This exhibit has closed.

This temporary exhibit, open from March 31 to April 1, focuses on the little-known history of avian-assisted seed distribution and seeks to answer to question: how did coconuts come to be found in the temperate regions of the British Isles, and what role do the flight patterns of the European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) play in this phenomenon?

Accounts of the mysterious appearance of tropical coconuts in the temperate lands of northern Europe and the British Isles date back to at least 932 A.D. during the reign of Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, King of the Britons. Some of the earliest records of these visitors appear in the writings of Brother Maynard, a monastic scholar best known as the author of the Book of Armaments. Maynard mentions their presence in the land of Mercia in what is now the English Midlands.

British swallows migrate south to their wintering grounds in South Africa beginning in September and October. They return north with the arrival of spring, reaching the United Kingdom in April or May.

The exhibit highlights important contemporary studies that examine the kinematics of swallows and attempts to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. While the exhibit includes realistic facsimiles, no swallows were harmed in the making of the exhibit.