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Erin Thornton |
INTO THE FIELD
From the Florida Museum of Natural History
Bone Collectors and Sacred Trash
In the Guatemala highlands, Maya hunters deposit the carefully cleaned bones of hunted wild animals in ritual hunting shrines. They believe that the Guardian of the Animals collects the bones and brings them back to his world to be refleshed and made new, thus replenishing game populations. This modern practice may shed light on the meaning of similar deposits of animal remains that are believed to be thousands of years old.
Members of any of Natural History’s Museum Partners receive the magazine as a benefit of membership. Our Partners—natural history museums and science centers—regularly contribute notes from the field, research reports, and other features to their editions of the magazine. View the list of our Museum Partners and links to their Web sites, as well as a selection of past Partner articles.
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BOOKSHELF
By Laurence A. Marschall
Reviewing Kate Jackson's book Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo, Laurence A, Marschall observes that there are probably only a few specialists who can fully appreciate the scientific results of her expeditions, but recommends her account of snake collecting in the tropics as both humorous and dramatic. He finds her to be “a natural storyteller, whether rhapsodizing over the biodiversity of equatorial jungles or explaining the intricacies of preserving specimens in a primitive camp. Even the negotiation of permits with third-world bureaucrats, as Jackson spins it, sounds like an adventure.” Also reviewed is a guide to the natural history of Boston, Massachusetts, and how that influenced its human development; and a Nobel Prize–winning theoretical physicist’s effort to convey the “deep structure of reality,” beginning with the question: why do things have mass?
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Bill Schutt (“The Curious, Bloody Lives of Vampire Bats”) is interviewed by Vittorio Maestro, Editor in Chief of Natural History.
Hear interview
(MP3, 12 min., 15 sec.)
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