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Born enslaved in now-Guyana, John Edmonstone learned taxidermy from famed naturalist Charles Waterton, a neighboring plantation owner. In the hot tropics, Edmonstone learned to preserve birds fast before they decomposed.  A freed Edmonstone later moved to Edinburgh and opened his own business. In the 1820s, he taught teenage Charles Darwin taxidermy—a skill Darwin used to preserve his famous Galapagos finches. We don’t hear much about Edmonstone. Like many Black and African naturalists, he’s recorded as a footnote in the journals of more famous white scientists. But his contributions remain essential to Darwin’s theory of evolution. 

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