Natural History Was Only One of Many

Home , 13123 Tyson, 445 Edna, Actas, Miss Peru

JsaSk

10/05 ^m '^^^^^ M I P aH M J -m^m. w^.....^m^^sm Ijmam1

.^1^... ^"^^^^ ^^^m^m' THINK LIKE YOU'VE NEVER THOUGHT. FEEL LIKE YOU'VE NEVER FELT DRIVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER DRIVEN.

Introducing the all-new Subaru B9 Tribeca. A dynamic, progressive design that will change the way you think about SUVs.

signature Symmetrical It's equipped with a powerful 250-hp, 6-cylinder Subaru Boxer Engine, Vehicle Dynamics Control and

All-Wheel Drive standard. Providing stability, agility and control you just don't expect from an SUV. Feel the cockpit wrap around

and connect you with a state-of-the-art available touch screen navigation system that intuitively guides you to places near or far.

And while the available 9" widescreen DVD entertainment system can capture the attention of up to 7 passengers, the engaging

drivability and real world versatility will capture yours. Simply put, you'll never think, feel, drive, the same way again, subaru.com SUBARU

Think. Feel. Drive" ,

\/-^.

OCTOBER 2005 VOLUME 115 NUMBER 8

FEATURES

COVER STORY 40TOXIC TREASURE Poisons and venoms from deadly animals could become tomorrow's miracle drugs. Andfew places on Earth harbor so many deadly animals as Australia's Great Barrier Reef. ROBERT GEORGE SPRACKLAND

46 TAKING INVENTORY

Biologists are still astonished

by the diversity of the rainforest. PIOTR NASKRECKI

50 BLOWN AWAY

Since the wakeup call

at Mount St. Helens,

geologists have realized that

collapsing volcanoes are far commoner than ever imagined. LEE SIEBERT

ON THE cover:

Deadly box jellyfish (Chironex fieckeri) also known as the sea wasp mm DEPARTMENTS

4 THE NATURAL MOMENT Fall Masquerade Photograph by Art Wolfe

6 UP FRONT Editor's Notebook

8 CONTRIBUTORS

10 LETTERS

58 THIS LAND Where Glaciers Did Not Tread Robert H. Mohlenbrock

60 BOOKSHELF Laurence A. Marschall

63 nature.net Maps Take Flight Robert Anderson

64 OUT THERE Number Ten? Charles Liu

65 SKY IN OCTOBER 11 SAMPLINGS THE News from Nature Joe Rao

14 UNIVERSE 68 AT THE MUSEUM Energy to Burn 72 ENDPAPER Neil deGrasse Tyson Wise Guys Noel Ross 21 FIELD NOTES Gary Kahuna Chronicles Joseph Kennedy

38 BIOMECHANICS Boxed Up to Go Adam Summers

PICTURE CREDITS; Page 8

Visit our Web site at www.naturalhistorymag.com )

GENUINE 2005 AMERICAN EAGLE SILVER PROOF COIN GIVE A GIFT THAT REMEMBERS

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION

United States Mint 2005 American Eagle Silver Proof Coin -ZS6

This year, give a gift that remembers. The United States Mint 2005 American THERE ARE TWO Eagle Silver Proof Coin is the perfect gift to mark special occasions, from EASY WAYS TO ORDER:

birthdays to graduations. This beautifully crafted, finely detailed coin is a 1 Shop our online catalog miniature work of art and a unique collectible of lasting value. Order today at www.usmint.gov directly from the United States Mint. 2) Call 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468)

For genuine United States Mint products visit ^^_ www.usmint.gov or call 1-800-USA-MINT ^ UNITED STATES MINT

?*13. -.*

-^-''-C

"fe^

' j-rr"-*. S^>*J' ^T?*.i" Jsk"-fc jiJUfcCii*.iJV'tiiKyO^A-. —

THE NATURAL MOMENT UP FRONT

See preceding two pages Disciplined Change

'> s-^ What kind of world do we Hve in? Like everyone else, I learned about the universe from my parents and teachers, and I got

used to it. A hundred elements, give or take. Nine planets. Three kinds of elementary particles. Two kingdoms of Hfe. One big bang. But perspectives change. No one knew about Mendelevium (number If spring in the Minnesota 101) when I was born. Kuiper Belt object 2003 UB313 wasn't on anybody's woods sings, autumn exhales radar screen. Neither were the quarks that make up neutrons and protons, softly. Take the inch-long spring the three "superkingdoms" of Ufe, or cosmic inflation within a multiverse.

peeper, Pseudacris cmcifer, a chorus Error, obscurity, conceptual fiizziness, and sheer ignorance are part of sci- frog that lives among leaf Htter ence, just as they are in any other human activity. The method of science

and logs, near freshwater ponds. and science is a method, not a set of conclusions—is to clear away those Its size and coloring make it easy faults. Geologists once thought that collapsing volcanoes were rare in Earth's to miss. The one pictured here history; now they know otherwise (see "Blown Away," by Lee Siebert, page

didn't make a sound or move a 50). Toxicologists could once do little more than catalogue obscure animal muscle whUe under the sharp toxins; now molecular and systematic biologists are showing that some tox- eye of photographer Art Wolfe. ins can become Hfesaving medicines (see "Toxic Treasure," by Robert

Males start the spring by belt- George Sprackland, page 40) . Planetary astronomers long classified Pluto as ing out a chorus of songs. But a major planet; now a raft of newfound Pluto-Hke objects has forced people on finding a mate, they quickly to think harder about the very concept of a planet (see "Number Ten?" by quiet down (why advertise one's Charles Liu, page 64). Scientific ignorance about the number of species on

presence to predators?). Eggs Earth is so deep that the range of informed estimates still spans almost two hatch and tadpoles mature over orders of magnimde (see "Taking Inventory," by Piotr Naskrecki, page 46). the summer. When fall comes, the air can feel a bit like spring, and P. cmcifer occasionally re- With all that change and potential for revision, you'd think that diver- sponds with a round peep; the sity of viewpoint would be a core value of science—that "teach the

effect is called the fall echo. controversy," as proponents of so-called intelligent design put it, would be

Winter is the real silencer. an unassailable principle of science education. Haven't we learned by now When cold weather sets in, the that every opinion counts, that every voice deserves respect?

spring peeper hunkers down un- What a lot ofpeople may not realize, though, is that science doesn't work der the fallen leaves for a deep, that way. Not for nothing are the branches of science called disciplines. In

soHtary hibernation. Ice crystals science, opinion poUs don't matter. Not everyone's voice is equal. Yes, sci-

start forming on the frog's skin ence is, or should be, open to anyone—anyone with the talent and tenacity

and quickly work their way in- to pursue it. And if you do earn your scientific "union card," you are sriE not

side. The frog begins to churn immune from criticism—far from it. In fact, the criticism you attract from

out glucose from its Hver, which other scientists, grounded in evidence and the canons of valid argument, is a

will protect its cells from the good measure of how seriously your scientific views are taken.

deepening cold; its pulse slows, But scientific debate is not for the uninformed. Scientific controversy is

and its tissues continue to freeze. for scientists, to be hashed out in conferences and peer-reviewed journals, Finally the peeper's heart stops not in the elementary science classroom or the high school science textbook.

beating as it, too, solidifies. Yet after the vernal thaw, the frog emerges no worse for the The human and environmental catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina frigid wear. Its Uttle body can still is compounded by the teethgrinding sense that so much of the suffer- lighten or darken a few shades to ing and devastation was preventable. Natural History was only one of many

match its surroundings. And it voices calling attention to the precarious plight of prehurricane New stUl has the strength for another Orleans. In his "Taming the River to Let In the Sea" (February 2005), Shea mating rush—whose object is to Penland diagnosed the geologic, cUmatologic, and historical forces that ulti-

be heard, but not seen. mately led to the disaster, and that must still be addressed as the city rebuilds.

—Erin Espelie Penland's article is online at www.naturalhistorynnag.com. —PETER BROWN

NATURAL HISTOI'.Y October 2005 The fastest way to learn

^ a language. Guaranteedr 0^ m--

Finally, a different approach that has millions of people talking. Using the , x

award-winning Dynamic Immersion™ method, our interactive software teaches f

: without translation, memorization or grammar drills. Combining thousands

native speakers in a step-by-step immersion ; of real-life images and the voices of

Iprocess, our programs successfully replicate the experience of learning your ^l

faster easier than any other language : first language. Guaranteed to teach and ^^^^ , I

French Italian German Japanese Thai Arabic Turkish Polish Swedish Chinese Vietnamese Russian Indonesian Korean Hebrew Danish Welsh Pashto English Spanish Farsi Portuguese Hindi Greek Swahili Dutch Latin lUSorUK) (Latin America or Spain)

Award-winning software successfully used by Each fully Interactive course includes:

U.S. State Department diplomats. Fortune 500^ • CD-ROM curriculum with 20 activities in each of 92 lessons executives and millions of people worldwide. • Previews, comprehensive exercises and testing for each lesson • Automated tutorials that "learn" where you need extra help

• Curriculum Text and 45-page User's Guide Step-by-step immersion instruction in all key language skills:

Listening - Rosetta Stone uses native speakers and everyday language to develop your understanding of SAVE the spoken language naturally and easily.

Reading -Text exercises develop your reading 10%

skills by linking written language to real-life objects, actions and ideas. Level 1 Program Level 2 Program Level 1 & 2 Regularly $495:00' Regularly 5225:011 Regularly $329:00 Speaking - Speech-recognition feature records, diagrams and compares your voice to the native B^TVALUE! speaker's, grading your pronunciation. fc^ i^ Writing - Dictation exercises evaluate your spelling, Your Price Your Price Your Price syntax and punctuation. $175.50 $202.50 $296.10

Personal Edition. Solutions for organizations also available.

Call today or buy online "...your program is the absolute best, bar none. I am for a 10% discount. shocked at how quickly I learn."

- Michael Murphy RosettaStone.com/nhsl 05 Texas, USA 1 -800-695-5409 Use promotional code nhslOS when ordering. "Stupendous...the juxtaposition of text, sound and picture was masterful. The quality of both sound and graphics

was first rate."

- The Boston Globe Rosetttta^one Language Learn ing ^H|^ Success CONTRIBUTORS

During his thirty-year career, ART WOLFE ("Fall Masquerade," page 4) has photographed wildhfe on every continent and pub- mm Peter Brown Editor-in-Chief Hshed more than sixty books. In 2000 he founded Wildlands Mary Beth Aberlin Press to publish TJie Living Wild and Africa, and, in 2003, Edge Steven R. Black Executive Editor Art Director ofthe Earth /Corner of the Sky. He received the National Audubon Board of Editors Society's first Rachel Carson Award in 1998, and t\vo years lat- Erin Espelie, Rebecca E. Kessler, er he won an Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography Award Mar^'^ Knight. Avis Lang, Vittorio Maestro for nature photography. Michel DeMatteis Associate Managing Editor Thomas Rosinski Associate Art Director Hannah Black Assistant Art Director "I really need to know where to step—and where not to!" says ROBERT GEORGE Jennifer Evans Assistant Editor SPRACKLAND ("Toxic Treasure," page 40), a systematist and evolutionary zool- Graciela Flores Editor-at-Large Samantha Har\'ey Intern ogist who studies Uzard biology, macroevolution, and the bio- Contributing Editors diversity of Austraha and New Guinea. Although he does not Robert Anderson, Charles Liu, Laurence A. MarschaU, work with venomous animals—his wife Teri insisted on "noth- Richard Milner, Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Joe Rao, ing venomous in the house" as a prenuptial condition—he works Stephan Reebs, Adam Summers, Neil deGrasse Tyson where they are common. He has published five books on her- Charles E. Harris Publisher petology and aquatic animals, as well as a CD of the sharks and Edgar L. Harrison Advertising Director rays of the world. The second edition of his book Giant Lizards Gale Page Consumer Marketing Director (T.F.H. Publications, Inc.) is scheduled for pubhcation in early 2006. So far, both Maria Volpe PromotioK Director his footing and marriage are doing fine. Sonia W Paratore National Advertising Manager Donna M. Ponzoni Production Manager

. Michael Shectman FulfiUment Manager PiOTR NASKRECKI ("Taking Inventory," page 46), a research as- For advertising information call 646-356-6508 sociate with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard Advertising Saks Representatives University, is the director of the Invertebrate Diversity Initiative New York—Metrocorp Marketing, 212-972-1157, (IDI) tor Conservation International, whose headquarters are in Duke International Media, 212-986-6098 Washington, D.C. He earned his Ph.D. in entomology from the Detroit—B^Ton Media Sales, LLC, 313-268-3996 Chicago—9.oben Purdy &: Associates, 312-726-7800 University ofConnecticut in 2000 with a dissertation on the phy- West Coast—On Course Media Sales, 310-710-7414

logeny of katydids. At IDI Naskrecki gathers and synthesizes da- Toronto—^American Publishers Representatives Ltd.. 416-363-1388 ta on the distribution of numerous groups of invertebrates, both by species and Atlanta and Miami—Packles and Co., 770-664-4567 National Direct Response—Sm^th Media Group, 646-638-4985 by population. The information then becomes the basis for making decisions about how to apply conservation poHcy, such as when and where to designate Todd Happer Vice President, Science Education hotspots of biodiversity. Educational Advisor)' Board

Myles Gordon American Museum of Natural Histor}' A volcanologist with the Smithsonian Institution s Global Vol- David Chesebrough Buffalo Museum of Science Stephanie Ratcliffe Natural History Museum of the Adirondack canism Program, at the National Museum of Natural History in Ronen Mir SciTech Hands On yiuseum Washington, DC, LEE SIEBERT ("Blown Away," page 50) has Carol Valenta St. Louis Science Center spent much of his career compiling data on volcanoes. He is an author of Volcanoes of the World, the Smithsonian's comprehensive Natural History Magazine, Inc. Charles E. Harris President, Chief Executive Officer catalog of the world's Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions, CfiARLES LalaiMNE Chief Financial Officer and its updated online version (www.volcano.si.edu/world). The Judy Buller General Manager Cecile Washington General Manager 1980 eruption ofMount St. Helens sparked his research interest in collapsing vol- Charles Rodin Publishing Advisor canoes. Field studies of collapse-prone volcanoes have taken him to Alaska, the Cascade Range of the western United States, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, and To contact us regarding your subscription, to order a new most recently El Salvador and Mexico. subscription, or to change your address, please \isit our Web site www.naturalhistorymag.com or \vTite to us at Natural History PICTURE CREDITS Cover: Roger Steene/imagequescmarine.com; pp. 4-5: SiArt Wolfe/\\'\\-\v.arr\volfe.com: p. 11: (top) counes\' BJchard

Grosberg; p. 11 {midciie): Liverpool John Moores University; (bottom) ©R^andy Faris/COP3IS; p. 12: (cop) Photograph by Ireri de h Pena; p. PO. Box 5000, Harlan lA 51593-0257.

12: (middle) courtesy Sonia M. Altizer; p. 13; (top) ©Mike Dan2enbaker/a\'esphoto.coni; p. 13: (bottom left) Moen and Svendsen Maritie Fish and

Imvnebrates ofSorihem Europi-. ISBN 0-9544060-2-8; p. 13: (bottom right) counes\' Charies E, Milliken; p. 14: Walter Vasconcelos; p. 21: (top) Salural History [ISSN 0028-0712) h publiihcd monthly, exeepi for combined issues in July /August and Deccmber'Januar\'. by NaniraJ Hiitor^' Magaanc counesy the author; p, 21: (bottom) from A Residame of Tu'etit)'-oiw yvars hi the Sandiiich Llauds. by Hiram Bingham (1847), coones)- the author; p. Inc.. in affiliation with the American Mmeum of Natural Histon-, Central 22: Map by Joe LeMonnier after Archaeological Consultants of the Pacific. Inc.; p. 37: Bishop Museum; pp. 38-39: lUustranons b)' Tom Moore; Park West at 79(h Street. New York. NY 10024. E-mail: nhmap^.natural p39; DaimletChrysler AG; p, 40: ©JeffRonnan/Naturepl.com; p. 41: Carlos Villoch/imagequestmarine.com; p. 42: Roger Steene/imagequest- historj'mag.com. Natural Historj- Magazine, Inc.. ii solely responsible lor ciiiio-

marine.com: p. 43: Illuitration by Ian Worpole; p. 44: (c)Kike CalvoA^&W/imagequestmarine.com; , 45: A.N.T Photo Library/NHPA; p pp. nal content and publishing practices. Subscriptions; S30.00 a year; for Canada 46-49: AU Piotr photographs by Ns-skrecki; p. 50: USGS/Lyn Topinka/Cascades Volcano Obser\'atory; p. 51: NASA Earth Obsen-ators'; pp, 52 andallothcrcountries:S40.0i)ayear. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N'^'.

& 54: Adv'anced niusiraaon; p, 54: USGS/Harry Glicken/Cascades Volcano Obser\ratory; p. 55: Satellite image courtes\' NASA/JPL-Caltech; and at additional mailing olFices. Canada Publications Mut No. 4005082" Copyright 2005 Natural Historj- Magazine. Inc. All rights rcscr\-cd. No drawing by Steve Black based on an illustration in Volcninsm by Hans-Ulrich Schmincke; p. 58: (cop) Don Po^ensee £2002; (bonom) C'Clinc C by part of this periodical may be reproduced without written consent ol Smura! Farlingcr: p. 59: (cop) map by Joe LoMonnier; (bottom) ©Can' D. Tonhouse; p. 60: AlP Emilio Segre Visual Archives. Clapton Coliecdon; p. 61: Hwwf)'. If you would like- to contact us regarding TOur subscripaon or to enter a Timothy McCarthy/An Resource. NY; p. 62: ChaHes Gunn Photograph Collection. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas Dodd J. nesv subscription, please write to us at Natural Hisior>-. RO, Box SOCO. Hailan, Research Center, University of Connecdcut Libranes; p. 64: Illustrations by Ian Worpole; p. 72: courtesy the author lA 51593-0257. Postmaster: Send address changes to \auinl Hisicy. P, O. Box 5000. Marfan, lA 51537-5000. Printed in the US.A.

natural history October 2005 W-"-

Get your FREE Holiday Catalog direct from Maine.

Trust L.L.Bean to point you toward exciting, innovative clothing and gear.

Call 1-800-524-4679 or simply mail this card.

Name

Address

City

State Zip

Email Visit llbean.com

I I Please send me the FREE 100-page Guide to Winter Warmth Catalog, LLBean your all-weather outerwear resource. DIRECT FROM FREEPORT, MAINE"

printed on recycled paper ] NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 21 FREEPORT ME

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

L.L.Bean, Inc. 95 Main Street Freeport, ME 04032-9967

III, III ILmI.IMhLI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IllnJ THE L.L.BEAN GUIDE TO FALL J^, 23

A great jacket is one

that seldom finds its way to a hanger.

Rangeley Jacket, from $69 flannel for chilly days or plush Sherpa-pile

This is your favorite jean jacket, only fleece for chillier days. This jacket, like winterized. We start with rugged denim the Maine haven it's named after, is or corduroy and line it with soft cotton one you'll return to again and again.

For a FREE catalog call 1-800-524-4679 or shop llbean.com L.L.Bean direct from Freeport, Maine" LETTERS

Going Green tion balloon and para- grazing by animals. Its spores laaistris. The specimen in In his excellent article on chute). The probe would lie dormant in the soil of a the drawing is segmented, the fhture of space travel, then make a grazing pass field until patches of bare which is a diagnostic char- ["Heading Out" (7-8/05)], through a planet's atmos- ground appear between the acteristic of an oligochaete, Neil deOrasse Tyson de- phere until it was gravita- surviving tufts of grasses and and it has a long proboscis,

scribed some, but not all, of tionally captured as an arti- forbs. Then, during dry pe- an important feamre that the new "green" space- ficial satellite—a maneuver riods, grazers may ingest or occurs in members of the propulsion technologies. that can be done without inhale the anthrax spores. As genus Stylaria. S. lacustris in One further possibility is using propellant. the grazers die off, the field commonly Uves freshwa- the electrodynamic tether Gregory L. Matloff can recover. Later, when it is ter in North America, but (ET), a thin cable that gen- New York City College of overgrazed again, the an- as far as I know, it does not

erates a current when it is Tecluwlogy CUNY thrax spores will defend it occur as a symbiont. pulled through a magnetic Brooklyn, New York once more. Michael McMahan

field. The tether would Donald A. Windsor Union University work best for objects in Leidy's Legacy Noninch, New York Jackson, Tennessee low orbit around a planet, In "Jointed Threads" such as Jupiter. [6/05], Lyim MarguHs im- In Lynn Marguliss article, Lynn Margulis REPLms: I Another "green" con- pHes that Bacillus anthracis— the caprion for Joseph Lei- imphed nothing. I wrote of

cept in space propulsion is the bacterium that causes dy's teaching chart states the need to condemn "aerocapture." A probe ap- anthrax—^violates some law that two nematodes are de- people who would arm a proaching an atmosphere- of symbiosis because it is a picted. But the uppermost bacillus to become a human bearing planet could slow pathogen. She calls it "a wormlike organism in the pathogen. I'm gratefiil to his down by deploying an ap- freak of nature"; I disagree. drawing actually appears to Donald A. Windsor for propriate shield or inflat- The ecological role of B. be an oHgochaete—most elegant ecological explana-

able "ballute" (a combina- anthracis is to prevent over- likely of the species Stylaria (Continued on page 66) Thd Toughest Glue On ^ Planet Earth. ^

If you eat, drink or breathe, you're laintiff Why? Because pur lawyers are working for you by fighting to protect the air, land, water, and wildlife fropa big polluters. Help us win at earthjus^ice.org or 1-800-584-6460.

Wood, Stone, Metaljferamic, & More! REQUEST YOUR FREE INFORMATION KIT!

EARTH I USTICE 1-800-966-34! because the earth needs a good lawyer SAMPLINGS

Steps Back Know Thine in Time Anemone The announcement that some 160 human Sea anemones don't come footprints have been discovered embed- across as particularly complicat-

ded in an ancient layer of volcanic ash ed social creatures. Who would near Puebia, Mexico, has stirred the con- have guessed they organize tinuing debate about how/, and when, themselves into armies, with ten-

people first arrived in the Americas. In tacled soldiers at the front fight- spite of disputed evidence and many ing violent underwater battles? challenges to the contrary, the consensus Yet that's the conclusion reached

among paleoanthropologists is that the by David Ayre, an evolutionary

first people to set foot on the continent biologist at the University of Persistent border separates two clones of sea anemones. Wollongong, Australia, and

Richard Grosberg, an evolutionary biologist parts in the neighboring clone. Some war-

at the University of California, Davis, from riors act as "scouts" that try to infiltrate en-

their study of the sea anemone Anthop/eura emy lines, but often they're forced to re- e/egant/ssima. treat to the safety of their own clone. Far

The species lives in groups of hundreds from the lines of battle another class of to thousands of genetically identical individ- polyp—the large, relatively unarmed, and uals, known collectively as a clone. Within a sexually mature "reproductive" —safely

clone, individual polyps fall into one of sev- dwells in the center of the clone. eral classes, or castes—rather like the Battlefronts are marked by persistent castes of social insects such as ants or bees. polyp-free zones, a kind of "no anemone's

A polyp's caste may be determined by its land." In spite of warriors' struggles to de-

location within the clone and by cues it re- fend and acquire more territory, these bor- Human footprints in Mexico, 40,000 years old ceives from other polyps. Where a clone ders are stable, and competing clones can borders another clone, "warriors" —small, remain deadlocked for years. [Animal crossed from Siberia into Alaska by about heavily armed polyps, bristling with stinging Behaviour 70:97-: W, 2005)

1 1,500 years ago. Clovis points, the spear- tentacles—square off against their counter- — Nicl< W. Atkinson heads that trace their culture, are scattered across North America. But the Mexican footprints have been The Great Neon Sign in the Sky

dated to 40,000 years ago, raising new What do Las Vegas and the Sun have in com- But measuring the Sun's neon content is

doubts about the "Clovis-first" theory. Sil- mon? Answer: an apparent abundance of tricky. So Jeremy J. Drake of the Harvard- via Gonzalez, of Liverpool John Moores neon. A new study suggests that neon, the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and

University in England, and a team of fifth-most-common element in the cosmos, is Paola Testa of the Massachusetts Institute of

British, Australian, and Mexican paleontolo- as much as three times more abundant in the Technology turned to its neighbors. They gists are studying the find. Children prob- Sun than astrophysicists analyzed data from NASA's ably made about a third of the human had previously thought. earth-orbiting Chandra prints, they report. The investigators also The astrophysical model X-Ray Observatory for discovered about a hundred animal foot- of how the Sun works has twenty-one sunlike stars

prints, mostly from dogs, big cats, and been at odds with obser- within 400 light-years of what may have been camels, cows, or deer. vation for the past couple Earth. On average, they

The discovery is also noteworthy be- of years. At issue is the found, the ratio of neon to

cause fossilized footprints are so rare. In depth of the Sun's convec- oxygen in each star is

the present case, they probably formed tion zone, a 125,000-mile- three times what is pre-

when people walked along a lakeshore thick layer of roiling gases dicted for the Sun. If the

covered with soft ash after the nearby that helps transmit energy Sun is anything like its

Cerro Toluquilla volcano erupted. When from the Sun's core to its neighbors—and astro-

the lake flooded, the imprints were pre- surface. The model relies on an assumed physicists think it is— it should have triple

served under silt. Where the people came mix of carbon, neon, nitrogen, and oxygen the neon previously thought. Astrophysicists from, and whether they arrived by land or within the zone to predict one depth, can keep their theory about how the Sun

sea, remain open questions. {Quaternary whereas the data suggest another depth. works. And the casinos in Las Vegas can rest Science Reviews, forthcoming) Some investigators have noted that tripling assured there's enough neon to power the

—Steplian Reebs the neon that the model assumes in the glow of their signs indefinitely. (Nature 436: mix would resolve the discrepancy. 525-28, 2005) —Rebecca E. Kessler

October 2005 natural history 11 SAMPLINGS Shades of Green

Coffee is grown in one of two ways: in weTlers such as certain ants, birds, and open fields, an intensive enterprise that frogs are already known to be adversely

relies on fertilizers and pesticides, or in affected. Now Guevara's research shows small, shaded plantations, where coffee that below-ground organisms may also

plants often replace the bushes of a take a hit. Working in the central part of tropical-forest understory. Such shaded the Mexican state of Veracruz, Guevara coffee plantations are widely regarded looked at fungi shaped like long, thin as ecologically friendly, because they cords, which play an important role In tend to preserve the diversity and num- decomposing woody debris and in pre-

ber of bats, birds, and insects that live in venting minerals from leaching away. He tree canopies. discovered that the fungi are smaller and But don't mistake a shaded coffee about ten times less abundant in the plantation for an intact forest, warns plantations than they are in untouched Roger Guevara of the Institute of Ecolo- forests. The cause seems to be the dry gy in Xalapa, Mexico. Below the canopy, soils that result from the relatively open Beyond shade-grown coffee bushes, which replace differences abound. Obviously, the na- canopy. {Biological Conservation 125: a forest understory in Veracruz, Mexico, an open coffee are understory- 261-68, 2005) S.R. tive bushes gone, and — plantation rises on a deforested slope.

