Member Magazine Spring 2012 Vol. 37 No. 2

Creatures of Light Opens March 31 2 News at the Museum 3

From the As spring brings warmer days, New Yorkers begin spring: Beyond Planet Earth was organized with Celebrating Burroughs’ Legacy, Research Reveals to emerge from the cocoon of winter and reach out MadaTech: The Israel National Museum of Science, President to a wider world. The Museum does that all year Technology & Space in Haifa; and Creatures of Light 175 Years After His Birth Microraptor Colors long through an extensive program of traveling is presented with Ottawa’s Canadian Museum Ellen V. Futter exhibitions and Space Shows. This spring, the of Nature and the Field Museum in Chicago. A team of American and Chinese researchers Museum has 15 of its exhibitions “on the road,” from The world is also coming to us. In 2011, some has revealed the color and detailed feather Einstein to Mythic Creatures, as well as six Space 40 percent of our visitors came from outside the pattern of Microraptor, a pigeon-sized Shows, and Science Bulletins appearing in 22 venues. United States. To welcome them, and all non-English dinosaur with long feathers on its hind limbs Traveling the Silk Road opens at the National speakers, we offer floor plans in 10 languages: that lived about 130 million years ago. Museum of Australia on March 31; Race to the End of English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, By comparing the patterns of pigment- the Earth is on view at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and Korean; and containing organelles from a Microraptor Italy; Brain: The Inside Story is at China’s Guangdong audio translations of the Space Show in Chinese, fossil to those in modern birds, the scientists Science Center; and the list goes on. French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. determined that the dinosaur’s plumage was The Museum has become one of the world’s And 426 staff members speaking 37 languages wear iridescent with hues of black and blue, like leading developers and distributors of natural “I speak…” buttons identifying their language skills the feathers of a crow. Their results were history exhibitions, which have been presented to visitors. In all these ways, we are increasingly published by the journal Science in March. in more than 200 venues in 33 countries since serving a diverse international and domestic “This study gives us an unprecedented 2003. These shows often represent important audience and bringing the wonders of the Museum glimpse at what this animal looked like when partnerships, including our two exhibitions this to many millions both here in New York and abroad. it was alive,” says Mark Norell, chair of the Museum’s Division of Paleontology and one of the paper’s authors. Although its anatomy is very similar Table of Contents to birds, Mircroraptor is placed in the family Dromaeosauridae and is a close News 3 Naturalist John Burroughs remains an influential voice in American nature writing. relative to Velociraptor. Knowledge about Microraptor’s plumage could help scientists Close-Up 4 This April marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of noted naturalist zero in on the evolutionary transition 6 12 John Burroughs, a canonical figure in American nature writing, friend of from non-avian dinosaurs to birds. Shining Armor 6 Theodore Roosevelt, and key voice in the early 20th-century nature study The research also shows that and conservation movements. A Museum hall dedicated to the naturalist Microraptor’s tail fan, which was once Fieldwork in Extreme Environments 10 lies tucked to the side of the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, showcasing thought to be a broad, teardrop-shaped Burroughs’ handwritten manuscripts, field glasses, and even his cane—all surface meant to help with flight, is actually Luminous Lures 12 reminders to those who walk and write in his footsteps that there is still much much narrower with two protruding feathers to be learned from nature. likely evolved for social interactions. This Next 14 “John Burroughs is timeless,” says Lisa Breslof of the Museum’s Education new finding suggests the importance of Department, who is also the secretary of the John Burroughs Association, display in the early evolution of feathers. Explore 18 which has been headquartered at the Museum since 1921. “He embodied the Museum’s mission of studying and understanding nature, and his legacy lives Watch a video interview with Mark Norell on Members 20 18 20 on in our research and education efforts.” amnh.org/news. Search for “microraptor.” Since 1926, the John Burroughs Association has awarded the John Seen 22 Burroughs Medal to authors who share Burroughs’ acute eye for nature, dedication to field study, and creative yet controlled prose style. The prestigious award has recognized various influential writers over the years. Rachel Carson, who received the award for The Sea Around Us in 1951, said in her acceptance speech, “In presenting me with the John Burroughs Medal you have welcomed me into an illustrious company, and you have given The Sea Around Us one of its most cherished honors.” Other medal winners have American Museum of Natural History ISSN 0194-6110 included Aldo Leopold for A Sand County Almanac, John McPhee for The Chairman Lewis W. Bernard USPS Permit #472-650 President Ellen V. Futter Vol. 37, No. 2, Spring 2012 Control of Nature, and Barry Lopez for Of Wolves and Men—though the judges Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Rotunda is published quarterly by the Membership Office of the American make their decision based on an author’s entire body of nature writing. Strategic Planning, and Education Lisa J. Gugenheim Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY This spring, the John Burroughs Association will once again hold a private Chief Philanthropy Officer Peter W. Lyden 10024-5192. Phone: 212-769-5606. Website: amnh.org. Museum membership awards luncheon on Monday, April 2, to present the John Burroughs Medal, Director of Membership Louise Adler of $95 per year and higher includes a subscription to Rotunda. © 2012 American along with awards for an outstanding nature essay and natural history books Museum of Natural History. Periodical postage paid at New York, NY, and Magazine for children. The recipient of this year’s medal is Edward Hoagland for Sex and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: please send address changes Editor Eugenia V. Levenson the River Styx (Chelsea Green Publishing). to Rotunda, Membership Office, AMNH, at the above address. Contributors Whitney Barlow, Joan Kelly Bernard, Jill Hamilton, Elena Sansalone, Kendra Snyder, Ian Tattersall Please send questions, ideas, and feedback to . [email protected] For more about John Burroughs, visit amnh.org/news in April. Design Hinterland

Photo 6 © Hiramatsu;T. image 12 © AMNH/5W Infographics, Velasco; P. photo 18 © AMNH; photo 20 © AMNH/D. Finnin Photos © AMNH; microraptor images © University of Texas/Jason Brougham This artistic reconstruction shows Microraptor’s crow-like sheen.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 4 Close-Up at the Museum 5

