Thread by @NHM_London

Our #Pride2020 recreation of the Progress Pride flag uses the full range of our collections to celebrate the amazing diversity of the natural world.
For #MusPride today, we're revealing exactly what's hiding behind the stripes...
A #PrideMonth THREAD >>>
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https://twitter.com/NHM_London/status/1268104599866617856

The white of our flag - included in the Progress variation of the Pride flag to represent the non-binary community and those transitioning - is a section from the wing of a large white butterfly, Pieris brassicae.
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The next two colours represent transgender folk, with the light pink chevron coming from the Museum's mineral collection. This is a piece of thulite (also known as rosalite) dotted with white calcite crystals which give it a lighter shade.
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Our light blue chevron is from a cyanotype image by Anna Atkins, a pioneering botanist and the first person to illustrate a book with photographic images.
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One of two stripes representing LGBTQ+ people of colour, our brown chevron is a fossil ammonite (Hoploscaphites comprimus).
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And the black, which also honours those who have died of AIDS-related complications, is a chevron-shaped piece from the fur of our giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) a celebrity specimen named Chi-Chi.
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In the more familiar 6-stripe rainbow, the red is the calcium carbonate skeleton of Tubipora musica, an organ pipe coral.
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Our orange stripe includes a collection of gnats that have been preserved in amber.
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The yellow stripe brings in our @NHM_Library collections, with a pattern from a volume of 'Rus in Urbe' or 'Flowers that Thrive in London Gardens & Smoky Towns' (1886) by Mary Eliza Haweis.
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@NHM_Library Our green stripe belongs to the birds, with feathers from the neck of a green-headed hillstar hummingbird (Oreotrochilus stolzmanni).
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@NHM_Library A damselfly brings us the blue, showing off the iridescent wings of Matronoides cyaneipennis.
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@NHM_Library And the final stripe is a purple brought to you by @NHM_Botany: a specimen of Drymonia turrialvae.
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