Birds
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The bird collection of the Hebrew University was founded by Prof. Israel Aharoni (1882 - 1946), one of the first researchers at the Hebrew University, who worked during the first half of the twentieth century throughout the Middle East region. The collection includes a unique source of rare species of birds from the Middle East, including extinct species from the region and subspecies extinct from the world. The collection contains about 2,000 items which were collected mainly in two main periods: 1) the beginning of the twentieth century, and 2) the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies of the twentieth century. We will be happy to host researchers who wish to study the birds in the collection.
Contact info
For general issues, you can contact the director of the collection by email
Regarding visiting, requests for sampling, depositing and borrowing items, information can be found on the Procedures And Forms page.
Our projects
Care and Conservation of the Aharoni bird collection
The collection of birds includes stuffed animals in all kinds of positions, as well as what is known as "skins", i.e. animals that are not placed in a position in a certain position, eggs, nests, and more. For all these exhibits, storage conditions appropriate to the nature of the materials from which they are composed, condition checks and depending on their condition - treatment and storage improvement are required. The room is monitored for temperature and humidity, and an air conditioner and a dehumidifier operate in it in order to keep away pests of various types that eat organic materials (such as the poultry collection consists of). As part of the transfer of the collection to its current location in Lubin building, the collections conservator designed and ordered high-quality drawers, cabinets and desks used to store and handle the collection. With the transfer to the room, we started ongoing projects of checking all the details, transferring them if necessary to suitable storage containers, cleaning and handling various problems.
Exhibition room - from the collections of the first Hebrew zoologist
Prof. Israel Aharoni arrived in the Holy Land in 1901. Aharoni investigated the
fauna of the region, especially the birds. The geographical location of Israel, as
a bridge between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe, and its range of
climate regions, attracts many species of birds. Moreover, this bridge between
the continents is the most convenient route for many migrating birds, serving
as the last refueling station before crossing the Sahara Desert for autumnal
migrants and the first one for spring migrants.
In his travels Aharoni discovered and collected specimens from many species
throughout the Middle East and contributed a great deal to our knowledge of
the birds of our region, those that still exist and those that are now extinct. The
birds on our exhibition room are part of the collection that he established, in which rare
and unique species are presented. The specimens in the collection were collected
both by Aharoni himself and by others after his death.
Common species such as the sparrowhawk and the spoonbill, are displayed
together with rare and unique species: the houbara bustard, today limited to
Israel’s southern border; the short-eared owl, which has almost disappeared
from the country; the bald ibis, which used to migrate through Israel but whose
original population in Syria is apparently extinct, is shown with a fledgling
hunted in the nest; and the purple swamp-hen, brought by Prof. Aharoni from
Lake Emik in Turkey. The lake was a nesting site, stopping point and winter
habitat for many species of waterfowl, but was drained in the twentieth century.
Researches
Subcollections
- Taxidermy
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Out of all the items in the bird collection, hundreds of them are stuffed animals. In the taxidermy process, after removing the soft tissues and internal organs, the remains of the bird are shaped and placed in a position that simulates its condition when it was alive. Sometimes the stuffed animal is designed so that it clings to a branch or stands on a trunk, or is in a walking position with one leg raised and one placed on the ground. The eyes are replaced with prostheses made of plastic or glass. Sometimes, the bird is depicted with wings outstretched, as if it is about to take off or it is a close-up landing from a state of flight. Some of the stuffed animals in the Hebrew University's bird collection were prepared by the skilled hands of Prof. Israel Aharoni himself, over a hundred years ago, and are still impressive and beautiful.
Most of them are kept in closed cabinets on shelves or in deep drawers, some are placed on tables and shelves in the collection space, all under a strict regime of climate control that maintains temperature and air humidity designed to protect the stuffed animals and other items from the ravages of time and potential harm.
- Skins
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Most of the items in the poultry collection, over a thousand units, are skins that have undergone preparation that includes removal of the soft tissues and internal organs, drying and salting designed to preserve the feathers and skin. Cotton wool is inserted in the eye sockets instead of the eyes. In most of the items, a long stick made of wood is threaded, which allows you to examine the item without touching the feathers or the skin and thus they are better preserved from the ravages of time and the risk of contamination and dirt from human fingers. This form of preparation is sometimes referred to affectionately as "popsicles" due to the visual resemblance to the frozen candy...
Most of them are kept in closed cabinets or in drawers, some even in personal bags and in cardboard boxes. All are under a strict regime of climate control that maintains temperature and air humidity designed to protect the hides and other items from the ravages of time and potential harm.
- Eggs
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The egg collection includes dozens of bird eggs, which were collected over many years by researchers in the field. Preparing the eggs for keeping in the collection includes emptying all its contents, washing the emptied egg cavity and drying it in order to prevent rotting and bad smells later on. The eggs after preparation are kept in wooden boxes divided into compartments, with a generous lining of cotton wool, or in small boxes (with an egg or two in each box) with a glass front that allows viewing and examination of the egg without moving it or removing it from the protective packaging. Usually, a note is attached to each egg or pair of eggs with information about the species of bird from which the eggs came, the place and time of collection.
