CORAL IN THE RED • VISIONARY SHRIMP • POSSUM VS. POLAR BEAR
o '246846" 4 ONE GIANT BABY STEP FOR SCIENCE
The most perfectly preserved mammoth ever found
reveals new information about life during the ice age.
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WAKING THE BABY MAMMOTH PREMIERES SUNDAY |~| ^M^GEOGRAPHIC ai-.i-.ii »\i nnF APRIL 26 9PP LJ CHANNEL nai APRIL 2009 VOLUME 118 NUMBER 3 www.naturalhistorymag.com
FEATURES COVER STORY 24 MEET THE ALLOPARENTS 30 JEWEL OF THE DEEP Shared child care may be Are the modern incarnations the secret of human of age-old traditions selling evolutionary success. Mediterranean red coral out? BY SARAH BLAFFER HRDY BY GEORGIOS TSOUNIS
D E PARTM E NTS 2 THE NATURAL MOMENT 36 THIS LAND Viperized Robert H. Mohlenbrock Photograph by Solvin Zankl 38 BOOKSHELF 6 WORD EXCHANGE Laurence A. Marschall
6 nature.net 42 SKYLOG Allergic Reaction Joe Rao Robert Anderson 44 AT THE MUSEUM 10 SAMPLINGS News from Nature 48 ENDPAPER Possum on the Rostrum
14 LIFE ZONE William F. Laurance Seeing the Light Olivia Judson
on the cover: Grandmother and granddaughter in Litang, Sichuan Province, China. Image by Adam Wong / Corbis *<* .^1 i-V
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THE N ATURAL MOMENT VIPERIZED
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CURE & PRE7VENTIVE FOR THE ORDINARY mmEST. 1900 S) SAMPLINGS: THE WARMING EARTH Sow, Shine, and Reap One way to slow down global almost 2 Fahrenheit degrees warming is to reflect more over much of North America sunlight back into space. and Eurasia. Elsewhere, We could all close our eyes cropland is less extensive so and wish for bright clouds the effect would be greatly re- to become more abundant, duced. The temperature sav- but that's a rather passive ings would roughly equal one- approach. More enterpris- fifth of the regional warming ing—not to mention cumber- expected by around 2100—no some, time-consuming, and small chunk. expensive—would be to deploy High crop reflectivity could giant sunshades in space. And be achieved by developing then there's the comparatively cultivars with waxier or bet- simple suggestion of Andy ter-angled leaves. Another Ridgwell and his colleagues method, already known to at the University of Bristol in boost reflectivity by 30 per- England. cent or more, is to spray water Using a computer climate mixed with kaolinite (a non- model, the team calculated toxic clay) onto leaves. what would happen to global The trick will be to ensure temperatures if croplands that photosynthesis and were covered with extra- crop yield aren't unduly reflective plants. They found compromised— obstacles that a 20 percent increase in Ridgwell thinks can be over- reflectivity would lower sum- come. (Current Biology) mertime temperatures by -S.R. Out of Sync with Science A Pardon for Plants Polls show that fewer than 60 percent of Americans think peo- We're all counting on plants plants with either distilled ple are responsible for global warming, and fewer than 50 per- to help fight global warming water or methane-containing cent think scientists agree on that point. But according to Peter by absorbing carbon dioxide. water. Only plants grown with T. Doran of the University of Illinois at Chicago and his former So it was disheartening to methane released the stuff graduate student Maggie Kendall Zimmerman, citizens are not hear in 2006 that plants actu- into the air. The team showed on the same wavelength as scientists. ally make another greenhouse that methane, produced in na- In an online survey, the two researchers invited 10,257 Earth gas, methane [see "How Does ture by soil-dwelling bacteria, scientists to anonymously answer the question "Do you think the Greenhouse Grow?" journeys with the water as it is human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing March 2006]. That report absorbed through plants' roots mean global temperatures?" In all, 3,146 scientists replied, was surprising because only and then is released by transpi- and 85 percent of them answered in the affirmative. (Fewer bacteria had been known to ration through the stomata of than 5 percent said no, the rest opting for "I'm not sure.") produce methane, and only in their leaves. Among well-published climate experts, more than 97 percent anaerobic (oxygen-free) con- Only small amounts of gas said yes, a near consensus of those in the know. Agreement ditions. A new study sets the are let go, but the 2006 study with the logical precursor—that the globe is warming—was record straight. Plants aren't had also mentioned satellites also overwhelming. making the stuff after all; detecting a great deal of meth- The replies being voluntary, the survey sample wasn't truly they're just passing it along. ane over tropical forests. Now random, but anonymity should have alleviated skew toward A team of biochemists it appears clouds may have bi- believers or skeptics. What's more, any bias should apply headed by Ellen R. Nisbet, now ased those readings. All in all, equally to scientists and laypeople, and is contradicted by the at the University of South Aus- Nisbet thinks plant transpira- large gap between the two. Doran and Zimmerman recommend tralia in Adelaide, searched in tion contributes at least an or- a two-part cure: scientists need to better disseminate their plant genomes for genes simi- der of magnitude less methane views, and the media need to report the scientific consensus lar to the ones bacteria use in than had been feared in 2006. accurately, despite the noble impulse to present both sides of a methane-making—but couldn't (Proceedings of the Royal So- story. (Eos) —S.R. find any. Next the team grew ciety B) -S.R. 12 I URAL HISTORY April 2009 Every year, maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) claims the lives of almost 180,000 infants and 30,000 mothers.' MNT has been eliminated in most of the developed world - but it remains a deadly unicef# public health threat in 47 developing countries. