
267
00:13:11,410 --> 00:13:12,980
so it's hard work making a living
268
00:13:12,980 --> 00:13:15,140
moving forwards through water,
269
00:13:15,140 --> 00:13:18,220
and that's why these teeth
are so important to sharks.
270
00:13:18,220 --> 00:13:20,850
Now the Speedo company wanted to see
271
00:13:20,850 --> 00:13:24,183
if they could imitate that
on an Olympic swimsuit.
272
00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:27,200
- [Narrator] In a sport
where the difference
273
00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:28,980
between winning and losing is measured
274
00:13:28,980 --> 00:13:30,530
in hundredths of a second,
275
00:13:30,530 --> 00:13:32,740
Speedo needed innovative new technology
276
00:13:32,740 --> 00:13:34,393
to give their swimsuits the edge.
277
00:13:35,660 --> 00:13:37,040
By studying the denticles
278
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,050
on the skin of the basking shark,
279
00:13:39,050 --> 00:13:41,810
they were able to develop the Fastskin,
280
00:13:41,810 --> 00:13:43,140
a high-performance swimsuit
281
00:13:43,140 --> 00:13:45,320
that mimics the drag reduction abilities
282
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,320
of the shark's skin.
283
00:13:48,887 --> 00:13:50,620
The Fastskin first proved its worth
284
00:13:50,620 --> 00:13:52,860
at the Sydney Olympics in 2000
285
00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:56,230
where swimmers wearing
them won 83% of the medals,
286
00:13:56,230 --> 00:13:59,386
a triumph in the pool that
may not have been possible
287
00:13:59,386 --> 00:14:01,936
without Oliver Crimmen's
lovingly tended specimens.
288
00:14:03,230 --> 00:14:05,950
- This is a good example of the usefulness
289
00:14:05,950 --> 00:14:07,097
of specimens in the collection.
290
00:14:07,097 --> 00:14:11,600
You can't tell what they will
reveal to us in the future.
291
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,123
They are the subject
matter of endless research.
292
00:14:16,060 --> 00:14:19,730
As time goes on, the collection
becomes more valuable
293
00:14:19,730 --> 00:14:20,753
and more important.
294
00:14:21,679 --> 00:14:24,346
(case whirring)
295
00:14:25,828 --> 00:14:26,906
(case thudding)
296
00:14:26,906 --> 00:14:29,710
(menacing music)
297
00:14:29,710 --> 00:14:31,700
- [Narrator] Two floors
above the tank room
298
00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:34,300
in the public galleries of
the mineralogy department
299
00:14:35,460 --> 00:14:38,423
is a vault full of rare
and priceless gems.
300
00:14:39,350 --> 00:14:42,200
It's sealed by a heavy steel door,
301
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,398
a door meant to lock thieves out
302
00:14:44,398 --> 00:14:45,790
(metal clanging)
303
00:14:45,790 --> 00:14:47,763
and keep a deadly curse in.
304
00:14:51,288 --> 00:14:54,349
(dramatic music)
305
00:14:54,349 --> 00:14:57,349
(inquisitive music)
306
00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:00,730
The Natural History Museum in London
307
00:15:00,730 --> 00:15:02,630
is a mineralogist's dream,
308
00:15:02,630 --> 00:15:06,610
containing more than 300,000
samples of the Earth's riches.
309
00:15:06,610 --> 00:15:09,550
The most valuable of these
are locked away in a vault,
310
00:15:09,550 --> 00:15:11,600
including a Martian meteorite,
311
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,580
a rare crystallized gold nugget,
312
00:15:14,580 --> 00:15:18,420
and one of the largest
uncut emeralds in the world.
313
00:15:18,420 --> 00:15:21,940
They are priceless and
irreplaceable treasures.
314
00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:23,820
There's one gem in this collection though
315
00:15:23,820 --> 00:15:26,250
that's renowned not for its beauty
316
00:15:26,250 --> 00:15:28,315
but rather for its dark side.
317
00:15:28,315 --> 00:15:30,300
(tense music)
318
00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:32,223
The purple sapphire is feared.
319
00:15:33,350 --> 00:15:37,310
It was stolen during the
Indian Mutiny of 1857
320
00:15:37,310 --> 00:15:38,583
from the Temple of Indra.
321
00:15:40,060 --> 00:15:43,830
Misfortune, sorrow, misery,
and even death is said
322
00:15:43,830 --> 00:15:46,650
to befall those who dare touch it.
323
00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:48,783
Many still believe the curse is real,
324
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,580
but not mineralogist Alan Hart.
325
00:15:52,580 --> 00:15:54,270
- Well, this is the blasted amethyst
326
00:15:54,270 --> 00:15:56,490
or cursed amethyst, as it was well-known.
327
00:15:56,490 --> 00:16:00,680
It's a magnificent gemstone,
a beautiful amethyst crystal.
328
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:02,210
This is a very large size
329
00:16:02,210 --> 00:16:03,460
but what's fantastic about this stone
330
00:16:03,460 --> 00:16:05,923
is that it had this great story with it.
331
00:16:07,340 --> 00:16:08,800
- [Narrator] The purple sapphire was given
332
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,460
to the Natural History Museum in 1944
333
00:16:11,460 --> 00:16:13,323
by scientist Edward Heron-Allen.
334
00:16:14,630 --> 00:16:16,380
He was so afraid of the curse
335
00:16:16,380 --> 00:16:19,170
that he placed it in no
fewer than seven boxes,
336
00:16:19,170 --> 00:16:22,620
one inside the other, and with the stone,
337
00:16:22,620 --> 00:16:26,280
he enclosed something
else: a written warning.
338
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,160
- We do have the actual letter here.
339
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,177
He says here, "To whomsoever
340
00:16:30,177 --> 00:16:32,067
"shall be the future possessor of this--
341
00:16:32,067 --> 00:16:33,077
- [Alan And Edward] "Amethyst.
342
00:16:33,077 --> 00:16:35,437
"These lines are addressed in warning
343
00:16:35,437 --> 00:16:38,077
"before he or she shall
assume the responsibility
344
00:16:38,077 --> 00:16:39,094
"of owning it."
345
00:16:39,094 --> 00:16:39,937
(menacing music)
346
00:16:39,937 --> 00:16:42,137
- [Edward] "The stone
is cursed and is stained
347
00:16:42,137 --> 00:16:43,347
"with the blood and dishonor
348
00:16:43,347 --> 00:16:45,153
"of everyone who has ever owned it.