Unfrozen North

For at least a million years, sum- mertime north of the Arctic Cir-

cle has meant two months of partial melt. Unbroken expans- es of sea ice fracture into ice floes. Polar bears dive off the sturdy floes into the temporarily open seawater. Myriad birds nest along exposed shorelines.

But all that could soon change, say Monarchs overwintering in Michoacan, Mexico, prepare for their springtime Jonathan T Overpeck, a geophysicist at the migration to the U.S. University of Arizona in Tucson, and twenty colleagues from across North America. With- Fly Long, and use of energy reserves) than their in less than a century, they calculate, the Arc- parasite-free kin. tic Ocean may well be ice free in summer,

Live Longer The finding can help explain a curious and its shorelines permanently submerged.

In a laboratory in Atlanta, Catherine A. phenomenon. Monarchs from the eastern For the past thirty years, the extent of

Bradley and Sonia M. Altizer, both ecolo- United States and Canada undertake one of Arctic snow, glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice

gists at Emory University, put monarch but- the longest insect migrations known (as far has been diminishing. The loss of sea ice is

terflies through their paces on "flight mills." as 3,000 miles) to reach overwintering striking: the September averages have de-

An insect is glued to the end of a horizontal grounds in Mexico, and less than a tenth of clined by about 8 percent per decade. With

rod that is free to rotate about a central the population carries parasites. In contrast, less and less surface covered for progressive-

axle. The monarch flutters round and round, monarchs from the western U.S. migrate a ly shorter periods by white, highly reflective

while a computer registers the number and shorter distance, to coastal California, and ice, the melting rate is on the rise. Soon, ac- speed of the rod's rotations. many more, about a third, are infected. The cording to Overpeck and his colleagues, the

The purpose of the exercise is not to most extreme cases are the tropical mon- interrelations among the factors that jointly

turn the butterflies into paragons of health, archs, which aren't known to migrate at all; sustain the Arctic as a system—the thickness, but rather to test their long-distance flight more than three-quarters of them are af- coverage, and reflectivity of the ice; the performance. Bradley and Altizer found flicted with O. elektroscirrha. Perhaps, amounts of precipitation and evaporation; that monarchs heavily infected with the Bradley and Altizer suggest, the rigors of the saltiness of the seawater; the kinds and

common protozoan parasite Ophryocystis travel cull butterflies infected with para- activities of resident organisms—will break

elel

cent less proficient as fliers (measured by a healthier the population. (Ecology Letters the Arctic Ocean liquid year-round. (Eos

combination of flight speed, endurance. 8:290-300, 2005) —S.R. 86:309-1 6, 2005) —Avis Lang

12 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 Amuse Me Secret Forays or Lose Me Many migrating songbirds are on the wing in the middle of the night, a flight

Fish populations are declining throughout risk for birds not accustomed to the dark. the world. One way to buck the trend is to So how does a bird develop its "stellar raise large numbers offish in hatcheries and compass"—long suspected as the main release them into the wild. Alas, it's a tough navigational tool of long-distance migra- world out there, and artificially raised fish tors— if it normally sleeps at night? How, usually grow up lacking the skills and moti- for that matter, does it recognize its home vation they need to find food and escape turf, its future breeding sight, in the dark predators. But a simple solution to the (a key question for the return trip)? The problem may now be at hand. answer is surprisingly simple, though it's According to new research by two be- taken the latest technological gadgetry to havioral ecologists, Victoria A. Braithwaite tease it out: young songbirds, like of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, teenagers, just stay up late. and Anne G. V. Salvanes of the University A team of Russian ornithologists, led by of Bergen, Norway, the trick is to spruce Andrey Mukhin of the Max Planck Institute Eurasian reed warbler up the dull environment in which such fish for Ornithology in Andechs, Germany, at- usually grow. Cod, for instance, are reared tached miniature radio transmitters to each nocturnal forays around their own patch of in featureless tanks, where they get the of several dozen juvenile Eurasian reed war- Earth. Mukhin and his colleagues conclude same food pellets, at the same time, every blers, Acrocephalus scirpsceus, as the juve- that in so doing, the fiedglings learn about day. Braithwaite and Salvanes added peb- niles began to prepare for migration. Young the subtleties of celestial navigation—not bles, rocks, and plastic kelp to the nursery songbirds don't get much time for flight to mention what their home turf looks like tanks, and every day they varied the time practice; the journey begins, on average, from the air—before they depart for good. and location of the meals. Compared with just fifty days after hatching. So the biolo- {Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 272: cod artificially raised in the usual manner, gists found that the birds cram their "instru- 1535-39,2005) the cod raised under the new condi- ment"-fiying lessons into twelve days of —N.W.A. tions were quicker to explore a new environ- Nature's Little Power Plants ment in the labo-

ratory, took less As if gobbling up some of humankind's worst branes (proteins embedded in the outer time to recover pollutants—solvents, dry-cleaning chemicals, membrane then may be able to conduct the from distur- pesticides, and the like—weren't electric current gener- bances, and helpful enough, a certain mi- ated by the potential switched croorganism has revealed yet difference). Desulfito-

more quickly another useful talent. bacterium, however, is

Harold D. May, a microbiol- Gram-positive, with

ogist at the Medical University just one cell membrane

of South Carolina in Charles- that may or may not ton, and his colleagues were carry embedded pro- exploring the pollution-eating teins. So the bacterium

abilities of Desulfitobac- must make electricity Two wormlike bacteria (genus in distinct terium, a genus of Desulfitobacterium), magnified a way; the freshwater anaero- 3,300 diameters, deposit electric mechanism remains a bic bacteria, when charge on an electrode (diagonal mystery that May is

he discovered substrate). still exploring.

that it also Desu/fitobacter/um

makes electricity. is also the only known electricity-producing What surprised microorganism that can form spores—inac- from a diet of pellets to one of live shrimp. May was not that bacteria can tive life stages that can withstand extreme Boldness, fiexibility, and willingness to generate electricity; that has been known drying, heat, and radiation. May imagines try new food may boost the chances of sur- since 1912. But Desu/fitobacter/um is quite that a fuel cell powered by Desulfitobacteri- vival in the wild. Restocking programs that distinct from other electricity-generating um could remain dormant for long periods combine these rearing methods with care- bacteria. Until May's discovery, microbiolo- before springing to life. Perhaps one could ful selection of good local genetic stock gists thought only Gram-negative bacteria, be made suitable for long-distance space could help to mold fully functional citizens with two cell membranes (an inner and an travel. (Presented at the 105th General of the deep. {Proceedings of the Royal outer), could create a voltage, or electric po- Meeting of the American Society for Micro- Society B, 272:1107-13, 2005) —S.R. tential difference, between the two mem- biology, June 5-9, 2005) —R.E.K.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 13 UNIVERSE Energy to Burn

Conserved, consumed, or converted,

it's the engine that drives every event.

By Neil deGrasse Tyson

word "energy" pops up Theeverywhere nowadays. Did you have enough energy to get out of bed on time this morning? Does that vitamin-charged, candy- colored sports drink deUver the energy promised in the ads? How much energy do you spend chasing your kids? Are your energy costs going up this winter? Will new sources ofrenewable energy alleviate the new energy crisis? Words that get used in many different ways tend to invoke elusive or imprecise concepts. In spite of some abuses within the New Age move-

ment, "energy" is not that kind of

word. What it describes is real and measurable. Energy drives everything that has ever happened in the universe.

Without it, nothing would move, no tasks would ever be started or finished, and no events would ever take place. Across the cosmos, energy takes on multiple identities and spans a staggering range of strengths. At the lowest

end, though not quite at zero, is the so- called quantum vacuum, also known as

the zero-point field. It's the closest possible approximation of total lethargy offered by the universe. (Paradoxically, given hydrogen atom in interstellar and enough impact energ)' to wipe a

the zero-point field of the entire cos- space does a stately "spin flip," which major city clean of all its structures and

mic vacuum may account for the mys- shifts it to a slightly lower energy and inhabitants. Unlike friendly asteroids, terious acceleration of the universe.) releases a radio wave—a big event in the with friendly names hke 445 Edna or Individual electrons are a few steps up life of that atom, but nothing you'd 1060 MagnoUa or even 13123 Tyson, the energy scale. They whirl around the write home about. asteroid Apophis bears the Greek name protons and neutrons of the atomic nu- Take a big leap up the scale, and you ofthe Egyptian god of chaos, darkness, cleus at assorted energy levels that trace get to the destructive potential of the destruction, and evil.

concentric clouds. Once every 10 mil- thousand-foot-wide asteroid 99942 Stronger still is the raging furnace in

lion years or so, the lone electron in any Apophis, which has Earth in its path the Sun's core, which generates enough

14 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 ¥5=4 .^,

Upper Class Just uot Lower Priced

Finally, luxury built for value—not for false status Only a few of us are born with silver recent clients include the most famous The Magiiificat is not sold in any store. spoons in our mouths. And until morning news host, the infamous Stauer sells it directly to you through a Stauer came along, you needed an captain of a certain starship, last year's special arrangement with the publisher inheritance to buy a timepiece with class best actor nominee and a former best actor of this magazine, so we bypass the outra- and refinement. That has suddenly winner. They were all clever enough to geous markups at luxury jewelry stores. changed. The Stauer Magnificat brings the recognize a spectacular value. Try the Magnificat for 30 days and if you impeccable quality and engineering once It took three years of development are not receiving compliments, please found only in the collections of the idle and $26 million in state-of-the art Swiss- return the watch for a full refund of the rich. If you have actually earned your built machinery to create the Magnificat. purchase price. The precision-built move- living through intelligence, hard work, Look at the interior dials and azure- ment carries a 2 year warranty against and perseverance, you will now be reward- colored hands. Turn the watch over defect. If you trust your own good taste, ed with a timepiece with understated class and examine the 2 7-jeweled automatic the Magnificat is built for you. This watch that will always be a symbol of refined movement through the transparent back. is a limited edition, so please act quickly. taste. The striking case, fused in 18k gold, When we took the watch to our local Our last two limited edition watches are compliments etched ivory-colored an dial luxury watchmaker, he disassembled the totally sold out! exquisitely. By using advanced computer watch and studied the escapement, design and robotics, we have been able to balance wheel and the rotor. He remarked Tlie Stauer Magnificat • $178.95 +S&H or drastically reduce the price on this on the detailed guilloche face, gilt winding 3 Payments o/^559.«+S&H precision movement. crown, and the crocodile-embossed leather Do you have enough confidence to pay band. He was intrigued by the three 800-721-0387 less? Status seekers are willing to overpay interior dials for day, date, and 24-hour Promotional Code MAC105-01 just to wear a designer name. Not the moon phases. He estimated that this fine Please mention this when you call. Stauer client. The Stauer is built for timepiece would cost over $2,500. all We To order by mail, please call for details. people who have their own good taste and smiled and told him that the Stauer price understand the value of their was less than $179. He was stunned. We dollar—finally, luxury built for confident felt like we had accomplished our task. StAucr people. And this doesn't mean the rich A truly magnificent watch at a truly 14101 Southcross Drive W!, Dept. MAG105-01 aren't smart. Quite the contrary, Stauer's magnificent price! Burnsville, Minnesota 55337

For fastest service, call toll-free 24 hours a day 800-72 l-038'3j|^P '^^ Visit us online at www.Stauer.comfor the complete line of Watches, Jewelry and Collectibles nuclear energy in one second to supply ground at the border ber^veen France could not have come about without the the needs of evers' person on Earth for and Switzerland, inside a tunnel seven- physics of Ne\vton. The Priiicipia,

a trillion years. Up near the high end is teen miles long, t\vo beams of protons Newton's seminal 1687 treatise on the omnipresent cosmic microwave will coUide with a total energy of four- motion and gravity; pro\'ided the con- background; although weak and harm- teen teraelectronvolts. That's the level ceptual machinery to understand and

less locally, in its entirety it holds some of coUision energy you'd find among predict the interplay offerees, matter, ninet\' powers often more energy than particles in a gas heated to a toasty 200 and motion. That interplay would

the hydrogen spin flip. Way at the top quadrillion (2 x 10 ') degrees. The last prove fundamental in the design of any

of the scale is the big bang: the sum time anyplace in the universe reached hunk of hardware that expends energy total of all the cosmic energy' that ever such soaring temperatures was a tril- and does work—notably the machines was or will be, and the beginning of Uonth of a second after the big bang. ofgrowing complexity that, during the everything we know and love. What we on Earth commonly rank as high-energy events—hurricanes Neva' is the energy of a hurricane along the Gulf Coast, nor'easters in New England, volcanic explosions in or an earthquake strong enough the Cascades, earthquakes in the Indian to disturb an atomic nucleus. Ocean—rank rather low on the cosmic energy scale, even though such events take a horrific toU on lives and property. Yet in none of those natural disasters The quest to explore, control, and Industrial Revolution, drastically al- is the energy high enough in any single ultimately transcend the realm of tered the nature of agriculture, manu- spot to disturb an atomic nucleus. earthly energy enjoys a history almost facturing, transportation, and daily hfe. What about the energetic domains as old as civilization. The ancient Advances in the design of such ma- beyond the natural but Umited range Greeks, as usual, had something to say chines came in lockstep with advances

available on our own planet? In the about the subject. Energeia is their word, in the measurement and manipulation 1930s, physicists succeeded in concen- usually translated as "acti\'ity." To Aris- ofenergy—including an understanding

trating energy into a very small space totle the word signified work, move- of how, when, and where to store it for

for a very short time. They did it by ment, or concrete, tangible change. later use, in everything from batteries to smashing atomic nuclei together in Energeia contrasted with dynainis, bombs to rocket boosters. particle accelerators, then watching "potentiality," which signified the what took place during the collision. ability, capacity, or pov/er to do some- Many kinds of machines, of Ever since, with each new generation thing. Back then, however, neither course, have performed usefial of technology, increasingly powerful energeia nor dynamis was something work for millennia. The energ)' of accelerators have slammed subatomic you measured. falHng water has driven wheels that particles together at ever higher speeds, As late as the seventeenth century, have turned millstones that have focusing ever more energy into ever energy was an ill-defined concept, ground grain. In early medieval Eu-

smaller volumes. This exercise in en- even to Isaac Newton, and was all but rope, waterwheels powered olive ergy leapfrogging has pushed physicists absent from writings on the physical presses, crushed mash, drove pumps, to probe regimes of energy that great- properties of the cosmos. Only in the and operated the bellows of the ly exceed the centers of the hottest nineteenth century did the study ofen- blacksmith's fiirnace and forge. Wind, stars. The most powerful accelerators ergy come of age, with the invention too, has long driven wheels: wind- probe key episodes in the formation of ofthe branch ofphysics known as ther- mills were in use by the seventh cen-

the universe itself. modynamics. When combined with tury A.D. in the Middle East and not Yes, particle physicists do have an the analysis of stellar spectra, the sci- long thereafter in Europe and China. occasional twinge of energy envy, ence ofastronomy was reborn near the By Newton's day, common machines the your-smasher-is-bigger-than-my- turn of the t\ventieth century as the included the foot-operated t\vo-bar smasher kind. But building huge science of astrophysics: the study of the loom; the two-wheeled, animal-

accelerators is the only way to cozy coldest, the hottest, the least energetic, drawn plow; the spring-driven clock; up to the building blocks of matter. and the most energetic objects and and the printing press.

The latest-generation machine is the phenomena in the cosmos. Those early machines were useful Large Hadron Collider at CERN (the In spite of the near-absence of the because they could change one kind of European Organization for Nuclear concept of energ\' in seventeenth-cen- morion into another. But urJike the

Research), scheduled to be turned on turs' science, the culturally seismic event machines of the Industrial Revolution, in 2007. Three hundred feet under- known as the Industrial Revolution they did not meaningfully transform

16 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 M ATM DAI Subscribe now and HiSTOlW SAVE Vo^46%

Diyear- $25 D 2 years -$42 JS1D7 n Payment enclosed D Bill me later YEARLY BENEFITS • 10 issues of Natural History Name • A one-time free admission pass to the American Museum of NaturalHistory Address. • Discount on a ticketto one of tine IMAX* shows City duringyour visit State • Discount on purchases from Museum gift shops -Zip. www.naturalhistorymag.com Outside the please U.S. add $10 postage per year. Please pay in U.S. dollars or by credit card (we accept MasterCard, Visa, AmEx). Once payment is received your pass(es) will be mailed to you. 70% of your payment goes to NATURAL HISTORY. *Savings are based on the $3.95 per issue newsstand price. I

NO POSTAGE NECESSARY 46°/" IF MAILED {o IN THE Sov^w? UNITED STATES

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO 55 HARLAN lA POSTAGEmmWILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE PO BOX 3030 HARLAN lA 51593-2091

1,1. 1. M. 11,1, I.I.I. ...Mm. I. III. ..I. Il.l.l.l Explore Miracles efMysteries in the only magazine

of its kind— forjust $25!

(mbark on an adventure you'll never forget—from phosphorescent fish on the ocean floor to new galaxies being born at the edge of the universe, from ancient civilizations to the future of cyberspace.

All in our unique magazine, world-acclaimed for its award-winning color photographs and reportage by leading scientists, educators and writers. Yours in Natural History—iot ^25! You save 37% off the newsstand price.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY ef ENJOY THESE YEARLY BENEFITS > A free (one-time only) general admission pass to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City > A discount on a ticket to the Museum's spectacular IMAX® Theater during your visit

I> Discounts on unique items in Museum gift shops, including books, crafts, jewelry and collectibles

THREE EASY WAYS TO ORDER:

Call toll-free: 1-800-234-5252, (Outside the U.S.: 1-515-247-7631)

Online: www.naturalhistorymag.com

Fax:1-712-733-1277 one kind ot energy into another. They century, machines were powered by the did not consume chemical energy in preloaded chemical energy in food: the torm ot coal or petroleum and turn feed a person a bowl ofgruel and a beast

it into mechanical energy. They were of burden a pile of hay, attach one to a not powered by electrical energy. They loom and the other to a plow, and you did not generate vast amounts of excess could get a full day's work out of both. thermal energy—otherwise known as But the steam engine (and other en-

heat. In fact, their inventors were not gines) made it possible to extract pre-

even thinking about energy—which is loaded chemical energy firom wood or

Since the Industrial Revolution, ^^ people have depended on machines that convert one form of energy

into another. !

perfectly understandable, because no- coal instead of from food. And the body yet understood the concept. transformation was self-evident: you Buy the Last 1921 Morgan But in 1769 the technology for en- extracted chemical energy firom fiiel to its great leap heat Silver Dollar BU at a Sale Price ergy conversion took water so as to make thermal ener- forward. In that year James Watt, a (steam) that would produce me- and get a FREE 1921-1935 gy Scottish craftsman who made precision chanical energy (the working engine). BU Peace SOver Dollar! instruments, secured his patent for "A Since the Industrial Revolurion, the New Invented Method of Lessening natural sources ofchemical energy have BOTH FOR $29 the Consumption ofSteam and Fuel in multipUed: gasoUne, kerosene, propane, Fire Engines." Watt's patent covered an peanut shells, used cooking oU, sugar Introductory Offer: Guaranteed improvement in the design ofthe steam beets. Atomic nuclei arejust a high-tech Brilliant Uncirculated! Own both — these great American silver dollars engine, which at the rime was a wild- variation on the same theme -just an- in lustrous mint-state quality for ly inefficient (and dangerous) device for other energy source, which happens to substantially less than you'd pay transforming heat energy into me- be nuclear. for one elsewhere. (You could chanical energy. The pre-Watt engine Ways of converting energy have also actually pay for these $90 both converted, at best, only about 1 per- multiplied. Consider the so-called silver dollars in a competitor's cent of the steam's heat energy into pyroelectric effect: Take a crystal of catalog.) U.S. Mint Chief Engraver usable mechanical energy. Uthiuni tantalate, douse it in deuterium George T. Morgan slightly As Watt came up with more and more gas, cool it to about —30 degrees Fahren- redesigned his famous silver dollar iniprovements, and owners heit, then applyjust heat to raise for the final 1921 date. He also more more enough modified relief on the succeeding of tin mines, cotton mills, and grain its temperature to about 45 degrees in U.S. Peace silver dollar, the last mills turned to steam power, and when a few minutes. The crystal will produce used in American commerce. We'll his patent lapsed in 1800, other inven- an electric field strong enough to ac- rush you beautiful mint quality with tors jumped at the chance to make im- celerate the deuterium nuclei to about no trace of wear (some bag marks provements of their own. In 1804 the 1 percent the speed of Ught, causing will be present, as is normal). Our world's first steam locomotive hauled them to flise together into helium nu- choice of date for the Peace dollar. ten tons of iron and seventy men along clei and release an X ray. Sounds Hke the New customers only. Set: $29 a Welsh tramway a few miles north of pyroelectric effect would make a handy (#34785). Limit 2 sets. NO "on approval" coins to return. Add total Cardiff. And in 1807 the world's first source of fi-ee energy, doesn't it? of $2 postage and handling. 30-Day commercial steamboat service made its But somebody had to make the No-Risk Home Examination: maiden run, plying the Hudson River crystal in the first place, somebody else Money-Back Guarantee. To order between New York City and Albany. had to isolate the deuterium gas, and by credit card, call the toll-free a lab technician had to plant the ex- number below. Or send a check steam engine, Kke all other ma- periment in a freezer plugged into the or money order to: A chines, runs on fuel—material wall. In this instance, you don't win. International Coins & Currency preloaded with energy that's ready to You might have, though: the energy 62 Ridge St., Dept. 4628 Montpelier, VT 05602 be tapped. Before the late eighteenth of a helium nucleus is less than that of 1-800-451-4463 Order at www.iccoin.net (many more great deals) 14628 18 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 >ave Hundreds of Dollars on the BELLOHOWELC 10.0 Mega-Pixel Digital Camera Dazzling Digital Color, 10.0 Mega Pixels/UNBEATABLE PRICE!

Loaded With Features: • 10.0 mega pixels • Doubles as camcorder BaiAHMBl ! • Up to 160 pictures in built-in 16MB memory • Built-in microphone & speaker • Vsts interpolation to achieve 10.0 mega pixels • USB cable & TV cable • • • Ultra small &. slim (3V<'"x2Vii'"x7'<") • Supported 0/S: Microsoft Windows 98SE, 1 \ • Up to 8X digital :oom ME. 2000. XP, Mac OS 9.1. 1 0.1 fik • Crystal clear 1.5" color LCD screen • Free Software: Ulead Photo Explorer 8.0 SE, • Sliding cover protects lens Ulead Video Studio 7.0 SE, Ulead Cool 360 tV • Includes 2 "AAA" batteries and \works c • And more! AAA lithium batteries as well

i • Built-in flash • Self timer &. continuous shots • Still/video mode • 20-second voice mi?mo BELLOHOWELl

Ultra Light^ ., Ten Mega Pixel Digital Camera 16MB. Built-in Ultni Slim '/« LCD Screen Super-advanced digital camera Doubles as a camcorder How can we offer this quality at such a price? This camera has 3X the detail-resolution ot many digital Capture those once-in-a-litetime events in movie mode: We have a special arrangement to offer you the

cameras. It takes astoundingly beautiful photographs -from baby's first steps, accepting a diploma, catching the vved- Bell+Howeir Digital Camera at a fraction of the price of a macro detail-shot oi a flower up to an 8X digital zoom ding bouquet. You get 25 seconds of streaming video with other Digital Cameras (due to high volume capabilities). But at this price, we expect our inventory to sell out fast! portrait to a distant panorama on select settings. Color is built in flash memory and over 3 minutes on a 128 MB Ask for special pricing when you buy two digital cameras. richer and more brilliant. Clarity is knife-edge sharp, and memory' card (not included). tones are incredibly true to lite. Free bonuses with every order! $75-worth of FREE software Cr cables We will also ship you a Bell+HowelT Tripod and Camera Never run out of batteries Your purchase includes a TV cable and a USB cable for Carrying Case, a $29.95 value, FREE with ever^' order. Many digital cameras require expensive, hard to find bat- your PC or Mac as well as software to catalog and browse Warranteed. Call today! NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES, teries. This camera works on ordinary alkaline AAA bat- photos, add special effects, or create a slideshow with teries, rechargeable AAA batteries or AAA lithium ion For fastest service, call toll-free music. Our digital camera and software allow you to display batteries. So it's easy to keep extra batteries on hand and your pictures on your computer, TV screen, the camera's easy to find replacements if you should run out. own LCD screen, or print them almost anywhere. 1-800-961-5228 tours 7 days week / we accept checks by phone Almost as small as a credit card with big 24 a day. a built in memory Trust Bell+HowelP with your memories

This camera is so small it can fit in your shirt pocket. Yet For almost 100 years Bcll+HowelL has been a leader in electronics. BELLOHOWELC it has an amazing 16 o( built-in tlash memory to store providing fine photographic equipment and MB Bell+Howell' Digital Camera Dept. 7456 resolution. they have done it again! This is a precision-engi- up to 160 photographs depending on Preserve Now P. 0. Box 3012 Wallingford, CT 06492 nearly a lifetime of photographs by using the camera's SD neered camera you can rely on to capture and preserve To order by mail please call toll free

card slot for removable memory cards. life's most precious and treasured moments. 1-800-961-5228 for details.