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is partnering with other united states fund nonprofit organizations and leading healthcare companies to eliminate MNT. To learn more, visit www.unicefusa.org. Helping all people o save lives Preventing the spread of maternal and the largest single philanthropic neonatal tetanus (MNT) in developing activity in BD's 110 year history. countries requires uncomplicated The BD Uniject" device used in this solutions and strong partnerships. campaign has unique features that BD is partnering with the U.S. Fund for make it ideal for safely administering UNICEF to protect newborn children the tetanus toxoid vaccine in the and their mothers from MNT. BD has most remote regions of the world. committed 135 million auto-disable Named one of America's Most Admired injection devices and more than Companies' as well as one of the World's $3 million to the initiative. Most Ethical Companies/ BD provides The total commitment of $15 million advanced medical technology to serve makes BD one of the largest single the global community's greatest needs. corporate donors to the U.S. Fund BD - Helping all people live healthy lives. WHOAJNICEF, 2004 data for UNICEF's MNT campaign and is 2 FORTUNE, March 2008 3 Ethisphere"' Magazine. April 2007 Please visit www.bd.com BD, BD Logo and BD Uniject are trademarks of Becton, Dickinson and Company. O 2008 BD Photo eUNICEFIGiacomo Pirozzi a 4u LIFE ZONE Seeing the Light We humans pride ourselves on our color vision. Yet compared with many other animals, we are visual pipsqueaks. n my mind's eye, I'm sitting in front of a row of magic helmets. Like motorcycle helmets, they cover the head and face; each is labeled with the name of a different animal. Here's one that says "yellow swallowtail butterfly." Another has the name of that small songbird known as the blue tit. And look, this one is for an animal so exotic that it's usually known by its Latin name: Odontodactylus cultrifer. That is a particu- lar species of mantis shrimp, or stomatopod— voracious little predator that looks like a cross between a lobster and a praying mantis, and lives on the seaflo'or. The point of the helmets is that they will let me see light as those other creatures do. When wearing the "blue tit" helmet, I will see a daz- zling range of colors: other birds will shim- mer and sparkle, their feathers richer and more beautiful than anything I have known. When I put on the mantis shrimp helmet—well, I'll be speechless. Mantis shrimp have more complex color vision than any other creature we know about. And it's not just their color vision that is amazing. They can distinguish differences in how light is polarized as well. As a result, when I don the helmet, plants and animals that before seemed transparent, and thus almost invisible, will suddenly become as obvious as sparklers. Just as people cannot smell the variety and richness that a dog can smell, or hear the high squeaks of a bat or the low rumblings of an el- ephant, we cannot see light as other animals see it. But, increasingly, researchers are finding ways to infer the visual capabilities of other animals. Given the presence of light, the ability to see depends on two elements: what the eye detects, and what the brain does with the information it receives. The first is measured by looking at eyes and how they respond to light; the second, by how an animal behaves under different light regimes. I shall focus on the first, for this is the subject we know more about. Moreover, it is 14 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 — Discover A Whole New World With Rosetta Stone! Arabic • Chinese (Mandarin) • Danish • Dutch • English (American) • English (British) • French • German • Greek • Hebrew Hindi • Indonesian • Italian • Irish • Japanese • Korean • Latin • Pashto • Persian (Farsi) • Polish • Portuguese (Brazil) • Russian Spanish (Latin America) • Spanish (Spain) • Swahili • Swedish • Tagalog (Filipino) • Thai • Turkish • Vietnamese • Welsh Rosetta Stone brings you a complete language-learning solution, wherever you are: at home, in-the-car or on-the-go. You'll learn quickly and effectively, without translation or memorization. You'll discover our method, which keeps you excited to learn more and more. • You'll experience Dynamic Immersion' as you match real-world images to words spoken by native speakers so you'll find yourself engaged and learn your second language like you learned your first. • Our proprietary Speech Recognition Technology evaluates your speech and coaches you on more accurate pronunciation. You'll speak naturally. SAVE 10%! • Only Rosetta Stone has Adaptive Recall," that brings back material to help you 100% GUARANTEED where you need it most, for more effective progress. SIX-MONTH MONEY-BACK • And Rosetta Stone includes Audio Companion- so that you can take the Level 1 Re g. $259 NOW $233 Rosetta Stone experience anywhere you use a CD or MP3 player. Level 1&2 Re g. $410 NOW $377 Innovative software. Immersive method. Complete mobility. It's the total solution. Level 1,2 &3 fieg. $ 5 49 NOW $494 Get Rosetta Stone The Fastest Way to Learn a Language. Guaranteed. ©2008 Rosetta Stone Ltd. All rights reserved. Otter applies to Personal Edition only. Patent nghts pending. Offer cannot be combined with any other oiler. Prices subiecttochange without notice. Su-Month Money-Back Guarantee is limited to product purchases madediredhr from Rosetta Stone and does not include return shipping. Guarantee does not apply to an online subscription or to Audio Companion purchased separately from the CO-ROM product. All materials included with the product at the time of purchase must be relumed lofdher and undamaged to be eligible for arty exchange or refund Call (877) 291-4476 To get this offer, use promotional code nhs049 when ordering. Offer expires July 31. 2009. where the process begins: if the eye known as retinal. Opsins, instead, one color of paint can only create itself cannot detect light of different vary a lot. Mutations to the genes monochromatic pictures, so too an colors, no amount of brain hardware that encode the opsin proteins can, animal that can detect light of only can alter that fact. therefore, alter the wavelengths that one wavelength sees the world in an animal can see. monochrome. (In other words the Vertebrate eyes contain two That said, amphibians, fish, and world appears in shades of one color, v:types of light-sensitive reptiles have a second possibility for according to the intensity of light. cells: rods and cones. In a chromophore: a form of vitamin I'd say shades of gray—but it might humans, rods are mostly A known as 3-dehydroretinal. If just as well be orange or green.) used for seeing when light the opsin remains the same but the Having different kinds of visual pig- levels are low. Cones, on the chromophore changes, the pigment ments thus allows the eye to mix other hand, are involved in color will alter its sensitivity to light. The light and make colors as a painter vision. Unlike rods, they contain effect is especially pronounced for mixes paints. a range of visual pigments that en- long wavelengths. For instance, able perception of a wide spectrum suppose you have a retinal-based I ormal human eyes of wavelengths of light. Cones also pigment that responds maximally N:I contain four have a faster response time than to light at a wavelength of 565 kinds of visual pig- rods, permitting the perception of nanometers (what humans perceive ments. One of them rapid movements and fine details. as yellow-green light) . Replacing is found only in rods; the others In humans, any given cone cell retinal with 