349
00:16:46,991 --> 00:16:47,967
(men shouting)
"It was looted
350
00:16:47,967 --> 00:16:49,177
"from the treasure of the temple
351
00:16:49,177 --> 00:16:51,456
"of the god Indra at Cawnpore
352
00:16:51,456 --> 00:16:52,289
(gunshots booming)
353
00:16:52,289 --> 00:16:53,122
"and brought to this country
354
00:16:53,122 --> 00:16:55,563
"by Colonel W. Ferris
of the Bengal Cavalry.
355
00:16:56,777 --> 00:16:59,727
"From the day he possessed
it, he was unfortunate
356
00:16:59,727 --> 00:17:01,843
"and lost both his health and money.
357
00:17:05,987 --> 00:17:09,717
"His son who had it after
his death gave it to a friend
358
00:17:09,717 --> 00:17:12,377
"who shortly afterwards committed suicide
359
00:17:12,377 --> 00:17:14,403
"and left it back to him by will.
360
00:17:16,647 --> 00:17:19,217
"Colonel Ferris's distraught
son then gave the stone
361
00:17:19,217 --> 00:17:21,977
"to the eccentric Heron-Allen in 1890."
362
00:17:23,310 --> 00:17:25,650
- Heron-Allen was a very
interesting gentleman.
363
00:17:25,650 --> 00:17:26,730
They called him a polymath.
364
00:17:26,730 --> 00:17:29,630
He was into absolutely everything
like Persian literature,
365
00:17:30,790 --> 00:17:32,000
history of the violin.
366
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,870
I think he was just
interested in everything
367
00:17:33,870 --> 00:17:35,760
and that would've involved the afterlife,
368
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,807
the occult, supernatural,
and so on and so forth,
369
00:17:38,807 --> 00:17:40,620
and I think this is one of the reasons
370
00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:43,230
why the purple sapphire
he took so seriously
371
00:17:43,230 --> 00:17:45,148
and the possible curse.
372
00:17:45,148 --> 00:17:46,470
(eerie occult music)
373
00:17:46,470 --> 00:17:49,130
He belonged to a secret
society of mystics,
374
00:17:49,130 --> 00:17:52,130
the Rosicrucians, and
believed he could harness
375
00:17:52,130 --> 00:17:53,920
the forces of the afterworld
376
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,713
to neutralize the curse
of the purple sapphire.
377
00:18:00,187 --> 00:18:01,577
- [Edward] "From the moment I had it,
378
00:18:01,577 --> 00:18:03,467
"misfortunes attacked me.
379
00:18:03,467 --> 00:18:06,267
"Until I had it bound around
with a double-headed snake,
380
00:18:07,597 --> 00:18:09,587
"looped up with Zodiacal plaques
381
00:18:09,587 --> 00:18:12,317
"and neutralized between
Heydon's magic Tau--
382
00:18:12,317 --> 00:18:14,153
- [Edward And Alan] "And
two amethyst scaraboei
383
00:18:14,153 --> 00:18:17,370
"of Queen Hatasu's period
brought from Thebes."
384
00:18:17,370 --> 00:18:21,580
- So interestingly, as a
scientist and a mineralogist,
385
00:18:21,580 --> 00:18:22,770
I'm not sure what that means,
386
00:18:22,770 --> 00:18:25,850
so I find it quite interesting
that the stone is mounted
387
00:18:25,850 --> 00:18:29,440
in the silver described
such as Heron-Allen has
388
00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,020
and I'd like to know what
that actually does mean.
389
00:18:33,020 --> 00:18:36,169
Is this designed to keep
the curse into the stone?
390
00:18:36,169 --> 00:18:37,640
(eerie spiritual music)
391
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:39,560
- [Narrator] Nehebkau,
the double-headed snake,
392
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,440
is an Egyptian god of the underworld
393
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:42,883
and fighter against evil.
394
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,610
The tau cross, sacred in ancient Egypt
395
00:18:47,610 --> 00:18:48,920
and early Christianity,
396
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,163
invokes the life-giving power of the sun.
397
00:18:53,090 --> 00:18:54,910
And so do the scarabs.
398
00:18:54,910 --> 00:18:56,890
More than 3,000 years old,
399
00:18:56,890 --> 00:18:59,960
these tiny carved stones
are symbols of Khepri,
400
00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:01,193
the Egyptian sun god.
401
00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,210
Clearly Heron-Allen was desperate
402
00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:06,193
to contain the sapphire's curse,
403
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,313
but still it was not enough.
404
00:19:11,667 --> 00:19:14,367
- [Edward] "In 1903 after
another great misfortune
405
00:19:14,367 --> 00:19:17,927
"fallen on me, I threw
it in the Regent's Canal.
406
00:19:17,927 --> 00:19:19,907
"Three months afterwards,
it was brought back to me
407
00:19:19,907 --> 00:19:21,167
"by the Wardour Street dealer
408
00:19:21,167 --> 00:19:22,967
"who had bought it from the dredger.
409
00:19:23,847 --> 00:19:25,147
"Then I gave it back to a friend
410
00:19:25,147 --> 00:19:27,187
"who was a singer at her earnest wish.
411
00:19:27,187 --> 00:19:28,497
"The next time she tried to sing,
412
00:19:28,497 --> 00:19:30,727
"her voice was dead and gone.
413
00:19:30,727 --> 00:19:32,887
"I feel that it's exerting
a baleful influence
414
00:19:32,887 --> 00:19:34,357
"over my newborn daughter
(baby crying)
415
00:19:34,357 --> 00:19:36,407
"and I am now packing it in seven boxes
416
00:19:36,407 --> 00:19:38,777
"with directions that it is
not to see the light again
417
00:19:38,777 --> 00:19:41,357
"until I have been dead by 30 years."
418
00:19:41,357 --> 00:19:42,497
- [Edward And Alan]
"Whoever shall open this
419
00:19:42,497 --> 00:19:44,057
"shall first read the warning
420
00:19:44,057 --> 00:19:46,657
"and then do so as he
pleases with the jewel.
421
00:19:46,657 --> 00:19:48,217
"My advice for him--"
422
00:19:48,217 --> 00:19:50,167
- "Is to cast it into the sea.
423
00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:52,827
"I'm forbidden by the
Rosicrucian Oath to do this
424
00:19:52,827 --> 00:19:54,690
"or I would have done it long ago."
425
00:19:54,690 --> 00:19:57,120
So rather than cast it into the sea,
426
00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:00,360
what we've done is cast it
into our mineral collection.
427
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:01,430
Do I believe in the curse?