Lysandra cormion Nabokov’s Type: Beetle-Wing The Talented Dr. Bassler In 1989, it was discovered that Lysandra cormion, Harvey Bassler made his mark as a geologist, pictured below, is a hybrid of two blue butterflies, Lysandra cormion Body Art: herpetologist, and anthropologist with deep Polyommatus coridon and Polyommatus daphnis. knowledge of the western Amazon, an area that But this does not preclude it from being a distinct In his poem “On Discovering a Butterfly,” Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov wrote Shuar Ear was largely unknown in his time. From 1921 through species—in fact, some new species evolve through of “the secluded stronghold” where specimens are kept “safe from creeping 1931, he journeyed by dugout and raft through hybridization. DNA analysis would be needed relatives and rust.” When Nabokov caught a frosty-blue butterfly in France Ornaments turbulent rivers and trekked in remote jungles to settle the question. in 1938, he brought it to the stronghold of the American Museum of Natural while mapping and surveying for oil, visiting History, where it still sits with a bright red label, crowning it the first and official When dressing for special occasions, the villages and collecting wildlife, fossils, and artifacts Globetrotters representative, or holotype, of Lysandra cormion. Shuar people of the upper Amazon adorn along the way. Bassler returned to the Amazon In 1945, Nabokov suggested that various New While Nabokov is most famous for his fancy prose style, he was also devoted to themselves with ornaments made from during World War II to help the U.S. government World Polyommatus blue butterflies had crossed lepidopterology, the study of moths and butterflies. After fleeing Russia in 1940, materials found in the surrounding rain forest: search for rubber sources. the Bering Strait from Asia and flown as far Nabokov started his American life volunteering in the Museum’s entomology feathers, plant fibers, animal parts, wood, and south as Chile millions of years ago. His theory, collections. He once told an interviewer, “It is not improbable that had there been stone. Along with colorful headdresses and A Beautiful Family long overlooked by the scientific community, no revolution in Russia, I would have devoted myself entirely to lepidopterology necklaces, men wear dramatic ear ornaments The ceiba borer beetle is a member of the was validated in 2011 when a team of scientists and never written any novels at all.” like those pictured here, which are made Buprestidae family of beetles, also known as performed DNA analysis that proved Nabokov The L. cormion specimen was only the beginning of the author’s contributions from toucan feathers, glass beads, and the metallic wood-boring or jewel beetles because was right all along. The labels of the Museum’s to the collections. In 1941, Nabokov sent nearly 500 field-caught butterflies to iridescent wing covers of the giant ceiba borer of their glossy iridescence. This family is among Polyommatus collection brim with Nabokov’s the Museum as he traveled with his family from the East Coast to California with beetle, Euchroma gigantea. the largest family of beetles, with some 15,000 name, since he identified many of the species. stops in the Southwest. David Grimaldi, curator in the Division of Invertebrate The Shuar are one of several Jívaroan species in 450 genera, many with vivid colors Zoology, and Suzanne Rab Green, a curatorial assistant, are in the process of tribes who occupy some 7.5 million acres and eye-catching patterns. Their elytra, or wing Tiny Trademarks transferring these butterflies from small wax envelopes to display cases, relaxing along the border between Peru and Ecuador. covers, have also been used in jewelry in Japan, While at the Museum, Nabokov learned how to the specimens in a vinegar vapor to soften and spread their brittle wings. The ear ornaments came to the Museum China, India, and southeast Asia. inspect microscopic butterfly genitalia for species- “Thanks to this treasure and Nabokov’s careful handwritten notes on each in the 1930s as part of a large collection specific clues from mentor William P. Comstock. envelope, we can map his journey across the country,” says Dr. Grimaldi. Using donated by Dr. Harvey Bassler, a Standard Jívaro Culture Now a standard practice in entomology to the butterfly specimens as guideposts and Google Earth software, the team has Oil geologist who spent more than a decade The Jívaroan people include the Shuar, Achuar, distinguish otherwise-indistinguishable plotted Nabokov’s “lepping” trip westward. On this particular expedition, Nabokov studying unexplored areas of the western Huambisa, and Aguaruna tribes of Peru and species, this technique greatly aided Nabokov’s discovered Neonympha dorothea with the help of a special research permit from the Amazon basin in search of petroleum. An Ecuador. The tribes speak Jívaro or Quechua and taxonomy work at Harvard’s Museum of Museum that allowed him to take his butterfly net to the rim of the Grand Canyon. amateur herpetologist with an interest in local subsist by farming, hunting, and fishing. Bassler Comparative Zoology, where he spent seven The Department of Entomology receives near-monthly inquiries about wildlife, Bassler kept a menagerie of rain forest spent considerable time with the Jívaro, despite years as a research fellow and de facto curator Nabokov’s work and collections from documentary filmmakers, writers, animals in Iquitos and collected thousands their reluctance to welcome outsiders. Historically, of Lepidoptera from 1941 to 1948. professors, and other curious minds. Nabokov may have been right when he of biological specimens for research. He was they are reputed to be the only tribe to have predicted of his collections that the “locality labels pinned under these butterflies also one of the first outsiders to spend time revolted successfully against the Spanish Empire, Nabokov’s Namesakes will be a boon to some twenty-first-century scholar with a taste for recondite among the isolated indigenous peoples of the killing some 2,500 European settlers in 1599. Many lepidopterists have named new butterfly biography.” He laid his trails well. region, becoming an expert on the cultures species after characters in Nabokov’s books— of northwestern Amazonia and collecting South American Source Material including Madeleinea lolita, named for the See specimens that Nabokov studied at the Museum in a glass display case at the artifacts in the process. The Museum’s South American ethnographic title character of his most famous work, and entrance to the vivarium in The Butterfly Conservatory, open through May 28. On completion of his assignment in collection, one of the largest of its kind in the Pseudolucia humbert, for that book’s narrator, South America, Bassler shipped 22 tons of United States, includes more than 21,000 objects Humbert Humbert. Various species bear the books and specimens—including some 10,000 from more than 200 tribes. The Hall of South Latin nabokovi, and the genus Nabokovia was amphibians and reptiles, one of the largest American Peoples is notable for the diversity named after the writer-scientist. collections of its kind from a single collector— of its collection, with items from nearly every to the Museum in 1934. He later joined the part of the continent and especially rich The Butterfly Effect staff to help organize the material. collections from the Amazon rain forest, the Butterflies appear throughout Nabokov’s works, Members might remember the ornaments Gran Chaco region, and Tierra del Fuego. but his scientific pursuits affected his writing shown here from the Museum exhibition in subtler ways. In his essay “On a Book Entitled Body Art: Marks of Identity, which ran Flights of Fancy Lolita,” Nabokov identified the mountain pass from 1999 to 2000. Other examples of Shuar Among the most brilliant artifacts in the that Humbert Humbert traverses at the end of craftsmanship can be found in the Hall of Museum’s South American collection are the book as the trail where Nabokov caught the South American Peoples, where more than the feathered creations of the Jívaro, Kayapó, first known femaleLycaeides sublivens. He calls this 70 items from the Bassler collection are and Waiwai peoples of the Amazon. Using various scene one of the hidden “nerves of the novel.” on exhibit, including a back ornament made materials along with the dazzling feathers from the wing covers of another colorful of toucans, parrots, macaws, and hummingbirds, beetle, Chrysophora chrysochlora. members of these tribes crafted exquisite ornaments as well as utilitarian items, such For more about the Division of Anthropology’s as baby carriers. collections, visit research.amnh.org. © AMNH/D. Finnin Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology

Catalog no. AMNH 40.0/35.04

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 6 7

Fireflies to a mate, a menace, or a meal

Firefly expert Marc Branham has been heading to the field Firefly bioluminescence began in eggs and larvae and only in search of fireflies for almost two decades. Once, as a graduate later evolved for courtship displays. The process of a trait being student in the 1990s, he caught four Photinus consimilis co-opted for another purpose, also known as exaptation, can be specimens. While he reached for his collection vials, Branham seen throughout the animal kingdom. Feathers, for instance, were put the fireflies between his lips. likely used by dinosaurs for insulation or flashy displays before “I didn’t bite or chew, but my lips went numb, my throat being fine-tuned for powered flight. constricted, and I tasted something very astringent,” he recalls. Experts think firefly bioluminescence has been sending “It was not a pleasant experience.” a signal from the beginning. It likely started as a warning rather Branham was actually getting a powerful message, from than a welcome—an advertisement that a predator’s lips could a chemical called lucibufagin, a warning of distastefulness go numb if, like Branham, he got too close. to predators and a relic of fireflies’ first use of bioluminescence. The insects’ eggs and larvae appear in clusters, a key to this The summer light shows that will soon begin throughout the strategy’s success. “If the predator samples one, it will associate eastern United States function as brilliant billboards for mates. that experience with that signal, and the others in the group will But the full story of fireflies’ glowing ability, which Branham, immediately benefit,” explains Branham. a professor of entomology at the University of Florida and a This attention-grabbing warning system functions much like former Theodore Roosevelt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Museum, the strident yellow and black of wasps or the bright spectrum has spent his career studying, is much more complex. Firefly of poison dart frogs. Only fireflies have a particular challenge: flashes we see today are the result of a chain of evolutionary conveying their repulsiveness without natural light to show their events that is still changing in real time, though it’s a chain bright colors. “If you glowed in the dark, that would be a pretty whose links have always been about communication. obvious signal to communicate you tasted bad,” says Branham. Firefly larvae’s glowing ability eventually carried over to adults Ancient adult fireflies had no fire at all. They signaled to mates as well, and there, it still serves as protective gear. That explains, with chemicals called pheromones, which are still used by some in part, how a trait that seems to turn the insects into blazing fireflies today. That’s why many Californians have never seen bull’s-eyes can survive in a world of predators. Fireflies can Photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu the familiar New England scene of a meadow filled with flashing exude the defensive chemical from their joints to the outside of captured the flash displays of lights, even though multiple species live on the West Coast—most their body for immediate tasting. “They don’t have to die to train the Japanese firefly,Hotaria parvula,

in Okayama prefecture, Japan. digitalphoto.cocolog-nifty.com of Hiramatsu T. © photos Firefly fireflies west of Kansas attract mates strictly with pheromones. the predator,” says Branham, a well-coached firefly pursuer.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 8 9

species male flash pattern female response Like any complex trait, bioluminescence is molded and tweaked As Firefly Numbers Seem to Slide, Photinus pyralis by various, often competing, forces. Researchers Ponder Effects on Ecosystems When a female firefly selects a male with a fast enough

Photinus ignitus flash, she’ll deliver a precisely timed response and point her If fireflies disappeared, humans would miss out on spectacular abdomen, or lantern, in the direction of her chosen suitor. summer entertainment. But how could a loss in firefly numbers

Photinus consimilis That’s because he’s not the only one vying for her. shape an ecosystem? Lower-quality “sneaker” males that specialize in Firefly larvae are voracious predators, feeding on snails,

Photinus granulatus eavesdropping on flash dialogues may try to intercept the signal slugs, and earthworms and keeping the ecosystem in delicate and mate with her first. The threat of these satellite males balance. Many are stocking up on food for their whole adulthood,

Photinus collustrans makes firefly courtship serious business, since the success of throughout which they will never eat. Some climb trees in pursuit the female’s offspring and the survival of her own genes depend of arboreal snails. Others have gills like fish that allow them time 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 on her mate being up to snuff. to dive for aquatic snails, whose shells they then use for protection seconds Whether male fireflies flash at all is also a product of rival like hermit crabs. In parts of Asia, a large mollusk called an apple pressures. Males are competing for females in the game of snail has ravaged important crops like rice, and firefly larvae This table shows the diverse timing and repetition of flash dialogues from five North American firefly species. Shaded boxes sexual selection, but that’s only one dimension of natural are being explored as a potential form of biocontrol to protect represent repeating sequences. Blank boxes indicate “optional” selection, the struggle to survive. those nations’ food supply. flashes that reflect variation among individuals, including, in the A firefly’s potent lucibufagins, once the insect’s best “Just think how poetic it could be if we had fireflies control case of P. consimilis, the responding female’s level of interest. defense against being eaten, repel every predator but one—a snails in these agricultural systems as larvae and produce rogue genus of fireflies known as Photuris. Firefly experts entertainment as a byproduct as adults,” says Marc Branham, call them the “femmes fatales.” They can attract the male of an entomologist at the University of Florida. Member Preview Flashing flirted its way up the firefly family tree. The insects’ another species by flashing the female response he’s hardwired Researchers are still investigating whether firefly numbers on Thursday, March 29, 4–8 pm evolutionary history shows a strange metamorphosis to seek, and then devour him when he tries to mate. These are dwindling. “If you ask anybody out there, they will tell you that unfolding. Firefly eyes grow bigger, more bug-like, as the aggressive mimics curiously lack protective lucibufagins it seems like there aren’t as many fireflies out now as there were Members are invited to see Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence insects’ light organs enlarge. Their antennae, used like of their own but are unfazed by their effects; after eating 10 or 20 or 40 years ago,” explains Branham. The lack of data on at a special preview on Thursday, March 29, beginning at 4 pm. a nose to follow pheromones, shrink into stubs. The more a male, the female acquires some of his defensive chemical older population numbers makes verifying their decline difficult. View the exhibition and stay for a wine reception from 6 to 8 pm. important bioluminescent courtship signaling became and can ward off her own predators and perhaps even pass “But it’s pretty clear that there are some locations where people Please RSVP by calling the Membership Office at 212-769-5606. throughout their history, the more the trappings of invisible the protection to her offspring. used to see many fireflies, and now you don’t see any.” communication faded out. Femmes fatales, satellite sneakers, seductive signals, and If fireflies are in fact in danger, humans’ own flair for all When Branham began his research on Lampyridae, the beetle protection from predators–together these selective pressures things luminescent may be to blame. Neighborhoods that stay lit Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence family consisting of fireflies, he assumed such a beloved animal shape firefly signaling into the ever-evolving patchwork it is through the night may severely disrupt firefly mating behavior Opens Saturday, March 31 would be a textbook case in entomology. Branham was shocked today, showing how bioluminescence is far from a static trait. because the insects gauge when to flash based on how dark it is to learn how little scientists knew about the common insect. “Things get a lot more complex and interesting when you outside. One Florida species flashes for a precise 27 minutes each Creatures of Light introduces visitors to the astonishing variety What researchers did know was that each species of try to drill through these systems and see how they’re shaped, night, but without the correct lighting cue, these insects won’t of organisms that produce light. The exhibition unfolds through bioluminescent adult firefly has its own flash fingerprint. Males how they’re used, in the lives of organisms,” says Branham. understand when it’s time to start signaling and find a mate. Other a series of immersive environments, beginning in a forest of fly through the air and search for females with a species-specific Though for the familiar firefly, luminescing has always factors, such as herbicides and pesticides, as well as habitat loss to bioluminescent mushrooms and taking visitors through a meadow light display. Some flash only once. Some emit “flash trains” been about sending a message. It’s just a matter of whom urbanization, might be affecting the lightning bug as well. filled with fireflies, a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico, coral reefs, of up to nine carefully timed pulses. Others fly in specific aerial they’re luring—or eluding. and the deep sea to highlight the ways in which different animals patterns, briefly dipping before sharply ascending and forming produce and use light to attract mates and prey and to threaten a “J” of light. A few even shake their abdomens from side to Hiramatsu combined slow-shutter predators. Along the way, see live flashlight fish and special side and appear to be twinkling. “So if you’re looking over a speed photos for stunning images equipment, including a scale model of a deep-sea submersible. field,” says Branham, “You can pretty accurately tell how many of flashing fireflies. species are in that area.” The exhibition is curated by John Sparks, associate curator What scientists did not fully understand was how these and curator-in-charge in the Department of Ichthyology at the signaling systems radiated into this diverse ensemble. Branham American Museum of Natural History. suspected it might have to do with female preference. As males dart through the air, performing luminous gymnastics for sex, Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence is organized by females sit, often immobile, on vegetation, waiting to start a the American Museum of Natural History, New York (amnh.org), flash dialogue with the right male. “Females are pretty choosy in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, about who they flash back to,” Branham explains. And they and The Field Museum, Chicago. should be: females have a great investment in the offspring since the eggs are more expensive than sperm to produce. Generous support for Creatures of Light has been provided by To test his theory of female choice, Branham resorted to the the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund. unnatural. He created a computer-driven robotic firefly that could mimic the flash pattern of each species he studied. Branham could also tweak parameters like light color, intensity, and timing and enter the field to gauge how mates reacted. When he made the artificial firefly pulse at strobe-light speeds, beyond those

