On February 11th, UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum is honouring Laurel Bohart (Née Dick).
A graduate of the University of British Columbia with a BSc in Zoology (1977), Laurel went on to earn a Master’s degree in Museum Science, with a minor in Ornithology, from Texas Tech University (1980). Through her work as a taxidermist and science educator, she has played an important role in preserving scientific knowledge and making it accessible to diverse audiences.
During the late1960’s and early 1970’s, Bohart was a young teenager with a growing interest in the biological world. Though she started when she was only 10, it was when she was 14 to 18 years old that she amassed a remarkable collection of 139 Nigerian bird specimens, 4 bats, 2 reptiles and a ground squirrel.
At the age of 14, Laurel Bohart prepared a specimen of Turdus olivaceofuscus. This Sāo Tomé Thrush was obtained while she and her medical missionary parents were returning to Nigeria aboard the SS Australian Reef. The ship sailed close to Sāo Tomé and Príncipe islands as it traversed through the Gulf of Guiana.
(photo credit: David Lidster Collection, DL044_104 https://picryl.com/media/dl044_104-6cd4a5)
This bird that had lost its way died after reaching the ship. (photo credit: Ildiko Szabo)
Now in her 70’s, Laurel Bohart has donated this irreplaceable collection of 146 specimens to the BBM. Online searches indicate that Bohart’s collection is one of a kind, the Biafran War having deterred other museum, university and independent biological researchers from going to Nigeria. More information about this remarkable woman is available at the Cowan Tetrapod Collection contributors page.
Laurel Bohart (1954 – ). Laurel Bohart posing with a female Snowy Owl she prepared for Wild Cortex: Natural History Centre and Ecolab. (photo credit: Melanie Boyle)
Laurel Bohart giving a taxidermy demonstration on Bowen Island, BC. (Photo credit: unknown)
Laurel Bohart with a Common Raven she prepared for the Hornby Island Natural History Centre. (photo credit: unknown)
Laurel Bohart has made an outstanding contribution to the Cowan Tetrapod Collection. The Laurel Bohart Nigerian collection contains 134 birds, 5 bird nests (2 with eggs), 3 fruit bats, a vesper bat, an Agama lizard, an African Striped Ground Squirrel plus a Gaboon Viper hide.
Using 2025 taxonomic nomenclature, the Bohart donation added 54 new bird species to the Cowan Tetrapod Collection. This increased the CTC avian biodiversity by adding 22 new bird genera plus 3 new avian bird families. Probably some of the bats are also new species (still being determined). The ground squired and the viper are new genera and species for the museum.
A search on the multi-museum database VertNet, found no 1960’s-1970’s Nigerian bird collections greatly increasing the value of the Bohart collection to the science community. In addition, this is the CTC’s first significant bird collection from West Africa. Before the Bohart donation, CTC housed specimens like the Eastern Plantain-eater (collected in Uganda by Allan Cecil Brooks) but lacked its sister species, the Western Plantain-eater. The Bohart donation completes many of these sub-Saharan African species pairs and greatly expands the biodiversity breath of the Cowan Tetrapod Collection.
Laurel Bohart meeting with BBM Avian specialist, Ildiko Szabo, at her home on Cortes Island. From left to right, the birds are: Double-Spurred Spurfowl, Splendid Sunbird, Simple greenbul (previously called Simple Leaf Love) and a juvenile Black Goshawk. (photo credit: Roger Hanna)
The small bird Laurel Bohart is holding in her left hand is a Splendid Sunbird. This image does not show the “splendid” burgundy-red band of feathers across this male’s chest. This bird truly gleams when sunlight strikes its iridescent feathers. (photo credit: Ildiko Szabo)
Write-ups on other women previously feature by the Beaty Biodiversity Museum on the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science are available here.
Written and researched by: Ildiko Szabo with the kind assistances of Laurel Bohart and David Dick.