428
00:20:01,430 --> 00:20:03,760
Well, obviously, I don't
believe in the curse
429
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,104
or else I wouldn't be handling
it like this. (laughs)
430
00:20:07,104 --> 00:20:09,097
(eerie music)
431
00:20:09,097 --> 00:20:10,330
- [Narrator] But the legend of the curse
432
00:20:10,330 --> 00:20:12,530
still holds its power over many,
433
00:20:12,530 --> 00:20:14,493
including Heron-Allen's family.
434
00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:19,140
Ivor Jones, grandson of the former owner,
435
00:20:19,140 --> 00:20:22,070
hasn't seen the purple sapphire in decades
436
00:20:22,070 --> 00:20:23,973
and isn't sure he wants to now.
437
00:20:24,830 --> 00:20:28,760
- [Alan] Here we have the item itself.
438
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:29,860
- [Ivor] Yes.
439
00:20:29,860 --> 00:20:31,336
- [Alan] The cursed amethyst.
440
00:20:31,336 --> 00:20:32,470
- [Ivor] Blasted amethyst.
441
00:20:32,470 --> 00:20:35,098
- The blasted amethyst,
yes, and there it is.
442
00:20:35,098 --> 00:20:37,590
- Yes, we don't want it back.
443
00:20:37,590 --> 00:20:40,343
My mother gave it to the museum
444
00:20:40,343 --> 00:20:44,680
and it was an outright
gift, no strings or anything
445
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,570
and what to do, she
said, it was up to you.
446
00:20:47,570 --> 00:20:51,090
My personal opinion is
that we ought to find out
447
00:20:51,090 --> 00:20:52,960
which Hindu god it was stolen from
448
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:54,810
and it ought to be returned.
449
00:20:54,810 --> 00:20:55,643
(men shouting)
450
00:20:55,643 --> 00:20:57,750
(gunfire booming)
451
00:20:57,750 --> 00:20:59,143
- [Alan] So Ivor, before we
put this back into the vault
452
00:20:59,143 --> 00:21:01,050
on display in the museum,
453
00:21:01,050 --> 00:21:04,101
would you like to hold
it for one last time?
454
00:21:04,101 --> 00:21:07,810
(tense eerie music)
455
00:21:07,810 --> 00:21:09,466
- I won't touch it.
456
00:21:09,466 --> 00:21:10,600
- [Alan] Right, yes, yeah, sure.
457
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,543
- And nor would any of
my brothers or sisters.
458
00:21:14,460 --> 00:21:18,620
Call me superstitious but I'd rather not.
459
00:21:20,810 --> 00:21:23,220
- [Narrator] Some stories from
the Natural History Museum
460
00:21:23,220 --> 00:21:25,200
like the curse of the purple sapphire
461
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,066
are sinister and mysterious.
462
00:21:27,066 --> 00:21:30,430
(air raid sirens wailing)
463
00:21:30,430 --> 00:21:32,467
But others explode with violence,
464
00:21:32,467 --> 00:21:34,420
(explosions booming)
465
00:21:34,420 --> 00:21:37,483
taking us back to the early
days of the Second World War
466
00:21:38,890 --> 00:21:41,155
(explosions booming)
467
00:21:41,155 --> 00:21:43,969
(planes droning)
468
00:21:43,969 --> 00:21:46,759
(explosions booming)
469
00:21:46,759 --> 00:21:48,100
when Nazi bombs fell on London
470
00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:50,680
and the museum played a crucial role
471
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,480
in the Allied war effort
472
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,326
when it was a supply center
for Allied spies and saboteurs.
473
00:21:57,326 --> 00:21:58,409
(men chattering faintly)
474
00:21:58,409 --> 00:22:01,425
- Three, two, one.
475
00:22:01,425 --> 00:22:02,666
(explosion booming)
476
00:22:02,666 --> 00:22:05,583
(metal clattering)
477
00:22:06,954 --> 00:22:09,981
(dramatic music)
478
00:22:09,981 --> 00:22:12,400
(explosion booming)
479
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,770
- [Narrator] With the
fall of France in 1940,
480
00:22:14,770 --> 00:22:17,020
the Allies were driven
out of continental Europe
481
00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:18,367
by the Nazis
482
00:22:18,367 --> 00:22:19,220
(people chattering faintly)
483
00:22:19,220 --> 00:22:21,220
but the beleaguered British fought back,
484
00:22:22,530 --> 00:22:24,700
forming a top-secret unit,
485
00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:28,513
the Special Operations
Executive, the fabled SOE.
486
00:22:30,190 --> 00:22:32,170
Their mission, set Europe ablaze
487
00:22:32,170 --> 00:22:35,707
with acts of sabotage behind enemy lines.
488
00:22:35,707 --> 00:22:38,710
(explosion booming)
489
00:22:38,710 --> 00:22:41,519
The Natural History Museum
became one of their bases.
490
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:42,630
(machine beeping)
491
00:22:42,630 --> 00:22:45,330
This was where spies and
saboteurs were outfitted
492
00:22:45,330 --> 00:22:46,900
with weapons, explosives,
493
00:22:46,900 --> 00:22:49,630
and other lethal tools of their trade.
494
00:22:49,630 --> 00:22:52,150
Wartime spy Ian Fleming spent time here
495
00:22:52,150 --> 00:22:55,230
and later created the
gadget-loving character Q
496
00:22:55,230 --> 00:22:57,390
for his James Bond novels.
497
00:22:57,390 --> 00:22:59,770
- The idea was if you were a field agent,
498
00:22:59,770 --> 00:23:01,650
you would be brought here to show
499
00:23:01,650 --> 00:23:03,940
what the SOE could supply you
500
00:23:03,940 --> 00:23:06,236
in terms of weapons and explosives.
501
00:23:06,236 --> 00:23:07,150
(tense music)
502
00:23:07,150 --> 00:23:09,833
So basically it was sort of like a shop.
503
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,080
We're now walking into the marine gallery.
504
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,510
There was a diver standing
here in diving gear
505
00:23:20,510 --> 00:23:24,440
and he was the pilot of a
small miniature submarine
506
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:25,863
that was displayed here.
507
00:23:27,220 --> 00:23:29,570
And here was a workshop.
508
00:23:29,570 --> 00:23:32,240
It was from here that they
used to make the molds
509
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,340
or the plaster casts of
the coal and the logs
510
00:23:35,340 --> 00:23:36,700
and they were hollowed out
511
00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:38,460
and you could hide things in them
512
00:23:38,460 --> 00:23:40,600
and you would put them in your lorry
513
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,787
and if the Germans looked,
it just looked like coal.
