Acknowledgements

Professor John E. Cooper owes a great deal to numerous mentors: the training and guidance he received in natural history from Major Maxwell Knight (former M15 agent, the prototype for “M” in the James Bond books), and Mr Gerald Durrell (animal collector extraordinaire and Founder of the Jersey Zoo), in osteology and primatology from Dr Louis S.B. Leakey and Professor Philip V. Tobias (the internationally recognised Kenyan and South African palaeontologists) and in diagnostic pathology of creatures both great and small from Professor Peer Zwart and Dr Edward Elkan (arguably ‘the father of lower vertebrate pathology’).

Copyright:In reproducing portraits of the late Major Maxwell Knight, we pay tribute to his family, not only for giving us the pictures but also for their encouragement and hospitality in years gone by… All photography is reproduced with permission of John and Margaret Cooper (the Coopers).

Simon H. King would like to thank John E. Cooper and his charming wife, Margaret E. Cooper, LLB, FLS for making the cabinet’s contents available to him (for study) and for collaborating on this unique project. Their trust and indomitable spirit for education and sharing (unreservedly) what they know is an inspiration to many.

Pat and Rob Downing.jpg

The contributors would like to thank Robert J. Downing LCPH. Lic. Hom and Patricia A. Downing for kindly documenting the contents of the cabinet and conducting research to date articles and provide much-appreciated support. Without them, the project may not have got this far.

WWF Living Planet Report (WWF LPR) : kind permission has been given to Simon H King to quote content from the WWF LPR. We attribute WWF. 2016. Living Planet Report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland.

The report is available here: lpr_living_planet_report_2016.

WWF LPR Summary 2016