ファンタビの魔法動物も　英博物館で「自然の不思議」展

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】ニフラーやオカミー、デミガイズ──英作家J・K・ローリング氏の「ファンタスティック・ビースト」シリーズのファンなら、すでにおなじみの魔法動物かもしれないが、ユニコーンやドラゴン、人魚もまた、伝説上の生き物として何世紀も前から語り継がれてきた。英ロンドンの自然史博物館で今月9日から、こうした奇妙な動物を観賞する「ファンタスティック・ビースト 自然の不思議」展が開催されている。（写真は「ファンタスティック・ビースト 自然の不思議」展で展示されている映画「ファンタスティック・ビースト」シリーズに登場したハンガリー・ホーンテイル種のドラゴンの小道具。英ロンドンの自然史博物館で）
　展示されているのは、「ハリー・ポッター」シリーズの作者でもあるローリング氏の作品に登場する魔法動物の模型や映画で使われた小道具、実在する生き物の標本。自然史博物館は新型コロナウイルスの影響で数か月の閉館を余儀なくされていたが、再開後、初の展示となった。
　同館保存課の責任者、ロレイン・コーニッシュ氏によると、学芸員らがローリング氏の作品に登場する動物の特徴を調べ、収蔵品と比較。候補を精査し、展示には１００体を超える標本を選んだ。
　第１部の展示では、光る物が大好きで、姿がカモノハシに似ているニフラーなど、作品に登場する魔法動物たちが紹介されている。オカミーがスペースに合わせて体を伸び縮みさせる能力はガラパゴス諸島のイグアナやフグに例えられ、デミガイズの姿を消す能力は身を守るために葉に擬態するチョウと比較されている。
　ドラゴンやユニコーン、人魚も取り上げられ、全長８メートルのリュウグウノツカイの標本や巨大なイッカクの牙と一緒に、ハリー・ポッター・シリーズの登場人物、ロン・ウィーズリーらが使っていたユニコーンの毛が入った魔法のつえの小道具も一緒に展示されている。
　「世界中の人々が映画や本で楽しんだ動物を取り上げることで、現実世界に存在するファンタスティックな動物に光を当てることができました」とコーニッシュ氏。
　「この展示を通して、来場者は自然界の素晴らしさに新たに気付いてくれると思います」
　会期は来年８月まで。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/12/16-08:49）

Fans of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts will already be familiar with nifflers, occamy and demiguise while unicorns, dragons and mermaids have been the stuff of legends for centuries.
Now London's Natural History Museum has scoured its vast collection for an exhibition to celebrate strange beasts in all their forms, including those created by the Harry Potter author.
Fantastic Beasts. The Wonder of Nature is a collaboration between the museum, the BBC and Warner Bros, and comes as the venue reopens after months of coronavirus-enforced closure.
The show promises to plunge visitors straight into a world well known to Harry Potter fans, where they learn about the magizoologist Newt Scamander, the leading authority on fantastic beasts.
The 2001 book was turned into a hit fantasy film franchise starring Eddie Redmayne, whose costume also features in the exhibition, which runs from Wednesday to August next year.
The head of conservation at the Natural History Museum, Lorraine Cornish, said curators looked at the characteristics of Rowling's inventions and compared them with their own collection.
Then from a long-list, they honed the exhibits down to more than 100 specimens that appear in the show.
By taking some of these fantastic beasts that people around the world have enjoyed watching on film or reading in the books, we've been able to highlight some of the fantastic beasts that actually exist in the real world today, she said.
I think it will really give the audience an extra insight into the amazing world of nature.
- 'Extraordinary abilities' -
The first part of the exhibition looks at the animals included in the books such as the niffler, which resembles a platypus and whose penchant for shiny things makes it a good treasure hunter.
An occamy is described as a plumed, two-legged winged creature with a serpentine body, while a demiguise is a peaceful herbivore that can make itself invisible and predict the future.
Also featured are dragons, unicorns and mermaids, which are more well-known in public consciousness.
A skeleton of an eight-metre-long (26-feet) deep sea oarfish which fuelled myths of huge sea serpents is featured, as are giant narwhal tusks.
They are exhibited alongside the unicorn hair-infused wands of Harry Potter's friend Ron Weasley, and his arch-enemy Draco Malfoy.
Curator Louis Buckley said visitors will also be able to explore the extraordinary abilities, behaviours and properties of real animals, such as their mating rituals, display and camouflage.
A demiguise's impressive ability to disappear has been likened to that of butterflies who can disguise themselves as leaves for protection.
An occamy's capacity to grow or shrink into available spaces is compared to that of Galapagos marine iguanas or pufferfish, which can expand and contract their bodies at will.
The real world is in many ways weirder, stranger and more fantastical than anything in our imagination can cover, said Buckley.
I think there are lots of examples of that within the show. To actually see that... and understand a bit more how amazingly adaptable animals are is truly breathtaking.
A total of 12 fantastic beasts from the world of wizardry are analysed, which the museum hopes will help transform its dusty image and pique the curiosity of newer, younger audiences.
The venue has indicated the exhibition will eventually go on tour to a number of countries.