514
00:23:43,787 --> 00:23:46,120
(explosion booming)
515
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:48,010
- [Narrator] The camouflage
unit was responsible
516
00:23:48,010 --> 00:23:49,590
for some of the most ingenious
517
00:23:49,590 --> 00:23:52,050
and effective explosive devices conceived
518
00:23:52,050 --> 00:23:53,618
during the Second World War.
519
00:23:53,618 --> 00:23:56,618
(explosion booming)
520
00:23:57,590 --> 00:23:59,760
Few of these lethal gadgets remain
521
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,860
but there are blueprints and photographs,
522
00:24:01,860 --> 00:24:05,190
enabling Sidney Alford
to reconstruct the past
523
00:24:05,190 --> 00:24:06,963
and discover how they worked.
524
00:24:08,230 --> 00:24:11,500
- I'm weighing out about 200 grams
525
00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:13,513
of plastic explosive called PE4.
526
00:24:14,750 --> 00:24:18,650
I have a certain available volume,
527
00:24:18,650 --> 00:24:20,690
space for the explosive.
528
00:24:20,690 --> 00:24:25,690
I'm going to put it
inside a skin of a rat.
529
00:24:25,810 --> 00:24:28,030
I'm replicating a particular type
530
00:24:28,030 --> 00:24:29,370
of what nowadays would be described
531
00:24:29,370 --> 00:24:32,200
as an improvised explosive device, a bomb.
532
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:33,850
It was to be used particularly
533
00:24:33,850 --> 00:24:36,550
by Special Operations Executive.
534
00:24:36,550 --> 00:24:38,100
I'll just trim the cottons.
535
00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:41,460
I don't think you'd notice
that this chap has got insides
536
00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:43,029
that he wasn't born with.
537
00:24:43,029 --> 00:24:46,120
(tense percussive music)
538
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,980
We've made here a
representation of a boiler.
539
00:24:49,980 --> 00:24:53,223
The essential is that it
has a furnace as part of it.
540
00:24:53,223 --> 00:24:55,140
See, it is quite substantial.
541
00:24:55,140 --> 00:24:56,590
It's made in steel.
542
00:24:56,590 --> 00:24:58,980
Here we have a plain detonator
543
00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:01,350
with safety fuse coming out of it.
544
00:25:01,350 --> 00:25:03,250
I do believe that that detonator
545
00:25:03,250 --> 00:25:06,630
is now inside the body of explosive.
546
00:25:06,630 --> 00:25:07,980
Wherever there was a boiler,
547
00:25:07,980 --> 00:25:10,910
these would be thrown in the path of coal
548
00:25:10,910 --> 00:25:13,163
in those countries
occupied by the Germans.
549
00:25:14,030 --> 00:25:15,760
When the stoker comes along,
550
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,880
he would not like the
rat to be lying around
551
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,040
in his place of work
552
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,220
so he'd pick it up by
its tail or on a shovel
553
00:25:22,220 --> 00:25:23,873
and throw it in the fire.
554
00:25:24,984 --> 00:25:27,484
(tense music)
555
00:25:30,054 --> 00:25:33,054
(explosion booming)
556
00:25:36,630 --> 00:25:37,463
Wow.
557
00:25:38,767 --> 00:25:40,393
Well, it certainly did the job.
558
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,940
I can understand why anyone
who's done the experiment
559
00:25:44,940 --> 00:25:48,207
would be scared of rats
lying around boiler houses.
560
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,050
(somber music)
561
00:25:54,050 --> 00:25:56,570
- [Narrator] These vintage
improvised explosive devices
562
00:25:56,570 --> 00:25:59,900
caused havoc in Nazi-occupied Europe.
563
00:25:59,900 --> 00:26:01,867
Eventually, some of this SOE technology
564
00:26:01,867 --> 00:26:04,682
fell into the hands of
the German resistance
565
00:26:04,682 --> 00:26:05,950
(explosion booming)
566
00:26:05,950 --> 00:26:07,950
who were plotting to assassinate Hitler.
567
00:26:10,087 --> 00:26:13,050
- For the attempted
assassination of Hitler,
568
00:26:13,050 --> 00:26:16,310
they decided they would try to insinuate
569
00:26:16,310 --> 00:26:21,240
onto his aircraft some
of these type C bombs
570
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,580
and it contains the explosive
571
00:26:23,580 --> 00:26:25,480
which was a mixture of TNT and tetryl.
572
00:26:26,530 --> 00:26:29,840
The purpose of this is to
insert means of initiation
573
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,200
which in this case was
intended to be a time pencil.
574
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:35,040
- [Narrator] The time pencil
575
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,760
is an acid-activated spring fuse.
576
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:39,480
When the copper end is crimped,
577
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,380
it breaks a vial of acid
which slowly dissolves a wire
578
00:26:42,380 --> 00:26:44,450
holding a high-tension spring.
579
00:26:44,450 --> 00:26:46,000
When the spring is released,
580
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,480
it drives a firing pin into a detonator,
581
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:50,245
setting off an explosion.
582
00:26:50,245 --> 00:26:52,100
(explosion booming)
583
00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:54,120
Now, somebody had the bright idea
584
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:58,710
that if you take a pair of
these, and I made some mock-ups
585
00:26:58,710 --> 00:27:01,410
for the purpose and put them together,
586
00:27:01,410 --> 00:27:04,840
they have very proximately
the same dimensions
587
00:27:05,890 --> 00:27:10,790
to a bottle of the
French liquor Cointreau,
588
00:27:10,790 --> 00:27:13,230
which was no doubt quite a luxury
589
00:27:13,230 --> 00:27:15,568
in Germany during the war.
590
00:27:15,568 --> 00:27:16,618
Quite like it myself.
591
00:27:18,430 --> 00:27:20,900
- [Narrator] March 1943.
592
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:22,680
After visiting the Eastern Front,
593
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,890
Hitler prepares to fly back to Germany
594
00:27:24,890 --> 00:27:27,680
and the conspirators make their move.
595
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:29,180
The detonator is inserted
596
00:27:29,180 --> 00:27:30,750
and the entire package is wrapped
597
00:27:30,750 --> 00:27:32,411
to look like two bottles of Cointreau.
598
00:27:32,411 --> 00:27:33,930
(car engine rumbling)
599
00:27:33,930 --> 00:27:36,120
At the airfield, one of the conspirators
600
00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:37,970
presses the outside of the package,
601
00:27:37,970 --> 00:27:39,760
breaking the vial of acid.
