Walrus
In the 1500s explorers began discovering walruses. Early that century the archbishop of Trondheim sent a walrus head to Pope Leo X. A muralist in Strasbourg painted the head-in-transit on the town hall with this inscription:
“Had I lived my life to its end, I would have cared nothing for any whale. The Bishop of Trondheim had me stabbed on the shore and sent my head to Pope Leo in Rome, so that many people might see me.”
Brian Ogilvie, The Science of Describing