Save up to $80 on the BELLOHOWELC Sunlight Lamp! Enjo^ sunshine eveiy day of the yearAndoarsl

CLEARER, , EASY ON THE EYES FOR READING, WORK, AND HOBBIES Colors look more vivid and true to life Sharp visibility for details Helps reduce eyestrain

So much like sunshine it feels like you're on vacation!

The Bell & Howell Sunlight Lamp could be the most important advance in

|, , lamps since the invention of the light bulb! It simulates outdoor sunlight,

which is balanced across the entire spectrum of color visible to the human eye.

Everything seems easier to see

' This is the clearest, whitest, and brightest lamp we have found. Colors look more vivid and true to life.

It's the perfect light for reading, worl

making this the perfect companion light for computer work.

Save $$$ on your electric bills! The supplied high-tech 27-watt bulb gives as much light as an ordinary 150-watt bulb, but uses far less

energy.The bulb can last up to 5000 hours - 5 times longer than other bulbs—for years of normal use.

We've nicknamed our Sunlight Lamp the "It's great to be alive lamp!"

Many people say that dreary, dark days make them feel "blue" and that bright sunny days have a

cheerful and energetic effect. Now you can switch on the sunlight indoors every day of the year!

A word about this unheard of price

Bell & Howell has been a leader in developing cutting edge products for almost r-=1^ state-of-the-art the ''m Table Lamp 100 years. This lamp features the performance you expect from ' WSwordinary. lamp' Also Available well-respected Bell & Howell name. We have a special arrangement to offer it to you

Only $39.95 at an unbelievably low price. Orders will be filled on Call toll-free TODAY to order your Bell & Howell a first come, first served basis. 3 year warranty. Sunlight Lamps while supplies last! Floor Lamp (S0.5"lligh): $49.95 plus S&H Table Lamp (26"lligll): $39.95 plus S&H call toll .free For fastest service Bell & Howell Sunlight Lamp, Dept. 6877 P. O. Box 3012 Wallingford, CT 06492 1-800-886-6882 To order by mail please call toll free

BELLOHOWELC 24 hours a 7 days a week / accept checks by phone! 1 day. We -800-886-6882 for details. two separate deuterium nuclei, and thermodynamics. Formulated in the Access means consumption, of the difference gets released as heat and nineteenth century, and stated in the course, and real civilizations here on

light. Problem is, this emission barely form you might recognize fi^om mid- Earth do plenty ofconsumption. In the makes up for the investment of ener- dle-school science class, one key law of first year of the twenty-first century, gy that got you there. The dream be- thermodynamics is that energy can be fossH fliels—a total of nearly 9 biUion hind nuclear fusion reactors is to fuse transformed from one kind to another tons—provided 80 percent of all the hydrogen into helium—as the Sun but can never be created or destroyed. energy our planet's inhabitants con- does every moment ofevery day—but Modified in the age of Einstein, that sumed. And Americans, who consti- to do it in a controlled, efficient way law—the first law of thermodynam- tute less than 5 percent of the world's that releases significantly more energy ics—declares that the total ofmatter and population, consume more than one- than you put in. energy cannot be created or destroyed. fifth of the world's energy nowadays.

We're not quite in first (or last) place, though. Per capita, Canadians consume more energy than we do. So do Bah- A type II civilization could harness, raini and Luxembourgers. Icelanders, at will, the entire energy production whose country produces plenty of re-

newable geothermal energy from its of its host star. multimdinous hot springs, top the list.

New York City, by the way, is a model of energy efficiency, thanks, in large When you pull your fiiel supply The second law is that the universe is a measure, to mass transit and to the lo- out of the ground (as with grass one-way street, in which systems, left cals' scaled-back use ofthe automobile.

or petroleum or coal) or get it from the to themselves, will become more and Only one in four residents of the five

sky (as with sunlight or wind), it may more disordered. Those two laws gov- boroughs owns a car. Nationally, there seem Kke a free lunch. But preloading ern the thermodynamic goings-on are three cars for every four people, and a substance with chemical energy, par- within every machine, as well as the se- the folks who own SUVs might use a ticularly a substance that takes as long quence ofevents in every laboratory ex- gallon of gas for the round trip to the to form as petroleum does, requires a periment ever conducted. grocery store to buy a gallon of rmlk. lot ofwork. Earth, rather than a farmer No discourse on energy should end or a coal miner, may have done the In 1964 the Russian astronomer without noting that Americans are physical or chemical labor, and the Nikolai Kardashev proposed that some 6 biUion pounds overweight. We

process may have taken weeks or access to energy is a meaningftil basis for carry enough excess preloaded ener- months or millennia. Nevertheless, classifying civilizations. On the so-called gy—roUs and slabs of fat, layered on converting a forest into petroleum, or Kardashev scale, a type I civilization can our bellies and butts—to sustain the grass seed and COt into hay, is not done harness, at will, any or all of the energy entire population of Afghanistan for a

without the expenditure of at least as on and within its home planet. It con- year. Here's another way you could

much energy as you would recover from trols all the sunlight that falls to its plan- look at it: much ofour excess fat comes

the fuel itself So there's no free lunch. et's surface, and could, if desired, reach from the animals we've eaten, which

And no machine is 100 percent effi- into a volcano or a hurricane and tap its got their energy from the plants they

cient: when it converts one form ofen- energy the way you tap a faucet. A more ate, which got their energy from the ergy to another, you never get as much advanced, type II civilization can tap the sunHght they absorbed, which could

usable energy out as the total amount entire energy production of its host star; be traced back to the fusion of hydro-

of energy that went in. Because of in- a type III civLUzation, all the energy of gen into heHum in the core ofthe Sun.

ternal friction, some energy is always all the stars in its host galaxy. With ac- So, if nothing else, American bodies "lost" as heat—the lowest, least usefial cess to that much energy, just imagine are formidable repositories ofsolar en- form of energy. That's the main reason how much trouble you could get into! ergy. Too bad we don't all tap into those

no machine, left to its own devices, will So where do earthlings fit in? Hate "strategic reserves" and walk off our run forever. In other words, nature for- to break the news, but any civihzation current energy crisis. bids the perpetual motion machine. So, so fragile that its members must

not only is there no free lunch, but the stockpile fossil fuels, run away from Astrophysicist NEIL DEGiLiSSE Ti'SO.v is the lunch you're served is always smaller erupting volcanoes, evacuate cities in director of the Haydeti Planetarium at the Amer- than the one you ordered. advance of hurricanes, and rush to ican Museum of Natural History. His latest

But no matter what the attributes of high ground during tsunamis is not in hook, co-authored with Donald Goldsmith, is the machine, its behavior follows cos- charge of its own planet, and can be Origins: Fourteen Billion Years ot Cosmic mic rules. Among them are the laws of none other than type zero. Evolution (IV IV Norton, 2004).

20 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 delivers QPB ^CaO^"^^ ^ REVOLUTIONARY PRICES'. THE, Cho©3 ; \<\.\V: SELF-TEf' JHI^^M '•'•**»^" ' books (with membership)

^cPeiJ'inalitTil? \ rellowes Mfi!:irr^-. j^ 1,000 Malcolm Gladwell, author of These 25 tests, developed by The Oscars-winning screen- (

split-second decisions. and personality. hilariously snobbish people" 16-28W 43-9868 —Oominick Dunne. QP8 Price: (MM $1 QP8 Price: (M» $1 56-5912 03-5019 47-4095 49-0273 95-8454 51-1823 QPB Price: (WW SI QPB Price: (44(16 $1 QPBPrice:t4ti48 $7 QPB Price: t4«M $t QPBPrlce:tS6.W £7 QPB Price: (4MS $1

DAVID UIFBEHMAIi.,. GET MllflllJIIHlll COLLAPSE - Drawing rn, ELIrtEflT/.- e^r ^'clp I]otk Eimrs BRAIN ANYONE . tnCYCLOPEDIA GUIDE TO "5000 DUMMIES BUiLDlNC G I L E toDO^ the five ESStNTUL AD people KNOWLEaSE I GAMES ANYTHING i you meet Never -o AND FtEi in he-iven PowKiEss Again ^

54-M77 82-S333 82-8348 23-8876 15-5473 30-4305 99-3148 '69-0960/99-9999 A92-078e OPBPiice:ttM> $1 QP8Price:t4Mt $7 QPBPrice:644r4» £7 QPB Price: t4M6 S7 QPB Price: tSMS $1 QPB Price: (4«^ ?7 QPB Price: t44r48 £7 QPB Price: tWiW $^ QPB Price: (MM $1 NO -- PLOT? MO PROBLEM!

79-0514 15-5283 39-3118 66-8123 65-5353 76-1234/99-9999 77-4080 96-1749 46-8329 QPB Price: t4M» $1 QPB Price: t4M« $1 QPB Price: (4MS $1 QPB Price: t42.W $1 QPB Price: (WW $1 QPB Price: (MM $^ QPB Price: $4488 ,^7 QPB Price: (4M« $7 QPB Price: (4«M $1

t counts es 2 Choice. A groat seiectlon of books in quality softcover editions!

st:x :

parlies 1

Mail to: "Please write 6-digit book POBox»t28 *NOTE: To select a book that numbers here: counts as 2, write tiie book Camp Hill. PA 17001-9222 QPB number in one rovtf of boxes and 99-9999 in tfie next row. •094)998/99-9999 07-3612 Check one main QPB Price: t»M S2 QPB Price: tMM $1 For faster ordering, join online at www.joinQPB.com reading Interest: Fiction n Yes! Please enroll me in QPB according to the risk-free membersfiip plan Science/History described on page 2. Send me the 4 BOOKS I have indicated at right. Bill me $4, plus a Biographies/ shipping and handling. I agree to buy just 1 more book in the next year. Please send my Descriitionar.y Memoirs n FREE Gilt with membership. a Self-Help/Health Sign a Current Affairs/ Here: EVERYTHING Nonfiction YOU KNOW IS Must be 1 8 & over or parent must sign. Languages/ WRONG Reference Mr./Mrs. Do you have a Miss/Ms. Plus a telephone? 97-3512 44-3074 OYes No QP8Prfce:ttMt $7 QPBPitce:t4M» $7 a Have you ever bought Address _ FREE anything by mail? nves a No How have you paid? Ullli nnembership OCash to How Cook a Credit Card Everything Check City. .State. ZIP O Money Order great online-only with Sinpta Rcdpc* for Cnu fisotl T Hear about our salesi Please supply us your e-mail address.^

MarkBittman AGM113 ^Go Online and enter this Code Members accepted in USA and Canada onfy. Canadian members serviced frum Canada, where

offer is slightly different Sales tax added where 66-0765 *17-8515/99-9999 contents not Inducted l»DE»S»HH»l»113«lQ«A(-)«bDS applicable. Membership subject to appmval. QPB Price: tt44« 57 QPB Price: mM $2 QPB0509PT-01 NH 09/22/05 G B 1 Amazing^ N fi 1 A

Quiz SINGH Challenge 5IM0N DAN BROWN A GRAMMAR BOOK FOR l^i&ff^^ YOU AND^ [NYT] 1 "A rich, tactile portrait" Wittil 0,000 q-and-a's to "Hugely entertaining"

(New Yori( Times) tliat some 725 cool quizzes of stotv of how maverick

all scientists discovered the liss delves deeply into Iran's types, get ready to be 1 1 ANG5LS underground youth challenged like never before. origin of the universe. POSITIONS subculture. •67-4550/99-9999 76-4578 1 DEM!DNS

27-0869 Price: amPtim-.PiM $1 OPB tWJ»5P 86-3290 31-9024 24-3625 15-7677 57-0720 QPB Price: (MM $1 QPB Price: ;».« $1 QPB Price: (48.40 £7 QPBPriCG:(tM8f7 QP8Price:t4«M$7 QPB Price: tWiM^ -OUR- Drtsi Vonr Farail? lODIES, AGAINST n CordDfai and Dcilm

W y PHILIP ROTH

39-2070 89-0483 56-9203 53-7970 66-2223 03-9821 05-5140 39-3284 56-9229

Price: Price: SI QPB Price: QPB Price: «tMB 57 QPB Prira: t4Mt . QPB Price: mM $1 QPB Price: $44.(» 57 QPB Price: t4M« 57 QPB Price: t4«.4« S1 QPB tUM SI QPB tUM V»M S1 f}

- READING LOLITA I0NATH.1N —rjllJ\ THE Digital IN TEHRAN STR.^NGE DA VINCI Photography \ PERRICONE &• CODE r PROMISE Ml NORRKL [ DECODED

R^Uil J^^^' •»1 ^t^l % 77-0393 A84-6949 94-7080 86-1235 37-3920 19-2035 09-2168 95-1379 QPBPrice:$4MIS$7 QPB Price: tWMf} QPB Price: (444»;7 QPBPrice:t4MS $7 QPB Price: (tSM $7 QPB Price: (4tJ» £7 QPB Pries: $MS f 7 QPB Price: t4«M SI

r 1 8 Minutes job \ 'raveler's in the hunting ||«Wife Morning' secrets

it y -.'^I 1 • I, JOHOK CtlASl

44-^8 34-0044 05-0877 08-5316 23-9379 63-8862 69-1313 63-1343/99-9999 Price: 57 QPB Price: QPB Price: 134411 52 QPB Price: VMH $1 QPB Price: (**M $1 QPB Price: (43M $f QPB Price: t«4.t»^ QPB Price: tH.ti ^ QPB Price: t44J» 57 QPB (44.M t44<4a 5? ...... , . Qjunts as 2 choices

NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES with membership^

Get this Ovemight Bag FREE with membership just for

trying QPB. Our versatile tote has a spacious interior, big

front cargo pockets, shoulder strap, water bottle holder, and side panel pockets. Contents not included. How QPB Membership Works: BUSINESS REPLY MAIL You'll receive 4 books (or $1 each, plus shipping and handling and sales tax where applicable, wtien memtierehipf

FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 39 CAMP HILL, PA is confirmecJ (unless othervwse notified). Each OPS flwtor

lists our latest books at up to 60% off hardcover prices. POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE You'll get it free up lo 19 limes a year (atout every 3 weeks). If you want the Selection, do nothing; it will be sent

automatically II you want another book, or no book at all, QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB® complete the Reply Form always enclosed and return it by the date given. You may also respond by phone or on our PO BOX 6428 website. A shipping and handling charge (and sales tax CAMP HILL PA 17001-9222 where applicaljle) is added to each shipment Club editions are full-length hardcover or softcover editions, sometimes

altered in size. Return Privilege: II our Review is delayed and you receive the Selection without hawng had 10 days

to notify us, just send it back at our expense and owe

nothing. Cancellations: After you buy 1 more book in the next year, you can cancel any time by notifying us.

ADummies Books is a trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. I. ..III. ..Ill, nil III.I....I.I..I.I..I.I.II.. in the United States and other countries. Used by permission. FIELD NOTES Kahuna Chronicles

An archaeologist traces a sacred Hawaiian valley

from myth to modern times.

Waimea Valley, occupied in more recent times by plantation workers, cowboys, soldiers, and operators of tourist attractions, By Joseph Kennedy

conceals most of its indigenous past underground and in hard-to-reach hillside caves.

The Waimea River flows west- valley was also witness to human sac- chaeologist who has reviewed what is ward into the Pacific, on the rifice, the darkest element of the in- already known about the valley, I think

northwest coast of the island digenous religion. its grounds offer tremendous potential of O'ahu. About 900 years ago, ac- For forty generations Waimea Val- for revealing details about past Hves.

cording to Hawaiian lore, a chief ley and its sacred precincts stood as one named Kamapua'a (the breath mark is of Hawai'i's principal cathedrals. Yet There are just a few tidbits of an- pronounced as a glottal stop) recog- little more than a century after 1778, cient lore about the importance nized the rugged valley formed by the the year of the first European contact, of the valley, recorded during the ear- river and its tributaries as a special, the native Hawaiians were all but swept ly contact period. One tale about spiritual place and awarded its over- from the valley. Much of that pre-con- Waimea Valley is set in the bay at the sight to high priests of the Pa'ao hn- tact past now Hes buried along with its mouth of the river. It seems a man eage. The priests, members of one of former residents, whose bones rest in named Kane'aukai transformed himself the ancient Ha'waiian ruling classes, caves on the valley sides. The recon- into a stone the size of a human head were known as kalimia, and the eUte struction of that past has fallen to his- and a log the size of a body. Local fish- members of this group were known as torians and archaeologists. As an ar- ermen pulled his two parts from the sea kahuna nui, or "big kahu- nas"—a label that (stripped of its respectful meaning) has found its way into col- loquial EngUsh. Among the religious structures they erected in and around the valley was Pu'u o Mahuka. Situated on a cHfF overlooking the valley, it was O'ahu's largest heiaii, or temple. The

Etching based on a sketch by the Protestant missionary Hiram Bingham shows Bingham preaching in Waimea Valley in 1826. Seated near him are the Hawaiian queen, Ka'ahumanu, and, in all likelihood, Hewahewa, the last of the valley's high priests.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY I 21 and reunited them with- n 1795 Kamehameha

in a shrine, ensuring ever . the Great, chiefofthe afterward that fish would Big Island, also brought be locally plentiful. The Maui and O'ahu under stone and the log are long his dominion, thereby gone, but the shrine, unifying three of the made of rocks and re- major Hawaiian islands. cently reconstructed, stOl As king, with thousands stands on the shoreUne. ot square miles at his disposal, Kamehameha "^hen O'ahu was recognized the impor- w;first visited by tance of Waimea Valley Westerners, the kahuna and awarded it to his top Author's compilation of known surface sites reflects the nui in charge of Waimea spiritual adviser, Hewa- archaeological richness of Waimea Valley. Untold additional Valley was Ka'opulupulu. hewa, the last of the features lie concealed below ground or in unsurveyed areas to several lat- Pa'ao line destined to According upstream and on steep valley sides. er historical accounts, serve as the kahuna nui. Ka'opulupulu built temples in the val- Westerners' next visit to Waimea, The king died in 1819 on the Big ley in the late 1700s and used some of thirteen years later, proved to be a far Island, with Hewahewa at his side.

them for psychic communication with less idyllic encounter. Richard Hergest, The following year the first Christian people on the island of Kaua'i. He be- a former midshipman on the Resolution, missionaries reached the archipelago heved that thoughts were hke little gods was in command of his own vessel, the from New England. According to that flew above the earth as freely as supply ship Daedalus. Recalling the John Swift Emerson, one of the mis- soaring birds. Although archaeology warm reception and sweet water he had sionaries, their arrival had been proph- certainly cannot verify such psychic earher received, Hergest anchored in esied by Hewahewa, who had told events, preliminary radiocarbon dating the bay on May 7, 1792. In spite of Kamehameha, "O King, the god wiU of the sites attributed to Ka'opulupulu warnings from two Hawaiians on board soon land yonder," and had pointed appears to confirm the time frame. that "evil people" resided in Waimea to the exact spot where the mission-

The first Western ships to anchor off Valley and that there were no chiefs pre- aries later made landfall. Hewahewa O'ahu, in Waimea Bay, were Discovery sent, Hergest set off with the as- may well have invented this story as a and Resolution, commanded by captains tronomer William Gooch, a sailor means of ingratiating himself with the Gierke and King, shipmates ofthe Eng- named Franklin, and a Portuguese hand missionaries. Hsh explorer James Cook. They were named Manuel. Powerful Western influences were on their way to Kaua'i, following After reaching shore, Franklin and now propelling Hawai'i into an era of Cook's murder on the Big Island of Manuel busied themselves with the wa- rapid change. With Kamehameha's Hawai'i in February 1779. King com- ter casks while Gooch and Hergest death, the traditional system of laws or mented that the setting "was as beauti- wandered inland. Suddenly, men armed rules, called kapu, had begun to crum-

fril as any Island we have seen, and ap- with spears, daggers, and rocks came ble. In only a few generations, Chris-

pear'd very well Cultivated and Popu- running down from the valley's left tianity would supersede Hawai'i's na- lar." Clerke wrote in his journal: flank. The men were not ordinary vil- tive religion and priesthood. The in- lagers, but the wild and fearsome-look- digenous population—numbering On landing I was reciev'd with every token ing warriors called palmpu. Each man perhaps a milHon at the time of first ofrespect and friendship by a great number had one side of his body tattooed black contact—would shrink by three- ofthe Natives who were collected upon the from head to toe. fourths because of introduced disease. occasion; they every one of them prostrat- Manuel was killed first, his mangled The land itself would fall largely into ed themselves around me which is the first left the beach. Franklin man- foreign hands. American business in- mark of respect at these Isles. body on aged to break away and escape in the terests would put the final touch on the

The Englishmen had Hawaiian wo- boat. The last he saw of Hergest and process in 1898, with the forceful over- men on board, brought from the Big Gooch, they were being mobbed, throw of the Hawaiian monarchy. Island. At Waimea the women danced stoned, and stabbed. Years later a native Hewahewa, who saw the beginning a hula, which the sailors found quite historian, recounting how the two men of the transition, died in 1837 and was lascivious. From the deck of the Dis- met their end, reported that the natives buried in Waimea Valley. Rights to the covery, Wmiam Ellis, the ship's surgeon's said, "They cry, indeed—they are men valley eventually passed to his grand- second mate, painted an idyUic water- perhaps,—we thought them gods, their daughter Pa'alua. In 1848 the islands' color of the valley. eyes were so bright." (Continued on page 31)

22 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 special advertising sectio

THE GREAT OUTDOORS ———

special advertising section India

INDIA—STRETCHING 2,300 MILES FROM north to south— is so vast it has almost every kind of landscape imaginable. It has the stunning Himalayas, the world's highest and youngest mountains. In the far north, you'll find arid mountains, lakes, and forests; moving south, the country flattens out into fertile plains, foothills, and river valley. West India has some of the country's finest beaches and lush rainforests. With such varied terrain, from jungles to deserts, opportunities abound for nature enthusiasts.

Wildlife in India—from elephants to tigers to endangered species such as the leopard, lion, and

Siberian crane — is found in more than 70 national parks and about 400 wildlife sanctuaries. Visit the

Kaziranga Game Sanctuary to see the one-horned

rhino (India has about 80 percent of the world's population) and head to Keoladeo Ghana National adventuresome: a camel safari in the Rajasthan desert to see

Park (popularly known as the Bharatpur Bird the peacock's dance. One ecotourism camp, run by Snow

Sanctuary) in Rajasthan, near Delhi, to spot indige- Leopard Adventures (www.snowieopardadventures.com), is

nous water birds and migratory species. The national situated near Rishikesh, where the Beatles and other fol-

animal, the tiger, is protected in two dozen reserves, lowers visited the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in

including Bandhavgarh, where you'll also see leop- the 1960s. From this camp, nestled in the foothills of the

ards, gaurs, and sambhars. Himalayas, you can embark on several adventures including

Ecotourism resorts are new to India, but have river rafting, kayaking, trekking, and mountain biking

sprouted everywhere and range from camps inside then relax with some yoga. One expedition takes you to

the jungles of Karnataka to houseboats in Kerala river running on the Ganges, India's holy river, which has

and tree houses in Vythiri. Devotees of the great rapids ranging from Grade II to IV.

outdoors can enjoy just about any activity—from Add magnificent historical sites, bustling cities, a rich

whitewaier rafting to trekking, cycling, mountain heritage and culture, and luxurious accommodations

climbing, and rappelling. Wildlife safaris can be rela- including forts and palaces that are now heritage hotels

tively tame—perhaps via Jeep or on horseback—or and there is something for everyone in India. a monument to love, an ode in white.

a caravan of colours, bathed in light.

a river of passion, a timeless tide.

the colours of india, an incredible sight.

[email protected] www.incredibleindia.org 1-800-953-9399 »-*:?'.>:^^"^, special advertising section Peru

DOMINATED BY THE ANDES—ONE OF THE world's highest mountain chains —and the legendary

Amazon, Peru is a mecca for lovers of nature and the great outdoors.

Peru's astounding variety of cUmates and ecosystems make it one of the world's top eight nations in terms of biodiversity. It is home to more than 400 species of mammals and more than 50,000 plants, close to 20 percent of the world's birds, and

10 percent of the world's reptiles. About 13 percent

of Peru's territory has been converted to Protected

Natural Areas, including lakes and lagoons, rivers

and canyons, and gorgeous waterfalls.

Swim, raft, or trek along the rivers, which

emerge from the glacial highlands of the Andes and

vary from black to white, cloudy, ruddy, or salty. The

country has thousands of lakes and lagoons, includ-

ing the tectonic Lake Titicaca and Lake Parinacochas,

teeming with pink flamingoes, and the dark jungle

lagoons of the Amazon. To see Peru's spectacular

waterfalls, head to the area of Huanuco, famed for archeological sites remain from pre-Inca societies such as

its beautiful landscapes. Well-known falls are the the Nazca (originators of the famous lines), Chavin, and

Velo de Angel (25-28 meters), the Sirena Encantada Moche. Don't miss Peru's colonial cities, especially Lima,

(70 meters), on top of Pacsapampa, and San Miguel the capital, with its distinctive Spanish heritage and incom-

(100 meters), where you can swim in the pools parable cuisine. Cuzco, the gateway to Manu National Park

formed nearby. and to Machu Picchu, is also the capital of the Inca empire

In addition to its natural attractions, Peru has a and home to many temples and shrines.

rich cultural tradition, with thousands of years of All of the attractions are easily reached, thanks to

archeological history. It is known as the homeland of Peru's sophisticated transportation infrastructure.

the Inca and Machu Picchu, but Peru has been oc- Accommodations range from elegant luxury hotels to

cupied by humans for 20,000 years, and many affordable hostels and inns. &l>^^:^?3r

:;*"'#^%;"^M

N^^ -^ * .tvjv

^iK^^,,

MH^iTiffiyiii

'' >'*_#'"s

\\r,^ ^1

i^m r

i\^ ^^•^^

C^T

jlTt?fe^{f^f^|p?^sM the Sarcophagi of Karajia; anthropomorphous capsules the tombs ini--**- tsix feet, seven inches high that were presumably country fof the ethnic chiefs of the Amazonas. A unique the wonders ' where five senses are not enough to feel

it offers.