602
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:41,770
He hands it to one of Hitler's staff,
603
00:27:41,770 --> 00:27:43,490
telling him it's a gift.
604
00:27:43,490 --> 00:27:46,580
The bomb is set to explode in 30 minutes.
605
00:27:46,580 --> 00:27:49,513
That afternoon, Hitler's plane takes off.
606
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,380
- Here we have a
representation of the bomb.
607
00:27:55,380 --> 00:27:57,570
Out of historic interest,
608
00:27:57,570 --> 00:28:01,470
what I'm going to use is an
equivalent amount of explosive.
609
00:28:01,470 --> 00:28:05,230
This is just cartridges of
standard plastic explosive,
610
00:28:05,230 --> 00:28:07,690
the British military PE4.
611
00:28:07,690 --> 00:28:09,230
Given a little more time,
612
00:28:09,230 --> 00:28:10,688
I might've been able to arrange
613
00:28:10,688 --> 00:28:12,780
a suitable plane to blow up,
614
00:28:12,780 --> 00:28:16,220
but we're using this van,
615
00:28:16,220 --> 00:28:19,170
which, after all, is
well-constructed and in steel.
616
00:28:19,170 --> 00:28:22,220
That's a pretty good
equivalent to an airplane.
617
00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:25,700
I'm now going to put the
detonator into the explosive.
618
00:28:31,358 --> 00:28:34,340
(tense menacing music)
619
00:28:34,340 --> 00:28:35,673
Three, two, one.
620
00:28:38,595 --> 00:28:42,197
(explosion booming)
621
00:28:42,197 --> 00:28:45,114
(metal clattering)
622
00:28:49,795 --> 00:28:53,210
Mm, well, that was a bit
more than I had expected,
623
00:28:53,210 --> 00:28:54,290
I must admit.
624
00:28:54,290 --> 00:28:55,520
Seems to have reduced it
625
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,080
to its large sheet metal components.
626
00:28:58,080 --> 00:28:59,113
There's the top.
627
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,510
It's inevitable that it
would have blasted a hole
628
00:29:03,510 --> 00:29:04,650
where I put the charge,
629
00:29:04,650 --> 00:29:06,920
and imagine that that were an airplane.
630
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,170
There would be the floor of the airplane,
631
00:29:10,170 --> 00:29:12,150
of the fuselage, flying through the air
632
00:29:12,150 --> 00:29:13,453
pretty well by itself.
633
00:29:15,611 --> 00:29:18,612
It could not conceivably
remain aerodynamic.
634
00:29:18,612 --> 00:29:21,640
(explosion booming)
635
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,571
The question arises, therefore,
why didn't the bomb go off?
636
00:29:24,571 --> 00:29:26,690
(dramatic music)
637
00:29:26,690 --> 00:29:28,660
- [Narrator] Less than
two hours after takeoff,
638
00:29:28,660 --> 00:29:30,343
Hitler's plane arrived safely.
639
00:29:32,270 --> 00:29:35,190
Some historians believe
that a faulty detonator cap
640
00:29:35,190 --> 00:29:38,810
or cold temperatures caused
the bomb to malfunction,
641
00:29:38,810 --> 00:29:40,590
but Sidney Alford has a new theory
642
00:29:40,590 --> 00:29:42,970
about why the conspirator
who packaged the bomb
643
00:29:42,970 --> 00:29:45,423
missed his big chance at changing history.
644
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,780
- I rather suspect that he forgot,
645
00:29:50,780 --> 00:29:54,130
I would guess, that
that was a safety device
646
00:29:54,130 --> 00:29:57,400
and you have to remove it
before the thing could work.
647
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,810
He must have been in
rather nervous condition
648
00:29:59,810 --> 00:30:03,713
when he was getting ready
this bomb to prepare Hitler.
649
00:30:05,610 --> 00:30:08,430
The consequences of his
being caught in the act
650
00:30:08,430 --> 00:30:10,830
would've been horrendous for him.
651
00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:13,633
If he had not made that mistake,
652
00:30:14,670 --> 00:30:17,850
what the implications on
history would've been,
653
00:30:17,850 --> 00:30:19,193
Hitler dead in 1943.
654
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,729
Think about that.
655
00:30:24,729 --> 00:30:27,359
(plane droning)
656
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:30,417
(explosion booming)
657
00:30:30,417 --> 00:30:32,700
(pensive music)
658
00:30:32,700 --> 00:30:33,880
- [Narrator] The vast collections
659
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,830
at the Natural History Museum
hold mysteries from all eras
660
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,810
including savage tales from a
dark time in British history
661
00:30:43,730 --> 00:30:46,150
when wild animals fought to the death
662
00:30:46,150 --> 00:30:49,410
for the entertainment
of kings and princes.
663
00:30:49,410 --> 00:30:52,243
(animal snarling)
664
00:30:55,066 --> 00:30:58,286
(dramatic music)
665
00:30:58,286 --> 00:31:00,953
(pensive music)
666
00:31:04,470 --> 00:31:07,450
The Zoology Department at
the Natural History Museum
667
00:31:07,450 --> 00:31:09,830
houses one of the most
extensive collections
668
00:31:09,830 --> 00:31:12,740
of mammal skeletons in the world,
669
00:31:12,740 --> 00:31:16,395
including a few specimens that
reveal a story of violence,
670
00:31:16,395 --> 00:31:17,480
(animal roars)
671
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:18,439
cruelty,
672
00:31:18,439 --> 00:31:19,272
(animal roars)
673
00:31:19,272 --> 00:31:20,151
and extinction.
674
00:31:20,151 --> 00:31:24,650
(animal roars)
(dog barks)
675
00:31:24,650 --> 00:31:27,180
- These are two skulls that were excavated
676
00:31:27,180 --> 00:31:30,520
from the moat of the Tower
of London back in 1937.
677
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,760
They were actually
examined by my predecessors
678
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,570
who made the identification
679
00:31:34,570 --> 00:31:36,972
that these two specimens
were actually lions.
680
00:31:36,972 --> 00:31:40,210
(lion roaring)
681
00:31:40,210 --> 00:31:44,140
The two skulls were
found to be Barbary lion
682
00:31:44,140 --> 00:31:45,840
and for the Natural
History Museum, of course,
683
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,670
that was very, very exciting
because up to that point,
684
00:31:48,670 --> 00:31:51,040
we didn't have any identified specimens
685
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,210
of Barbary lion in the collection.
