National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Bronx Zoo

The Bronx Zoo used to have an amazing, wonderful collection of heads, horns, skins, and mounts which was housed in the building above, built in 1922(now Security, Education and International Conservation Offices). It was the pride and joy of former director William Hornaday, himself a noted taxidermist of the era, mounting many exhibits also for the Smithsonian Institute, now the National Zoo. During the years of 1906-1922, Hornaday worked industriously to establish the National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. The entire collection is now in the possession of the Boone and Crockett Club(with select specimens held by Safari Club International) , and is displayed at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming. It includes many fine specimens such as the L.S. Chadwick Stone's sheep, acclaimed by many as the finest specimen of North American big game ever taken. It is an outstanding collection that will give much enjoyment to the hunter and other serious students of our native North American big game. More importantly, today it represents the outstanding success stories of modern game management and conservation that have restored our game populations to healthy levels that can be utilized in consumptive uses such as hunting, as well as just the plain enjoyment of watching these magnificent creatures in the wild. The presence of the National Collection and the beginning of conservation in the 1920s spurred interest in the recording of measurements of our big game animals.


In 1940 the collection held 2,371 specimens. When the Bronx zoo became candy ass politically correct and gave ownership of the National Collection to the Boone and Crockett Club in 1978 only 278 specimens remained.

ZOO TO HAVE NEW FEATURE.; National Collection of Heads and Horns

To see the Kilimanjaro Tusks, type largest tusk in the world in the search bar on the left.