-.../!Kf,'\!kiiM\«'ty ..\r . .^-;.>?E(t*i»iHati>; special advertising section Quebec City

Old Quebec

A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE TREASURE AND

the only walled city in North America, Quebec City

exudes a European flavor. Discover historic Old

Quebec and the graceful charm of its cobblestone

streets and grand old buildings. Listen carefully as an-

cient fortifications recount their fascinating history. . . .

Sample the restaurants and shops of Old Quebec. . . .

Here, the past is a richly hued tapestry of culture

and tradition, set against a bright and inviting future.

You can stay in a hotel or inn in Old Quebec,

enjoy myriad restaurants, bistros, and sidewalk cafes,

and yet you are only 40 minutes away from the great

outdoors. The best example is Cap Tourmente

National WildHfe Area, home to many species of

birds and other animals.

Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area

Located 30 miles east of Quebec City, Cap colonization and French influence in North America. Cap

Tourmente will impress amateurs as well as experts Tourmente National Wildlife Area also offers one of the

in ornithology, history, and environment while offer- most beautiful historic sites on the continent, the very place

ing a diversified outdoor experience. where Samuel de Champlain, founder of Quebec City,

Recognized as a wetland of international impor- erected the first farm in the St. Lawrence Valley in 1626.

tance (Ramsar site) in 1981 and renowned for the re- Nearly 1 1 miles of hiking trails (6 miles in winter with

markable spectacle of tens of thousands of greater two heated rest stops) of varying length and difficulty

snow geese in the spring and the fall, the wildlife showcase Cap Tourmente 's plant and animal life. After a

area is home of more than 305 species of birds, 45 day spent bird-watching, hiking, and walking on the trails,

species of mammals, 22 types of forest stands, and you'll be happy to find the comfort of your hotel and to

700 species of plants. A total of 150 nesting boxes in plan your next day's visit on the town!

summer and 55 feeders in winter attracts a wide va- For more information, visit wv\/w.quebecregion.com,

riety of nesting and migratory species. write to Quebec City Tourism at [email protected],

This region also witnessed the beginnings of orcall (418) 641-6290. Migration Time around Quebec City

t the heart of the Atlantic Flyway you will find the "Cap Tourmente - "v^ National Wildlife Area" one of the best sites for bird watching in North America. This location is one of Quebec's oldest farms established in U1626 by Samuel de Champlain. Located on the north shore of the St Lawrence River,

where great coastal marshes, plains and mountains meet it is the point of convergence

for the St Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield.

The region offers over 200 km of hiking trails, 20 of which are located directly on the Cap Tourmente protected area where over 300 species of birds have been obsen/ed. After your

visit you will understand why Cap Tourmente is the perfect resting station for migratory NOVA SCOTIA birds. From here, they continue to travel East, West and North. Twice a year, bird lovers and enthusiasts can watch thousands ofgeese on their migration North in spring or their

return South in autumn. So this autumn, enjoy the fall colours oncf follow the geese in

one of the most beautiful areas of their migratory route near Quebec city. This city offers

B Cap Tourmente, an immersion in one of North America's most fascinating colonisation history. It is a heart of the region that must be seen, so plan your next migration time around Quebec City. Atlantic Flyway

Gulf ofMexico

Itloal'Salile^aDt: VUlage tourisbque MontSainteAnne Val-des-Neiges RK«n & Comenllon Hotei **** VILLAGE TOURISTIQUE CONDO-HOTEL CHALETS-VILLAGE MONT-SAINTE-ANNE HOTEL VAL-DES-NEIGES CHATEAU MONT-SAINTE-ANNE From $89 US/ $109 CA From $812 US/ $995 CA From $70 US / $85 CA From $99 US/ $120CA Per night Per house, for 4-8 people Per night, per couple Per night, per person Double occupancy Double occupancy For 5 nights (summer or winter) 1-888-554-6005 1-866-841-2002 1-866-604-2802 www.dufour.ca 1-800-463-4467 www.villagetouristique.com Visit each house on our Website at www.chateaumontsainteanne.com www.chalets-village.qc.ca •U.S prices are based on exchange rate of US $1,226 and are subject to change www.cap-tourmente-migrations.com

QUEBEC Canada Economic Developpement Beaupre City and Area l^^l Development economique Canada I bonjoufq'J^b ec.com www.quebecregion.com ipccial advertising section

:***-

X--

Icelandic Tourist Board/Ruth Gundahl Madsen

ICELAND IS A LAND OF FIRE AND ICE Reykjavik, the capital city, has rows of

IceiandiL Tuunsi Board, Ruth Gundahl Madsen lava fields and black-sand beaches; gla- colorfully painted concrete houses. You can ciers and fjords. Located on the Mid- savor some of the country's best attractions

Atlantic Ridge (a rift along the ocean Iceland by planning day trips from here, from floor caused by shifting tectonic plates), whale watching (http://www.whalewatching.is)

Iceland is bubbling with underground activity and is a to horseback-riding tours (http://www.ishestar.is). Explore living geology textbook. It is ftill of craters — it has thirty the lava fields surrounding Mt. Helgafell volcano, then active volcanoes — hot springs, and geysers. This is wild, visit the Geysir hot spring area and the spectacular untamed land, ranging from tundra to grassland, bogs, Gullfoss waterfall. The surrounding area is full of bub- and desert. And, in spite of its frosty-sounding name, bling springs. Or, after a day ice walking on a glacier,

Iceland has relatively mild winters, especially in the take a dip in a geothermal pool, such as the popular south and west, due to the Gulf Stream. Blue Lagoon.

ICGl8nCl. A pristine wonderland abundant with natural hot springs, ® virgin glacial lagoons, breathtaking waterfalls and active volcanoes and geysers. From these protected environs comes some of the freshest fish, icelandnaturaUy.com iamb and water known to Earth. Energetic Reykjavik's great nightlife and hot restaurants are pure bliss. Come get a taste for yourself.

Visit IcelandNaturally.com to learn more about Iceland and Icelandic products. Also, register online to win an exciting adventure trip. special advertising section

Delaware Water Gap, Pa. This recre-

ation area offers canoeing, hiking,

camping, bicycling, cross-country

skiing, gorgeous waterfalls, and

much more.

As temperatures drop in winter

months, hundreds of bald eagles come

from farther north and find sanctuary Pocono Mountains X'acdtion Bureau, Inc.;

at the Delaware Water Gap

Poconos Recreation Area. The Pocono Em'ironmental Education Center fTHE FOUR-COUNTY POCONO located throughout the region, cover- (PEEC), located in Dingmans Ferry,

Mountains region of northeastern ing a total of 35,537 acres. lets visitors get a ghmpse of this winter

Pennsylvania offers myriad fall and win- The Delaware Water Gap phenomenon by offering special Eagle pr activities, from hiking and mountain National Recreation Area covers a Treks that explore bald eagle hot spots. biking amid spectacular fall foliage to forty-mile stretch of the Delaware Visitors can contact the PMVB, Inc. bird watching, scenic road trips, and River that passes by the quaint town at 800-POCONOS (800-762-6667) much more. Seven state parks are of Milford and reaches to the town of for more information.

i^iVitlMiliilli;^

ucational Travel in It's easy for you and your friends to

the Southwest and map out your next big adventure. Get the world beyond. your hands on a FREE Discovery THE OLMEC Map of the Pocono Mountains. OF ANCIENT MEXICO February 5-14, 2006 Examine monumental sculpture and Hiking and biking trails, camping, key sites liidden in the remote jungle lowlands of the Olmec world. historic sites, museums, birding sites,

GEM OF NORTH AFRICA: state parks-it's all here. Morocco, Land of Mosques, Magic Carpets, and Ancient IVIonuments Call March 4-18, 2006 or dick today. A grand exploration of Morocco's vast archaeological and 800poconos.com architectural history! Pocx)no iiMil Mountains (ROW (ANYON ARCHAEOLOCKAL (ENTER 1 .800POCONOS pennsytvanja 'jfw Near Mesa Verde in Southwestern CO (1-800-762-6667)

800-422-8975 / www.crowcanyon.org liffliBiwmm Bureau, Inc., 1004 Main Street, Box NH, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 special advertising section

Maryland

Charles County land, 150 miles of spectacular Dorchester County

LESS THAN AN HOUR FROM shoreline, and the wildest wildlife this BOASTING 1,700 MILES OF

Washington, DC, Charles County is side of the Potomac. With enough shoreline, Dorchester County is the the gateway to historic southern history to fill several books, sumptu- heart of Chesapeake Country. Its

Maryland. Nature lovers will find ous fresh seafood, and top-flight beautiful unspoiled countryside first-class fishing, a dense population golf, it's no wonder visitors come offers many opportunities to relax of nesting bald eagles, acres of forest back to Charles County. and to enjoy the great outdoors.

Stay here... and see it all!

Tour among the "clustered spires" of Fredericks

50-block historic district, visit 20+ historic sites & museums such as the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, follow new Civil War Trails, the C&O Canal or the Appalachian Trail, enjoy a wide array of restaurants, & shopping in the "Antiques Capital of Maryland." Just a short drive to Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, Washington D.C. & Baltimore.

a\iL«ui TRAILS -C3^

For free info call: 1-800-800-9699 www. fredericktourism. org special advertising section

Enjoy cycling, walking, and driving found on Elhott, Hooper, and tours; fishing, boating, kayaking, and Taylors Islands.

canoeing on the Chesapeake Bay Birders should make time to ex- IVdCLA. \J\. I li. IC Eastern Shore, and its meandering tributaries; out- plore Blackwater National Wildlife one of Maryland's most standing bird watching, especially Refuge, which has one of the largest beautiful settings. An waterfowl, raptures, and shorebirds; populations of nesting and resident extraordinary variety and excellent golfing and parks. bald eagles on the east coast. The of unspoiled waterways meander before you. Much of Dorchester County has tidal marshes found on the Refuge Awaken your senses as been certified as a state heritage area are so vast that it has been called the bald eagles soar, the breeze and is rich in many Chesapeake tra- Everglades of Maryland. Along the whispers through loblolly pines and sunsets cradle ditions, which you will see in water- Cambridge waterfront, you'll see you in incredible colors. front communities and wealth of many species of wintering water- Your pleasure awaits you museums. Quaint towns dot the fowl, great blue herons, gulls, and in the Heart of Chesapeake Country. northern agricultural areas and to swans. Stop by the Dorchester the south, the county has three is- County Visitor Center at Sailwinds lands encompassed by the Park for your guide, Birding in the

Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Heart of Chesapeake Country, for five

Don't miss the waterfront villages birding trails to explore.

STAY WITH US AND SEE THE BEST OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

Make the most of your trip by staying with us in IMontgomery County, Maryland.

Here, you'll enjoy value and quality in our wide selection of lodgings and restaurants as

well as the opportunity to visit our many histonc sites and national parks. Our

1 3 METRORail stations will transport you to Washington, DCs many attractions.

Call for our Visitor Guide at 877-MOCOFUN or by visiting www.visitmontgomerycom

MoNTGOiveY County MARYLAND

CONFERENCE AND VISITORS BUREAU OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD, INC. Mar-^tanD

• I 1820 PARKLAWN DRIVE, SUITE 380 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND 20852 — 1 special advertising section

Frederick County includes the Rural Legacy Trail.

KNOWN FOR ITS HISTORIC Montgomery County Beginning in Woodlawn Manor Park

sites — especially those commemo- A SHORT DRIVE FROM and ending at the Sandy Spring, this

rating its Civil War heritage Washington, D.C., Montgomery short trail commemorates the

Frederick County, Maryland, is also County is home to the suburbs of Underground Railroad and Quaker

a place to enjoy the great outdoors. Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Silver traditions. The ten-mile Black Hills

Framed by the Catoctin Mountains Spring. An ideal place to stay while Trail wanders through oak and hick-

and the Potomac River, Frederick exploring the capital, Montgomery ory forests and offers spectacular

has ninety parks, from federal and has some worthy attractions of its lake views.

state to local, and many recre- own. Its hundreds of miles of trails And if you want a break from

ational facilities. You'll find an are at their best in the fall. Some are the great outdoors, this county has

activity for every season, including accessible to joggers, cyclists, and plenty of museums, public gal-

Whitewater rafting, swimming, wheelchair users as well as hikers, leries, theaters, and historic sites.

boating, camping, skating, bicycling, leisurely walkers, and families with Visit the Clara Barton National

horseback riding, and hiking along strollers. Hikers can learn about the Historic Site in Glen Echo, catch a

the Appalachian Trail or the county's environmental, historical, play at the Olney Theatre, or spend

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National and cultural heritage on the new a day on the lake at Black Hills

Historical Park. Rachel Carson Greenway, which Regional Park.

Talbot County FOR A RICH, RELAXING, AND mmmiM.^^^ romantic experience, visit Talbot County, on Maryland's Eastern

Shore. On the Chesapeake Bay,

Talbot County is a paradise for

boaters and fishermen, but it also Spot bald eagles as they fly gives a of traditional frefetoA erhead at Friendship you glimpse Explore historic ^ ,, Farm Park... kayak through -'.''• Boston, one of .' »'% working life and history on the Bay. Nanjenioy Creek while America 's top >J spotting Great Blue Many of its colorful towns are on one hundred " Herons... Located along the small towns and the waterfront: Tilghman Island, Atlantic flyvvay we host art communities. over 321 species for you to Oxford, St. Michaels, and Easton are ' ^ Discover 300 ' ^ .> add to your list. especially charming. Ride a historic years maritime of ^m ' history, the ... Come to shipjack or end the day with a sump- Charles County .Chesapeake Bay . tuous meal of Maryland crabs. and the waterfront www.ExpIoreCharlesCoMD.com 800-766-3386 lyiilages. of St. Michaels, S T ^Tilghman Island and Oxford. Worcester County .jiil aS^iiis^g^Bft^fAY for your free MARYLAND'S OCEAN SIDE Hpirtd calendar of events, Charles COUNTY county home to Ocean City and "^foartal bot.org MARYLAND —

- Assateague National Park has the ..,,.;,.» «.^,y^:&u'myOffice of Tourism' VA/^1.^<9M& — V:^M^fiaWisoh:St:, Easton.MD 21601 special advertising sectioi Mediterranean best birding in the state. Almost 350 swallows at Assateague; northern & Greek Isles bird species have been sighted in gannets just offshore; and plenty of

Worcester. From the Atlantic coastline Canadian and snow geese soaring

to the Pocomoke River and Forest, above. The county also has spectacu-

Worcester is home to pelicans and lar golf, fishing, kayaking, canoeing,

peewees, kingbirds and cuckoos, and and horseback riding. Fall, when the

herons, harriers, and eagles. Habitats foliage is ablaze with color, is the

range from centuries-old forest to perfect time to bike on the "View

barrier island, cypress swamp, and Trail 100," which takes you on leafy

tidal wetlands. Fall, of course, is the country roads, through farmlands and

best time to see migrants: peregrine forests and historic towns, along the

falcons, merlins, and flocks of tree swift Pocomoke River, and past 10- to 26-day CruiseTours" from 1,495

An array of dramatic, distinct itineraries take

you to fabulous citadels, fashionable resorts

and art-filled cities across Europe. Explore

whitewashed Greek isles. Goudi's cathedral in

Barcelona. Rome's Colosseum. Croatian

antiquity. The mosques and bazaars of

Istanbul. And aboard Marco Polo, you'll

enjoy a rare blend of large-ship comfort and

small-ship friendliness. Plus, included hotel

stays give you time to explore more of

Europe's greatest cities. Come sail with us,

and discover why Orient Lines is known as

"The Destination Cruise Specialists."

Orient Lines

ORIENT LINES IS A PREMIUM BUT AFFORDABLE LINE OFFERING

ten- to twenty-six-day cruises to the Greek Isles, Mediterranean, and

;Scandinavia during the summer and Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand,

^ Africa, India, Egypt, x\sia, and South America during the rest of the year. Orient LiNES THE DESTINATION CRUISE SPECIALISTS The 2005-06 program offers sixty separate European Cruise Tours and vww.orientlinss.tom eleven Exotic Cruise Tours, including the Ancient Civilizations & Empire

for reservations, see your travel agent. tour and Ancient Egypt and the Ottoman Empire voyage. Both voyages offer

For brochures, tall I 800-333-7300. a new port of call —Tripoli, Libya— and mark the return of Orient Lines to

'Fare is shown in U.S. dollars for CcuiseTour only, pci pcraan, based on double Alexandria, Egypt. Orient's intimate, medium-size ships (the 822-passenger occupancy, for a niimmum cacegor)' inside scareroom and applicable on select sailings. Airiare is addiiional ro CfuiseTout (are, available from select U.S. cities and departure

taxes may apply. Government fees, service charges and taxes arc not included. Ail offers arc flagship Marco Polo, celebrating its 10th anniversary, and 1,050-passenger based on availabilit)'. capacity conitolled, noi combinable mth other offers, subject to

change without notice and may be withdrawn at any time. Orient Lines is not responsible

Crown Odyssey) offer four-star, luxury liner facilities with up-to-date

amenities and elegant service. Orient Lines designs complete itineraries,

which means all the details are taken care of both on sea and ashore: from

deluxe hotels and sightseeing tours to baggage transfers and a staff to help

find the best restaurants and sights. New ports on the European cruises this

year include Izmir, Turkey; Split, Croatia; Brussels (Zeebrugge), Belgium;

Visby, Sweden; Gdansk, Poland; and Riga, Latvia.

Discover your

world aboard

Swan Hellenic, Britain's award-winning discovery cruise line. Swan Hellenic With 25 cruise itineraries through Feb. '07,

Swan Hellenic features a variety of destinations; WITH FIVE DECADES OF EXPERIENCE, on board experts to bring each port to life; Swan Hellenic is the leader in Discovery Cruises. inclusive prices with no hidden costs; and Voyages on its "floating country house," the

Minerva II, our floating English country house Minerva II, feature intriguing worldwide destina- and home for new discoveries. tions and a sophisticated and relaxed style of serv- SWAN'S CRUISE VXATION VALUE ice and accommodation. High-profile guest speak- Swan cruise fares include all transfers to and from Minerva II, a choice of ers are on board each voyage, with tailored talks and programs on shore excursions at each port of call, everything from the flora and fauna to the history, religion, politics, and and all gratuities both on board and culture of the destinations. Destinations include lesser-known and widely ashore, plus all port taxes. varying areas — from the mysterious temples and pyramids of the Maya at Discover our new Chichen Itza, to the glacial landscape of Arctic Norway and the tropical 2006 - 07 brochure to learn more on abundance of the Amazon interior This year Swan Hellenic has launched our worldwide The Americas Collection, with longer cruises of up to 34 days combing discovery cruises. For your copy, call some of the most exotic places in South and Central America and the west 1-877-800-SWAN coast of North America. or go online at swanhellenic.com The Americas Collection visits the off-the-beaten track destinations that

Swan Hellenic is famed for, including a full circumnavigation of the east SWAN and west coasts of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, as well as the chance to experience the remarkable remains of the Maya along the coast of Peru HELLENIC .D J,S COYi.E RY CRUISING and around Central America. '

FIELD NOTES

(Continued from page 22) and has shifted the emphasis from com- newly formed Land Cominission of- mercial entertainment to the valley's fered to give her outright ownership of natural and cultural attractions. Under roughly half ofWaimea Valley, on con- the Society's auspices, and with fund- dition that she relinquish any claim to ing from the Office of Hawaiian Af- the rest. And to receive even half, she fairs, my archaeological consulting was required to formally present a claim firm conducted a preliminary assess- to the Land Commission by a certain ment of the valley this past April. time, which she faUed to do. She and Our reexamination of the Hterature her husband managed to hold on to a i has already more than doubled the portion of the valley until 1884, but in number of sites of interest. Many more the process fell heavily into debt. The undoubtedly await discovery. At least native Hawaiian descendant of the last 80 percent of the valley has not even

kahuna nui in Waimea had to mortgage been inspected for archaeological sites, and lease the land. Soon after she died, because access to inland areas and up in 1886, the property was foreclosed. the steepest valley sides is so difficult. Over the next twenty years the val- Moreover, much of the human history ley changed hands at public auction I ofWaimea is probably hidden well be- several times, and by the turn of the low the surface. In the mid-1980s, for twentieth century it was in the control instance, workmen removing soil unex- of a pineapple and sugarcane company. pectedly uncovered a temple buried ^* For a brief time cowboys roamed the -^Pfei near the center of modern valley activ- valley, using it for ranching. After Pearl ities. Other surprises should come to Harbor soldiers took over, building ar- light with more deliberate excavations. tillery positions and other installations. In the 1960s and 1970s commercial- How could a valley considered sa- ism further obscured the valley's sacred cred for forty generations be so past. The Waimea Falls Ranch and Sta- poorly recorded and understood? The bles offered seventy-five-cent stage- answer is that in the late 1880s the

Kalaipahoa idol hidden in a diffside of coach rides, complete with actors who was Hawaiian people abandoned it rather Waimea Valley, then knocked down by goats rode alongside, playing both cowboys suddenly (and not at their own choos- and recovered in the mid-1800s. Such idols, and North American Indians. A restau- ing), and they took their stories with used for protection and sorcery, were carved gift rant and shop appeared, guided on the island of Moloka'i from trees reputedly them. In the climate of those times, tours were offered in open-air trolleys, rendered poisonous by powerful spirits. there was little incentive to collect their and visitors could attend a chff-diving valuable information or record their show or see a hula dance. The archae- O'ahu, alerting scholars to the exis- sites before they left. Little remains of ological richness of Waimea Valley tence of thirteen more sites at Waimea. the oral tradition, often just bits and went largely unnoticed. In 1974 archaeologists at the Bishop pieces passed down from grandparents Museum in Honolulu were able to raise and great-grandparents. But neglect has not been the only the total to thirty-three. In those circumstances, archaeologi- order of the day. In 1900 the Since that time a botanical garden and cal investigation is the surest way of re- Hawaiian Historical Society conduct- an arboretum for native and endangered covering the valley's lost story. Once the ed the first survey ofarchaeological sites Hawaiian plants have been established number of surface sites is deterinined, around O'ahu. At Waimea, though, the in Waimea Valley. Rudy Mitchell, a na- such work can establish a reasonably re- survey recorded only the spot where tive Hawaiian, surveyed the territory spectable chronology of events and ren- the murder of the Daedalus crewmen and conducted Umited archaeological der a better appraisal of what Ues un- had taken place. In 1906 Thomas testing. Mitchell even rebuUt a temple derground. With time, that study may Thrum's Hawaiian Annua], an almanac, site that, through neglect, had become even reveal the nature of sacred lands, noted the two largest heiau at Waimea, buried under tons of soU and detritus. and tell us what powers were invested called Kupopolo and Pu'u o Mahuka Now the City and County of Hono- in the kahuna nui.

[see map on page 22] . But it was not un- lulu has moved to take over the valley, til 1930 that any more sites were for- although the financial terms are still in Joseph Kennedy is die senior ardiaeologist mally recognized. Gilbert McAlister, litigation. the Meanwhile, National witii Archaeological Consultants of the Pacific, an archaeologist at the University of Audubon Society has managed the Inc. His article "The Wild Man ofSamoa" ap- Chicago, produced his Archaeology of property on a month-to-month lease peared in Natural History in February 2004.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY I 37 —

BIOMECHANICS

Dorsal fin - Boxed Up Keels to Go

The seemingly unwieldy shape

of a fish is anything but a drag.

