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From Douglas Speirs, University of Strathclyde

I was interested to read the article by Dan Whipple on the warrah, or Falkland Islands fox (20 December 2003, p 80), and the following letter from Bo Fernholm of the Swedish Museum of Natural History (31 January, p 39). A photograph caption in the article states that there are only two complete specimens and that the one illustrated is in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The letter informs us that another complete example can be found in the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

This would seem to account for both the specimens, but in a recent trip to Naturalis, the natural history museum in Leiden, the Netherlands, I noticed a further specimen labelled as a Falkland fox. What was on display was a full mounted animal which took its place in the museum’s “treasure chamber” among the equally rare mounted blaauwbok, Dodo bones, and other sad examples of humanity’s impact on the natural world.

The editor writes:

• That makes three. Do readers know of any other specimens out there?

Glasgow, UK