possible in nature, females sparked like live wires. Source for table: Lloyd, James E. (1966). Studies on the Flash Communication System in Photinus Fireflies.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org John Sparks and David Gruber photographed the corals of Bloody Bay Wall in the Caribbean for Creatures of Light.

Ichthyologist John Sparks, curator of Creatures of Light, recalls Museum Research Associate David Gruber, assistant professor at The two challenging expeditions in Madagascar in search of new City University of New York (CUNY), describes a diving trip in 2011. species of blind cavefishes. We wanted to include a panoramic image of a magnificent We were in Ankarana Reserve in far northern Madagascar, coralscape in Creatures of Light, and Bloody Bay Wall [off Little a surreal landscape of exposed karst formations. These are Cayman Island] was the perfect place. one-of-a-kind formations of permeable rocks, with rivers and But capturing Ansel Adams-like vistas are impossible under streams in between. It’s kind of like Swiss cheese, with water water, where sections of the light spectrum—especially reds—are running through it. We were looking for a species of blind absorbed within a meter. We need to get in very close to our subject cavefish endemic to this region. and use flash photography to capture the reef’s true color. We have But first, we had to make our way through the piles of bat to repeat this process hundreds of times over the wall face. Then, guano [dung]. The cavefishes, which lack pigment and have the small consecutive images are painstakingly stitched together to no eyes, eat some of the invertebrates that are in the water, but create a life-sized, true-color view. a lot of them survive mainly on guano. There are enormous Underwater photographer Jim Hellemn developed this process piles of it in these caves, 20- to 30-foot mounds. When you get to create a 20-foot by 70-foot true-color image of the Bloody Bay closer, the mounds seem to come alive, with millions of clicking, Wall in 1999. Returning to the wall 12 years later (with the support rustling cockroaches that run over your feet and up your legs. of a National Science Foundation Connecting Research to Public It’s just like a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie. Audiences grant) allowed us to overlay the images and really see Once we got to the water, we snorkeled around to see if we the way a coral wall ages. Some of the corals are disappearing, could catch anything. What’s really interesting about the some of the sponges have gotten huge, and some new things have cavefishes is that even though they lack eyes, they’re surprisingly taken up residence on the wall. It’s amazing. difficult to catch. They’re highly specialized for life in the cave, We also wanted to apply Jim’s methods to photograph with elongate snouts bearing well-developed sensory pores the coralscape at night to capture a phenomenon few people and canals, so they have extremely high sensitivity to water encounter in person or in photographs: marine biofluorescence. movement. They sense you approaching and just dive into the As you can imagine, capturing natural biofluorescence is even sediment—and once the sediment is stirred up, forget it. But we more of a challenge. Fluorescence on the reefs works a bit like were lucky to find specimens that turned out to be a new species, those glowing posters where you need to shine a black light on with partially developed eyes and some pigment, a light tan. them in the dark to see their glow. Corals have the same biological We nearly missed a great find a few years ago in southwestern property: proteins in their tissue absorb light and then emit it back Madagascar. There, the limestone runs in massive plateaus that as biofluorescence. On our dives, we shine blue light—a specific collapse in places creating, sinkholes that must be accessed using wavelength of pure blue, using very sharp-edged filters, science- climbing gear. I had forgotten my diving mask and went back to grade filters we equip so they can go under water—and the corals the camp with a colleague. By the time we got back, two members emit back in otherworldly green and red. of our team who’d been swimming around for an hour in the For this trip, we left at dusk, and descended down a vertical sinkhole yelled out, “There’s no fish in here. Let’s move on.” But cliff that drops thousands of feet below the surface to start it was a sinkhole like I’d never seen before: deep, relatively clear photographing. It’s a challenge. We can’t use any lights because water. It looked really promising. I couldn’t believe there weren’t we’re only interested in the light emitted by the corals and reef- any fish there. So I said, “We’ll take a look.” dwelling organisms, which makes it difficult to see if we’re in We went in and swam around for maybe an hour or so, and the right focus frame. So we use a red laser to give our lenses then I spotted a bizarre looking fish. We stayed in there for nearly something to focus on. We often also use a measuring stick to three or four hours, and I was able to get two specimens of a new keep the camera lens at a set distance from the wall so our images species of blind cavefish, totally different from anything that had will have the same focus distance. We’re under water, breathing been found before, pigmented and dark brown all over, and both through a regulator, and it’s totally dark except for the red focus anatomically and genetically unique. Although we all got quite point. John [Sparks] swims alongside, guiding us across the wall, sick from swimming in that sinkhole, which is reflected in the making sure we don’t drop down too deep. And then we shoot. species’ name—which translates as “seriously ill” in Malagasy— Shoot, shoot, shoot. The results are cool and unveil a hidden finding such a strange new fish made it all worthwhile. beauty—you’ll see them in the exhibition.

Read about the research behind the exhibition Don’t miss the Bloody Bay Wall interactive exhibit in Creatures of Light.

