James Ryan, a 12-year-old Cantabrian, has been fascinated with the natural world since he can remember.
The fascination is now a book called Nature's Wildlife Weapons, which he has just written.
Its about the tools animals carry with them that allow them to defend themselves and hunt their prey.
Photo: Supplied
It looks at the tusks, antlers, horns and claws of various creatures - some living, some extinct – and how they're used.
James has been a regular at the Canterbury Museum for as long as he can remember, and he dedicates the book to the Museum staff who helped him access some of their artefacts.
Canterbury Museum is also hosting the book launch on Thursday, as it coincides with its Fur, Fangs and Feathers exhibition, which showcases taxidermied animals from its collection.
James joins Kathryn, along with Dr Paul Scofield, Canterbury Museum's senior curator, natural history.
The collection at the museum inspired him to build his own collection James told Kathryn Ryan.
“I started collecting fossils, feathers, shells, claws, and fallen deer antlers. And eventually, it just led to me writing a book.”
He finds his treasures all over the place, he says.
“When I go on trips, I find deer antlers, or just going to like some shops and seeing something that I really like and then buying it taking it home to put in my own museum, or actually just around my house because I live in a lifestyle block so, there's lots of old artefacts and things that I find.”
He developed his skills with the help of books such as NZ Fossil Hunters, he says
“If you're not sure where to start or what to do, go to the museum. And you might get a little bit of inspiration there. And you can watch lots of things online and read lots of books and talk to people around you who might know something.”
He keeps his treasures in a boxes and in a shed, he says.
“I have lots of little kind of rocks and gems and things in another one where I keep lots of fossils, like ammonites and squid fossils and things like that.
“And then I’ve got a big shelf in my shed, where everything big, things like chains and pottery and horseshoes and antlers and things. That's where the big stuff goes.”
A school project triggered the idea for a book, he says.
“It was to find three really cool animals that have defining physical qualities.
“I went to look for some of this stuff, because I already had an interest in things like this … I already had a lot of animals in mind.”
Once he started the project grew and grew, James says.
“Once I was getting really into it, it was very, very hard for me to stop. So, I just kept going one thing after another, and then by the end of it, it was starting to look a lot like a book.”
Paul Scofield, senior curator natural history, at the museum says James reminded him of himself as a young man.
“It's really very nostalgic for me and indeed for the director of the museum Anthony Wright, who both started our careers in exactly the same way as James, by visiting museums, and getting that inspiration, both from the exhibits and from the curators at the time, who actually pretty much spurred us on to the careers that we now have today.
“So, I'm super keen on the idea that James may well replace me one day.”
There a few favourites in the book, James says.
“The megalodon shark is definitely one of my favourites, the jaws and the teeth which are the size of a man’s hand is phenomenal for me to think about.
“But there's two others which are also my favourites, the therizinosaurus, which was a 10-meter long dinosaur, with claws almost a meter in length, the biggest claws of any animal that ever lived.
“But strangely enough, it was a plant eater, and the smiladon or a sabre-toothed tiger, not really related to modern tigers.
“It's a heavily-built, ambush predator, with fangs up to about 30 centimetres long, which are like the same length as my school ruler, which is insane to think about.”
He has ideas for other books, he says
“I have very, very strong ideas for some other books. But I need to talk to Bateman Publishing.
“Another one of my ideas might be maybe nature's weird weapons.”
