The National Museum of Natural History in Mdina has launched an exhibition on Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo.
The exhibition will consist of several photographs of Vassallo, as well as information on his taxonomy and habits.
“Edwin Vassallo is an excellent example of what we in the natural history world call a living fossil – an organism from another era that still somehow exists, when by rights it should have gone extinct long ago,” said John Borg, the museum’s senior curator.
“Other examples are crocodiles and coelocanths, although the brains of those two are slightly more developed.”
Borg added that Vassallo was a unique specimen because he formed part of an uncommon group of organisms known as loquestercus, a Latin term that roughly translates to ‘speak excrement’.
“This means that whenever he opens his mouth, literal faeces comes out. It’s truly fascinating.”
Borg lamented that Vassallo himself would not be part of the exhibition.
“While we would love to have Vassallo on display, this is a museum, not a zoo. In any case, it’s very difficult to capture him. His constant raving about Marxism and AIDS-riddled bananas makes it almost impossible to restrain him.
“Having said that, when he reaches the end of his natural life cycle, we would love to stuff and mount him. I suspect he might enjoy that.”
The exhibition will run for a month between November 13 and December 13.