© N. van Niekerk and more at amnh.org.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org Esca

Named for the Latin Luminous Lures word for “bait,” the esca is a bulb that glows Thousands of feet below the surface, this with light provided anglerfish beckons with two bright baits by bioluminescent Only one group of animals, the deep-sea fish of the genus Linophryne, is bacteria. Such known to glow using two different processes: by producing their own light and symbiotic relationships by broadcasting the glimmer of a cooperative colony of bioluminescent bacteria. are not uncommon: This Linophryne algibarbata female shines to attract both prey and ponyfishes and flashlight a partner, a much-smaller male who attaches to his mate using his jaws and fishes are just two proceeds to fertilize her eggs while receiving nourishment in return. This examples of other bizarre beauty, found off the coast of New England, Iceland, and Greenland marine animals in the north Atlantic Ocean, is no less fierce for her diminutive size: the largest that rely on bacteria known female was about 9 inches in length, while males are significantly for light. smaller at just over an inch. See a model of L. algibarbata in Creatures of Light.

Barbels

Four elaborate bioluminescent strands radiate from the anglerfish’s chin, where a chemical reaction with three ingredients— oxygen plus the chemical luciferin and the enzyme luciferase, the latter two produced by the anglerfish—generates energy that is thrown off as light. © AMNH/5W Infographics, Velasco P. 14 Next at the Museum 15

April May Programs and Events A Night at the Museum Spaceship Earth with Creatures of Light Behind the Scenes in The Birth and Death of Stars Sleepover Carter Emmart After-Hours Tour Paleontology: Ancient Sharks with Walter Lewin For more programs and to Masters of the Planet with Friday, April 13 Thursday, April 19 Tuesday, April 24 SciCafe: The Evolution of Skin Wednesday, May 9 Monday, May 14 purchase tickets, visit Ian Tattersall Friday, May 25 6:30 pm 6:30 pm (family tour) Wednesday, May 2 6:30–7:30 pm (family tour) 7:30 pm amnh.org/calendar. Monday, April 2 Saturday, June 2 Member price is $13.50 7 pm 7 pm 7–8 pm Member tickets are $13.50 6:30 pm Friday, June 22 Celebrate Earth Day 2012 7:30 pm Free 7:30–8 pm MIT Professor Emeritus Walter For updates and reminders, Free for Members (Registration Saturday June 30 with the Museum’s annual Free (Registration required; Understand the evolution $35 Lewin discusses star life cycles. sign up for monthly eNotes required; call 212-769-5200) Member price is $119 per person appreciation of Earth as seen call 212-769-5200) of skin with biological Join Curator John Maisey to for Members by sending your Hear Curator Emeritus Break out your sleeping bags from space in the Hayden Be dazzled by Creatures of anthropologist Nina Jablonski. learn about rare shark fossils. membership number and request Ian Tattersall discuss his book. on this after-hours adventure. Planetarium dome. Light in this after-hours tour. Children must be 12 years of Whale Watch Weekend to subscribe to members@amnh. age or older; space is limited. Friday, May 18–Sunday, May 20 org. The Museum does not trade, Global Kitchen: $800 per person, double rent, or sell this information. Early-Morning Spring Bird Asteroids: Friends or Foes Members-Only Imaging Japan’s Tequila and Chilies occupancy Walks in Central Park with Richard Binzel Highlights Tour Earthquake with Miaki Ishii Thursday, May 3 Beginnings Tour $900 single occupancy Tickets Begin on Tuesday, April 3 Monday, April 16 Saturday, April 21 Tuesday, April 24 6:30 pm Saturday, May 12 Please register before April 1 $85 7:30 pm 10:30 am–Noon 6:30 pm $30 3–4:30 pm Space is limited on this Tickets are available by phone at Observe bird migrations on an Member price is $13.50 Free (Registration required; Free for Members Learn about and taste Free (Registration required; call weekend trip with Jay Holmes 212-769-5200, Monday–Friday, 9 eight-week walk series. Professor Richard Binzel call 212-769-5200) Learn how Miaki Ishii uses tequila and chilies. 212-769-5200) for private whale watching. am–5 pm, or by visiting amnh.org. discusses near-Earth asteroids. Join a guide for an insider’s seismometers to study Japan’s Celebrate Mother’s Day by Please have your Membership introduction to the Museum. 2011 earthquake. seeing “beginning” through number ready. SciCafe: Island Birds and Exploring Sharks Family Tour many lenses on this tour Discovery Room Biodiversity The Parent-Child Bond: Behind Saturday, May 5 led by a Museum guide. Anniversary Event Availability may be limited. Wednesday, April 4 the Science of Attachment Milstein Science Series Global Kitchen: 10:30 am–11:45 am Saturday, May 19 Please purchase tickets in 7 pm Four Tuesdays, April 17–May 8 Bioluminescence: French Paradox Free (Registration required; call Noon–4 pm advance. Free 7–9 pm Creatures of Light Wednesday, April 25 212-769-5200) Luna’s Sea Free for Members Chris Filardi of the Museum’s Member price is $216 Sunday, April 22 6:30 pm Discover sharks on this Saturday, May 12 Celebrate 10 years of Please be aware that ticket sales Center for Biodiversity and Four-session adult course. 11 am–4 pm $30 tour for young Members. Sunday, May 13 hands-on exploration of are final for all Member programs. Conservation presents. Free for Members Mireille Guiliano shares Space is limited. 11 am and 2 pm nature, science, and culture. All programs go ahead rain Bring the family to treats from French Women $22 or shine. There are no refunds Member Open House explore light-producing Don’t Get Fat. Explore the ocean through unless the program is cancelled Wild, Wild World: Thursday, April 19 species with scientists in A World of Sharks dance, puppetry, and Family-Friendly by the Museum. Baby Animals with Jarod Miller 6–8:30 pm this special program in the Sunday, May 6 black-light theater in this Highlights Tour Saturday, April 7 Free for Adventurer Members Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Global Weekends 3–4:30 pm family-friendly program Sunday, May 20 11 am and above (Registration required; New Orleans: Culture Remixed Free (Registration required; call presented in conjunction 3–4:30 pm 1 pm call 212-769-5606) Saturday, April 28 212-769-5200) with Creatures of Light. Free (Registration required; call 2:30 pm Learn about the Museum’s Noon–6 pm Explore the diverse world of 212-769-5200) $12 research and tour halls Free for Members sharks with a Museum guide. Join a tour of the Museum’s Meet animal youngsters after hours. Celebrate National Jazz Space is limited. most popular displays. with TV host Jarod Miller. Appreciation Month by honoring New Orleans.

