A cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). The cheetah has a top speed of up to 114 kilometres per hour but this can only be maintained for short distances of a few hundred metres. Their main food is mostly gazelles, impalas and other small buck and they can hunt the young of wildebeests and zebra. A cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). The cheetah has a top speed of up to 114 kilometres per hour but this can only be maintained for short distances of a few hundred metres. Their main food is mostly gazelles, impalas and other small buck and they can hunt the young of wildebeests and zebra.

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History

The remarkable collections in the galleries of the Natural History Museum at Tring were once the private passion of its founder, Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild. The Rothschild family gifted the entire Museum and its collections to the nation in 1937. This section celebrates Walter Rothschild as scientist, collector and founder of the Museum.

Walter himself was a remarkable character. As well as collecting many thousands of mounted animals, he kept an astonishing variety of live animals in the grounds around the Museum and in Tring Park. He even used zebras to draw his carriage.

  • Sir Walter driving cart with zebras
    Introducing Walter Rothschild (video)

    Get an insight to the fascinating life and work of Walter Rothschild in this video narrated by Beth Rothschild.

  • Lionel Walter Rothschild at Tring.
    Biography of Walter Rothschild

    Born into an international financial dynasty, Walter was destined to be famed as a zoologist and collector rather than a banker.

  • Skull of the extinct bird, the dodo, Raphus cucullatus.
    History of the collections

    Walter Rothschild's work was just the beginning. The Museum's bird research collection was moved from London to Tring in the early 1970s and now attracts researchers from around the world.

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