Sonia Ribes is the curator of the Natural History Museum since 1990. She made every effort for years to assess and restore the collections.

What is the outcome of your endeavours?
It was necessary to do the stocktaking of the collections and identifies the strengths. For example, there was an interesting Malagasy collection which was required to be restored. I launched a restoration campaign that lasted 10 years. And, then it was necessary to classify the objects: the collections are exhibited islands wise in the Indian Ocean. Much remains to be done but the bulk has been done.

How are the various objects being collected?
They are collected in cultural exchange programmes with other regions or through purchases. Sometimes, the SEOR - "société d'études ornithologiques de la Réunion-"donate to us the species which was unable to be rescued or else the zoo. Sometimes, there is also customs seizure. As for the insects, we collect them directly from the nature. But of course we take only those that we need.

What about the exhibitions ?
There are two types of objects: those which are beautiful but have no scientific data and those that really form part of the scientific collections featuring the date and place of collection and so on. Sometimes these collections are being studied. .

Does an object always remain the acquisition of the museum?
Yes, we are a French Museum. As such, we are accountable to the acquisition commission. The collections are unalienable. It's only when an object is really very damaged or valueless that we get rid of it. One should be very careful. There was this incident with the dodo from Mauritius. There was a sole specimen in Oxford. The employee of the museum found it very ugly and burnt it. The curator has been able to save only the beak, skull and a leg!

Interview conducted by Laura Bassetti