3-dehydroretinal will are found in cone cells and are contains only one of three types create a pigment that responds max- thus responsible for color vision. of pigment; in other vertebrates, a imally to light at 615 nanometers Because humans have three kinds single cone cell can hold multiple (orange). Such swaps are employed of visual pigment for seeing color, pigments. Visual pigments have by fish such as lampreys as they mi- we are known as trichromats. The two components: a chromophore grate from oceans into rivers; each pigments in our three kinds of and an opsin. The chromophore, a environment favors the ability to cones-- (commonly called the "blue," light-absorbing molecule, sits in a detect different wavelengths of light. "green," and "red" cones) respond pocket inside the opsin, a protein. Similarly, some tadpoles change maximally to violet, green, and Which wavelength a pigment re- their chromophores when they turn yellow-green light, respectively. sponds most strongly to depends on into frogs. (Certain fish—tilapia, That is, each has a peak of reaction how the chromophore and the op- for instance—also see differently as at a particular wavelength—a rela- sin interact. That, in turn, depends juveniles and adults, but here the tively short one in the case of a blue principally on the opsin. The reason effect is mediated by opsin genes be- cone, a medium one in the case of is that chromophores vary little ing turned on and off.) a green cone, and a longer one for a from one species to the next—in In a sense, visual pigments in red cone. But each reacts to a lesser mammals and birds, for instance, the eye are like paint on an artist's degree over a range of wavelengths, they are always a form of vitamin A palette. Just as a painter with only and those ranges overlap consider- ably. Almost any wavelength of visible light activates at least two ite/sby h <;&&&] 4 m\mm Pdi Day and sometimes all three pigments in different proportions—giving us the power to see well over a mil- lion shades of color. That, for a mammal, is pretty N> good. Most mammals—dogs and elephants, for instance—have cones $14,615 with only two kinds of pigments, for short and long wavelengths of The ROM machine delivers an extraordinary cardiovascular, light. Such dichromats can see at most strength and flexibility workout in exactly 4 minutes per day. 10,000 colors. 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I „ \ \ Bulgarian Romany \ Old Norwegian ^__\ Old Prussian Middle Swedish-. ^^ Old Norse 'Old Swedish „ Slavic — Danish f\~~ -Russi \ — - ^Belarusian Danish | Middle Danish -Old North Germanic Balto-Slavic English x Ukrainian Middle English -- Old English l/estGermamc—> Germanic Tocharian^ Old Frisian Dutch Frisian Punjabi East Germanic , ,Old Dutch Flemish \ y —^ Middle Dutch \ Proto-Indo-European Old Low German \ Gothic Afrikaans Middle Low German Old High German Anatolian Sogdian Low German Middle High German Phrygian Hittite Avestan Old Persian (High) German Armenian Luvian Yiddish — Pahlavi Irish Gaelic \ Hellenic Lydian Middle Persian \ Lycian Scottish Gaelic' / Persian Thracian Greek ManX ' _ Romanian Cornish Welsh ' Rhaeto-Romance Breton wencal \ Italian-' Gaulish French How Did One Language Evolve into 6,000? Language not only defines us as a species, it also intrigues us with The Story of Human Language its endless mysteries. How did different languages come to be? Why Taught by Professor John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute isn't there just a single language? How does a language change? Lecture Titles Professor John McWhorter, one of America's leading linguists What Is Language? 1 7. Dialects —The Standard as and a frequent commentator on network television and National When Language Began Token of the Past Public Radio, shows you the answers to these and other illuminating How Language Changes 18. Dialects—Spoken Style. Written Style questions in The Story of Human Language. Sound Change 19. Dialects—The Fallacy of How Language Changes Blackboard Grammar Throughout these 36 fascinating lectures, you learn how a Building New Material 20. Language Mixture—Words single tongue spoken 150.000 years ago evolved into the estimated How Language Changes 21. Language Mixture—Grammar Meaning and Order 22. Language Mixture— Language Areas 6,000 languages used around the world today. You also How Language Changes 23. 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For like insects and other A poor sense of color is thought to a magic helmet labeled "human" crustaceans, mantis shrimp have be a legacy from the time our mam- would find the world almost as drab compound eyes, which work rather malian ancestors coexisted with the as we find black and white. That is, a differently from vertebrate eyes. dinosaurs. The idea is that while the "normal human" helmet. Tantalizing One idea is that each pigment in a dinosaurs were tramping about, our evidence suggests that certain rare mantis-shrimp eye signals the pres- forebears were small animals that women—mothers whose sons have ence of a single color in the same mostly went out at night. Elaborate a particular type of colorblind- way that a hair cell in the cochlea color vision wasn't useful, and so ness—may be tetrachromats of a sort, of a human ear responds to a single there was no evolutionary pressure though they still wouldn't see what a frequency of sound. In that case, a to keep it: animals without it were bird sees, as they can't see UV. large range of pigments would be no worse off than animals that had What sort of color vision would essential for seeing many colors. it, and so it began to decay. Instead, dinosaurs have had? Obviously, Lacking a big brain, such animals mammalian eyes evolved to be good that question is hard to answer, but may be unable to mix a vast range at seeing in low levels of light. we can make some general infer- of colors from just a few kinds of After the dinosaurs went extinct, ences. The two living groups most inputs, as we are able to do. those nocturnal ancestors evolved closely related to dinosaurs are birds As I mentioned, mantis shrimp into a broad diversity of forms, many and crocodiles. Indeed, to be strict can also detect how light waves are of which come out in the daytime. about it, birds are dinosaurs: they polarized—marshaled into a single However, in general, mammalian are descended from a dinosaur lin- plane of oscillation—which is inde- color vision has remained quite eage, and are more closely related pendent of the wavelength of light. poor. Primates are the exception. to Tyrannosaurus rex and friends than That ability is found in a panoply Among primates, improved color they are to any living organisms. of other animals, including some vision has evolved at least twice, Birds, of course, are