By Adam Summers Illustrations by Tom Moore

Until recently I would have bet I could tell a fast fish from a slow one by looking erties of a boxfish were comparable to an impressive speed by any standard.

at the placement of its fins and the those of a square compact car or an Moreover, Bartol and company man- shape ot its body. Boxfishes, with SUV—a vehicle that's good for carry- aged to visualize the flow of water their fms at the corners of their ing loads, with neither speed nor around a boxfish by placing neutrally "boxy" bodies, would not have made agility. But Ian K. Bartol, a biologist buoyant beads in the water and film-

my list of speedsters on either count. at Old Dominion University in Nor- ing the beads as they swept past plastic

But it turns out that boxfishes are folk, Virginia, and a multidiscipHnary models of the fish. They found, with

fast, stable, and amazingly maneuver- team ot investigators have proved, their models, that the drag of the box-

able swimmers—so much so as to in- once again, the limits of intuition. fish is surprisingly low, as expressed by spire human designers. First, they point out, far from being a dimensionless quantity known as its Boxfishes get their name from the slowpokes, boxfishes can scoot over a drag coefficient. The drag coefficient

rectangular (or sometimes five-sided) reef at six body lengths per second of the boxfish is just 0.2, which is shell of bony armor on the front two-thirds of their bodies. The eyes, mouth, and fins poke through holes in the covering, but otherwise the H^SH fish's body surface is an uninterrupted mosaic of hexagonal tiles of bone. The edges of the bony box act as keels, running nearly the entire length of the fish. In some boxfishes, such as the aptly named cowfishes, the keels extend forward, beyond the body, to

torm sharp horns. Like its relative the When the boxfish swims up, puffer fish, the boxfish propels itself spiral vortices develop

above its four "edges, " or by waving its dorsal fm (on top of its keels. The vortices create a body) and its anal fm (on the bottom), lov/-pressure zone, strongest and it steers primarily with its pectoral at the rear of the fish, w/hich fms tail fin. and Both dorsal and anal tends to pull the tail end nns are situated well to the rear of the of the fish up (yellovj arrows) fish [sec ilhistratioii at top of this page]. and so help keep it level and stable. 1 assumed the hydrodynamic prop-

38 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 of widely differing shape and size, or a stabilization is that the functioning

trick that somehow imparts stabUity of the keels is entirely passive. In

to the fish without slowing it down. other "words, it requires no active Bartol and his colleagues found control from the fish. The vortices that the secret to the dynamic stabiUty automatically stabihze a motion that of the boxfish Hes in the keels that might otherwise lead to very ineffi- form the edges of the box. The keels set up strong spiral vortices of water that flow along the keels, hugging close to the surface of the fish and intensifying at the rear end. When

the fish tilts nose-up, the vortices develop

above the keels; when it Computer-generated model of a car with Anal fin tilts down, the vortices form below ^K design elements the keels [see illustrations below]. inspired by the The pressure of the water in these hydrodynamically swirhng vortices is lower than it is efficient boxfish in the undisturbed fluid around the

fish. Hence as the nose tilts up, a cient head bob- comparable to some streamlined air- low-pressure vortex above the keels bing. Not only is

foils, and falls well below 1.5, the drag tends to puU the body upward, lev- little energy

coefficient of a flat-faced box. eUng it. SinxQarly, as the nose goes required of the down, the vortices below the keels fish, but there are also no complex At first glance, those hydrodynam- tend to counteract the upward tilt of neural circuits needed for control; a ic properties are puzzling. The the tail end. The pectoral fms, fur- clever set of immovable strakes, shap-

dorsal and anal fins, which push the thermore, are well placed to interrupt ing the body from stem to stern, lets fish along, are way off the central axis or adjust the vortices, and those fins geometry, and fluid dynamics, do all

of its body, yet the animal swims a can also act to stabilize the body or the work "for free." straight path without rocking up and propel the fish into a speedy turn. down. That would seem to require ei- The beauty of the fish's solution Mercedes-Benz has already taken ther perfect coordination of two fins to the problem of propulsion and note of this nice combination of load carrying and low drag. In fact, the

boxfish is the basis for the automobile

company's latest concept car. The re-

sult is a boxfish on wheels, with head-

lights, windows, and a very slippery drag coefficient ofjust 0.19—comparable to an airfoil. The vehicle even

emulates the hexagonal riles of the

fish's carapace to create strong, Ught- weight doors. The producers of the next James Bond movie might take a

In a downward dive, the cue from the new design: this car boxfish generates vortices would be an agile underwater per- below its four kee/s. Tlie low former, with built-in armor and lots of pressures in the vortices cargo space for spy gear. help pull the tail end of the

fish down (yellow arrows). Adam Summers ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and hioengineering at the University of California, Irvine.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 39 V

OCTOBER 2005 Toxic Treasure

Poisons and venoms from deadly animals could become tomorrow's miracle drugs. Andfew places on Earth harbor so many deadly animals as Australia's Great Barrier Reef

By Robert George Sprackland

[Australia] has more things that will kill you than anywhere utes. What's more, the radula, a harpoonlike stinger

else. . . . This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars that delivers the venom, can strike with enough lay toxic nip, seashells will sting can you out udth a where notjust speed and force to pierce a diver's wetsuit. There is

you but actually sometimes you. . . . It's a tough place. go for almost no pain associated with a cone-sheU sting, be- —Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country cause the venom contains a strong analgesic. That's Raised, as you probably were, on film or video the good news. The bad news is that the toxin is a footage of drowsy koalas hugging eucalyp- nerve agent for which there is no known antidote. tus trees, or kangaroos bouncing happily Why would anyone intentionally seek out a crea- around the outback, you might wonder just what ture whose venom packs such a wallop? Answering

country Bryson is talking about. But consider the that question goes a long way toward explaining why

unassuming cone shell—-just the kind of malicious Australians, whose continent is well known for its

mollusk that will "actually sometimes _{70 for you." gold and opals, have begun studying their richly var-

The cone shell is a marine snail that lives in trop- ied animal populations with renewed interest. Lat- ical regions worldwide, including the waters around ter-day prospectors on the continent are searching for northeastern Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The biologically active chemicals throughout Australia's snail aggressively reaches out to sting prey or would- biting, stinging, venomous fauna. Those chemicals be predators, injecting toxins that are among the and their derivatives could turn out to be both a phar- most powerful in the animal kingdom. Even a maceutical bonanza and the foundation of a multi- diminutive member of the genus Conus can carry mOlion-dollar industry. enough venom to kill a dozen people; a single care- In Brisbane, for instance, laboratory workers at a less encounter can bring death in less than thirty min- six-year-old biotechnology company called Xenome

B/ue-//ned octopus (Hapalochlaena fasciata), photograplied at n/ght, shows its displeasure at being

disturbed by flashing a vivid array of iridescent indigo rings and lines along its mantle and arms. In

spite of its diminutive size (adults typically measure only six inches long), the octopus can be a

nasty meal for predators: it defends itself with a potent nerve agent, tetrodotoxin. tt deploys a

second kind of toxin—much less potent than the first—while hunting the crabs on which it feeds.

40 NATURAL HISTOKY October 2005 it not Spotted porcupine fish (Diodon hystrix) is considered poisonous but not venomous: does genus Fugu, bite or sting, but it is higlily toxic if consumed. Like its puffer-fish cousins of the which are prized (and feared) by Japanese gastronomes, the porcupine fish is toxic not by na- which accu- ture but by nourishment. As it feeds, it ingests bacteria that contain tetrodotoxin, mulates in the fish's liver and other organs.

Ltd have the unenviable task of "milking" cone shells. tency, effective doses are smaller, and so far at least, it addictive. The job is not an easy one. Because the snail can bend seems not to be is outgrowth of a major bio- its proboscis to sting from virtually any angle, there Xenome's work an project in Australia, initiated in 2003 by is no safe way to hold a live cone shell. To get the prospecting his venom, the technicians dangle a small fish from for- Peter Seattle, the premier of Queensland, and Bioscience ceps for the snail to sting. The snail's venom kills the government. Known as the Queensland to encourage the discov- fish, but it can then be safely extracted from the fish's Precinct, the project aims of new biochemicals that might spawn major tissue. In spite ofthat roundabout—and costly—^pro- ery the cedure, Xenome's efforts have been worthwhile. The pharmaceutical products. What sets apart bioexplorers is that they focus on mol- company is developing a drug based on cone-shell Queensland from plants. toxin for treating severe long-term pain. Its effects are ecules derived from animals, instead of currently avail- similar to those of morphine, but because of its po- At least 25 percent of the medicines

41 October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY | —

from South American dart-poison frogs, is about 200 times more powerfral than an equal amount of morphine, derived from poppy flowers.

But why seek potency for its own sake? Why not

I^^^^BP^^^^jH play it safe, and simply use more of some less potent

agent? After all, it goes without saying that the more

powerful the toxin, the less of it is needed to achieve

its effect, and so the greater the risk of an overdose. H^Hfe^^ku^ The answer Hes in the highly specific way that the most potent animal toxins attack certain kinds ofcells i^^^^^^H or cellular processes. That very specificity of chemical action is often a highly prized medicinal prop-

erty. It enables a drug to attack the site of a disease a highly localized cancer, for instance—without cripphng side effects. A precisely targeted drug can

Geography cone she/I, Conus geographus, is one of some also act as a carrier for some other drug, bringing species of shells that occur in the waters off 300 cone the second agent to the part of the body where it Australia—all of them with a ready answer to the biblical can do the most good. Hence, investigators reason, query, "O death, where is thy sting?" The probelike struc- pharmaceuticals derived from modified but potent ture extending to the right is a siphon, used to detect prey. toxins may prove useful in targeting drug treatments. The cone shell also has a flexible proboscis, inside which is a harpoonlike barb called a radula that can pierce a diver's wet suit. A single untreated jab can kill an adult human in Many animal toxins, for instance, have evolved thirty minutes. that exploit the vulnerability of nerve cells. That makes sense—^from the point ofview of the at- able come from plant products, but relatively few tacker—partly because nerve cells, in most cases, can- animals so far have been assessed for medically use- not be replaced or even repaired. But nerve cells have ful chemicals. Thus, animal bioexplorers are enter- two other liabihties that make them particularly vul- ing largely uncharted territory, and the odds are nerable to even small-scale structural problems. First,

good, they believe, that a mother lode is still out they can be shut down by minor interference with

there, waiting to be discovered. any one of several critical components [see illustration on opposite page]. For example, a toxin could block Animals, Uke plants, have long been known as a neurotransmitter sites either upstream or downstream source of a vast array of chemicals, many of from the synapse between two nerve cells, making it the with great poten- impossible for a nerve tial for human use. impulse to travel across In some cone shells, the venom Many frogs, for in- the synaptic gap. A tox- stance, secrete com- needed to kill a dozen adult humans in could bind to the pounds through their neurotransmitter mole- would Jit on the head of a pin. skin that have power- cules themselves, ren- ful antibiotic proper- dering them useless. Or

ties, enabling them to thrive in stagnant water teem- a toxin could block the channels that enable sodium ing with pathogens. Clown fish—immortalized in the and potassium to pass through the nerve-cell mem- 2003 movie Finding Nemo—^wear a coat of sHme that brane, and thereby halt a neuroelectrical impulse informs the anemones with which they live that clown along the length of each nerve cell. Finally, a toxin

fish is not on the anemone menu. Corals exude chem- could degrade the myelin sheaths that insulate the ax-

icals that protect them from sunburn at low tide; de- ons of a nerve cell, causing the nerve impulses to lose rivatives of those chemicals are already being market- strength and dissipate.

ed as sunscreens. Even compounds from sponges have The second KabiUty, related to the first, arises sim-

led to valuable drugs: acyclovir, a treatment for her- ply because part ofeach nerve pathway is usually made pes, and cytarabine, for a kind of leukemia. of a single strand of nerve cells in sequence, like the

The chief attraction of animal biomolecules, par- links in a chain. If any single nerve cell is shut down,

ticularly the toxins, is their staggering potency: they the entire pathway is neutralized. That's why the sys-

are often hundreds oftimes more powerful than plant tem is so readily sabotaged by minute doses of high- compounds that dehver a similar medicinal effect. For ly target-specific animal neurotoxins. In some cone example, the analgesic alkaloid epibatidine, derived shells, for instance, the venom needed to kill those

42 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 — — ,

^ Neurotransmitter dozen adult humans would fit Toxin that interferes with binding of synaptic vesicle on the head of a pin. to receptor inside upstream nerve cell Upstream Because a given toxin may nerve-cell body Toxin that blocks neurotransmitter receptor target only a specific section of on dow/nstream cell

a particular kind ofnerve cell Toxin that binds directly to neurotransmitter say, sheath cardiac the myelin of Toxin that blocks ion channels nerve cells—bioexplorers have Toxin that degrades myelin sheath of nerve axon to screen many toxins to iden-

tify which ones attack which targets. Suppose, for instance, Neurotransmitter receptor screening leads to the identifi- cation of a toxin that attacks myelin. That toxin then be- Myelin comes a key factor in a strate- sheath gy for repairing some of the Nerve damage caused by myelin- axon

degenerative disorders, such as Synaptic- multiple sclerosis. Path of uninterrupted vesicle receptor nerve signal Downstream to use the toxin One way cell might be to modify or remove

its toxic part, just while leaving Nerve cells can be attacked by animal toxins in any of several ways, as shown in the schematic the myelin-seeking part intact. diagram. Nerve signals depend on the opening and closing of ion channels along the nerve Then, in place ofthe toxic part, axon, and on a mechanism that enables neurotransmitter molecules to cross the synapse, or gap the bioexplorer irdght substi- between upstream and downstream cells. Interference with any one of the mechanisms can cut off an entire signaling pathway. tute a therapeutic chemical agent, which could restore or mimic the function of myelin. Because the newly occasional deaths had been reported just off the

engineered drug would be so target-specific, virtu- northern beaches of Queensland. In Flecker 's day,

ally all of it could act only within the nerve cell's ax- the cause of the deaths was still a mystery, but he

onal region, making it an efficient fix in small dos- suspected that they were the work of a jellyfish. es. Siinilarly, other drugs rmght be designed to re- In January 1955, a young boy was fatally stung in tard or alleviate the symptoms of diseases such as the shallow Queensland surf. The local police, act-

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. ing on Flecker's hunch, set nets to capture the killer. What they caught in the nets were jellyfish, which If animal toxins, and their therapeutic potential, they turned over to Flecker. Flecker, in turn, sent the are such underexplored pharmaceutical territory, specimens to Ronald V Southcott, another natural- why do so many bioexplorers converge on AustraUa? ist-physician, who determined that the animal was,

Things that sting and bite, after all, occur around indeed, a species ofjellyfish previously unknown to

the world. The answer is as straightforward as the science. He named it Chironex fleckeri, after Flecker whereabouts of a gold rush: you go where the yield and so introduced science to the sea wasp.

is most Ukely to be high. Not only do countless ven- The sea wasp was dramatic proof that there were

omous animals live Down Under, but some, such still dangerous unknown creatures to be discovered as certain species of cone shells, may also produce and studied. Since Flecker's time many other toxic

toxins with a lengthy list of ingredients. (By con- marine organisms have been described, and their trast, the venom of a typical highly venomous snake study has been conducted in a more systematic way.

may include only a handful of chemical compo- A great many of those animals, as it happens, live in nents.) BiU Bryson was exaggerating only slightly and around Queensland. when he claimed to have looked up a particular an- Generally speaking, some ofthe most fertile grounds imal in the fictitious " Things Tliat Will Kill You Hor- for bioexplorarion are tropical reefcommunities. Such ridly in Australia, volume 19." reefs harbor a phyla-spanning host of organisms that

Part of the scientific recognition that AustraHa is produce powerful toxins. So it is no surprise that such a rich potential source of new animal toxins Queensland, whose coasdine includes the entire Great

can be traced to the work, in the 1950s, of Hugo Barrier Reef, is home to the widest array oftoxic crea- Flecker, a naturalist and physician hving in Cairns, tures in Australia. Soine 300 species of cone shells live Queensland. Ever since records began to be kept, in and around the reef, each with a venom that may

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 43 — —

In those circumstances, bioexplorers are well ad- vised to seek the help of seasoned systematists taxonomists with a soHd grounding in the evolution and natural history of organisms. For one

thing, the chemicals that a species produces by it-

self must be distinguished from the ones it gets

from its diet or its environment. And if the target animal isn't ingesting the right bacteria or other toxin producers at the right time, bioexplorers may not be able to extract the chemicals they want. Some toxin carriers, for instance, including sea slugs and puSer fish, feed on toxic species only sea- sonally. Bioexplorers once noted, to their dismay, that long-term-captive and captive-bred dart-poison frogs

produced less potent poisons than their wild coun-

terparts—or even no poisons at all. Systematists were able to resolve the puzzle. Many precursor chemicals for the poisons come from specific prey insects. De- prived of their natural prey, most of the frog species became harinless. Systematists can also save both time and money once a particular species has been identified as a

source of a particular biomolecule. It is then well worth determining whether a close relative of the species might produce an even more useful version of the molecule. But related species—particularly the ones belonging to the so-called lower taxa Worker "milks" the venom from an oiive sea snake, may be hard or impossible to pinpoint without the Aipysurus laevis, captured along the Great Barrier Reef. knowledge of a qualified systematist. Australia is home to all ten of the world's deadliest sea snakes, and the olive sea snake—wh/ch can grow to more Ranging even more widely through the tree ofHfe, than six feet long—is among the commonest of them. systematists might also help show the way to multiple, alternative sources of a specific biomolecule.

include as many as a hundred distinct chemicals Tetrodotoxin, also known as TTX, is a powerful nerve

yielding perhaps several thousand biochemically in- agent, first identified in the tissues of teresting compounds. Also among the well-armed sea certain puffer fish of the family

fauna of Queensland are all ten of the most dangerous Tetraodontidae. In Japan the fish is sea snakes in the world. Many other Queensland crea- best known for those puffers belong- tures—including various species of fishes and mol- ing to the genus Fugu, an expensive, lusks—^hold the distinction of being the most ven- high-thriU deHcacy, which is served

omous oftheir kind. Among thejellyfish. Flecker s sea after the poisonous bits have been

wasp, also known as "the stinger," is arguably the most skillfiiUy carved away—or so the din- dangerously venomous animal on the planet [see "One er hopes—by specially licensed chefs. Touch of Venom," byJamie Se]mwur, September 2002]. (Alas, there are some 50 to 150 acci- dents each year, in which the Fugu The diversity of wildlife in Queensland is hardly feast becomes a last meal.) Umited to sea creatures. In the rainforest of the After tetrodotoxin was identified in tropical north, more species of flowering plants are

thought to occur within a few typical acres than are Coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) is found in all of North America. Among the land fau- reputed to be the third-most-venomous na are nine of the ten most venomous land snakes in land snake in the world. Yet because of its large fangs, size (some grow longer than the world. And new species from northern Queens- nine feet), and nervous disposition, the land are still being discovered and formally described coastal species is considered more danger- every year; many more are stiU unknown to science. ous than its inland relative, O. microlepido- There is plenty in Queensland to keep bioexplorers tus, even though the venom of the inland

busy for a long rime. taipan is the more potent.

44 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 puffers, it started turning up in a variety of places science, at the Universi- LETHAL around the globe. In 1982 the ethnobotanist and in- ty of Queensland, and SPECIES DOSE dependent scholar Wade Davis announced that TTX the Coinmonwealth Anthrax toxin 0.0002 is a major component of the voodoo ehxir that turns Science and Industrial Geographic cone shell 0.004 people into zombies. (A person in a zombie state can- Research Organization. not move, but is fully conscious of everything around The program has already Tetrodotoxin in: Blue-ringed octopus (venow) 0.008 him.) TTX was later identified in the skin secrerions received $12 million (in Puffer fish (poison) 0.008 rough-skinned newt (genus Tarkha) U.S. dollars) for the de- ofthe American , an amphibian often kept as a pet, and in the venom sign and construction of Inland taipan snake 0.025 of AustraUa's tiny blue-ringed and blue-lined octo- a research facility, as Eastern brown snake 0.036 puses (genus Hapalochlaend) . Perhaps most remarkably, well as a ten-year, $60- Dubois's sea snake 0.044 it also turned up in the feathers oftwo genera ofbirds, miHion commitment for Coastal taipan snake 0.105 Pitohui and Ifrita, in New Guinea. The source of the operating funds from toxin turned out to be bacterial. Such microorgan- the Queensland govern- Beaked sea snake 0.113 isms readily disperse across great distances and ment. A second project is Western tiger snake 0.194 throughout a variety of habitats. Thanks to studies by the Natural Product Mainland tiger snake 0.214 systematists, bioexplorers no longer need to find a par- Discovery Programme, ticular species of puffer fish in order to obtain TTX. operated in Brisbane Common death adder 0.500 by Griffith University, Various animal toxins are listed by potency question remains, however, whether exper- which has received more The (anthrax-toxin potency is shown for compari- tise in taxonomy and biological systematics wUl than $75 million from the son). The lethal dose is the so-called LD^g, the be available for the long term. Amid proliferating London-based pharma- dose that kills 50 percent of the animals tested budget cuts and under mcreasing pressure to produce ceurical company AsU'a- with the toxin, in units of milligrams of toxin "employable" graduates in apphed sciences, Aus- Zeneca. per kilogram of the victim's body weight. tralian universities, Kke many universities elsewhere, Such projects have at- have cut back on numerous subjects in the basic sci- tracted numerous experts in biochemical and phar- ences. The University ofNew England in New South maceutical research and development, who are

Wales is now the only university in eastern Australia buUding an industry close to where the raw bio- to offer courses specifically in biological systematics. molecules occur in nature. Perhaps some future, re- Fortunately, government and commercial interests vised edition of Bryson's book will mention a very are stepping into the breach. At the heart of Peter different reference work, something called Jliifigs

Beattie's Queensland Bioscience Precinct is a part- Tliat Will Save Your Life Derivedfrom Australian Crea- nership between the Institute for Molecular Bio- tures Tliat Can Kill You Horridly. D

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 45 Takin^

I Inventory

Biologists are still astonished

by the diversity of the rainforest.

Text and photographs by Piotr Naskrecki

^^ ome say a biologist in a rainforest is like a kid in a candy ^ store. That's certainly how I feel every time I'm there. Life in the rainforest seems unstoppable; even death loses some

of its finality when it happens amidst perpetual rebirth, regrowth,

and recycling. The range of species can be staggering, but it is the invertebrate animals living in tropical rainforests that show the true meaning of the word "diversity." A single site can host more species of katydids or beedes than do entire northern continents.

How much life is still left to discover on our unique, green planet—in the rainforests and elsewhere? Nobody kno\vs for sure, hi .^i fact, nobody knows e.xactly how many species have already been described, though the consensus seems to hover around 1.7 million species. Estimates of the total number of species vary from 3

miUion to more than 1 00 million; the truth is probably between

6 million and 12 million species. It's likely that most of the yet-

unknown organisms are insects and nematodes, but not all new species are small invertebrates. Species of frogs, lizards, and even birds and monkeys previously unknown to science are being discovered in the remote forests of the tropics.

îii.y'i:0;i)r.J^,iv^ y^îîî^ I right (Tympanophora uvarovi), warn predators to stay away or else expect an unappetizing meal. Other species take the quieter route and disguise themselves as leaves or moss. Katydids flourish in humid, tropical regions I all over the world.

In my work on insects and arachnids I have discovered about eighty new species so far, some unusual enough to merit placement in a separate, higher taxonomic category: a new genus. But my findings pale in comparison with those of the most prolific taxonojjiists, some of whom have found thousands of new taxa. Sometimes one hears the sentiment that descriptive, taxonom-

ic woi-k is jiot true science. It's an unfortunate attitude, and worse,

an expression of ignorance. How can we forget that virtually all .great biorDgigal principles and discoveries originated from count-

:;^i'ss:'individualJ-©bservations? I hope these photographs will con-

^y.-some ot the thrill of hunting for new forms of life, and ofbe- feiiing acquainted with some ofour more elusive neighbors. D

)I<.Y October 2005 ^

Smooth skin of a leaf-tal latus sp.), pictured ab

bead/i/ce scales that are readily shed if the animal is caught, making quick w escape more likely. Other well-protected creatures include the young Costa Rican treehoppers (Membracis dorsata) pictured below. They wield tough armor and sharp, defensive spikes on their backs,

October 20Q5 NATURM HISTQ%K >fc- :X

Costa Rican Cholus cinctus, above, is one of roughly 60,000 species of beetles that belong to a single taxonomic family, Curculionidae, or weevils. Weevils are not only the largest family of beetles; they are also the largest family of Hying organisms on Earth. Their mouthparts, usually affixed to the tip of a long snout, may account for their evolutionary success. They enable weevils to bore deep holes and deposit their eggs even in the hardest seeds or nuts.

Many weevils, including this Costa Rican species, are excellent fliers.

Velvet worms (Onychophora), such as the one with giant, drooping antennae at right run the gamut of mating and breeding strategies. In some species the male, deposits sperm on top of the female's head; in others, he puts his head into the female's genital opening at the rear end of her body to deliver sperm. The females of some species lay their eggs outside, others hatch eggs inside their body, and still others form a placenta and give birth to live young, by- passing the egg stage entirely. • ^^>^Mr ivll;;.

Costa Rican dragonfly (Gynacantha tibiata), above, awaits the end of a rain shower to start hunting again.

W' The insect is a true predator, relying on its excellent prey that makes up its diet. Few "S^' ' vision to capture the groups of rainforest organisms have been around as long as the dragonflies: they date back about 320 million years, and their morphology has hardly changed since then.

V Spittle bug (Tomaspis sp.), left, undergoes its final molt

' ' its larval ' \^ in the foamy froth where it has spent entire ^^5 deve/opment. Unlike vertebrates, insects protect their */^^:? internal organs with a hard external armor. Considering

• * * the unparalleled evolutionary success of the arthropods,

' •' ' . such a skeletal body plan appears to be superior to an

' ' internal skeletal structure. But the body plan does have

./ its Achilles' heel: arthropods must periodically shed

t s ' , their exoskeletons in order to grow.

This article, aloiio witlt the acwnipmiyiiig pho-

toomplis, is adapted froiii The Smaller Majority, by Piotr Naskrecki, wliidi will he,pidilislied this

month by tlie Belliiwp Press ofHaivard University

October 2005. NATURAL'HISTOI\Y:,;ii^;x4yfg . 'f

'.v:'*^\

'*»./""*"-••-'':' ^'^;t: V :-*r. :'^'=i>w«jx^;:/tcv,.^ ^^^>^

Gaping horseshoe-shaped crater of Mount St. Helens (top), formed in^

its 1980 collapse, is virtually a carbon copy of the crater at Bezymianny volcano (steaming at right), in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula; Bezymianny collapsed in

1 956. The study of avalanche deposits at Mount St. Helens after 1980 led to the recognition that debris at Bezymianny, and at more than 400 other volcanoes worldwide, was also deposited by volcanic collapse. —

-,*. -i'T -;:,; '.•>': rf -v. ;?; --^i' /.'.J

Since the wakeup call at Mount St. Helens, geologists have realized

that collapsing volcanoes are far commoner than ever imagined.

