The Field Museum used to have a couple of howlers.  The label for the
Arctic fox was remarkable, hedging all of its bets yet still producing a
marvellous, flowing cadence: "Does not turn completely white when there
is but little snow."

Then there were the lions of Tsavo, made famous in the recent film "The
Ghost and the Darkness."  Yes, the Museum has them on display.  The
label attempted to make a distinction between the railroad workers
killed by the lions -- workers who's deaths were documented -- and
deaths among the native populations, which were not as closely
tabulated.  Thus, the exhibit told generations of Chicagoans that "these
lions killed 137 men and an unknown number of Africans."

Both labels have long since been removed from display.

Eugene Dillenburg
Lead Developer, Philippines Coral Reef exhibit
John G. Shedd Aquarium
1200 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois  60605

V:      (312) 692-3136
F:      (312) 939-8001
e:      [log in to unmask]

"A murder is only an extroverted suicide."

-- M. Python, Episode 14, 1970