tetrachromats, spiders, insects, and migratory birds, once in the lineage leading to Old and some species of crocodiles, such for whom it may be part of their World monkeys and apes, and again, as the Mississippi alligator, probably navigational tool kit. independently, in some of the New are too. (I say "probably," because Mantis shrimp, however, can not World monkeys, such as capuchins. they have four visual pigments in only distinguish linearly polarized The reason primates evolved better their cones, but their behavior hasn't light, some of them can also detect color vision than other mammals isn't been studied to confirm how they circularly polarized light—with clear; the most popular theory is that see.) All this suggests that many its plane of oscillation spiraling it's related to diet, and that trichro- dinosaurs may have had complex, like a screw either to the left or matic individuals find it easier to spot tetrachromatic color vision. to the right. That enables them to ripe fruits and young, edible leaves. respond to tiny shifts in the po- Yet compared with most other i ut even a blue tit's larization of the light that reaches vertebrates and many invertebrates, B:'vision seems bor- them. Not only do potential man- even primates are colorfully chal- ing when compared tis-shrimp mates have circularly lenged. The eyes of many amphib- with what goes on in the polarized light reflected off parts of ians, birds, fish, reptiles, and in- stalked eye of the mantis shrimp. their carapaces—like secret come- sects contain an additional kind of Those animals don't merely have hither jewelry—but much of the visual pigment—one that typically four, five, or six kinds of visual pig- stomatopods' transparent-looking detects light that to us is entirely ment in their eyes. Some have six- prey is filled with sugar molecules invisible: ultraviolet. A yellow teen. What that does for their view that polarize light. swallowtail butterfly or a bird such of the world is unclear, however, Woe betide any such prey that as a blue tit is, therefore, a tetra- partly because it's impossible for hu- crosses the path of one of these ani- chromat, and has a visual palette mans to guess what it's like to have mals. Forget the eye of a hawk: it's far more complex than our own. eyes on stalks that move indepen- the eye of the mantis shrimp that After all, what color is made from dently and continuously. should be legendary. green, red, and ultraviolet? It is clear that mantis shrimp can Olivia Judson, a research fellow in the Indeed, to us, the male and fe- see color, and that their range covers Division of Biology at Imperial College male blue tit look similar. Yet some the whole of the spectrum visible to London, is the author of Dr. Tatiana's Sex of their plumage reflects in the UV humans and extends into both the Advice to All Creation: The Definitive range—especially the "blue" cap ultraviolet and the infrared; but sci- Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of that the male wears on his head— entists don't know whether they see Sex (Owl Books, 2003). 18 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 Special Adven It's time to explore something old and discover someth Distinctive new. Compare dinosaurs and birds in Delaware. Visit ancient ruins and modern masterpieces ofarchitecture in Destinations Arizona. And in Asm, voyage into an exotic world and enjoy timely comforts amid timeless beauty. m Special Advertising Section .. i m nimidfcTflHfllMBfallrifc n Clockwise from above: Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's Feastsfor Body and Soul in desert masterpiece; the ghostly White House ruins in Canyon de Chelly National Monument; ARIZONA Mission San Xavier del Bac, the White Dove of the Desert ARIZONA, dramatic landscapes of mission architecture. INand diverse cultures offer an endless Also rising like an apparition from the feast for the eyes and an abundant desert floor is Taliesin West, built by variety of food to satisfy body and Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentices soul. Whether you're interested in art, in the 1930s. Wright, whose spirit and theater, architecture or casual fine dining, influence linger strongly in Arizona, created you'll find memorable destinations to Taliesin West out of the desert by gathering choose from. rocks from the desert floor and sand from Arizona has inspired architects and the washes to keep the design in balance builders, ancient and modern, through with the surrounding environment. The the centuries. Architectural marvels can be site is considered one of Wright's greatest found tucked into mountainsides, clinging masterpieces. to canyon walls and burgeoning from the To accompany the visual feast, you'll find desert floor. From timeless Navajoland some great food near these remarkable sites. to bustling cities, you can span the ages, In Scottsdale, haute cuisine meets haute traveling from the ancient cliff dwellings couture in a fusion of food and fashion at of Canyon de Chelly and the mission Canal, located beside the tranquil waters architecture of San Xavier del Bac to the of the Scottsdale Waterfront. In Tucson, modern masterpiece of Taliesin West if you're craving old Mexican favorites, in Scottsdale. you'll find the oldest family-run Mexican Past and present come together restaurant in the country: El Charro Cafe. dramatically in the Canyon de Chelly El Charro, with its blend of Sonoran National Monument. The Navajo people ingredients, is a delicious lesson in Tucson's still have a mystical bond to this redstone culinary history. For Navajo food, you'll canyon, home to several periods of Native find local favorites such as Navajo tacos, American culture. Canyon cliffs ranging to mutton stews, and frybread in most more than 1 ,000 feet provide a spectacular restaurants on the Navajo Nation. Two backdrop for hundreds of Anasazi ruins as popular options not far from Canyon de well as modern Navajo homes and farms. Chelly are Junction Restaurant and Dramatic in a different way is the Garcia's Restaurant. Mission San Xavier del Bac, the "White With its storied past reaching back Dove of the Desert," located south of thousands of years, and its vibrant blends of Tucson. The mission rises like a brilliant old and new, Arizona offers something for white dove from the desert floor, framed everyone. Wherever you go, and whatever in the warm browns of the surrounding your taste, you'll find unforgettable hills and violet shadows of more distant landscapes, culture and food to savor. mountains. San Xavier, which blends Moorish, Byzantine and late Mexican For your free travel packet, call &IZ0NA Renaissance architecture, has been 1-866-708-8128 toll-free or visit -AND CANYON STATE acclaimed as the country's finest example arizonaguide.com. Where a common thread just