Chris Raxworthy Finds Chameleons in Madagascar

Friday, March 05 4:48 pm

With Madagascar containing nearly two-third’s of the world’s chameleon species, Christopher Raxworthy, Associate Curator of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, recently embarked on an expedition to the island in search of these special lizards. His hope was to track down the lined-chameleon in order to further study speciation on Madagascar.

Having recently returned from Madagascar, Raxworthy brought back video footage of his research trip to give everyone a glimpse into his studies and what life is like for scientists in the field, including camping in remote villages, searching for specimens in the jungle and traversing the varied island landscape.

Raxworthy first visited Madagascar in 1985 and has returned most years since, making this recent trip upwards of 20 expeditions to the Indian Ocean island — the fourth-largest island in the world.

While Raxworthy’s recent findings must remain in Madagascar until the end of this current collection season, once he has the chameleon specimens at the Museum his work to classify and study the DNA will begin.

Rare Spider Silk on Exhibit

Thursday, September 24 2:39 pm

A spectacular and extremely rare textile, woven from golden-colored silk thread produced by more than one million spiders in Madagascar is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History in the Grand Gallery.

Drawing on the legacy of a French missionary, Jacob Paul Camboué, this contemporary textile measures 11 feet by 4 feet and took four years to make using a painstaking technique.

Hear from Dr. Ian Tattersall, Curator, Division of Anthropology at AMNH, as well as Nicholas Godley, co-creator and owner of the silk along with his partner Simon Peers as they discuss this rare work.