686
00:31:53,210 --> 00:31:55,160
Now, the carbon date range that came back
687
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,570
for this one was late
13th, early 14th century.
688
00:31:59,570 --> 00:32:02,260
They're the first two lion
skulls to be discovered
689
00:32:02,260 --> 00:32:04,763
in England since the
end of the last ice age.
690
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:07,500
- [Narrator] But why were the bones
691
00:32:07,500 --> 00:32:10,463
of the Moroccan lions found
at the Tower of London?
692
00:32:11,361 --> 00:32:12,680
There's a clue in other bones
693
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:14,580
that were found with them in the moat.
694
00:32:15,420 --> 00:32:17,010
- But apart from the lions,
695
00:32:17,010 --> 00:32:19,420
we have these wonderful examples here
696
00:32:19,420 --> 00:32:22,160
of dog skulls found in the moat.
697
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,530
So this one in particular
is of great interest to us
698
00:32:24,530 --> 00:32:28,440
because you can actually
see on the left-hand side
699
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,400
a puncture wound to the cranium.
700
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,130
What we assume has happened here
701
00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:33,850
is that this specimen, this dog,
702
00:32:33,850 --> 00:32:36,540
has been involved possibly in bear-baiting
703
00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:39,380
and that this is a fatal
canine puncture wound.
704
00:32:39,380 --> 00:32:40,710
It speaks volumes, I think,
705
00:32:40,710 --> 00:32:42,736
for what was going on in the Tower.
706
00:32:42,736 --> 00:32:44,980
(lion roaring)
(dog snarling)
707
00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:47,820
(dramatic music)
(choir vocalizing)
708
00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:49,600
- [Narrator] The Tower of London
709
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,550
where English kings sent traitors to die
710
00:32:52,550 --> 00:32:55,201
was infamous for torture and execution.
711
00:32:55,201 --> 00:32:57,580
(crowd chattering faintly)
712
00:32:57,580 --> 00:33:00,240
But there was another very
different kind of cruelty
713
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:01,290
that took place here.
714
00:33:02,730 --> 00:33:05,800
- This is the main western
entrance to the Tower of London
715
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,240
and this is where the Royal Menagerie was
716
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,750
from the 13th century right
up until the 19th century,
717
00:33:11,750 --> 00:33:14,600
and here, lots of exotic animals were kept
718
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:15,850
and we can see the drawbridge
719
00:33:15,850 --> 00:33:17,480
you would've crossed to come in.
720
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:19,930
You would've had to walk through a tower
721
00:33:19,930 --> 00:33:21,724
which isn't there any longer.
722
00:33:21,724 --> 00:33:24,224
(eerie music)
723
00:33:25,581 --> 00:33:28,130
(lion snarling)
724
00:33:28,130 --> 00:33:30,380
And you could imagine
approaching this amazing,
725
00:33:30,380 --> 00:33:33,060
very impressive, very threatening castle.
726
00:33:33,060 --> 00:33:34,770
You've got the lions roaring at you.
727
00:33:34,770 --> 00:33:38,581
Really is the royal presence, if you like.
728
00:33:38,581 --> 00:33:41,800
(drum beating)
(lion snarling)
729
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:43,100
There would've been a huge range
730
00:33:43,100 --> 00:33:44,449
of animals in the menagerie.
731
00:33:44,449 --> 00:33:46,570
(elephant trumpeting)
There was an African elephant
732
00:33:46,570 --> 00:33:48,470
which was a gift from the king of France.
733
00:33:48,470 --> 00:33:50,290
The Hudson Bay Company give
734
00:33:50,290 --> 00:33:52,320
the Tower of London a grizzly bear.
735
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,320
Initially, the animals are
here really as status symbols
736
00:33:56,570 --> 00:34:00,460
but by the 17th century,
it's officially an area
737
00:34:00,460 --> 00:34:02,550
that's being used for lion-baiting.
738
00:34:02,550 --> 00:34:04,200
They've got dogs and bears
739
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,620
and different animal fighting, really,
740
00:34:06,620 --> 00:34:07,650
that people are betting on.
741
00:34:07,650 --> 00:34:10,330
The king, King James, is very keen on this
742
00:34:10,330 --> 00:34:12,700
and has a special platform constructed
743
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:14,320
so it's kinda like an auditorium
744
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:15,974
and people can come and watch.
745
00:34:15,974 --> 00:34:19,280
(crowd chattering faintly)
746
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,210
(lion snarling)
(dog growling)
747
00:34:23,210 --> 00:34:24,560
- [Narrator] In the 1930s,
748
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,870
hundreds of years after the
Royal Menagerie had been closed,
749
00:34:27,870 --> 00:34:30,070
archeologists made a startling discovery
750
00:34:30,070 --> 00:34:31,203
in the Tower's moat.
751
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,090
- The lion skulls are extraordinary
752
00:34:34,090 --> 00:34:37,720
because they have been
dated to the medieval period
753
00:34:37,720 --> 00:34:39,290
and they're also, as I understand it,
754
00:34:39,290 --> 00:34:41,528
a breed of lion which is now extinct.
755
00:34:41,528 --> 00:34:43,540
(somber music)
756
00:34:43,540 --> 00:34:44,640
- [Narrator] But this breed of lion
757
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:46,667
may not be extinct after all
758
00:34:46,667 --> 00:34:50,260
and the museum lion skulls
could help prove it.
759
00:34:50,260 --> 00:34:52,780
Conservationist Doctor
Simon Black believes
760
00:34:52,780 --> 00:34:54,490
the descendants of Barbary lions
761
00:34:54,490 --> 00:34:56,317
may still be alive and well.
762
00:34:56,317 --> 00:34:59,130
(lion roars)
763
00:34:59,130 --> 00:35:01,560
And living in zoos around the world.
764
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:02,960
(drum beating)
765
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,270
- Here we have the Moroccan royal lions
766
00:35:06,270 --> 00:35:07,790
which is the animals descended
767
00:35:07,790 --> 00:35:11,070
from the royal palace collection
of the king of Morocco.
768
00:35:11,070 --> 00:35:13,570
One of the most notable
features is this lovely mane
769
00:35:13,570 --> 00:35:15,830
that goes round his head, round his body,
770
00:35:15,830 --> 00:35:18,350
and down under his belly.
771
00:35:18,350 --> 00:35:19,840
And then if you look at his eyes,
772
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,800
you've got very pale eyes
773
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,440
and this appears to be a
characteristic of Barbary lions
774
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,540
and seems to be consistently found
775
00:35:27,540 --> 00:35:30,783
in animals that are from the
Moroccan king's collection.