may be the spark of inspiration. Grab life. Immerse yourself in a day full of adventure and a night full of fun. More to discover and definitely more than you expect, all waiting here for you. For your free travel packet, call 1-866-708-8128 toll-free or visit arizonaguide.com. Special Advertising Section DELAWARE DELAWARE is brimming with history and natural wonders to explore, indoors and out. From dinosaur exhibits to prime bird-watching spots, you'll find compelling reasons to stop, learn, and discover something new. You can jump-start your adventure at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, where you'll encounter life-sized dinosaurs, take a look under the oceans, come face to face with a jaguar, linger at an African watering hole, and marvel at the diversity of birds and shells from around the world. For some great birding and sightseeing, drive Delaware's Coastal Heritage Scenic Byway Route 9, which traverses 50 miles of the state's carefully preserved shore, unparalleled on the East Coast. The green way that runs north and south along the Delaware River and Bay was the first designated reserve in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Above: Sunset at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Network, and you'll see some of the region's best birding spots here. The Refuge; below: Slaughter Beach horseshoe crabs route's generous stretches of unspoiled marshland include the Thousand Acre Marsh, the largest freshwater tidal wetland in northern Delaware. You'll find easy access to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, with its handy observation towers, and to the adjacent Little Creek Wildlife Area. For sightings of horseshoe crabs, which put on an incredible display in May and June, stop at Slaughter Beach. Further south, the waters within Prime Hook National Refuge are open for canoeing and boating, and hiking trails include a boardwalk over the marshes. Continue to Cape Henlopen State Park, which offers different environments from which to view wildlife and shorebirds. Visit www.visitdelaware.com for more information. Special Advertising Section MuringAsia ^ lnvumgTndian Ocean oC Africa Escape to the Orient Port by port the Orient unfolds its treasures as you sail aboard mv Discovery from Singapore to the tranquil beaches of Thailand. Vietnam otters green rice fields and ancient temples. Cape Town on the V&A Waterfront. 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Government fees & taxes service fees and air add-ons and taxes are additional. Air rates do not include airline and government fees and fuel surchanjes. For complete tenns and conditions see Voyages of Discovery Winter Voyages 2009/10 brochure. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information; we reserve the right to correct errors. Ship's registry: Bermuda. c Voyages of Discovery 2009. All rights reserved. — — Meet the Alloparents Shared child care may be the secret of human evolutionary success. BY SARAH BLAFFER HRDY ' e cram our bodies into the plane's narrow seats, operate have helped propel our success as a elbow-to-elbow, making eye contact with nods species. But why did humans become such and resigned smiles as we yield to latecomers "other-regarding" apes? W pushing past. Most ignore the crying baby, or pretend to. A few of us even signal the mother with a side- Although the genUS Homo arose ways nod and a wry smile. We want her to know that we before the beginning of the Pleistocene know how she feels, and that the disturbance she thinks her epoch (1.8 million to 12,000 years ago), baby is causing is not nearly as annoying as she imagines H. sapiens—anatomically modern humans even though we can tell (as can she) that the young man with upright bodies and big brains beside her, eyes determinedly glued to the screen of his evolved only within the last 200,000 laptop, does indeed mind every bit as much as she fears. years. And behaviorally modern humans, Thus does every frequent flier employ our species' capable ofsymbolic thought and language, peculiarly empathetic aptitude for intuiting the mental emerged more recently still, within the last 80,000 years. states and intentions of other people. Cognitive scientists Most evolutionists have assumed that our unusually so- and philosophers have long called this awareness of oth- phisticated capacities for attributing mental states and ers' inner life "theory of mind," but many psychologists feelings to others coincided with those late-Pleistocene now refer to it as "intersubjectivity," a broader concept behavioral transformations, and corresponded with the that roots our sophisticated skill at mind reading in the need for members of one group to get along so as to capacity to share in the emotional states and experiences outcompete and defend themselves against other groups. of others. Whatever we call it, this ability to divine and But there are difficulties with that scenario. There is care about the mental experiences of others makes hu- abundant archaeological evidence for early warfare, but mans more adept at cooperating than other apes are. none dates back much before 12,000 years ago, when Imagine what would happen if one were traveling people began to settle down and live in more complex with a planeload of chimpanzees. We would be lucky societies with property to protect. Moreover, genetic evi- to disembark with all our fingers, testicles, and toes at- dence suggests that our foraging ancestors in the Pleisto- tached, and with the baby still breathing and unmaimed. cene lived at low densities. Although individuals no doubt But human passengers fill some 2 billion airline seats fought and sometimes killed one another, there is no evi- every year and submit to being compressed and man- dence that whole groups fought. More to the point, if the handled, with no dismemberments reported yet! Along drive to outcompete members of opposing groups was the with our 1,350-cubic-centimeter brains and capacity for source of our hypersocial tendencies, why didn't selection language, such unusually well-developed impulses to co- favor even greater and more Machiavellian intelligence, 24 1 NATURAL history April 2009 ** SMI P Female dusky leaf monkey tries to take a newborn from its mother. In all primates, babies are a source of interest, most often to subadult females. Distinctive juvenile traits, such as this baby's golden hair, help induce non-parents to take care of an infant. better mind reading, and better capacities to cooperate ergaster) —creatures that did not think or use language to against hostile neighbors among the ancestors of today's communicate the way we do. AJloparental care and pro- chimpanzees? Chimpanzees are competitive, dominance- visioning set the stage for children to grow up slowly and oriented, aggressive, and