As a child, I was actually interested in bones. I wanted to know why they were there, what they did, and I had very tolerant parents who let me bring back the occasional dead animal that I'd find beside the road. They gave me a patch of ground in the garden to bury these things, and I'd leave them for weeks and months, dig them up, take a look at the bones, and started to build-up a little reference collection. Bones for me are interesting because they tell you the story of the animals' life, they give you an insight into the behaviour of the animals. There are always going to be those times when you open a cabinet and you're faced with something for the first time and it just completely stops you. I found a crate in the storeroom which was completely unlabelled, no information with it at all, just one small note. This is the inflated dried heart of a young sperm whale.


小时候，我对骨骼兴趣盎然，很好奇它们是如何形成，如何运作的。而父母也对我极为宽容，允许我带回路边偶然发现的动物死尸。还在花园里划给我一块地，我就把尸体埋在那。过段时间，待尸体腐烂，把它们挖出来，观察骨骼，慢慢攒起了一套参考标本。 我对骨骼感兴趣是因为从骨骼里能看出动物的一生，能一窥它们的习性、行为，时不时地打开某个柜子，我就会发现某个特别的标本不由得目瞪口呆。 有次我在储藏室找到个箱子上面什么标签介绍都没有。只有一张小纸条： "幼年抹香鲸心脏 充气后风干"，真是太神奇了。