Exhibitions and Beyond Planet Earth: The Butterfly Conservatory: Picturing Science: IMAX Movie Hayden Planetarium Credits Beyond Planet Earth: The Future Attractions The Future of Space Exploration Tropical Butterflies Alive in Museum Scientists and Born To Be Wild Space Show Creatures of Light: Nature’s of Space Exploration is organized Free for Members Winter Imaging Technologies Member tickets are Journey to the Stars Bioluminescence is organized by the American Museum of Natural Admission is by timed entry only. Find out about robotic missions Through Monday, May 28 Free for Members $12.50 adults, $8 children Member tickets are by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (amnh.org), to explore our universe and what Member tickets are More than 20 sets of spectacular Travel to Borneo and Kenya $12.50 adults, $8 children History, New York (amnh.org), in collaboration with MadaTech: The Creatures of Light: it will take to build a lunar elevator, $12.50 adults, $8 children large-format images showcase to learn about orphaned Journey to the Stars launches in collaboration with the Canadian Israel National Museum of Science, Nature’s Bioluminescence deflect deadly asteroids, travel This annual favorite returns the wide range of research being orangutans and elephants and viewers through time and space Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada Technology & Space, Haifa, Israel. Opens Saturday, March 31 to Mars, and more. with up to 500 live, free-flying conducted at the Museum using the remarkable bonds they share to experience the life and death and The Field Museum, Chicago. Free for Members tropical butterflies housed various optical tools. with their human rescuers. of the stars in our night sky. Beyond Planet Earth is made possible Be dazzled by the world’s variety in a vivarium that approximates Generous support for Creatures through the sponsorship of of bioluminescent organisms their natural habitat. of Light has been provided by the Lockheed Martin Corporation. by exploring how and why they Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund. glow and the ways scientists study And is proudly supported by and use bioluminescence. Con Edison.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 16 Next at the Museum 17

Program credits: April Around the World in 60 SciCafe: Forgetting Fear Members-Only The Presenting Sponsor Minutes Wednesday, June 6 Highlights Tour of the Museum’s cultural 2 7 19 24 Tuesday, May 29 7 pm Saturday, June 16 programming is Monday Saturday Thursday Tuesday 6:30 pm Free 3–4:30 pm MetLife Foundation. Masters of the Planet Wild, Wild World: Baby Animals Member Open House Creatures of Light with Ian Tattersall with Jarod Miller After-Hours Tour Member tickets are $13.50 Neuroscientist Daniela Schiller Free (Registration required; Spaceship Earth with View the sky as it appears in discusses how to modify Support for Global Weekends is call 212-769-5200) 3 13 Carter Emmart Imaging Japan’s Earthquake different parts of the world. emotional memories. Join a guide for an insider’s made possible in part by the Tuesday Friday with Miaki Ishii introduction to the Museum. Ford Foundation, Early-Morning Spring Bird Walks Night at the Museum Sleepover 21 the May and Samuel Rudin in Central Park begin Saturday 25 Ft. Tryon Park and Milstein Science Series: Family Foundation, Inc., and the 16 Members-Only Highlights Tour Wednesday Monday Global Kitchen: French Paradox the Cloisters Lecture Great Barrier Reef Alex Filippenko family of Frederick H. Leonhardt. 4 Wednesday Asteroids: Friends or Foes 22 Thursday, May 31 Sunday, June 10 Monday, June 18 SciCafe: Island Birds and with Richard Binzel Sunday 28 6–7 pm 11 am–4 pm 7:30 pm The SciCafe series is proudly Biodiversity Milstein Science Series Saturday $5 (Registration required; Free for Members Member price is $13.50 sponsored by Judy and 17 Bioluminescence: Global Weekends call 212-769-5200) Learn about the fragile Great Join astronomer Alex Josh Weston. Tuesday Creatures of Light New Orleans: Culture Remixed The Parent-Child Bond begins Sidney Horenstein describes Barrier Reef and its wildlife Filippenko to learn about the geology and history of through presentations supernovae and dark energy. SciCafe: The Evolution of Ft. Tryon Park and the Cloisters. by scientists, an immersive Skin and SciCafe: Forgetting dome experience, and more. Fear are made possible by June Spotlight on Meteorites a grant from Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Saturday, June 23 May Global Kitchen: Tiki 3–4:30 pm from the National Institutes Birding in the Catskills Wednesday, June 13 Free (Registration required; call of Health (NIH).

2 9 14 25 Saturday, June 2 6:30 pm 212-769-5200) Wednesday Wednesday Monday Friday 8 am–5 pm $30 Learn what meteorites tell us The Milstein Science Series is SciCafe: Behind the Scenes in The Birth and Death of Stars Night at the Museum Sleepover $90 Jeff “Beachbum” Berry shares about the origins of Earth and proudly sponsored by the Paul The Evolution of Skin Paleontology: Ancient Sharks with Walter Lewin Explore birding hotspots the history of the tiki bar. our solar system on this tour. and Irma Milstein Family. 28 in the Basha Kill Wildlife 3 12 18 Monday Management Area with The Museum’s Youth Initiatives Thursday Saturday Friday The Butterfly Conservatorycloses Global Kitchen: Beginnings Tour Whale Watch Weekend begins ornithologist . are generously supported by the Paul Sweet Summer Star Sail Grand Tour of the Universe Tequila and Chilies 29 Thursday, June 14 Tuesday, June 26 leadership contribution of the Luna’s Sea 19 Tuesday 8–10 pm 6:30 pm New York Life Foundation. 5 Saturday Around the World in 60 Minutes Ft. Tryon Park and the Cloisters $95 Member price is $13.50 Saturday 13 Discovery Room Anniversary Walking Tour Set sail with astrophysicist Tour the entire observable Exploring Sharks Family Tour Sunday Event 31 Luna’s Sea Thursday Saturday, June 2 Charles Liu to watch the sun universe in the Hayden Geology and History of Ft. Tryon set and stars emerge. Planetarium. 6 20 10 am Sunday Sunday Park and the Cloisters Lecture $20 A World of Sharks Family-Friendly Highlights Tour Take in Ft. Tryon Park and the Cloisters with geologist Sidney Horenstein.

Beyond Planet Earth credits, The presentation of Picturing Journey to the Stars was created by Supercomputing resources provided June continued from page 15 Science at the American Museum the American Museum of Natural by the Texas Advanced Computing of Natural History is made possible History, with the major support and Center (TACC) at The University of 2 10 16 23 Major funding has been provided by by the generosity of the Arthur Ross partnership of NASA, Science Mission Texas at Austin, through the TeraGrid, Saturday Sunday Saturday Saturday The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation. Directorate, Heliophysics Division. a project of the National Science Ft. Tryon Park and the Cloisters Milstein Science Series Members-Only Highlights Tour Spotlight on Meteorites Walking Tour Great Barrier Reef Endowment Fund. Foundation. 18 26 Journey to the Stars was developed Made possible through the generous Birding in the Catskills 13 Monday Tuesday Additional support is generously by the American Museum of Natural sponsorship of Lockheed Martin. Night at the Museum Sleepover Wednesday Alex Filippenko Grand Tour of the Universe provided by History, New York, in collaboration Global Kitchen: Tiki Marshall P. and Rachael C. Levine, with the California Academy of And proudly sponsored by Accenture. 6 22 30 Drs. Harlan B. and Natasha Levine, Sciences, San Francisco; GOTO INC, Wednesday 14 Friday Saturday SciCafe: Forgetting Fear Thursday Night at the Night at the Museum Sleepover and Mary and David Solomon. Tokyo, Japan; Papalote Museo del Summer Star Sail Museum Sleepover Niño, Mexico City, Mexico, and Presented with special thanks to NASA. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 18 Explore at the Museum

Then and Now, A Passion to Explore The Final Frontier

last chance See Beyond Planet Earth before it closes August 12. Free for Members.

