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About In Brightest Africa
"My friend, Carl Akeley…actually killed bare-handed a leopard which sprang on him." -Theodore Roosevelt, in African Game Trails (1910)"The elephant's rough, heavy trunk broke Akeley's nose, ripped open his scalp and cheek, and smashed his chest." -Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World (2012)"Akeley nearly sank with relief when the gorilla passed cleanly between him and the terrified guide." - Kingdom Under Glass (2010)"The Akeley Hall of African Mammals…became the template for creating new African exhibits in all American natural history museums." -Nature's Mirror: How Taxidermists Shaped America’s Natural History Museums (2020) Nearly mauled to death by a charging bull elephant, forced to kill an attacking leopard with this bare hands, big-game hunter Carl Ethan Akeley would pay a heavy price while collecting trophies for the world-famous Akeley Hall of African Mammals at American Museum of Natural History. In his 1920 autobiography "In Brightest Africa" Carl Ethan Akeley (1864 –1926) covers his multiple harrowing big-game hunting trips to the African continent where he risked his life and health to collect trophies for museum display. Akeley first traveled to Africa in 1896 when he was invited by Daniel Elliot, Curator of the Zoology Department in the new Columbian Field Museum, on an eight month expedition to Somaliland. It was on this trip that Akeley came face to face with a deadly 80-pound leopard which he strangled with his bare hands. Akeley collected hundreds of animal specimens including: hartebeest, gazelles, hyenas, kudus, oryx, and lions. In 1905, Marshall Field funded Akeley’s next trip to Africa which lasted twelve months and brought back two bull elephants which he would later mount for display. He collected 400 mammal skins, 1200 small mammal skins, 800 bird skins, and a fair number of bird and mammal skeletons. In 1909, Akeley accompanied Theodore Roosevelt on a year-long expedition in Africa funded by the Smithsonian Institution and began working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where his efforts can still be seen in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals. About the author: Carl Ethan Akeley was born May 19, 1864, and died November 17, 1926. He was a pioneering American taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Milwaukee Public Museum, Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History. He is considered the father of modern taxidermy. He was the founder of the AMNH Exhibitions Lab, the interdisciplinary department that fuses scientific research with immersive design.