reflexively xenophobic: wouldn't remain dependent on others for many years, paving the they have benefited just as much, or more, from being able way for the evolution of anatomically modern people with to cooperate to wipe out competing groups? even bigger brains. It was not the other way around: bigger Consider, however, an alternative explanation, the brains required care more than caring required big brains. possibility that our empathetic impulses grew out of the peculiar way that children in the genus Homo were Comparisons aCrOSS cooperatively breeding reared. I believe that at an early stage in human evolu- species show how nonessential a sapient mentality is for tion, our bipedal ape ancestors were increasingly cared shared care, and provide our best hope for understanding for and provisioned not just by parents but also by other what selection pressures induce individuals to help rear group members, known as alloparents. someone else's young. Insights from such comparisons In my view, cooperative breeding (as sociobiologists help explain why mothers among highly social apes liv- term the reproductive strategy in which alloparents help ing in Africa about 1.8 million years ago might have be- both care for and provision young) came before big brains. gun to abandon mother-only care, setting our ancestors I believe it first emerged among upright apes that were on the road to emotional modernity. only beginning to look like us, and further evolved dur- Although at first caring for and provisioning someone ing the Pleistocene in African H. crams (also called H. else's offspring seems to defy evolutionary logic, coop- April 2009 NATURAL HISTORY 25 Go/den lion tamarins often live in groups containing several adult males and one breeding female. The mother relies on the males for shared infant care as well as extensive provision- ing, and males carry the infants most of the time. Any males the mother mated with, older offspring, and even unrelated "immi- grants" may spontaneously offer beetles and other prey to infants around the time of weaning. erative breeding has evolved many times in a taxonomi- self-serving option is available. They may proffer food cally diverse array of arthropod, avian, and mammalian only when they do not actually need it themselves. They species. It occurs in 9 percent of the 10,000 living species may volunteer only when they have energy to spare, or of birds and in perhaps 3 percent of mammals. The ad- when they are still too young or lack the opportunity to vantages for parents are well documented, with signifi- reproduce themselves. Or if two cohabiting mothers are cant demographic consequences. reproducing, as occurs among lions, ruffed lemurs, bush Mothers able to confidently entrust helpless offspring to babies, and some mice, they may take turns as allopar- groupmates' care conserve energy, stay better nourished, ents. One mother may suckle the other's offspring while and remain safer from predators and other hazards, lead- the other mother is "at work" foraging. And where prac- ing longer lives with greater reproductive success. Because tice is critical for learning how to parent, as is the case for mammal mothers that have aid also wean babies sooner, many primates, babysitters derive valuable experience by many reproduce again sooner, and so give birth to a greater first caring for another's young. number ofyoung over their lifetimes. More important, the In other cases, however, helping is more of a one-way extra help ensures the young have a better chance of sur- street—and by no means entirely voluntary. Subordinate vival. Certain species therefore spread successfully thanks meerkat, wild dog, and wolf females that have never con- to cooperative breeding and, with it, a faster pace of repro- ceived (and may never do so) sometimes undergo a "pseu- duction and the flexibility permitting young to survive in dopregnancy," developing a swollen belly and mammary a wide range of habitats. glands. Then, once the alpha female's pups are born, the But how could natural selection ever favor caring for nonmothers secrete milk for the alpha's pups. By becom- someone else's young? Why would young magpie jays ing a wet-nurse, a subordinate may increase her chances of in Costa Rica, ones that have never reproduced, bring being tolerated in the group. Had she given birth herself, back beakful after beakful of food to begging fledglings? her young might have been killed by the alpha female. Those allomothers often provide more food than the Of course, it makes good evolutionary sense for indi- chicks' own parents do. Ornithologists J. David Ligon viduals to enhance the reproductive success of relatives of the University of New Mexico and D. Brent Burt of with whom they share genes. But helpers are not always Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas propose a kin, and even kin can be less than kind: some meerkat two-step process for such development. Start with a spe- and marmoset alphas eliminate their own daughters' off- cies with particularly helpless, slow-maturing young, in spring—the grandmothers from hell. which selection will favor high sensitivity to the cues emitted by needy babies as a parental trait. Then add In roughly half the 300-odd species of living some special benefit that encourages maturing individu- primates, including all four great apes and many of the als to linger in their natal place, such as defensible and best-known species of Old World monkeys, such as rhe- heritable resources. As a result, group members will be sus macaques and savanna baboons, mothers alone care exposed to sensory cues from chicks (or pups) and will for their infants. A chimpanzee, gorilla, or orangutan be primed to respond. This "misplaced parental care" hy- mother will be literally "in touch" with her infant for pothesis helps explain why cooperative breeding is three almost every moment during its first six months of life, times more likely to evolve in taxa that produce altricial and the orangutan nurses her baby for up to seven years. (helpless) young rather than precocial young (those that Such continuous maternal care cannot be attributed to are soon able to survive on their own). lack of interest from would-be babysitters, however. In Not all such caretaking is as self-sacrificing as it may all primates, babies are a source of attraction, most often appear. Often, alloparents only babysit when no more to subadult females. The mother's possessiveness is the 26 I NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 . — determining factor. A wild ape mother is adamant that .uitl re< iprocate generosity. Burkart argues that the com- others will not hokl or carry her baby. bined mutual tolerance and spontaneous generosity of Elsewhere in the primate order, mothers are more