In 1950, as part of a publicity campaign, the Hayden Planetarium began Readers Respond: Sign Me Up! accepting reservations for what was billed as the first trip into space. After ads appeared in newspapers and the story was picked up by BBC broadcaster Alistair Late last year, a selection of the Hayden Letters Cooke, letters poured in from as near as Newark and as far as Northumberland, was posted on the Beyond Planet Earth website, with requests to book trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. amnh.org/beyond. The Museum included a web Some were accompanied by elaborate drawings of spacecraft, others by offers survey: If you could tour another planet, where to serve as crewmembers on the flight. All came from applicants who wrote would you go? Below are a few of the responses. passionately about becoming the first to experience a trip to outer space, and the result is a treasure trove of letters that capture the public fascination with space “My choice is...Saturn, because it is the most exploration, a selection of which are now available for viewing on amnh.org/beyond. beautiful planet in our solar system, and Some letter-writers had very practical concerns. “I have to take a vacation on my way there I would also see its moons, from school,” wrote Horace, who also asked whether bringing his dog would especially Titan, and its rings.” incur extra fees. Others were curious about what they could do to prepare, or if there was expertise they could offer. Larry from Denver wrote to ask “My first choice is Mars, to see the largest for advice on what field “of business or engineering I should enter” in college known mountain. Second choice is Jupiter, “to best prepare for a job with an interplanetary travel agency.” Charlotte so I can see a gaseous planet up close... inquired about “Earth-moon communications” and volunteered her experience but where would I stand?!” as an amateur radio operator in “maintaining a radio station.” There were amateur astronomers who were cautiously delighted—“I don’t “As more planets like Kepler 22b are found, doubt we could send a ship to a planet,” wrote Leopold, “but I wonder if I’ll live I’d love to be able to visit any that could support to see it.”—as well as entrepreneurs like John, who requested a reservation for human life. Now that we know the speed of light the red planet so that he could “open the first hot dog stand on Mars.” isn’t an obstacle, warp drives can’t be far behind, Today, aspiring space tourists can get a glimpse at some possible future so this should be doable in a couple years!” missions in the Museum exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, on view now through August 12. Sixty years have passed since “Mars will be the stepping stone for mankind the first letters booking trips to Mars and the Moon arrived, and the future seems space exploration. Being one of the first humans right around the corner. to get there will be an historical accomplishment. There is nothing like being a pioneer.” Visit amnh.org/beyond to view the Hayden Letters.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 20 Members at the Museum 21

New Member Lounge: Masters of the Planet: A Place Apart Early Hominid Toolmakers free for members Summer Camps In his new book, Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human and tendons are arranged to flex Origins, Curator Emeritus Ian Tattersall traces the success of Homo the long fingers with enormous Ian Tattersall discusses sapiens over other early humans. In the excerpt below, Tattersall power—which is exactly what you his new book at a special Send your child to camp program. See page 14 at the Museum this summer. discusses the significance of crude stone tools and their lessons for want when you spend most of your for details. Visit amnh.org for offerings the story of human evolution. life hanging on to tree branches. for elementary school students, What’s more, because of and check out the middle- Whoever it was, exactly, that had made the Gona tools and the apes’ knuckle-walking school slate below. the Bouri (and Dikika) cut-marks [on mammal bones], these proclivities—whereby they bear the weight of the front of the extraordinary finds are witness to a revolutionary behavioral body on the outside of the flexed fingers when they’re ambling 7/9–7/13 innovation among hominids. Extensive coaching of a bonobo around on the ground—the tendons of the apes’ hand flexor Middle School Digital called Kanzi—a star in ape “language” experiments, and a (closing) muscles are shorter than those of the straightening Universe Flight School cognitively admirable representative of his species—failed to extensor muscles, making it impossible to extend both the wrist Learn to navigate our solar teach him to hit one rock with another at exactly the angle and and fingers at the same time. This kind of strongly flexing hand system, galaxy, and beyond force necessary to detach a sharp flake. He rapidly got the idea of is far from ideal for making tools, an activity that requires hugely using Digital Universe, the using such flakes to cut a cord that held a piece of food just out of precise movement and placement of the digits. Museum’s cutting-edge his reach; but he never really picked up the principles of shaping Exactly why the early hominid toolmakers already possessed 3-D digital map of our universe. stones. Eventually he developed a preference for throwing a rock hands that were up to this unusual task is not clear. Logically, on the floor to shatter it, and then picking through the fragments there must have been some advantage to losing the specialized 7/16–7/27 to find a sharp one. grasping capacities of the apes, a development that we already see Middle School quite strongly expressed in the hand bones from Hadar despite Evolution Institute the still-curved fingers. And chances are there were no knuckle- Explore the amazing diversity walkers in their ancestry. But whatever the countervailing benefit of life on our planet while Natural selection is, quite simply, was, it wasn’t the ability to make stone tools, which as far as we tapping Museum resources The new Member Lounge is the perfect place to take a break in the middle of a busy day at the Museum. in no position to drive new features can tell only started to be done well after the australopiths and such as the fossil halls, into existence. their various physical characteristics, including the manual ones, genetics labs, and world- Beyond the walls of the Museum’s public spaces calendar of events, and other materials. were already well ensconced. — Ian Tattersall, famous collections. are offices, labs, collections, classrooms, and The Member Lounge is also the perfect Still, even though we are in the dark as to the exact more. Now, there is also a lovely new amenity place to take a break in the middle of a busy Masters of the Planet circumstances, there is a really important lesson to be gained 7/30–8/10 for Members Voyager level and above: a quiet day at the Museum. The lighting is low-key, from this episode in human evolution: you can’t use a structure Middle School Virtual Worlds sanctuary called the Member Lounge. while tall windows offer pleasing views This may actually have had as much to do with Kanzi’s hands until you have it. As a result, most of our so-called “adaptations” Institute: What Happened “We are very excited about opening this of Central Park West to the east and Theodore as his brain and learning capacities. Making stone tools is not only actually start life as “exaptations”: features that are acquired to the Neanderthals? space to these Members,” said Louise Adler Roosevelt Park to the north. hard on the hands, but it also requires a hand that is capable of through random changes in our genetic codes, to be co-opted Use fossil and genetic the Museum’s director of Membership. Above the fireplace hangs an oil portrait holding objects precisely. Our hands, with their broad palms, long only later for specific uses. Natural selection is, quite simply, in evidence to investigate this “We hope it will be a place where they feel by Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) of Robert thumbs, and ability to oppose the thumb to the tips of all the other no position to drive new features into existence, no matter how question while working more deeply engaged with the Museum and Leighton Stuart, a Museum founder who also fingers, are ideally structured to manipulate objects. This ability advantageous in theory those features might be. with 3-D digital software and the community they’ve joined.” served as the Museum’s vice president and demands the rearrangement of a whole host of palm muscles to Museum collections. Located on the second floor along the then president from 1873–1881. Four of the promote delicate movement rather than strength. The hands of Excerpted from Masters of the Planet by Ian Tattersall. Copyright corridor leading to the regular coat check in wood-paneled walls are graced by magnificent living apes are, in contrast, very differently proportioned. They are © 2012 by the author and reprinted by permission of Palgrave Macmillan, 8/13–8/24 the northeast corner of the Theodore Roosevelt photographs of hand-colored prints from the much longer and narrower than human hands, and the muscles a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Middle School Virtual Worlds Rotunda, the Member Lounge is a cozy wood- Museum Research Library’s rare copy of Institute: Cretaceous Seas paneled room with a decorative fireplace John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, Travel back in time to that dates from the opening of the Theodore published between 1827 and 1838. They depict resurrect a prehistoric marine Roosevelt Rotunda in 1936. The space was the Forked-tailed Flycatcher, Broad-winged Tour Spain’s Prehistoric Caves with Curator Emeritus Ian Tattersall animal by designing realistic recently outfitted with comfy furniture—a couch, Hawk, Brown Pelican, and the Zenaida Dove. 3-D digital models. armchairs, wing chairs—in a color scheme of “Members are really liking it here,” From May 30 through June 8, Ian Tattersall of the same period are much less rich reds and subtle earth tones. said Denis Mordkovich, one of four Museum leads an expedition to view stunning frequented, yet are equally spectacular.” Applications are due June 1. Here, Members can begin their visit with Associates assigned to the lounge. “They all examples of Paleolithic art in Spain, with The trip also includes visits to the caves at For fees and other information, coat checking and enjoy complimentary say how great the coffee is—and the coat check.” special access to sites such as the caves of Puente Viesgo, the Altamira Museum, and please call 212-313-7893. coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. A Membership On your way in or out, don’t miss the La Peña in San Román de Candamo to view a live dig at the caves on Monte la Haza. The Museum’s Youth Initiatives Associate is always on hand to answer small bas-relief portrait of Theodore Roosevelt images of deer, horses, buffalo, and bulls. are generously supported by questions and process tickets. There is also in the door frame, the nose beneath his “ The Ice Age painted caves of southern For details about this expedition, the leadership contribution of an assortment of Museum-related books on trademark pince-nez glasses rubbed smooth— France are well known, and those still open as well as a list of others in 2012 and the New York Life Foundation. the coffee table, and a side table holds copies one imagines, for good luck. to the public are widely visited,” says early 2013, visit amnhexpeditions.org