776
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:35,380
We believe that since they've
been kept in captivity,
777
00:35:35,380 --> 00:35:36,810
it's offered us a chance, maybe,
778
00:35:36,810 --> 00:35:39,890
to rediscover Barbary lion
779
00:35:39,890 --> 00:35:42,030
or lions that at least
have some of that ancestry,
780
00:35:42,030 --> 00:35:44,577
and this is where these guys come in.
781
00:35:44,577 --> 00:35:47,327
(brooding music)
782
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:53,540
- [Narrator] The plan is ambitious,
783
00:35:53,540 --> 00:35:56,670
take DNA samples from
lions across the planet
784
00:35:56,670 --> 00:35:59,903
and compare them with the
DNA of Moroccan royal lions.
785
00:36:04,629 --> 00:36:06,280
- And when we compare
the Moroccan royal lion
786
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,490
with a lion from Southern Africa,
787
00:36:08,490 --> 00:36:11,290
we see that most of these pairs match up
788
00:36:11,290 --> 00:36:15,030
but as we go through, we
find areas such as here
789
00:36:15,030 --> 00:36:16,890
where there is a mismatch.
790
00:36:16,890 --> 00:36:20,290
And if we compare again
with another set of lions,
791
00:36:20,290 --> 00:36:23,320
this one from Ethiopia,
again, going across,
792
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,980
a lot of commonality between
all three lion populations
793
00:36:26,980 --> 00:36:29,200
but then differences starting to appear
794
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,763
as we go across this small sequence.
795
00:36:34,060 --> 00:36:36,280
So far with the few tools and data
796
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:37,820
that we do have available,
797
00:36:37,820 --> 00:36:39,080
we are starting to find
798
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,330
that there are tantalizing differences
799
00:36:41,330 --> 00:36:43,150
between the Moroccan royal lions
800
00:36:43,150 --> 00:36:45,333
and lions from other populations.
801
00:36:47,170 --> 00:36:49,870
- [Narrator] This suggests that
they are a separate species
802
00:36:49,870 --> 00:36:54,840
not related to other lions,
but the question remains,
803
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,603
are they true descendants of
the once majestic Barbary lion?
804
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:01,710
- There's a pool of data there
805
00:37:01,710 --> 00:37:04,480
from the bones of those museum specimens
806
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,460
and it can tell us a little
bit about this jigsaw of DNA,
807
00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:09,293
what it looks like in Barbary lions,
808
00:37:10,140 --> 00:37:13,700
and we can go back, check that DNA data,
809
00:37:13,700 --> 00:37:15,670
and then match it with
the Moroccan royal lion
810
00:37:15,670 --> 00:37:18,130
and say, "Is there a good match?"
811
00:37:18,130 --> 00:37:20,750
If these animals are
shown to be authentic,
812
00:37:20,750 --> 00:37:23,780
then effectively you are
resurrecting an animal
813
00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:25,910
that so far has been considered extinct
814
00:37:25,910 --> 00:37:27,650
and we'd be showing evidence
815
00:37:27,650 --> 00:37:29,410
that there's a subspecies of lion
816
00:37:29,410 --> 00:37:30,880
which we haven't been able to talk about
817
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,143
for best part of 100 years.
818
00:37:34,533 --> 00:37:35,366
(lion yawns)
819
00:37:35,366 --> 00:37:37,310
- [Narrator] Research remains to be done.
820
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,090
But these 700-year-old skulls
have brought scientists
821
00:37:42,090 --> 00:37:46,060
one step closer to
rediscovering a lost species
822
00:37:46,060 --> 00:37:47,980
and a dream of one day returning
823
00:37:47,980 --> 00:37:50,223
the Barbary lion to the wild.
824
00:37:51,770 --> 00:37:54,690
There's another specimen at
the Natural History Museum,
825
00:37:54,690 --> 00:37:57,870
perhaps the best known
of all extinct creatures,
826
00:37:57,870 --> 00:37:59,570
holding clues that might help save
827
00:37:59,570 --> 00:38:01,435
another species from extinction,
828
00:38:01,435 --> 00:38:03,190
(tense music)
829
00:38:03,190 --> 00:38:04,023
our own.
830
00:38:09,403 --> 00:38:12,426
(dramatic music)
831
00:38:12,426 --> 00:38:15,800
(pensive music)
832
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,340
Venture into the bird gallery
of the Natural History Museum
833
00:38:19,340 --> 00:38:21,160
and we find an incredible replica
834
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:26,063
of one of the most well-known
birds in history, the dodo.
835
00:38:28,660 --> 00:38:32,323
It's an animal famous for
one thing, being extinct.
836
00:38:34,379 --> 00:38:35,860
(gunshot booms)
(bird squawks)
837
00:38:35,860 --> 00:38:38,330
The dodo was obliterated with such speed
838
00:38:38,330 --> 00:38:40,653
that the example still resonates today.
839
00:38:42,860 --> 00:38:45,040
The expression dead as a dodo
840
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:48,490
evokes the grim concept
of total annihilation
841
00:38:48,490 --> 00:38:49,770
and the bird entered history
842
00:38:49,770 --> 00:38:52,310
as one of Mother Nature's biggest losers,
843
00:38:52,310 --> 00:38:55,470
a weak, lazy, fat failure.
844
00:38:55,470 --> 00:38:57,550
But at the Natural History Museum,
845
00:38:57,550 --> 00:39:01,520
they believe the poor dodo
has been getting a bum wrap.
846
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,640
To finally set the record straight,
847
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,350
researchers at the museum
are looking for answers
848
00:39:06,350 --> 00:39:09,583
deep within the dodo's
centuries-old bones.
849
00:39:10,568 --> 00:39:13,485
(machine whirring)
850
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,990
- Well, this is a thin section.
851
00:39:18,990 --> 00:39:21,930
It's a slice through the
thigh bone of the dodo,
852
00:39:21,930 --> 00:39:24,200
and it's been cut and ground down
853
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:29,000
to about 30 to 50 thousandths
of a millimeter thick.
854
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,650
It's thin enough to let
light go through it.
855
00:39:31,650 --> 00:39:35,550
This area here in yellow
is an area of bone fibers
856
00:39:35,550 --> 00:39:39,380
that are running in a circular fashion
857
00:39:39,380 --> 00:39:41,650
around the diameter of the bone,
858
00:39:41,650 --> 00:39:45,220
and that is a characteristic
of fast-growing bone
859
00:39:45,220 --> 00:39:48,070
and this shows us that
the dodo was able to grow
860
00:39:48,070 --> 00:39:50,410
from a chick to an adult
861
00:39:50,410 --> 00:39:52,920
without any interruptions in its growth.