By Lee Siebert

priest by the name of Tsurumaki was relaxing with' friends at an enclosed hot spring in central A Japan on a clear morning, July 15, 1888. The hot spring was high on the flank of Mount Bandai, a volcano that had undergone a series of earthquakes the preceding

week. But it is unlikely that the people on and around Bandai were concerned. The volcano was densely forest- ed and had not erupted for nearly a century. Besides, the mountain had been steaming, nothing more, for as long

as anyone could remember. Then, at about eight o'clock that morning, the earth suddenly shook. Tsurumaki and his fellow bathers rushed outside. While they anxiously tried to find out what had taken place, a powerful explosion rocked Ko-Bandai, the youngest of an overlapping group of small volcanoes that collectively make up Bandai volcano. As the sky turned pitch-black, rocks and stones began raining down around them, and Tsurumaki and his friends fled. What the priest did not reaHze was that he had had a fl-ont-row seat for one of nature's most dramatic events the catastrophic collapse of a volcano. Ko-Bandai volcano collapsed in a massive landslide that created a horseshoe- Composite diagram depicts the initial stage of the supersonic blast at Mount St. Helens, combined with a later stage of the slower- moving avalanche. The avalanche (ar rows) swept into Spirit Lake, causing a

tsunami 850 feet high; it also over^ topped part of Johnston Ridge and ran west down the North Fork Toutle River. The dashed lines show a new lake that

formed soon after. . ,

shaped crater, 5,000 feet by 6,500 feet wide, on the The collapse ofnearby volcanoes continues to threat- northern flank of the mountain. A jagged cliff was en millions of people around the world. left near where the priest had been relaxing. Almost 1.6 billion cubic yards of Ko-Bandai's former sum- ount St. Helens stirred to Hfe again this past

mit had collapsed, causing a high-speed avalanche - year, recalling the tragic spring, twenty-five that traveled seven irdles, overwhelming several vil- years ago. Volcanologists in Japan had begun putting lages and killing 461 people. The avalanche also left the pieces of the volcano-collapse story together massive piles of volcanic debris that covered broad shortly before 1980. But the Mount St. Helens mountain valleys, dammed up drainages, and even- eruption was the first in which large-scale failure of tually created five large lakes. a volcano was observed and photographically doc- Geologists from the Imperial University ofTokyo umented at the time of eruption. immediately studied the eruption in detail. Their The event began with a massive landslide on May thorough report, however, remained relatively un- 18, 1980, at 8:32 in the morrring. Mount St. Helens known to most volcanologists outside Japan for had been erupting intermittently since March 27. nearly a century. Not until another volcano ex- And, in early April, geologists had noted that the ploded on the opposite side of the Pacific Rim of northern flank of the mountain was beginning to Fire, in Washington state, did geologists fully real- bulge ominously. In spite of the danger, curious on- ize the significance ofwhat had happened at Bandai. lookers positioned themselves expectantly around The eruption and collapse of Mount St. Helens in the smoldering volcano, and geologists monitored 1980 ftindamentally changed volcanologists' under- the mountain at close range.

standing of how volcanoes work; it led to a reassess- As they watched, an enormous block ofthe moun- ment of the role of catastrophic coUapse in shaping tain, including part of the summit and much of the

the Earth's volcanoes. Among Earth's most notable northern flank, broke away [see ilbistmtiou above] . The topographic features, volcanoes as prominent as block had acted as a Hd, holding in the magma that

Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Rainier in the Cascade was causing the volcano to bulge; removing it sud- Range, Popocatepetl in Mexico, Kilimanjaro in denly depressurized the magma, which sent a vio- Africa, and Mauna Loa in Hawai'i, along with many lent blast of rock, gas, and ash sideways, northward others, have undergone catastrophic gravitational col- out of the fljnk of the volcano. The laterally mov- lapse. Those collapses are manifest in rocky debris that ing blast cloud initially expanded at supersonic speeds

shaped landscapes far beyond the volcanoes. When and ultimately destroyed everything in its path over

this debris sweeps into oceans or lakes, it can gener- a 180-degree arc across an area of 230 square miles.

ate devastating tsunamis. And there is no reason to Meanwhile, the landshding debris rapidly broke think that such violent events are confined to the past. apart and formed a high-velocity avalanche that

52 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005

—

slammed into nearby Spirit Mount St. Helens was the first large-scale collapse to be Lake. The debris displaced the lake, causing a tsunanu extensively photographed at the time of eruption. whose waves rose 850 feet

above the shore and scoured the mountainsides products ot what is known as edifice failure. Such down to bedrock. Today, a quarter of a century lat- failures have been identified so far at more than 400

er, a massive raft of displaced logs is stiU floating on volcanoes, in a wide variety ofgeologic settings. The

the surface of Spirit Lake. studies ofthe past twenty-five years make it clear that Part of the avalanche had enough momentum to edifice failure can dramaticaUy reduce the height of ride up and over a tall mountain ridge—-Johnston a volcano, leaving a large horseshoe-shaped crater or Ridge—that lay across its path. Most of the debris caldera that opens outward in the direction taken by

avalanche was deflected and swept westward anoth- the avalanche. At first, the landsHde is relatively co- er fourteen miles down the North Fork Toutle Riv- herent. But soon the big blocks break apart, launch- er, fiUing the valley with volcanic debris to an av- ing a high-speed debris avalanche that comes to rest erage depth of 150 feet. in the form of hummocky deposits that can cover Detailed studies after the eruption by investigators areas as large as hundreds of square miles.

at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other in- One distinguishing feature ofvolcano avalanches is stimtions showed that the volume of debris from the that they preserve the volcanic stratigraphy. Segments avalanche closely matched the missing portion of the oflava flows and delicate features such as layers ofash-

volcano's summit. Thus, the destruction of the sum- fall may be transported and come to rest nearly intact mit and formation of the impressive horseshoe- tens of miles from the volcano. Sometimes avalanche shaped crater (previously attributed at other volca- boulders are also fractured into irregular patterns noes to explosions) was caused primarily by the known asjigsaw cracks; the rocks have been shattered, avalanche, not the lateral blast. This conclusion has but the resulting fragments remain in close contact been hard for many people to square with the visu- not unHke a poorly disassembled jigsaw puzzle. The al impact of the blast cloud; even today one often hears

incorrect assertions that the +^ explosion "blew off the top _ro of the volcano."

The eruption of Mount St. Helens prompted volcanologists to reexamine puzzling deposits that had been recognized as volcanic, J5 but were far away from any adjacent volcanoes. Geolo- gists had interpreted them, I variously, as glacial moraines, individual volcanic vents, or even human structures. One early twentieth-century ge- ologist mistakenly concluded that an area in Java known as the "ten thousand hills of Tasikmalaya" could be ex- plained as the handiwork of farmers, who had supposed- ly piled up the boulders to Three kinds of volcano collapse are shown schematically. When magma is high in the edifice

(top left), as it was at Mount St. Helens, a structural failure that leads to rock slippage clear land for their rice fields. around a pressurized magma chamber can cause a sudden, lateral blast (top middle and right). A volcano Since 1980, though, in- can also collapse with no lateral blast (middle) and still expel magma (middle right), as Shiveluch vestigators have come to re- volcano did in 1964. Finally, even without new magma (bottom), steam and ash alone may be alize that many of the puz- the only visible phenomena associated with a collapse, as they were at Ko-Bandai volcano in

zling volcanic deposits are 1888. All three kinds of collapse leave U-shaped craters blanketed in debris (dark brown).

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 53 conditions. Studies of volcano collapse elsewhere have shown that Mount St. Helens was the excep- tion, not the rule. Lateral blasts appear to require unusual circumstances. If a magma body high in a vol-

cano is suddenly unroofed by the breakaway ofsum- mit rock, as at Mount St. Helens, the newly accumulated debris from the collapse helps deflect

the ensuing explosions. When magma lies deeper beneath the summit, however, the landsHde may be over before any explosions begin; in that case, the

vent is not obstructed, and normal vertical explosions occur. At some volcanoes, such as Shiveluch volcano, on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, collapse has been associated with major eruptions ofmagma, without lateral blasts [see diagrams on preceding page]. Collapse can also ensue without the eruption of

any new magma, as it did at Bandai in 1888. Even Small hills in the foreground are nearly thirty miles from Mount earthquakes alone can be strong enough to trigger Shasta volcano, in northern California, yet they are now known the collapse ot a structurally weakened volcano. That to be part of the debris from an ancient Shasta collapse. The tact is particularly disturbing because it means that volcano itself appears hazy in the distance. collapse can take place with httle or no warning. contrasting colors of the preserved parts of the orig- inal volcanic edifice can provide clues to conditions The recent magnimde-9. 1 earthquake in Suma- before the collapse. For instance, the pastel hues of tra, and the devastating tsunami that followed, certain rocks may indicate rock that was weakened by killed some 300,000 people. That extraordinary loss extreme heat before the coUapse. of Ufe has focused attention on earthquakes and their power to move water. But large volumes of volcanic In retrospect, it probably should not have been a debris falling into the sea can also generate devastat- surprise that volcanoes are prone to coUapse. In ing tsunamis, multiplying the effect of a volcanic col- spite of their topographic prominence, volcanoes lapse far beyond the avalanche itself Out of roughly are inherently unstable structures. They are made of 25,000 fatalities from large volcanic landslides in his- intermixed layers of solid lava flows and fragment- toric times, nearly four-fifths of them resulted not

ed material, all of which has been weakened by hot from the debris avalanches themselves or the associ- gases and fluids and shaken by earthquakes. A host ated volcanic eruptions, but from tsunamis. of other factors also contribute to their instability: The most catastrophic volcano-related tsunami in steep slopes; stress that arises from faulting and from recorded history took place in 1792. The collapse of the intrusion of hot magma into vertical fractures, Mayu-yama lava dome at Unzen volcano, in south- or dikes; and weak, sloping foundations. ern Japan, caused a debris avalanche that rocked the Catastrophic coUapse was once considered so rare Ariake Sea. Tsunamis inundated the city of

that it was ignored in volcanic hazard assessments. But Shimabara as far as the gates of its feudal castle, and

it is now known that, out ofthe world s roughly 1 ,500 swept along a forty-three-mile-long segment of the volcanoes that have erupted during the Holocene Shimabara Peninsula. The waves then traveled

epoch (that is, within the past 10,000 years), at least across the bay, washing away nearly 6,000 a sixth of them have undergone major edifice col- houses and 1,600 fishing boats along an- lapse. In fact, some of them have coUapsed repeated- other seventy-five miles of shorehne.

ly. The Augustine volcano, for instance, which Kes About 14,500 people were killed. about 200 miles southeast of Anchorage, Alaska, has But that event pales in comparison with collapsed a dozen times in the past 2,000 years. the size of what the collapse of massive ocean- "Large-scale" collapses—defined as greater than ic island volcanoes would cause. The huge vol- 100 million cubic meters—have taken place some- canoes in Hawai'i, the Canaries, and the West where on Earth at a rate of more than four per cen- Indies, for instance, are several orders of magni- tury during the past 500 years. Those data suggest tude larger than Mayu-yama lava dome. Seaflooi" that the volcanic landsUde may be the most common studies around those island volcanoes indicate that form of large-scale destruction of volcanic edifices. massive deposits of debris from avalanches ring the

CoUapses can take place under a wide range of islands as far out as 1 50 miles.

54 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 Two kinds ofisland and undei"water collapses have that a collapse of Cumbre Vieja volcano could cause been identified: slumps and debris avalanches. tsunami inundarion on the eastern coast of the Unit- Large slumps typically creep slowly, though occa- ed States from as high as eighty feet to less than ten sionally they lurch a few feet in response to an earth- feet above sea level. Obviously, such a difference has quake without substantially disrupting the volcano. widely varying hazard implications. Debris avalanches, in contrast, move at high speed, and they often transport fragmented debris over long When volcanoes coUapse, no matter what their distances, including blocks as large as six miles wide. size, the impact can be substanrial. MiUions The surface topography of such a debris field on the of people now live on top of debris-avalanche de- seafloor is comparable to that deposited by terrestri- posits or in coastal areas that would be threatened by al avalanches. volcano-driven tsunamis. In the quarter century since

The massive volume of submarine landslides can the eruption of Mount St. Helens, substantial progress create very large tsunamis, often called megatsunamis. has been made in identifying factors that contribute Rocks with coral deposits 230 feet above sea level on Moloka'i and 1,200 feet on top ot Lana'i, in the Avalanches flowing from islands have carried volcanic state of Ha'wai'i, have been inter- debris as far as 150 miles along the seafloor. preted as tsunami deposits. Some controversy remains, though, in part because the rates of uplift and subsidence of those is- to volcano instability. Volcanologists have also im- lands since the rime of coUapse are not well known. proved the technology for monitoring eruptions, and At Kohala volcano on the Big Island ofHawai'i, how- they have developed computer models that help an- ever, Avhere height changes have been well docu- ricipate where debris avalanches might travel. mented, tsunami deposits were likely carried between Fortunately, despite the recognition ofits increased 1,100 and 1,600 feet above sea level when neighbor- fi-equency on geologic time-scales, catastrophic edi- ing Mauna Loa volcano collapsed. fice failure remains a rare event—albeit a high-stakes Models and computer simulations ofhow tsunamis one. The more catastrophic the event, the more at- propagate after large underwater landsHdes have fo- tention it garners from media and others, but vi^hat cused primarily on the Hawaiian Islands and on one is often dismissed is how infrequently the bigger volcano in the Canary Islands: Cumbre Vieja on La events take place. Ironically, the very rarity of edifice Pakna. The latter volcano coUapsed several rimes dur- failure makes hazard planning politically difticult. The ing the Pleistocene epoch, and an eruption in 1949 intervals between collapses may be far longer than created faulting on the mountain that has caused most public officials remain in office, and conse- much concern and controversy about a potential quently, safety measures are often not even consid- landslide in the future. ered. The potential impact zones, moreover, are so

One difficulty with modeling is its sen- large that moving people permanently is not sirivity to varying assumptions. De an oprion. The focus, instead, must be to pending on assumptions made identify short-term precursors to collapse, results can difier by a factor as well as to educate pubhc officials and of ten or more. For ex residents about the potenrial hazards and ample, model' 'how the appropriate responses to them. Recent-

ly, the USGS has gready improved its

educarional programs and its methods for predicting collapses for residents near Mount Rainier. Fittingly,

Rainier is a close neighbor ofMount St. Helens. D

Volcanoes on Tenerife (satellite image at far

left), in the Canary Islands, have collapsed repeatedly. The resulting avalanches have

left massive deposits on the seafloor, as

20 shown in the chart at left. Collapses of such miles island volcanoes can give rise to large

tsunamis and reshape the ocean floor.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 55 ADVERTISEMENT

READER S E R V C E

1. ADVENTURE LIFE JOURNEYS 9. DELTA QUEEN a pure, natural, and unspoiled place- Small group travel in the Andes, The Delta Queen, Mississippi Iceland: The Way Life Should Be. Amazon, Galapagos, Patagonia, Queen and American Queen are Antarctica, and Central America. the only genuine overnight paddle 17. INCLINATOR COMPANY OF Expert local guides lead our cultural wheelers still plying America's rivers. AMERICA and ecological explorations and Inclinator's Elevette® residential naturalist cruises. 10. DORCHESTER COUNTY, MD elevators provide convenience for Destination Dorchester - Home people and add value to homes. They 2. ADVENTURESMITH to world-renowned Blackwater can be designed into new construction EXPLORATIONS National Wildlife Refijge, or added to existing homes. Small ship cruise and adventure travel excellent paddling, cycling, fishing experts. Explore nature up close and and hunting; explore the heart of 18. INDIA in style aboard luxury yachts, small Chesapeake Country on From the snow covered Himalayas to ships and wilderness lodges. Our Maryland's Eastern Shore. the tropical rain forests, India offers experienced staff knows the best ships incredible experiences and and trips for every abilit}' and budget. n.EARTHJUSTICE adventures. Come visit India for an Earthjustice is a nonprofit law firm experience that is truly incredible! 3. ALABAMA GULF COAST dedicated to protecting the Spectacular beaches. Outstanding magnificent places, natural resources, 19. ISLAND PRESS accommodations. And warmed by and wildlife of this earth by enforcing Island Press is a leading publisher of sunshine, history, culture and and strengthening environmental laws. books about the environment for unspoiled natural beaut)'. professionals, students, and general 12. ECOTOUR EXPEDITIONS readers-irom solutions oriented books 4. AMAZONIA EXPEDITIONS Tal^e A Walk On The Wild Side: for working professionals to books on Award-\\'inning Jungle Lodge in the Explore nature with our small groups ideas that inform and inspire. Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Reserve, shown and skilled naturalist guides in the to have the greatest diversit)' of Amazon, Galapagos, Costa Rica, 20. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV PRESS mammals in all of the Amazon. Peru, and Brazil. Since 1989. Free Celebrating 150 years of publishing Brochure. for the world. Books about nature 5. ATHENA PUBLICATIONS, INC. and science. Athena Review, journal of 13. FREDERICK COUNTY MD archaeology, history and exploration, Maryland's Crossroads of History. 21. LL BEAN invites you to send for more Antiques, Battlefields, Covered Setting the standard for quality information on a free issue. Bridges, Parks, Wineries and more outdoor gear and apparel since 1912. close to Gettj'sburg and DC. For a free catalog of the best values 6. BELIZE TOURIST BOARD direct from Maine, circle our number. Catch the Adventure! From rainforest 14. GALAPAGOS TRAVEL resort to Barrier Reef Belize is only 2 Specializing in comprehensive, 22. MARYLAND VACATIONS hours from the USA. Behze. Mother educationally-oriented, professionally- Beaches, mountains, big cities, small Nature's best kept secret. led natural history tours of the towns. Maryland has so many things Galapagos Islands. Spend II or 15 days to do, so close together. 7. CHARLES COUNTY, MD touring all the significant outer islands. It's for the birds! Take a hike! Hunt 23. MELANISIAN TOURIST for fossils, golf, fish, shop. Experience 15. HONDURAS SERVICES the wild side of the Potomac where The country offers archaeology, Luxury expedition cruising eagles soar. colonial cities, reefs and beaches, throughout the Sepik Ri\'er and nature and adventure. Our best Trobriand Islands aboard the "MTS 8. CROW CANYON attractions are the Mayan Ruins of Discoverer." Customized land ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER Copan and the Bay Islands. arrangements. Small-group cultural adventures led by world-reno^\'ned scholars explore 16. ICELAND 24. MONTGOMERY COUNTY MD some of the world's most interesting Where else can you experience an Experience transportation history locations; programs also include ancient heritage, pristine nature, and along the C Sc O Canal and the Southwest archaeological modern lifest^de that coexist in National Capital Trolley Museum. So explorations that focus on ancient harmony.' Come have an advenmre rich many things to do with easy access to Pueblo Indian culture. with history and soul-enjoy 3'ourself in the nation's capital. ADVERTISEMENT READER SERVICE

For more FREE! information from the Reader Service advertisers, circle the corresponding

numbers on this postage-paid card. Include your name and address. Then mail card, fax it to

856-380-4101, or visit us at www.naturalhistorymag.com.

12 34 56789 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

City/State/Zip 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Email Address (optional) 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Offer expires December 15. 2003.

100S NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 14 MAPLE SHADE, NJ Postagemmwill be paid by Addressee PO Box 9000 Maple Shade NJ 08052-9600

III...ImI,IImmI,I.mI,II.I...II..II...II...II,..I ADVERTISEMENT

For free information from the advertisers listed below, circle the corresponding numbers on the

attached postage-paid card. Mail card, fax it to 856-380-41 01 , or visit us at www.naturalhistory-

mag.com. If the card is missing, mail your request to: P.O. Box 9000, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

25. NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA 33. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, 41. TARA TOURS Walk on the ocean floor along the CANADA Tara Tours specialize in travel to Bay of Fundv, home of the World's Come experience our unique red Central and South America since Highest Tides! cliffs and parabolic sand dunes and 1980. Free brochures and quotes. hike or bike the Confederation Trail 26. NEWFOUNDLAND & across our Island. 42. TERRA INCOGNITA ECOTOURS LABRADOR For trips that make a difference to We offer our \'isitors the natural 34. PROMPERU you and to the places we \isit. Trek wonders of whales, icebergs and Peru has it all. Fascinating history, as Mountain Gorillas, snorkel on Barrier seabirds framed by our dramatic the land of the Incas, incredible Reefs, rainforest hikes, Whitewater seascape and landscape and unique nature with more than 1,800 species rafting, and more. culture. of birds and colorflil traditional culture. Come to Peru. 43. TILLER INT'L TOURS INC. 27. NORTH CAROLINA OUTER Southwest China small group or BANKS 35. QUEBEC CITY private 3-week tours to Biospheres, The Outer Banks of NC-Immerse Discover the magic of North Ethnic Tribe Town and Unique yourself in culture and history. Here America's most European Cit\'! Architecture, Historic Cities, Major an)'time is quality' time. Only 40 minutes from the Old Cit)', Archaeological Finds. Tiller Int'l go birdwatching, hiking and enjoy Tours CTS#2022826-40 28. NORWAY yourself. Nor\^'ay is nature at its most 44. TOYOTA spectacular. A land of cosmopolitan 36. QUEBEC MARITIME In the U.S., Toyota is more than the cities, charming towns, ancient Viking Nature destination par excellence, Le cars we sell here. Together with our ships, and breathtaking coastal voyages. Quebec Maritime is a vast land whose dealers and suppliers, Toyota is shores are washed by the Gulf St. responsible for creating over 200,000 29. NORWEGIAN COASTAL Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. good jobs across the U.S. Learn more VOYAGE about our eight manufacturing plants, Our 19-day voyage to Antarctica gets 37. SOL INTERNATIONAL design, and R&D facilities, and how you closer to the wildlife and We specialize in South America, we invest in local communities. spectacular scenery of "The White offering exceptional nature and Continent." Noted lecturers, cultural programs to areas where 45. VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE expedition guides, and PolarCirkel wildlife abounds and indigenous TOURS shore excursions make this the communities are unspoiled. Small Over 140 tours annually worldwide, journey of a lifetime. groups, customized itineraries, including special cruises, and personalized service. introductory tours for new birders. 30. NOVA SCOTIA Yes, please send me my FREE 400 38. ST LAWRENCE CRUISE LINES 46. WILDERNESS TRAVEL page Nova Scotia Doer's & Dreamer's Canadian River Cruise Vacations. Trekking Expeditions, Wildlife Safaris, Travel Guide - packed with everjthing Spend 5 or 6 nights aboard a Inn to Inn Hiking, and Sea Kayaking I need to plan and book my vacation. classically designed riverboat cruising throughout the world. 27 years of the calm waters of the St. Lawrence experience, superb itineraries, expert 31. ORIENT LINES and Ottawa rivers. leadership, small groups. Free catalog. Explore Scandinavia and Russia. Cruise to the Mediterranean's most 39. SWAN HELLENIC CRUISES 47. WORCESTER COUNTY MD glamorous playgrounds. Enjoy luxury Ocean and sea cruises, expedition and Maryland's only seaside count\'. Visit at sea, aboard the elegant mid-sized river cruises all with the accent on Assateague Island National Seashore. ships sophisticated travelers prefer. discovery. Exotic destinations and Kayak, canoe, bird watch or golf. Stay distinguished guest speakers. in one of our many Bed & Breakfast 32. POCONO MOUNTAINS, PA Inns. Free Pocono Mountains Outdoors 40. TALBOT COUNTY MD Discovery Map. Information on state Talbot Count\''s five beautifial rivers, 48. ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS parks, forests, game lands, and the 602 miles of shoreline, unique Offers small-group expeditions to Delaware Water Gap National charming hamlets St. Michaels, remote locations around the world. Recreation Area. Featuring trailheads, Oxford, TUghman Island and Experdy led and staffed, our birding sites, snowmobiling, cross- Historic Easton offer a timeless programs provide the finest adventure country skiing, and more. treasury of natural beaut\' and history. travel experience imaginable. THIS LAND

streams, the Driftless Area is a rugged landscape. On steep south- and west- facing slopes of some of the cUffs, Where Glaciers exposed to the intense rays of the afternoon sun, are patches of grassland known as hiU prairies. The plants Did Not Tread that grow there are typical of the tall grass prairies of the plains a few hundred miles to the west. In contrast, Ice now lodges in crevices, creating miniature the talus, or rock rubble, accumulated

beneath cool, north-facing cliffs ice age habitats in North America's Driftless Area. sometimes provides a very different kind of habitat, one that biologists By Robert H. Mohlenbrock caU algific talus slope, or simply algific slope. "Algific" means cold- producing, and such cool slopes, which may be as small as a few square yards or extend for as much as a half- mile, serve as refuges for plants that usually grow much farther north.

Air circulation is crucial to creating and maintaining the unusual conditions of the habitat. The rocks and boulders that break off the cMs can be quite large, and as a result many

large air spaces pervade the talus. In addition, a cUff top may be pierced by fissures and sinkholes that open the

base of the cliff to the

flow of air. Where those conditions pre-

vail, cold winter air penetrates the base of the cHffs and freezes Limestone cliffs loom in the Driftless Area, a region bypassed water deep within the fay the two most recent ice age glaciers. limestone. During the summer, air draining During the Pleistocene 70,000 and 10,000 down through the chff epoch, between about 1.8 years ago), were quite encounters the ice; the

million and 10,000 years severe at their maxi- chilled air then flows ago, a series of ice ages swept over mums. Somehow, out through the talus,

the Earth. The glaciers of each ice though, their glaciers keeping it cool during age covered large regions of the plan- bypassed a 15,000- Algific talus slope the warmer months. et, particularly in the Northern square-mile area of On July 30, 1985, for

Hemisphere. The geological traces of what is now southwestern Wisconsin, instance, John Schwegman, an Illinois their comings and goings are easy to southeastern Minnesota, northwest- botanist, recorded a surface air tem- spot, in scoured bedrock, in large iso- ern Illinois, and northeastern Iowa, perature on an algific slope of forty- lated boulders (known as glacial er- even though earher Pleistocene gla- two degrees Fahrenheit; ten inches ratics), and in deposits of gravel, sand, ciers had covered the region. Because down between the rocks, the air tem-

silt, and clay (known as glacial drift). early geologists did not find recent peramre was only thirty-three degrees.

The two most recent ice ages, known glacial drift in the region, it became Biologists think conditions on the in North America as the lUinoian known as the Driftless Area. algific slopes have remained largely

(between 170,000 and 120,000 years With precipitous Limestone cliffs, unchanged since ice age times. That ago) and the Wisconsinan (between deeply shaded ravines, and clear rocky would explain why boreal plants and

58 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 —

Unit of Driftless Area

National Wildlife Reserve I animals persist this far south, in some cies since 1978. To date, addition- cases their al isolated from next most searches, by Terrence J. Frest, a southerly homes. Botanists are always malacologist working with Debds fascinated by such disjunct, or discon- Consultants in Seattle, and others, tinuous, ranges. One remarkable ex- have found the snail alive in leaf ample—because relatively few species litter on thirty-seven algific slopes of trees grow in the moss-covered, in Iowa and Illinois. It lives as rocky terrain—is balsam fir. Its major long as seven years, hibernating in range Hes about a hundred miles to winter and laying eggs in the the north. As Schwegman noted, an- spring. Eight other species of ice other pecuharity of the algific slopes is age snails have also turned up on that plants that normally bloom in the the algific slopes, including the spring in northern Illinois may bloom Minnesota Pleistocene amber on the cool slopes throughout the snail and the Midwest Pleistocene summer and even in late September. vertigo. Some quarter-inch-long snails Many algific slopes are pri- on FOR VISITOR INFORMATION, CONTACT: discovered in Iowa in the late 1920s vate property. One accessible to Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge remained in a specimen collection the public is in Iowa's Bixby Box 460 until 1940 before someone recognized State Preserve. In addition, the McGregor, Iowa 52157 them for what they were Discus Driftless Area National Wildlife 563-873-3423 macclintocki, an organism previously Refuge, which comprises nine www.fws.gov/midwest/driftless known only from fossils and thought scattered tracts of land totaling to have become extinct 10,000 years 781 acres in Iowa, has oversight over Wildlife Service is seeking approval ago. In the early 1970s, LesKe Hu- perhaps twenty algific slopes. The to add another 2,275 acres, covering bricht, an independent malacologist, refuge was established in 1 989 to nearly 200 tracts in Iowa, Minnesota, or moUusk specialist, discovered new protect both the Iowa Pleistocene and Wisconsin. specimens of the snails, living in algif- snail and the northern monkshood, a ic slopes. The Iowa Pleistocene snail, relative of the buttercup that the fed- Robert H. Mohlbnbrock is professor as it is now known, has been included eral government classifies as a threat- emeritus of plant hiiology at Soutliern Illinois on the federal list of endangered spe- ened species. The U.S. Fish and University in Carbondale.