tol- cooperative breeders are conducive to social learning, in erant of illom.itern.il overtures. Shared care with at least particular to the ability of youngsters to glean informa- minimal provisioning (often no more than one female al- tion from and about their caretakers. lowing another female's infant to briefly nurse) is found in some 20 percent oi primate genera. But only among In every human hunting-and-gathering society marmosets and tamarins, members of the family Calli- about which we have information, mothers allow others trichidae, do we find shared infant care combined with to hold newborns. But how could selfish apes ever make extensive alloparental provisioning, such as we also see in the transition from mother-only care to such cooperative humans. In that respect, those tiny-brained South Ameri- breeding? At some point in the emergence of the genus can monkeys, which last shared a common ancestor with Homo, mothers must have become more relaxed about humans more than 35 million years ago, may provide handing even quite young infants over to others to tempo- more insights into the early evolution of human family lite rarily hold and carry. No infant is more costly than a hu- than do more closely related species such as chimpanzees. man one, and a growing body of evidence from traditional Marmoset and tamarin mothers tend to produce twins societies makes clear that wherever rates of child mortal- (together weighing up ity were high, children to 2(1 percent of the with alloparental pro- mother's body weight) visioning were more as often as twice a year. likely to survive. I be- But the social arrange- lieve that was the case ments lighten the load. among our ancestors in Usually, only the group's the Pleistocene. most dominant female Among ethnographi- breeds, although groups cally recorded hunter- with two breeding fe- \ gatherers, provisioning males sometimes occur. i- by allomothers starts Fathers and alloparents | early and goes on for of both sexes are unusu- [ft 6 years, beginning with ally eager to help moth- : "kiss-feeding" of tin- ers rear their young. Ba- 31 weaned infants with sa- Yellow warbler, a species that produces helpless young, is primed to bies are carried through- liva sweetened by honey respond when a cowbird egg laid in its nest hatches a big, begging chick. A out or with most of the day by propensity that leads to such misplaced parental care can also be conducive premasticated one or more adult males, to cooperative breeding within a species. mouthfuls of other food. which expend so much That encourages infants energy doing so that to pay attention to oth- they actually lose weight. Other helpers, typically but not ers, including their own mothers, with whom they are ea- exclusively kin, voluntarily deliver even prized animal ger to maintain visual and vocal contact. An infant tempo- prey to youngsters. rarily out of its mother's arms will spend more time moni- Group members are also unusually tolerant of one an- toring her whereabouts and looking at her face. Youngsters other during foraging. Observing moustached tamarins also have a big incentive to learn who else might be avail- in the wild. University of Illinois primatologist Paul A. able and willing to care, and children with several trusted Garber recorded only one aggressive act for every fifty- attachment figures learn to integrate multiple perspectives. two cooperative ones he saw, such as collaborating to In the words of pioneering child psychologists Ted Ruff- gnaw open hard fruits. When tested in the lab, cotton- man of the University of Otago and Josef Perner of the top tamarins studied by psychologist Marc D. Hauser's University of Salzberg. "theory of mind is contagious" team at Harvard, and marmosets studied by evolution- you catch it from older siblings and other caretakers. ary anthropologists Judith M. Burkart and Carel P. van Among our Pleistocene ancestors, infants with multiple Schaik at the University of Zurich, turn out to be unusu- caretakers would have been challenged in ways that no ape ally attentive to the needs of others. They are far more had ever been before. The needy youngster would have willing to deliver food to individuals (including nonrela- had to decipher not only its mother's commitment but also tives) in an adjacent cage than are chimpanzees in com- the moods and intentions of others who might be seduced parable experiments. Marmosets go out of their way to into helping. How best to attract care in varied circum- provide food to others, and tamarins even keep track of stances? Through crying? With smiles, tunny faces, gur- April 2009 natural history 27 gling, or babbling? The youngster best at mind reading Something happened in the line leading to would be best cared for and best fed. Such novel (for an H. sapiens that encouraged female relatives to stick to- ape) selection pressures favored a very different type of gether. The impetus, I believe, had to do with food. ape—one that we might call emotionally modern. By 1.8 million years ago H. erectus had new ways of finding, processing, and digesting food needed to sup- AlmOSt all primates live m social groups, and it port both larger bodies and energetically more expensive, is generally advantageous for a mother to be in a group that larger brains. The most plausible scenario, set forth by includes close kin. Their help is especially critical when an anthropologists James F. O'Connell and Kristen Hawkes inexperienced young female first gives birth. In most social of the University of Utah, is that long-term trends toward mammals, and in the majority of monkeys, females remain a cooler, drier climate leading up to the Pleistocene pres- with the group where they are born, and maturing males sured the precursors of H. erectus to supplement a diet that strike out to make their fortunes. But among our nearest had consisted mostly of fruit and occasionally meat. Game living relatives, the great apes, only a tiny minority of new was increasingly important, but its availability unpredict- mother apes ever have matrilineal kin nearby. Evolutionary able. A division of labor emerged between male hunters biologists have taken for granted that, like other apes, our and female gatherers, and social bonds ensuring that men female ancestors must have left their natal groups to breed and women shared became increasingly essential. in another community. There they would have encoun- O'Connell and others suggest that when other foods tered unrelated females, possibly competing mothers, who were scarce, our ancestors relied on the large underground might be not only unsupportive but actually infanticidal. tubers that plants in dry areas use to stockpile carbohy- Until recently, in fact, evolutionary biologists assumed drates. Those storage organs occur throughout