862
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,480
So this does tell us something
863
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,286
about the ecology of Mauritius
before humans arrived.
864
00:39:58,286 --> 00:39:59,580
(relaxed percussive music)
865
00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:02,040
- [Narrator] Mauritius is
an isolated volcanic island
866
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,943
in the Indian Ocean and
was the home of the dodo.
867
00:40:07,250 --> 00:40:10,740
The bird's ancestors looked
like large flying pigeons
868
00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:14,120
and migrated to this small
island millions of years ago,
869
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:18,813
finding plenty to eat and no
predators, a dodo paradise.
870
00:40:21,010 --> 00:40:24,530
Doctor Julian Hume is a
world expert on the dodo.
871
00:40:24,530 --> 00:40:26,510
For years, he's been
trying to piece together
872
00:40:26,510 --> 00:40:29,433
what life was like for this elusive bird.
873
00:40:29,433 --> 00:40:31,650
(gentle music)
874
00:40:31,650 --> 00:40:34,910
The myth that the dodo
was an inadequate species
875
00:40:34,910 --> 00:40:39,889
doomed to extinction, fat,
vulnerable, is totally wrong.
876
00:40:39,889 --> 00:40:41,540
(insects chirping)
(bird squawks)
877
00:40:41,540 --> 00:40:45,060
This bird was perfectly fine-tuned.
878
00:40:45,060 --> 00:40:46,910
It wasn't this slow waddling thing
879
00:40:46,910 --> 00:40:48,256
that wandered around its island home.
880
00:40:48,256 --> 00:40:51,103
It was actually a very active species.
881
00:40:53,370 --> 00:40:56,040
It actually took the
equivalent of a large mammal,
882
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,870
so it became a cow, if you
like, of the Mauritian forest.
883
00:40:59,870 --> 00:41:01,650
It would've eaten the fruits on the ground
884
00:41:01,650 --> 00:41:03,930
and everything about the
bird's ecology evolved
885
00:41:03,930 --> 00:41:05,480
to being on the ground,
886
00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:09,160
and that's a key thing in why
the dodo became flightless.
887
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:13,200
It's very expensive in terms
of energy for a bird to fly,
888
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:15,400
and nature always works
in a conservative way.
889
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:19,640
If you don't need those energy
sources, get rid of them.
890
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,510
The breast muscles, the
muscles that reduce flight,
891
00:41:22,510 --> 00:41:24,970
are attached here to a
bone called the sternum
892
00:41:24,970 --> 00:41:26,720
and this usually has a big keel on it
893
00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:28,600
on which those muscles were attached.
894
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:29,900
Well, the dodo didn't need them,
895
00:41:29,900 --> 00:41:31,930
and so the keel has disappeared
896
00:41:31,930 --> 00:41:34,630
and the muscles would've
become very small.
897
00:41:34,630 --> 00:41:37,070
And as you can see from
the wings just here
898
00:41:37,070 --> 00:41:38,810
how small those wings are compared
899
00:41:38,810 --> 00:41:40,110
with the rest of the bird.
900
00:41:41,210 --> 00:41:44,200
Being perfectly adapted
to its Mauritian home,
901
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:45,410
there is a price to pay.
902
00:41:45,410 --> 00:41:46,360
If it was left alone,
903
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:48,600
the dodos would still be
happily walking around Mauritius
904
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,376
right to this present day.
905
00:41:50,376 --> 00:41:52,775
(tense music)
906
00:41:52,775 --> 00:41:54,010
(gunshot booms)
(bird squawks)
907
00:41:54,010 --> 00:41:55,310
- [Narrator] But in the 1600s,
908
00:41:55,310 --> 00:41:57,180
European settlers arrived
909
00:41:57,180 --> 00:41:58,680
and mistook the gentle spirit
910
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,870
and fearlessness of the flightless bird
911
00:42:00,870 --> 00:42:02,700
for signs of stupidity.
912
00:42:02,700 --> 00:42:07,003
They dubbed it dodo, meaning
crazy or fool in Portuguese.
913
00:42:08,020 --> 00:42:09,193
The label stuck.
914
00:42:10,110 --> 00:42:11,290
(pigs snorting)
915
00:42:11,290 --> 00:42:14,660
The Europeans also brought
new animals to the island.
916
00:42:14,660 --> 00:42:18,520
Rats, dogs, and pigs attacked
the dodos and their nests,
917
00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:19,583
feasting on the eggs.
918
00:42:20,820 --> 00:42:23,110
The dodo had evolved in perfect harmony
919
00:42:23,110 --> 00:42:25,320
with its forest home
for millions of years.
920
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,240
Suddenly it was faced
with all this onslaught
921
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:30,870
of introduced animals
and it could not cope.
922
00:42:30,870 --> 00:42:34,630
So after that first
mention of dodos in 1599,
923
00:42:34,630 --> 00:42:37,510
just 80 years later, it
was gone from this world.
924
00:42:37,510 --> 00:42:38,793
It was totally extinct.
925
00:42:39,970 --> 00:42:41,170
And what can we learn from that?
926
00:42:41,170 --> 00:42:44,530
Well, here we are as human
beings on this planet
927
00:42:44,530 --> 00:42:46,800
thinking we're above nature
928
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,760
and we are probably just as
vulnerable in the long run
929
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,690
if dramatic changes take
place on this planet
930
00:42:52,690 --> 00:42:55,580
and we may well indeed
follow the way of the dodo
931
00:42:55,580 --> 00:42:56,882
if we're not careful.
932
00:42:56,882 --> 00:42:59,465
(somber music)
933
00:43:03,863 --> 00:43:07,760
(moves into pensive music)
934
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,100
- [Narrator] Every
skeleton, every specimen,
935
00:43:10,100 --> 00:43:13,083
every hidden space in the
museum has a story to tell.
936
00:43:15,180 --> 00:43:16,930
We've explored a few.
937
00:43:16,930 --> 00:43:20,800
Many more remain, because the
Natural History Museum is home
938
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:22,483
to millions of treasures.
939
00:43:23,900 --> 00:43:27,500
Seeing behind the glass,
taking a closer look,
940
00:43:27,500 --> 00:43:31,433
we can discover other
extraordinary museum secrets.
941
00:44:05,290 --> 00:44:07,873
(smooth music)
72453
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