Today, April 3, 2012, marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of noted naturalist John Burroughs, a canonical figure in American nature writing, friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and key voice in the early 20th-century nature study and conservation movements. A Museum hall dedicated to the naturalist lies tucked to the side of the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, showcasing Burroughs’ handwritten manuscripts, field glasses, and even his cane—all reminders to those who walk and write in his footsteps that there is still much to be learned from nature.
“John Burroughs is timeless,” says Lisa Breslof of the Museum’s Education Department, who is also the secretary of the John Burroughs Association, which has been headquartered at the Museum since 1921. “He embodied the Museum’s mission of studying and understanding nature, and his legacy lives on in our research and education efforts.” Read more »
Flashing flirted its way up the firefly family tree.These beetles’ evolutionary history shows a strange metamorphosis unfolding. Firefly eyes grow bigger, more bug-like, as the insects’ light organs enlarge. Their antennae, used like a nose to follow pheromones, shrink into stubs. The more important bioluminescent courtship signaling became throughout their history, the more the trappings of invisible communication faded out.
When Marc Branham, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida, began researching fireflies, he assumed such a beloved animal would be a textbook case in entomology. He was shocked to learn how little scientists knew about the common insect.
What researchers did know was that each species of bioluminescent adult firefly has its own flash fingerprint. Males fly through the air and search for females with a species-specific light display. Some flash only once. Some emit “flash trains” of up to nine carefully timed pulses. Others fly in specific aerial patterns, briefly dipping before sharply ascending and forming a “J” of light. A few even shake their abdomens from side to side and appear to be twinkling. “So if you’re looking over a field,” says Branham, “You can pretty accurately tell how many species are in that area.” Read more »
A pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur known as Microraptor had black iridescent feathers when it roamed the Earth 130 million years ago, according to new research led by a team of American and Chinese scientists that includes Museum researchers. The dinosaur’s fossilized plumage is the earliest record of iridescent feather color. The findings, which suggest the importance of display in the early evolution of feathers, are published in the March 9 edition of the journal Science.
“This study gives us an unprecedented glimpse at what this animal looked like when it was alive,” said Mark Norell, one of the paper’s authors and chair of the Museum’s Division of Paleontology.
At 12:30 pm on Friday, March 9, Norell and senior principal artist Mick Ellison will speak with Robert Gonzalez, a science reporter at io9, during a live video chat. To join the conversation, tag your questions with #dinofeathers on Twitter or email them to comments@amnh.org.
Although its anatomy is very similar to birds, Mircroraptor is considered a non-avian dinosaur and is placed in group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs that includes Velociraptor.
Modern birds use their feathers for many different things, ranging from flight to thermoregulation to mate-attracting displays. Feather color is produced partially by arrays of pigment-bearing organelles called melanosomes, the structure of which is constant for a given color. By comparing the imprint patterns of fossilized melanosomes to those in living birds, scientists can infer the color of dinosaurs that lived many millions of years ago. Statistical analysis of the data predicts that Microraptor was completely black with a glossy, weakly iridescent blue sheen like a crow.
David Gruber inspects the dinoflagellate model. Courtesy of John Sparks
Curator John Sparks is blogging weekly about the upcoming exhibition, Creatures of Light, which opens on Saturday, March 31. This week, he invited marine biologist David Gruber, an assistant professor at The City University of New York (CUNY) and a Museum research associate who consulted on the exhibition, to contribute the guest post below.
Imagine a group of single-celled animals smaller than the width of a human hair that possess 25 times the amount of DNA as humans. These organisms both bask in the sun to obtain energy, like plants, and actively hunt, like animals, even slurping out the insides of other cells. They include some of the fastest speed demons of the microscopic domain, propelling themselves up to 200-500 μm/second—the equivalent to a 6-foot Olympian athlete swimming at 40 mph. On top of these feats, a few members are responsible for creating the nighttime sparkle on breaking surf.
These creatures, seemingly out of Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger’s alien bestiary, are the dinoflagellates. We’ve been culturing several species of these extraordinary bioluminescent “dinos” at both CUNY and the Museum in order to feature these live organisms in the upcoming exhibition Creatures of Light. (The exhibition will also feature live flashlight fish.) Read more »
For over 30 years, Museum naturalist and diorama master Stephen Quinn has shown students the art of drawing animals—from their skeletal composition, to their musculature, to the nuanced patterns of their coats and gaits. The course always draws students with a range of backgrounds, including expert medical illustrators and comic book artists as well as enthusiastic beginners. And every year, Quinn sees a few familiar faces.
One belongs to George Corbin, who has taken the course five times and has already signed up for Animal Drawing’s spring session, which will run for eight weeks beginning on Thursday, March 15. An art history professor and research associate in the Museum’s Department of Ornithology, Corbin began taking the course while pursuing a certificate in natural science illustration from the New York Botanical Garden. Working full-time, he was unable to attend many daytime courses at the garden, and the Museum’s nighttime option allowed him to hone his drawing skills.
“I can’t easily get to Asia, Africa, or other exotic places,” says Corbin. “But sketching the dioramas allows me to work with real specimens, with accurate fauna as well as flora. Steve is a master craftsman, and he’s great at reinforcement and offering positive suggestions to students.”