Habitats

Algific slope In addition to balsam fir, common wildflowers are alpine enchanter's Complementing the wildflowers are north-

notable for its disjunct range, tree species nightshade, Canada violet, great Indian ern lady fern and northern maidenhair fern.

include mountain maple, paper birch, and plantain, green violet, moschatel, rosy twist-

yellow birch. Other plants with disjunct ed stalk, rough bedstraw, single-stemmed Hill prairie Dominant grasses include

ranges include golden saxifrage, hook vio- groundsel, stiff gentian, woodrush, and big bluestem, little bluestem, prairie

let, limestone oak fern, meadow bluegrass, yellow trout-lily. Meadow horsetail, mosses, dropseed, and side-oats grama. Pasque-

northern currant, northern lungwort, and oak fern also abound. flower is the first wildflower to bloom in northern monkshood, purple clematis, early spring, followed by thimbleweed,

twinflower, and three species of sedge. Moist woods The woods that surround bird's-foot violet, downy painted cup, and

Although they are not considered disjunct the algific slopes are dominated two kinds of blazing stars. species, several plants native to the habitat by American elm, basswood, William C. Watson, an Iowa

are otherwise rare for this part of the coun- bitternut hickory, black walnut, biologist and independent

try: bunchberry, Forbes' saxifrage, kidney- box elder, hop hornbeam, sugar consultant who has surveyed

leaved violet, marsh bluegrass, one-sided maple, and white ash. Among the hill prairie vegetation,

pyrola, pink pyrola, and sullivantia. the numerous wildflowers are reports that red cedar is dis- More common plants include such shrubs bellwort, bloodroot, blue co- placing the herbaceous cover.

as alder buckthorn, American yew, beaked hosh, hairy blue violet, jack-in- The trees have probably bene-

hazel, beaked willow, dwarf raspberry, high- the-pulpit, Jacob's ladder, liver- fited from the absence of fires,

bush cranberry, northern shadbush, prickly leaf, Virginia waterleaf, white which in the past kept them

rose, and red-berried elder. Among the avens, and wild bergamot. Northern monkshood in check.

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 59 —

BOOKSHELF By Laurence A. Marschall

out. The universe, on average, has al- brought a prominence to British as-

Conflict in the Cosmos: ways looked the same. tronomy that it had not enjoyed since Fred Hoyle's Life in Scieme To those who objected that sponta- the days of Newton. by Simon Mitton neous matter creation had never been Simon Mitton, an astronomer, writer, Joseph Henry Press, 2005; $27.95 observed, Hoyle responded that the big and editor who knew Hoyle in his hey-

bang presupposed it too, but as a single day, has written a sensitive, literate por- To those who came of age in the event. Besides, the creation rate that the trait of the man and his science. In spite 1950s, the cosmologist Fred Hoyle steady-state theory' required to maintain of Mitton's demurral that he lacks the (1915-2001), like Carl Sagan a genera- historian's credentials needed for a de-

tion later, was the popular voice of sci- finitive biography, he has mined a wealth ence. Hoyle's Frontiers of Astronomy, of personal papers, oral histories, and published three years before the Octo- other primary sources with skUl and

ber 1957 launch of Sputnik I, became flair. The result is a balanced and ex- an instant best seller in both Great ceptionally readable account of a re- Britain and the United States, inspiring markable man.

legions of overachieving adolescents Although Mitton only touches on it,

including many of today's practicing it is ironic that today's proponents ofso- physicists and astronomers—to choose called intelligent design should claim careers in research. For masses of radio Hoyle as an ally. They do so mainly by listeners, Hoyle's talks on Hfe, the uni- selectively quoting his assertion that life verse, and everything in betvveen, de- could not have arisen from the random livered in his folksy Yorkshire accent, assemblage ofmolecules onEarth. They were a deUght and a wonderment. "He ignore (of course) his contention that describes events in interstellar space as Hfe arose in clouds of interstellar dust,

ifcommenting on a cricket match," one where, at least in the steady-state uni- Fred Hoyle at Caltech, 7967 BBC blurb proclaimed. verse, there was plenty of time for ran- In a 1949 broadcast on the origin of a universal constant density was far too dom processes, and thus no need for a

the universe, he coined the term "big low to detect. As Hoyle put it, for every creator. Like so much of what Hoyle bang" to describe theories of a pri- volume of space the size of a one-pint wrote, the idea was brilliant, if ulti-

mordial explosion, a term so vivid and milk botde, about one atom is created mately more seminal than conxtincing.

descriptive that it soon became stan- every thousand million years. For a dec- Mitton's biography makes one wish Sir dard EngHsh. Whether people liked ade thereafter, the big bang was seldom Fred (he was made a knight in 1972) him or not, they followed his talks and mentioned without giving equal rime were stUl around to carry on the good his pubHshed writings because there to Hoyle's alternate theory. fight ^^^th his scientific critics, as well as was no telling what barroom debate he Beginning in the 1960s, however, a with those pious polemicists who

might stir up next. "It seems to me," he growing mass of evidence, most no- would co-opt him for their own. wrote in a typical passage, "that reH- tably the detection of the background

is a to an radiation from the big-bang fireball, gion but bUnd attempt fmd Hiinga:An Unnatural Histoiy escape from the truly dreadfiil state in left the steady-state theory with little by Sharman Apt Russell which we fmd ourselves." to recommend it. Basic Books, 2005; S23.95 Professionally, Hoyle was just as cre- ative and controversial. The cosmolog- Hoyle's contriburions to other ar- ical theory he favored, against a tide of eas of astronomy, however, have At the risk ot oversimphf,ang, you big-bangers, came to be known as the been lasring and profound. Together can think about the body as if

steady-state universe. Along with the with E. Margaret Burbidge, GeoSirey it were a car. Ordinarily, about 2,000 mathematician and cosmologist Her- R. Burbidge, and WiUiam A. Fowler, calories a day are needed to keep it run- mann Bondi, and the astronomer and Hoyle worked out the details of how ning, and most of us top the tank ofi" geoscientist Thomas Gold, Hoyle ar- the chemical elements were built up frequently, so that regular meals pro- gued that there was no big bang, and from primordial hydrogen in the inte- vide most of those calories. In a pinch, that time has no beginning and no end. riors of stars. He contributed seminal there's a large reserve, about 160,000 The observed expansion of space, the ideas to theories as diverse as the struc- calories, stored primarily in tat and

steady-staters surmised, is accompa- ture of atoms and the formation of muscle tissues: enough to keep a per- nied by the continuous creation ofmat- planetary systems. His forceful leader- son puttering around, in principle, tor ter, which keeps things from thinning ship in a variet^' of administrarive roles about eights' days.

60 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 Most everyone has experienced hun- touting the restorative power of fasting.

ger at one time or another. But I would Tanner was neither the first nor the venture that most readers of this maga- last to recommend this extreme form of

zine know the feeling as little more than self-restraint: reUgious faiths have long a temporary inconvenience. We in the promoted regular fasting as a way to West eat, by and large, whenever we purge the soul of worldly distractions, need to, and often when we don't. and there seems to be a "health guru" Nature Avriter Sharman Apt Russell in every generation whose idea of the

explores the subject ot hunger tar be- good Hfe is to restrict meals to merest yond such common experience. What subsistence. The scientific evidence re-

happens, she asks, and what does it feel garding the benefits offasting, however,

like, when the body is deprived offood is spotty. Aside from a few well-known

for a day, a week, a month? What hap- studies with mice, whose calorie-re- George F. Bass, ed.

pens when food is scarce? It should stricted diets led to significantiy longer $39.95 hardcover 256 pages / 400+ illus. come as no surprise that there is plenty lives, persuasive medical evidence that

of historical light to shed on the sub- food deprivation promotes health is ject, and even some science: wars and hard to come by. 00 famines, as well as fasting rituals, char- But alas, there is no shortage of scien-

acterized human experience for far tific evidence on the harmfrd effects of

longer than have the relative peace and hunger. In one section ofher book, Rus- 'THE plenty of the recent past. sell recounts the story of the remarkable SEVEN'TY study of "hunger dis- GREAT BATTLES ease" that Jewish doctors ,„ HISTORY carried on in the be- sieged Warsaw Ghetto, in 1942. In spite of their s own desperate conditions, the physicians meticulously recorded < the physiology of starving patients at two hos- Jeremy Black, ed. pitals. X Their manuscript, $40,00 hardcover

at once horrifying and 304 pages / 320 illus.

edifying in its systematic

detail, is a document that records both unspeak- able cruelty and the power of the mind to Rowan Gillespie, E The Famine Group, 1997 (permanent withstand it. Of course, installation in Dublin, Ireland) most of the participants, On the bright side, some people including the authors, did not survive the have actually experienced hunger war. But as one doctor wrote in the in- as an "uplifting" experience. In 1877, troduction to the manuscript, before he for instance, a middle-aged physician was shipped off to TrebUnka, the work named Henry Tanner, depressed and of these physicians "could give the

ailing, decided to commit suicide by henchman the answer. ... I shall not not eating. After ten days, at which time wholly die." the medical science of his day had pre- Not every chapter in Russell's book

dicted inexorable death, Tanner was still is that grim, but all of them are thought feeling fine—so much so that he con- provoking. She writes of anthropolog- tinued to refuse food for another month. ical studies of societies hit by fainine: of by Toby Wilkinson He emerged from his fast a changed conscientious objectors during the Sec- $50.00 hardcover 272 pages/ 312 illus. man, free of asthma, rheumatism, and ond World War who voluntarily starved self-destructive thoughts, and he em- themselves in order to help nutrition- barked on a new career as a lecturer, ists develop a strategy for reviving the '^^ Thames & Hudson Available wherever books are sold thamesandhudsonusa.com October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 61 starving masses in postwar Europe; and Sound, and pummeled eastern Con- stretch ofbarren sand. At the height of of anorexic middle-class teenagers in necticut and Rhode Island. It was, by the storm, corpses floated up the city the West who experience a form ofpsy- then, gargantuan in size and unprece- streets of downtown Providence. chological gratification by starving dented in strength: 500 miles across and Survivor's stories, however, give themselves to death. pushing a storm surge big enough to ample feeling for the power ofthe rain, Although Russell flies across this look like a tsunami. To make matters tide, and wind. Katharine Hepburn, landscape perhaps too quickly to pro- worse, a high-pressure system moving who wrote about the hurricane in her vide more than a glimpse oftoday's ma- down firom the north coUided with the memoirs, evacuated her home in Fen-

jor hunger issues, she writes with im- hurricane just as it reached inhabited wick, Connecticut, when the chim- mediacy and authority. Readers whose territory. The storm stalled, dropping neys blew down and a wing of the appetites are whetted can fmd food for between ten and seventeen inches of house collapsed in the wind. The next further thought in the ample references rain on eastern Long Island, coastal morning, she found what remained of at the end of the book. Connecticut, and Rhode Island in a the blown-off wing, wrapped around matter ofhours, and keeping the flood- a stone bridge a third of a mile away. high for far longer than usual. With power and telephone lines The Great Hurricane: 1938 waters down, roads washed out, and bridges by Cherie Burns Cherie Burns, who has gone, it was as ifthe most populous part Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005; Writer nation had been leveled an in- $24.00 seen her share of wind and ofthe by weather from her hoine on Nantucket, vading army. In fact, had Hitler's armies has dug up old newspaper accounts and not overrun Czechoslovakia a few days The devastation wrought by hur- local histories to reconstruct the terror later, the great storm might still be re- ricane Katrina stiU feels like a and destruction that accompanied the membered as a defining moment in his- punch in the belly of the Southeast, 1938 hurricane. Those who suffered tory. Burns's narrative makes one ap- but surely, at least, the warning and the most, of course, did not survive to preciate anew the strengths of modern evacuation saved many Uves. Not so with the great storm that hit the Northeast on September 20-21, 1938. Hurricanes hardly happen there any- way, but with no timely warning, the storm caught everyone by surprise. Spawned in the eastern Atlantic and

reported by a few passing vessels as it headed northeast after skirting the Ba- hamas, the great storm disappeared

from weather stations w^hen it missed northern Florida and headed out to

sea. There were few ships along its path, and in an age when radar, satel-

lite photos, and oceanographic buoys did not exist, there was no way to

know that it was intensifying to what we would now call a category-four hurricane and heading straight for the Hurricane destruction along the coast of Long Island eastern coast of Long Island with the Sound, Niantic, Connecticut, September 1 938 speed of a buUet train. By the time barometers began to drop precipi- tell their tales. Nearly 700 people died, communications and emergency plan-

tously in the Northeast, it was too and about 63,000 were left homeless. ning, as well as their ultimate power-

late. There was no Weather Channel, Among the coastal enclaves of New lessness against the forces of nature. no Internet, no stand-ups by wind- York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, Laurence A. Marschall, author o/'The whipped, rain-soaked TV reporters, as many as 9,000 homes were totally Supernova Story, is W.K. T. Saliin Professor of and, of course, no evacuation plan. destroyed. Some communities, such as Physics at Gettysburg College iu Pennsylvania, at was the offi- the cottage colony at Napatree Point, "Rain, heavy times" and director of Project CLEA, which produces cial prediction for the Northeast coast Rhode Island, were so completely widely used simulation software for education in

when the hurricane slammed into the obliterated that pictures taken the astronomy. He is the 2005 winner of the Educa- Hamptons, rolled over Long Island morning after show nothing but a long tion prize of the American Astronomical Society.

62 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 nature.net

my next-door neighbor's house by mis- During an eleven-day mission in Feb- Take Flight take. Nothing's perfect. ruary 2000, the Space Shutde Endeavour Maps used radar to generate a new topo- National Atlas of the United graphic database of our planet. NASA By Robert Anderson The States of America (www.national promises to release the finished product atlas.gov) is another remarkable re- to the public by this December. Go to Recently I read Fatal Passage, Ken source for exploring the U.S. through wvwv2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/ for more on the McGoogan's 2002 biography of maps and images. Updated quarterly by "mission to map the world." a remarkable yet largely forgotten Arc- the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), For live-feed, up-to-the-minute tic explorer, John Rae. Traveling by it combines data on people, infra- views from a satellite-borne webcam, dogsled, in the style of the Inuit, Rae structure, and natural resources culled see the "Earth and Moon Viewer" (www. trekked thousands of miles along the from twenty government agencies. fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html), by

northern coast ofNorth America to fiU Visitors can create maps tailored to software writer John Walker. I partic- in the blanks on regional maps. On May their needs by clicking on "Map ularly like the feature that helps me

6, 1854, from atop a barren ridge, he Maker," but I preferred the site's "Dy- comprehend global time. Select a lo-

charted a strait that now bears his name, namic," or interactive, maps. I found cation from "various cities" and then the final Hnk in the long-sought North- the "Tapestry ofTime and Terrain" was hit the "hemisphere" view under the west Passage. my favorite, with its overview of our resulting map. From a million kilome- Like coundess explorers before him, nation's geology. ters above, you can see the regions of Rae always sought the high ground, the For much of the twentieth century the planet illuminated by the Sun at better to observe the surrounding ter- the best views of the terrain in the U.S. any given moment. At noon this time rain. Later cartographers sought the van- were the USGS's topographic maps. of year, I can see Rae's Strait, near the tage points afforded by balloons, air- For many purposes, such maps are more edge of darkness. planes, and satellites to trace the Knes of practical than satellite images. You can lands and seas on Earth. Decades have find them for free on the Internet at Robert Anderson is a freelance science now passed since all the blanks were the National Atlas or at topozone.com. it'riter living^ in Los Angeles. fiEed in. Could the glory days of map- making have already come to an end? To judge from some of the tools and information recently available on the An enthralling look at our endless efforts Web, the glory days are just beginning.

A few months ago Google launched its to understand the cosmos ambitious new "Google Earth," bUled as a "3D interface to the planet" (earth. A best-selling author in Europe, google.com). You'U need to download where he is known as France's Carl Sagan for his ability to help Google's free software to use it (it the general public understand works with computers running Win- complex astronomic theories, dows 2000 or later, but, at the time of Professor Thuan explores how this writing, Macintosh users are out our concept of the universe of luck). Enter a street address, at least evolved— examining the magical universe of cavemen, the mathe- in the United States, Canada, and the matical universe of Pythagoras, U.K., and you will zoom seamlessly the work of Galileo, and finally, from an Apollo 8-\ike to vantage point the Big Bang. He illuminates right above the rooftops. You can then the forefiront of astronomy and tilt and rotate the view and soar over how it impacts philosophical the landscape like a bird. You can even and religious beliefs. His aston- ishingly accessible explanation exaggerate the vertical reliefofthe sim- of how matter developed in ulated landscape by a factor of three. the milliseconds following the If your system won't run Google Big Bang — along with many Earth, the company has another map- informative illustrations — ping site (maps.google.com) that does will captivate the lay reader. much the same thing, but without the $22.95, paperback / 1-932031-95-2 ability to "fly" over the landscape or tilt Available at better bookstores or order direct from our website: your flight perspective. I entered my www.teinpletonpress.org street address, but the Web site flagged

TEMPLETON FOUNDATION PRESS • West Conshohocken, PA October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 63 —

OUT THERE Pluto orbits the Sun. And because it's the largest object to do so—other than Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Number Ten? Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—it belongs to the planetary pantheon. Well, Pluto-bashers can now smug- MichaelE. Brown, an astron- A new object, bigger andfarther than Pluto, ly rejoice. omer at Caltech, together with Chad- is orbiting the Sun. But is it a planet? wick A. TrujiUo of the Gemini North Observatory in Hawai'i and David L. Rabinowitz of Yale University, Liu By Charles have discovered a new KBO, nine biUion miles from the Sun, whose of Plu- —perhaps for reasons diameter exceeds that Pluto to possibly by halfagain as much. having as much to do with — distance from the Walt Disney's animated dog At its greatest Sun, 2003 UB313 (the body's pro- as with either the Roman god of is twice as far from the underworld or the body's status visional name) the Sun as Pluto ever gets. It takes as the "little guy" of the solar sys- 557 Earth years for it to make just tem—seems to be our sentimental solar orbit, compared to "just" favorite among the nine planets. one years for Pluto. Discovered in 1930 by the Ameri- 248 can astronomer Clyde W. Tom- astronomers have fig- baugh, Pluto has been an object of Most ured that one day another curiosity in the three-quarters of a would outdo Pluto in size. century since then. It is less than KBO basic planet-fmding tech- 1,500 miles across; in composition The nique hasn't changed much since it is more like a comet than a gas Tombaugh's time: basically, you giant or a terrestrial plan- look at a series of images of the et; it has an eccentric el- area of the sky made at vari- liptical orbit, whose same ous times, and you scan for objects plane is tilted at seventeen between one frame and degrees from the orbits that have moved the next. What has changed is astro- of the rest of the planets; nomical technology—so dramatically and it is just one among Schematic three-dimensional view (top) depicts the orbits of such as Brown, Tru- the uncounted hordes that astronomers Saturn and Pluto, along with the orbits of several recently dis- Rabinowitz can readily detect of similar small, icy and jiUo, and covered solar system objects at the same scale (the diameter of system objects more than rocky bodies in a bagel- and study solar Saturn's orbit is nearly 1.8 billion miles). The orbit of 2003 UB3T3 a million times fainter than Pluto. shaped region of the is a highly eccentric ellipse, and is tilted with respect to the There's a world ofdifierence, though, solar system known as orbital plane of the major planets at an angle of 44 degrees. sizes of the newfound objects are compared having the ability to detect a the Kuiper Belt. Above, the relative between and Moon; the exact size of 2003 Faced with over- with the sizes of the Earth KBO and actually discovering one. Dis- UB313 is uncertain, but it is larger than Pluto. For clarity, the is hampered most of all by the whelming scientific ev- covery objects and their orbits are shown in matching schematic colors. the sky is really, really idence, many ofmy col- simple fact that hunters can search only a leagues have called for Pluto's reclassi- motion"? Some who defend the status big. Planet of sky at a time, and so fication from "major planet" to "minor quo have even proposed defining small patch to focus on parts of the planet." That action, they argue, would "planet" to exclude every Kuiper Belt they've tended roughly the same orbital plane as lead to more detailed study of Pluto as object (KBO) except Pluto. sky in occupied by the planets Mercury a representative of an entire class of ob- Until recently, the commonest way that Neptune. With Hterally bil- jects in the solar system. Many other to include Pluto among the planets has through background stars potentially people, however—including, appar- been to insist that size matters. The ar- hons of it's confusing the field of view, it's hard ently, much of the American public gument goes Uke this: even though planet out of a re- passionately oppose reclassification. smaller than Earth's Moon (or, for that enough to pick a of the sky much less the Why should their beloved ninth plan- matter, the moons lo, Europa, Gany- stricted part — entire celestial sphere. et have to endure the indignity ofa "de- mede, Callisto, Titan, and Triton),

64 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005

—

Nevertheless, undaunted by such an expanded search, planet pioneers have THE SKY IN OCTOBER By Joe Rao had enough successes in the past half

decade to make steady inroads on Plu- Mercury, shining at magnitude zero, 1st and about six hours after sunset at

to's size supremacy among KBOs. Va- can be seen shortly after sunset all the end of the month. By dawn it has runa, discovered in November 2000, month, albeit with some difficulty. To shifted to a point high in the south- measures nearly 600 miles across—a lit- find the planet, use binoculars to southeastern sky. The ringed planet

tle less than half the size of Pluto. Less locate Venus in the southwestern sky. is the brightest "star" in the constel-

than two years later, Brown and Tru- Mercury is twenty-nine degrees to the lation Cancer, the crab. Saturn starts jillo discovered Quaoar (pronounced lower far right of Venus on October the month very close to the fourth-

KWAH-o-wahr), which is about 800 12. By month's end the two planets magnitude star Delta Cancri and miles wide. In March 2004, Brown, are four degrees closer to each other. slowly moves away to the east as the TrujiUo, and Rabinowitz announced The best chance to spot Mercury al- month progresses. the discovery of Sedna—probably not so comes at month's end, when it lies a KBO, but rather a member ofthe even below and to the right of the star The Moon is new on the 3rd at 6:28

more distant Oort Cloud of cometHke Antares, in the constellation Scorpius, A.M. It waxes to first quarter on the bodies—thereby pushing the maxi- the scorpion. 10th at 3:01 P.M. and to full on the mum size of "nonplanetary" objects in 17th at 8:14 A.M. Our sateUite wanes

the outer solar system up to about 1 ,000 Venus glitters low in the southwestern to last quarter on the 24th at 9:17 P.M. miles in diameter. sky at dusk, growing brighter through- A partial ecUpse of the Moon takes The new Pluto-plus-size object, an- out the month. On the evening of the place on the morning of the 17th. At

nounced this pastJuly, came to Ught the 6th Venus sparkles about four degrees its maximum, at 7:03 A.M. central day-

same way Varuna, Quaoar, and Sedna above and to the left of a three-and-a- light time, less than 7 percent of the did. Brown, Trujillo, and Rabinowitz half-day-old crescent Moon. Through Moon's diameter will be eclipsed.

actually first recorded it in images made a telescope Venus is a remarkable sight, The umbral phase of the eclipse lasts

in 2003. Following up with spectro- as it changes in phase from gibbous less than an hour. The Moon sets be- scopic observations, the investigators (two-thirds illuminated) at the start of fore the ecUpse ends in the central and

found that its surface, like Pluto's, is October to halfilluminated by the end eastern United States and Canada. covered mostly with frozen methane. of the month.