of Rotunda, program pamphlets, the Museum © AMNH/D. Finnin Image courtesy of the Tito Bustillo Cave Dr. Tattersall. “The Spanish decorated caves or call 800-462-8687.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org 22 Seen at the Museum 23

Save the Date! 1 2 1 Upcoming Events at the Museum

April 4/25 The 22nd Annual Environmental Lecture and Luncheon will focus on urban conservation. For more information, call 212-496-3457.

Register an elementary school student for a five- or three-dayMuseum summer camp, from Astro Adventures to Fossils and DNA. For more information, call 212-313-7893.

May 5/12 The 20th annual Corporate Dinner honors the IBM Corporation Chairman of the Board 2 Samuel J. Palmisano. For more information, please call 212-769-5932.

5/19 Celebrate 10 years of the Museum’s Discovery Room, an interactive gateway to the wonders of the Museum. Free for Members.

June 6/7 Enjoy a Member Breakfast in the fourth-floor 6 3 Fossil Halls, visit Creatures of Light, and see a live-animal presentation. Free for Adventurer-level Members and above. 5 4 6/16 Bring your shells, rocks, feathers, and other finds to share with scientists at the Museum’s annual Identification Day. Free for Members.

6/11-24 Don’t miss Rekindling Venus, a special immersive video installation by Australian artist Lynette Wallworth in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life inspired by the Great Barrier Reef.

July 7/28 The new live-animal exhibition Spiders Alive! opens to the public. 4 3 Fall The restored Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall 1. Performing arts group Story Pirates led activities 3. The Hayden Planetarium’s Space Theater hosted 5. On February 18, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels 1. Sam Saegh and Junior Council Co-Chairs Jessica 3. Sunny Newsome and Carla Franklin joined at SpaceFest! on January 15. a 200-person cooperative space game during Cosmic performed at the Museum’s Global Weekends: and Mark Kleinknecht celebrated the opening of Junior Council Members and guests in a tour and the Hall of North American Mammals re-open 2. On December 31, the Museum celebrated Cocktails and Space Arcade on January 26. African-American Musical Mosaic program Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration of the exhibition. to the public. Kwanzaa with a day of performances and an 4. SpaceFest! on January 15 included stargazing on with IMPACT Repertory Theatre choir. at a December 1 reception. 4. Junior Council Steering Committee members international marketplace. the Arthur Ross Terrace. 6. One Ring Zero performed their album Planets on 2. Curator Michael Shara spoke about the themes Iain and Zoe Wilson pose in front of the model of

January 26 during Cosmic Cocktails and Space Arcade. Photos © AMNH/R. Mickens Photos © AMNH/R. Mickens of the exhibition on December 1. the Mars Rover Curiosity.

Rotunda / Spring 2012 / AMNH.org Membership

Central Park West at 79th Street New York, New York 10024-5192 amnh.org © T. Hiramatsu of digitalphoto.cocolog-nifty.com General Information

Hours Phone numbers Museum: Open daily, 10 am–5:45 pm; Central Reservations 212-769-5200 closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Membership Office 212-769-5606 Museum Information 212-769-5100 Entrances Development 212-769-5151 During Museum hours, Members may enter at Central Park West at 79th Street Transportation and parking (second floor), the Rose Center/81st Street, Subway: B (weekdays) or C to 81st Street; and through the subway (lower level). 1 to 79th Street, walk east to Museum Bus: M7, M10, M11, or M104 to 79th Street; Restaurants M79 to Central Park West Museum Food Court, Café on One, Parking Garage: Open daily, 8 am–11 pm; Starlight Café, and Café on 4 offer enter from West 81st Street. Members can park Members a 15% discount. Hours are for a flat fee of $10 if entering after 4 pm. subject to change. To receive this rate, show your membership card or event ticket when exiting the garage. Museum shops The Museum Shop, DinoStore, Shop for Earth and Space, Cosmic Shop, Beyond Planet Earth Shop, Tsuneaki Hiramatsu has been taking photos of fireflies in Okayama prefecture, Japan, since 2008. He uses long exposures Creatures of Light Shop, and combines multiple images to produce spectacular photos and Online Shop (amnhshop.com) of firefly signals. Find out more about how and why fireflies offer Members a 10% discount. flash inCreatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence, which opens on March 31.