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Shared PlanetNatural SymbolsShared Planet recording at the Natural History Museum

Experts pick symbols that are demonstrative of human relationships with the natural world

  • The panel L-R: Professor Andy Purvis, Professor Paul Pettitt, Kelvin Boot, Monty Don, Dan Laffoley, Dr Regan Early
  • Prof Paul Pettitt picked a painting from Pech Merle cave in the South of France that is believed to date back to 25,000 BC
  • For Prof Pettitt, the painting symbolises our relationship with a different natural world when humans lived as hunter-gatherers
  • Professor Andy Purvis chose a blue adonis as an example of the 180,000 butterflies in the Natural History Museum's collection
  • It was collected in 1910 when conservation was non-existent and the data can be used to see how they have responded to humans
  • Dan Laffoley selected a sperm whale tooth that he found on an 'expedition' to his local beach when he was 12 years old
  • For Dan, his sperm whale tooth indicates how practices like whaling impact nature whilst showing we can plot a different future
  • Dr Early selected an auroch horn as her symbol because it was harnessed to pull the plough, giving rise to farming societies
  • Oxen-drawn ploughs increased food production so people in farming societies were freed to become kings, soldiers and artisans
  • Kelvin Boot chose the passenger pigeon because in 50 years it went from being the most numerous bird in the world to extinction
  • Estimates vary, but it is thought there were between 3 and 10 billion passenger pigeons when Europeans discovered America
  • Monty Don chose his dog Nigel because he said the domestic dog signifies the good and bad in human relationships with nature
  • The dog is an animal that many humans respect but it can encourage us to prioritise fluffy animals over others, Monty argues

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