Even at its smallest estimated size, 2003 The Sun undergoes an annular, or UB313 has dethroned Pluto, the erst- October belongs to Mars, and after ring-shaped, eclipse on the 3rd. The

while king of KBOs. Venus sets. Mars is the brightest entire silhouette of the Moon's disk "star" in the evening sky. In early appears against a briUiant "ring offire" With one less argument in their October it comes up about half an for four minutes and eleven seconds, favor, will the Pluto-is-a- hour after twilight, and by month's beginning at 8:56 a.m. Greenwich

(maj or) -planet crowd abandon Pluto to end it rises just twenty minutes after mean time. The track of the ecHpse minor planethood? Nah. Larger bod- sunset. For best viewing, wait about makes landfall on the Adantic coast of ies notwithstanding, many Pluto lovers two hours after Mars rises and take a Europe, near the border shared by Por-

stiU think their favorite should retain its look once it has climbed at least tugal and Spain. The track then cross- status as a "major." By that logic, twenty degrees above the horizon (as es the Mediterranean and sweeps though, the new KBO must be hailed seen firom forty degrees north lati- south and east across Africa. as the solar system's tenth major plan- tude). Mars comes closest to the Follow safety tips from the local et. Ifthe pace ofKBO discoveries keeps Earth—within 43,137,071 miles media when viewing eclipses. Never up, there may soon be a dozen or more on the 29th at about 11:25 P.M. On look at the Sun's disc unless you are planets—and with them, new names the evening of the 1 8th the nearly using a proper filtering device, such for schoolchildren to learn, new scripts fuU Moon rises well above and to the as #13 welder's glass or aluminized for planetarium shows, and revisions right of the planet. Mylar plastic. galore in astronomy textbooks. After

seventy-five years ofnine planets, is the Jupiter is in conjunction with the Sun Daylight saving time ends on the 30th;

world ready for such a radical reorder- on the 22nd; the planet is lost in the people in Canada and the U.S. should ing of the cosmos? solar glare throughout the month. set their clocks back one hour. By this time, you might be won-

dering whether all this "planet or not" Saturn rises in the east-northeast Unless otheni'ise noted, all times are east-

debate is just an overhyped mental ex- about five hours before sunrise on the ern daylight time.

ercise. Well, I wouldn't argue with

October 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 65 OUT THERE LETTERS

(Continuedfrom preceding page) (Continned from page 10) Christopher M. Stojanowski that. Most of us astronomers are far tion ofgrazer control by anthrax spores. replies: Brent R. Weisman is ab- more interested in the scientific results The dead body of a sheep or calf on a solutely correct: the development of coming from studies of KBOs than in drought-ridden, dusty field not only the modern Seminole identity was ex- the (somewhat arbitrary) argument supports generations of bacilli over a tremely complex socially, politically, over nomenclature. long winter, but also releases nitrates, and economically. My research adds a For example, at about the same time phosphates, sulfur, calcium, sodium, biological component to the existing that 2003 UB313's discovery was an- and potassium that plants can use when Hterature and suggests that early "Semi- nounced, a team led by Michael D. spring rains arrive. nole" bands may initially have emi-

Hicks of NASA's Jet Propulsion Labo- I looked again today at Leidy's teach- grated to Florida, in part because they ratory in Pasadena, California, pub- ing chart on my office wall. Its remark- had biological ties to indigenous Flori- lished observations ofVaruna, suggest- able fidelity enabled Michael McMahan da groups (the Apalachee in particular)

ing the presence of loose rock or dust to recognize that I was wrong: the seg- and to the area. on the surface. Why would the surface mented worm with a proboscis prob-

of a frigid, icy body in the outer solar ably is not a nematode, but an annelid. Token of Thanks system have surface material typical of I hope Mr. McMahan finds it, as Leidy The article by DeUa and Mark Owens the warm, rocky asteroids and planets did, inside the intestines oifuhs mar- ["Comeback Kids" (7—8/05)] provides

of the inner solar system? That kind of ginatiis or another millipede, so that, if a haunting picture of what is happen- puzzle, not the hue and cry over clas- warranted, he can describe a new sym- ing to the elephant populations of sification, is what really drives the quest biotic oligochaete. Ifhe uncovers a new Africa. We should all be gratefiil to them for celestial answers. species, perhaps he wiU name it Stylaria for their devotion to the preservation of

leidyii, in Leidy's honor. Or maybe he wUdlife and for their concern for the will find that the Leidy depicted people in these regions. Charles Liu is a professor of astrophysics at worm

tlie City U}iiversity of New York and an as- so accurately in his chart is indeed Cberie Pratlier sociate U'itli the American Museum of Natur- Stylaria lacustra from a nearby lake, tak- San Diego, California al History. ing refuge and food inside the body of an arthropod. You've Gotta Have Heart All endothermic vertebrates (mammals Floridian Melting Pot and birds) have four-chambered hearts, Christopher M. Stojanowski's article, to satisfy the high oxygen demand im- "Unhappy Trails" [7-8/05], brings posed by maintaining a high body tem- fresh perspective to the riddles of how, perature. After reading the responses by why, and when bands ofhistorically and John A. Ruben, WUlemJ. Hillenius, and UnguisticaUy distinct southeastern In- Mary Higby Schweitzer to the question, dians came to think of themselves as "Were Dinosaurs 'Cold-' or 'Warm-

"Seminole." Mr. Stojanowski's results blooded'" [5/05], I wondered, is there show that the Creek ancestors of the any evidence that dinosaurs had four- Seminoles were genetically diverse, but chambered hearts?

that finding still doesn't fuUy explain fordon Hirshon the complexity of the social, poHtical, Long Island University and economic processes that shaped Brooklyn, New York Seminole cultural identity. In the nineteenth century, well after John Ruben replies: No reliable, di- 5 Reasons Soapstone is Better! the period discussed by Mr. Stojanows- rect evidence exists for the number of • Soapstone holds twice as much heat as metal. dinosaurs' • Soapstone heat is steady, even and comfortable. ki, genetic relationships among the chambers (three or four) in • Soapstone has a proven record of durability. Seminoles became even more complex. hearts. Nevertheless, given that Kving • It has beautiful color, texture and marbUng. For example, Osceola, the icon of the birds and crocodiUans both have four- • Variations in the stone make each stove unique. Seminole resistance, is thought to have chambered hearts, it is reasonable to in- Plus, no power is required, so you can enjoy radiant warmth regardless of the weather! had a white father, a trader by the name fer that dinosaurs did, too. ffisfisEE .COLOR CATALOG of WiUiam Powell. Some scholars also Name think that Osceola may have married a Natural History welcomes correspondence Addre.ss woman of African descent. from readers (nhmag@naturalhistorymag.

City/State/Zip_ Brent R. Weisman com). All letters should include a daytime Woodstock Soapstone Co., Inc University of South Florida telephone luimber, and all letters may be 66 Airpark Rd.. D^/pt. 2344, West Lebanon, NH 03784 www.woodstove.com Tampa, Florida editedfor length and clarity.

1»808-664-818a 66 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 . EXfLORER^GUIDE

Papua New Guinea-l&cht Expeditions Take a Walk on the Wild Side "1 "MTS Discoverer" ,'*^ SepCt River/Islands. Unique Nature and Cultural Programs k^ in the Amazon "5:", .. Festivals, Di'V'ing, Amazon & Galapagos Cruises, Brazil & Argentina -.»SiBi„„, tand Packages, j^ .- r-n,- > Charters. IVIarshes, Patagonia, Machu Picchu, and more ExceptomdJourneys Since 1989.

nternational Tours ^S^fe] EcOtOUr Expeditions (310)785-0370 [email protected] www.mtspng.com 800-765-5657 Free Brochure: 800688-1 822 [email protected] solintl.com

Amazon, Galapagos, GALAPAGOS ...The Trip of a Lifetime /*=iC^-^ Specializing in comprehensive, professionally-led, natural history and photo tours of the Galapagos Islands. I MachuPicchu Monthly departures on 14-16 passenger yachts. p For brochures s custom made tours i^^ 'SoCrth & Central America ##Mw Travel ^ Tara Tours 1-800-327-0080 I Specialists C 800-344-6118 adventure-iife.com Since 1980 wvintf.taratours.com 00) 969-9014 • www.galapagostravel.com M:i.i:iiaminn»=BiiinroTC»a^uite#49.Aptos. CA 95003 rSOUTHWEST CHINA ^ Tours to beautiful biosphere sites, provincial museums,

Follow your dremns. . Taoist holy mountain and Buddhist shrines. See significant and living archaeology and visit historic ethnic tribal towns. TILLER INTERNATIONAL TOURS INC ' Islands It^P^ INCa if^ Galapagos P O Box 475637 San Francisco CA 94147 natural history cruises Tel (415) 921-8989 E Mail: [email protected] for groups and individuals l^^ www.incal.cfij fe •A 800-344-6118 adventure-life.com (510) 420-lSSO ^,

Athena Review Journal ofArclmeology, History, mid Exploration The Floweresig OF THE Gothic

,' ' ^^v y^Wte^ I ich Cathedrals and their cultures: " Bishops, mystics, master sculptors, and ibond poets (AD 1150-1350)

SubscrilDe: 4 issues: $20 Can $30. overseas $40)

Write for a fiee trial issue on ancient Crete or the Neanderthals. Athoia Publications 49 Richinondville Ave. Sie 308. Wesipon. CV 06880 "^ Fax: (203) 221-0321. Qihenare\'[email protected]: \vww.aihenapub.com erPc discover (Pr%

E C O T O U R S ' 1^7- GO EXPLORE www.go-exploie.com

CIRCUMNAVIv AMAZON OF NEW GUINEA Amazing snorkeling and diving amid colorful Award winning lodge in Peru's Tamshiyacu- with marine life. Rare birds. Age-old traditions Tahuayo Reserve, shown to have the greatest of isolated tribes. Discover the exotic mammal diversity in the Amazon. Customized ORAMA corners of the western South Pacific itinerary, from soft family to wilderness camping. httD;/7uiuiiu.eKpiorama.com Featuring the Amazon's longest zipline canopy on two unique voyages aboard the £-maii: [email protected] access. In business since 1981. References avail- 110-passenger tiippei Odyssey, able. Customized economical tours to Cusco and other sites in Peru as well. 07 - 22 March 2006 • 18 March - 04 April 2006 Voyages may be combined. Fax:(51 94) 25 2533 P.O.Box 446 AMAZONIA EXPEDITIONS ' 800-262-9669 ww/w.perujungle,com ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS - Iquitos Peru www.peruande5.com (800) 628-8747 I www.zeco.com At the Museum American Museum o Natural History ^ www.amnh.org Yunnan Revealed

trees, and mountain flowers blanketing the ground. During the day, the snow-

covered tops of Mt. Kawagebo are visible, and at night the stars shine dearly. Traveling south by van, Teddy and her Nature Conservancy companions were hindered by rockslides but continued on to Deqin, Benzilan, Zhongdian

(now marketed as Shangri-la), and Li- jiang. They enjoyed delicious meals, mostiy spicy, of meats, yogurt, and fresh vegetables and fruits. Teddy claims to have even started liking

Tibetan yak tea!

At the end of her trip, Teddy met with the the Yunnan Indigenous Musi- Overlooking the Old Town of Lijiang cians and Dancers in Kunming, where they had gathered to make final prepa- preparation for this month's lagers themselves to empower their par- rations for their trip abroad. Anxious Inexciting Global Weekend series of ticipation in regional conservation ef- and excited about their first trip to the programs, Yunnan Revealed (see forts and cultural preservation. Some of United States, the troupe made last- p. 70), Teddy Yoshikami, Manager of these photographs and their accompany- minute changes to the pieces selected, Public Programs, Department of Edu- ing stories are on view in the Museum costumes, and purpose. Teddy worked cation, traveled to China's Yunnan in the compelling exhibition Voicesfrom with the musicians and watched a final

Province. South ofthe Clouds (see p. 70). preview performance. She observed To reach the village of Yubeng, she The cameras have become a part of and learned about the colorful Yi em- traveled by car, by horseback, and on the people's lives, capturing their every- broidery on their costumes, the Naxi foot. There she met with Tibetan vil- day existence against a breathtaking dongha ritual, and other elements of the lagers who are documenting the area backdrop: steep, rocky, and, at times, program they will bring to the Museum and their lives as part of the Nature Con- muddy terrain against expansive green on October 15. servancy's Photovoice project, which or glacial-blue mountains; blue skies For details on the Yunnan Revealed puts cameras in the hands of the vil- above with mushrooms, moss, tall pine programs, visit www.amnh.org.

The Museum's Halloween celebration offers a

safe, warm, and dry evening of ferocious fun!

Costumed trick-or-treaters of all ages can wander

among the eerie elephants, the unearthly uni-

verse, or the dinosaurs of the macabre Mesozoic.

Much-loved characters and roving musicians

entertain the youngsters (and adults too), and

arts-and-crafts tables on each floor, staffed by

friendly volunteers, engage kids' creativity. Visit

www.amnh.org for details of this year's Halloween

party on Monday, October 31. PEOPLE ATTHE AMNH! Discovery Returns Space Station Hazel Davies Experiments for AMNH Students Living Exhibits Coordinator Department of Exhibition

When the crew of the Space crabs) eggs—in clear vials with lids. Shuttle Discovery returned Each vial was wrapped in two vacuum

this summer from its his- bags and placed in a Student toric mission, the astronauts brought Experiment Module Satchel carrier. back camera film, tadpole shrimp eggs, The Museum chose these objects to and a single pea eagerly anticipated by investigate whether exposure to the some 20 high-school interns at the zero-gravity environment in space American Museum of Natural History. would alter the eggs, seeds, film, and These seemingly random materials other matter. For instance, they chose were among tiny experiments deliv- the triops eggs to see if they would Hazel Davies ered to the Space Station on December grow and behave differently in space

25, 2004, on board a Russian Progress than on Earth, and the pea and parsley 1995, Hazel Davies moved from In supply ship. The experiment samples and radish seeds to discover if they London to New York armed with

included those from the Museum and would sprout differently on Earth after degrees in geology and education and

ten additional schools and organiza- exposure to space. a keen interest in natural science. "On

tions representing students in elemen- The vials will be returned to the my very first day here, I went to check

tary through high school. Museum and schools this fall when out the Museum, and I never left."

The Museum experiments con- school is in session. After receiving Hazel became a volunteer in the

tained a variety of materials and th,e space-flown samples, the students Department of Education, and, now,

seeds—the photographic film and pea, will be able to compare them to ten years later, works as the Living

radish and parsley seeds, and dried tri- ground samples and take pride in Exhibits Coordinator in Exhibition.

ops (or tadpole shrimp, crustaceans their participation in the nation's illus- Hazel primarily works on the peren-

that resemble miniature horseshoe trious space program. nial Butterfly Conservator/, opening

this year on October 8, but has also

worked on other live-animal exhibi-

tions, including Frogs in summer 2004. She oversees the maintenance and care of the butterfly pupae, trains

and manages the staff, and coordi-

nates with butterfly farms all over the

world, including Kenya, Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other

tropical locations.

Her job combines her background in

science and her experience as a teacher;

she had taught both butterfly life cycles and frog metamorphosis to school-

children in London. "My background in

education really allows me to reach the

public." Still, Hazel admits the best

part of her job exists in the day-to-day

occurrences. "Watching the butterflies

emerge, as their wings dry out.. .getting

that regular basis being a Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, which opened this past May, continues to to see on a —

draw crowds, with something for dino-crazy children as well as for their parents. This part of it— is really amazing." Visit www.amnh.org/exhibitions/ spectacular exhibition on the latest in paleontology features real fossils, life-size casts, butterflies to learn about these and biomechanical models that bring to life the most up-to-date thinking on these more delicately beautiful insects and to pur- Mesozoic creatures and their modern-day descendants—birds. Visit www.amnh.org for

behind-the-scenes views and to purchase tickets. chase tickets to the vivarium.

The contents of these paces are provided to Natural History by the American Museum of Natural History. I Museum Events American Museum S Natural History ^ www.amnh.org

traditional Chinese medicine pelling inside story of a dec-

and its effect on species ade-long preservation effort

endangerment. in Yellowstone National Park.

Dinosaur Panel: Birds of Central Park: On Extinction A Guided Tour Tuesday, 10/n, y:oop.m. Thursday, 10/20, '/:00 p.m.

A panel led byAMNH Curator An armchair stroll with Cal Mark Norell considers the Vornberger and Marie Winn evidence of a mass extinction to learn about the more than

65.5 million years ago. 200 species of birds found in this urban oasis. New Discoveries: Fossil Vertebrates from Adventures in the Global Liaoning, China Kitchen: Chinese Cuisine

Sunday, 10/16, 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, 10/2^, /:oo p.m. (Lecture in Mandarin) Jacqueline M. Newman will With AMNH Associate heighten your appreciation for

Curator Jin Meng and the foods and flavors of China.

EXHIBITIONS Voicesfrom South ofthe Clouds Research Scientist Xing Xu. Cosponsored with the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA). The Butterfly Conservatory: Through March 12, 2006 Cosponsored with the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA). Tropical Butterflies China's Yunnan Province is Alive in Winter revealed through the eyes of Decade of the Wolf: GLOBAL WEEKENDS Opens October 8, 200^ the indigenous people who Returning the Wild Yunnan Revealed

Experience more than 500 use photography to chronicle to Yellowstone Saturday, 10/15, ''^3° a-w.- live, free-flying tropical butter- their culture, environment, Tuesday, 10/18, '/:00 p.m. 4:^0 p.m. flies in an enclosed habitat and daily life. Doug Smith tells the com- Demonstrations, lectures, that approximates their nat- Voicesfrom Sowtfj ofthe Clouds is and performances reveal the sponsored by Eastman Kodak. ural environment. indigenous cultures of This exhibition is made possible the by z generosity of the Arthur Ross Foundation. z China's Yunnan Province. z ~> Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, Supported in part by the Whitman College 1 z New Discoveries Beyond X East Asia Initiative Fund. Cosponsored with Connecticut College, The Asia Through 8, October 1, ^' January 2006 Opens 200^ '^^. j.~ • Society, and World Music Institute. The Discover the most current A photographic tour of 1 Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) is a community partner. thinking on the mysteries of four equally stunning but 1 Global Weekends are made possible, in dinosaurs: what they looked radically different extraterres- part, by The Coca-Cola Company, the City of New York, and the New York City like, Starry Night S how they behaved, and trial landscapes captured Council- Additional support has been why—or even whether—they by unmanned interplanetary provided by the May and Samuel Rudin Live Jazz Family Foundation, Inc., the Tolan Family, became extinct. probes. and the family of Frederick H. Leonhardt. Rose Center Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, Neiv Discoveries and its accompanying educa- FOR Space Vital Variety Earth and COURSES & WORKSHOPS tion and public programs are made possible by Bank of America. Ongoing Friday, October 7 Earth and Planetary Sciences: This exiiibition is organized by the Beautiful close-up photo- 6:00 and y.^op.m. Tsunamis and Earthquakes American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collabora- graphs highlight the impor- Three alternate Thursdays, The y.-jo petformance will b tion with the Houston Museum of tance of the immense diver- broadcast live on 10/6-11/3, y:oo-8:]o p.m. Natural Science: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco: The Field sity of invertebrates. WBGOJazz 88.3 FM. Explore Earth's primeval Museum, Chicago: and North Carolina their Visit www.amnh.org or ca II forces and conse- Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. Major funding has also been provided LECTURES 212-769-5100 for lineup. quences. 1 by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Tiger Bone and Rhino Horn Starry Nights is made possible, in part, Endowment Fund. Thursday, 10/6, '/:00 p.m. by Constellation NewEnergy Culture and Wine and Fidelity Investments. Richard Ellis discusses Five Tuesdays, 10/11-11/8 y:oo-g:oo p.m. Live animals include a LECTURE Hypnotic visuals and With Louisa Thomas bearded dragon and a red- The Equation That Couldn't rhythms take viewers on a Hargrave, Stony Brook tailed hawk. Be Solved ride through fantastical

University Center for Wine, Monday, 10/24, 7:30 p.m. dreamspace.

Food, and Culture. Dr. Nebula's Laboratory: With Mario Livio, Space SonicVision is made possible by generous sponsorship and technology Wind and Water Telescope Science Institute support from Sun Microsystems, inc. The Method and Madness of Saturday, 10/22

Collecting 2:oo-y.oop.m. COURSES The Search for Life: Three Tuesdays, 10/11-2^ Join Scooter for a "whirl- Life in the Universe Are WeAhne?

y:oo-g:oo p.m. wind" adventure dodging Saturday, 10/1, 10:00 a.m.- Narrated by Harrison Ford

An introduction to the enthu- tornadoes and other forces yoop.m. Made possible through the generous siasts' world of collecting. of nature. support of Swiss Re.

Introduction to Astronomy: Passport to the Universe

Make It, Wear It: Beading Wild, Wild World: Bats The Solar System Narrated by Tom Hanks Four Thursdays, 10/20-11/10 Saturday, io/2g, 12:00 noon- Six Mondays, 10/1^-11/28 y:oo-g:oo p.m. 1:00 p.m. 6:]o-8:]o p.m. LARGE-FORMAT FILMS

Create beaded jewelry using An interactive live-animal LeFrak I MAX Theater traditional South African program for kids of all ages. PLANETARIUM SHOWS For films and showtimes, techniques. SonicVision visit www.amnh.org or call

HAYDEN PLANETARIUM Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30, 212-769-5100.

FAMILY AND PROGRAMS 8:30, and g:3op.m. IMAX films at the Museum are made CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS TUESDAYS IN THE DOME possible by Con Edison. Space Explorers: The Planets Virtual Universe Tuesday, 10/11, 4:}o-y.}o p.m. Solar System Spectacular INFORMATION {Ages 10 and up) Tuesday, 10/4, 6:]o-y:}o p.m. Call 212-769-5100 or visit www.amnh.org. A hands-on activity and a lecture under the stars of the This Just In... TICKETS AND REGISTRATION Hayden Planetarium. October's Hot Topics Call 212-769-5200, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m., Tuesday, 10/18, 6:}o-y:}op.m. or visit www.amnh.org. A service charge may apply. Dinosaurs and Their Living All programs are subject to change. Relatives Cekstial Highlights Saturday, 10/15 Greek Mythology AMNH eNotes delivers the latest information on Museum i2;oo a.m.-i2:oo noon and Tuesday, 10/2^, 6:jo-y:jo p.m. programs and events to you monthly via email. Visit 1:00-2:00 p.m. www.amnh.org to sign up today!

Become a Member of the PHYSICS AT PLAY American Museum of Natural History

As a Museum Member, yo J will be among the first to embark on new journeys to explore the natural world Suspended by the force of and the cultures of h jmanity. You'll enjoy: electromagnetism, the elegant

Stellanova Globe won't waver as • Unlimited free general • Free subscription

you pass your hands around it, admission to the Museum to Natural History thanks to computer-controlled and special exhibitions. magazine and to Rotunda, levitation. Plugs Into a standard and discounts on Space our newsletter wall outlet. Shows and IMAX films Free shipping. Call our Personal • Invitations to Members- Shopper at 1 -800-671 -7035. • Discounts in the Museum only special events. Shops and restaurants and parties, and exhibition

THE MUSEUM on program tickets previews m SHOPS For further information. call 212-769-5606

Central Park West at 79th Street • NYC • 212-769-5100 - www.amnh.org or visit www.amr h.org/join.

The CONTENTS OF THESE PACES ARE PROVIDED TO NATURAL HISTORY BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HiSTORY ENDPAPER

garden for butterflies. My teUing them about the extraor- Eden in central Louisiana Wise Guys dinary behavior of my zebra I sprawls in wild profusion longwings. So at the telltale

across my front yard to the side- hour that afternoon, I men- walk, giving me and passersby an By Gary Noel Ross tioned that we would soon be ever-changing tableau of color seeing some butterflies ap-

and activity. proaching the stop sign at the In the late 1990s the garden corner, and then turning into became a staging area for observ- my garden. ing the zebra longwing (Helico- Within minutes the proces-

uiits charitlwuia), a medium-size sion was in sight. "You mean butterfly common throughout the butterflies can read and are most of Florida and southern going to stop at the corner?"

Texas, though only occasionally quipped one of the men. I encountered in Louisiana. The smiled. Sure enough, as we

"zebra" gets its name from its stood there watching, the but- dark, elongated wings, accented terflies approached and then with vibrant yellowish stripes. veered off to the right. The

But the insect is also known for workers' eyes popped, and they several speciaHzed traits, includ- began hurUng questions at me: ing a taste for protein-rich How did you train them? What pollen, an exceptionally long life did you put on that sign? Do

span, and (most intriguing of all) you have some kind of butterfly the ability to learn visual cues for whistle? For the rest of the time

navigating in its environment. they worked on my house, each After purchasing some zebra man put down his tools at 3:45 eggs and nurturing them to adult- P.M. and positioned himself

hood, I marked each butterfly by near the stop sign, in a fruitless writing a number on the under- quest to figure out what iny

side of its left hind wing with a "trick" was.

felt-tipped pen. Then I released There is, of course, a "scien- Zebra longwing feeds on the pollen of a the insects into my garden. They Mexican flame vine. tific" explanation. The butter- circled for a few minutes before flies had learned a way they settling to feed on the flowers of their ly departed toward the southeast, fly- could travel, through the streets and choice. After "breakfast," the butter- ing about ten to fifteen feet above probably past some other markers, to flies flew off in various directions, but the street in front of my house, but find the food and plants they need for a few hours later they returned to the always returned tailing each other their reproductive cycles. Each day garden to feed once again. The next along the side street that formed the the butterflies made their "rounds."

day I observed two female zebras lay- northwest border of my corner lot. Their Methuselah-Hke Hves leave ing eggs on my native passionflower Even more uncannily, on their return time for such learning, and their

plant. So it continued; the butterflies the butterflies would execute a nine- high-octane pollen banquets furnish

laid their eggs or fed, and I watched ty-degree right turn at the stop sign the brain food. them with binoculars, taking note of on the corner, before flying the short Whatever the explanation, the ze- the nurnbers marked on the butter- distance to my front garden. bra longwing butterflies entertained flies' hind wings. And sure enough, me and a lot of other folks that sum- the same butterflies were showing up, It happened that at the same time, I mer and fall. I think I'll get another day after day. had hired a construction crew to batch of eggs next spring. As the dog days of summer went remodel a part of my house. One

by, the zebras spent less and less time morning, I was talking with them Gary Noel Ross is the director ofbiitteify in my garden, showing up at about about the advantages of uncon- my festimlsfor the North American Biitteifly midmorning and again at about four ventional, butterfly-oriented land- Association. His most recent Endpaperfor o'clock in the afternoon. I was im- scaping. They were skeptical, to say Natural History, "Siihans of Rot," was

pressed by the fact that they habitual- the least. I hoped to impress them by published in November 2004.

72 NATURAL HISTORY October 2005 « -. raro insect exhibit, - .ace .o. fea. -^ ^-^^ "^L „, .os An.e,e. the N^*"" The Spider Pavilion at "'^^ «atch! ,ntr,^te ^^^^ ,, ,„, orb Weavers create county. LiVE ^^^ ^^^^^^ ex>st m fascinating creatures See how these

fees apply: Separate admission $3 Adults . ^_ Natural seniors $2 Students and $1 Children (5-12) yfHistory FRtt Merribers are /iuseum of Los Angeles County

Support for the Spider Pavilion is provided in i

900 ExpositR Angeles, CA 90007 . 213-763-DINO . www.nhm.org OYSTER PERPETUAL EXPLORER

f .1 ^ ••:., ..•«:•. r?;.;^^ WWW.ROLEX.COM

NEW YORK ficial Rolex Jeweler call 1-800-367-6539. Rolex t Oyster Perpetual and Explorer are trademarks