the savan- hunter-gatherers followed a similar pattern of female dis- na, but are protected by a deep layer of sunbaked earth. Sa- persal. But in 2004, in an exhaustive review ofethnograph- vanna-dwelling baboons dig up rhizomes and undergound ic studies, University of Utah stems called corms, both found anthropologist Helen Alva- nearer the surface, and at rez concluded that mothers least one unusual population living in hunting-and- of savanna-dwelling chim- gathering groups were panzees is known to use sticks likely to have their moth- to dig out the shallower tubers, ers and other kin nearby suggesting that early bipedal when they gave birth. apes may have done so as well. For example, Stanford But it takes special knowledge University anthropolo- and equipment to dig out the gists Brooke A. Scelza deeply situated larger tubers. and Rebecca Bliege Tubers are not only hard Bird found that among to extract. They are fi- the traditionally polyg- brous and difficult to di- amous Mardu hunter- gest, hardly ideal food for gatherers of Australia's children. Like nuts, they .»- ; -lasT?-' Western Desert, older need skilled processing. To mothers would relocate Artist's rendering of Homo erectus, ancestral humans who lived in eat them, weaned juveniles Africa in small groups as early as 1.8 million years ago: The woman to be near daughters of would have to depend on ca- in the center is cracking open nuts, while parents and other group childbearing age, es- pable providers. Neverthe- members (so-called alloparents) help take care of infants. Shared pecially if the daughter care coevolved with empathetic awareness; mothers and infants less, evidence is increasing lacked an older cowife benefited from intuiting who would help and who would hurt. that starchy tubers were an to advise and help her. important fallback food for Mothers were also eager African hunter-gatherers. A to join a daughter if she was married to the same man as 2007 report in Nature Genetics revealed that people like her sister. In consequence, half of married Mardu women the Hadza of Tanzania, who rely on roots and tubers, between the ages of fourteen and forty had a mother in have accumulated extra copies of a gene that makes an the same group, while many had sisters or cousins as well, enzyme useful in the digestion of starch, salivary amylase. often as cowives. On average, female group members had While we can't test the saliva or sequence the genes of an 11 percent chance of sharing a gene by common de- African H. erectus, isotopic analysis of their tooth enamel scent—just as do females of some of the nonhuman pri- yields results consistent with a diet substantially reliant mate species that practice infant-sharing. on underground roots. Once H. erectus developed the use 28 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 Hunter-gatherers still living in small, tight-knit communities, such as these members of a clan of Kua Bushmen in the Kalahari desert in Botswana, are the best proxy we have for how early humans kept children alive in the Pleistocene. During the day, Kua women look for edible tubers in the surrounding Kalahari bush. Some anthropologists believe that H. erectus grandmothers helped in the communal raising of children by finding and processing tubers when other sources of food, such as game, were scarce. of fire, perhaps as early as 800,000 years ago, roasting circumstances, their presence cuts the chance of dying tough, fibrous tubers would have rendered them more during childhood in half. digestible, and more useful still. In purely practical terms, we can envision a sequence Even before cooking, the addition of tubers to nuts that begins with hunters and gatherers sharing the fruits and other plant foods gathered and processed by women (and tubers) of foraging and then moving toward coop- would have provided new incentives for food sharing be- erative breeding. That would have allowed our Pleisto- tween hunters and gatherers, as well as new opportuni- cene ancestors to produce young that depended on many ties for postreproductive women motivated to share. In caretakers for a long time. No ape produces such big ba- their "grandmother hypothesis," Hawkes and O'Connell bies that mature so slowly, yet not only did our ancestors propose that Darwinian selection would have favored ex- manage to survive, but our species eventually expanded perienced, hardworking women who live on for decades beyond Africa and around the globe. after menopause, not just for a few more years, as in other In terms of cognition and emotions, the transforma- primates. Such women could help provision younger kin, tions wrought by shared care and provisioning were even without the distraction of infants of their own. more profound. Our bipedal ape ancestors were surely as Across traditional societies, where it is not unusual clever and manipulative as are living chimpanzees, able tor 40 percent or more of individuals to die prior to to manufacture and use tools; they must have been at maturity, mortality rates depend a lot on family com- least as empathetic in some circumstances, and endowed position. Not surprisingly, presence of the mother with a rudimentary theory of mind. But when they matters most. The father's impact varies from being adopted what was, for an ape. a novel mode of rearing vitally important to having no detectable impact, de- young, one that produced individuals more mutually tol- pending on local conditions and who else is around erant and other-regarding than other apes, they laid the to help. When it comes to alloparents, older siblings foundations for ever higher levels of empathy and coop- and grandmothers, especially maternal grandmothers, eration. In such modest beginnings we can identify the have the most reliably beneficial impact. Under some groundwork for spectacular later developments. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. an anthropologist and mother. This article was adapted from is 1 professor emerita at the University of Califor- Mothers and Others: The nia, Davis. Her book The Woman That Never Evolved Evolutionary Origins of Mutual (l l )sn was selected by the Xcir York Times as one of Understanding, by Sarah Blaffer the Notable Books of that year, and Mother Nature Hrdy, ©2009, published by was chosen by both Publbhers Weekly and Library Harvard University Press. On Journal as one of the best books of 1999. Hrdy is a sale in bookstores in April. frequent contributor to Natural History; "Meet the Alloparents" is her ninth article for the magazine. Web links related to this article can be found at www.naturalhistorymag.com April 2009 NATURAL HISTORY 29 — Jewel of the Deep Are the modern incarnations of age-old traditions—coral diving and craftsmanship selling Mediterranean red coral out? BY GEORGIOS TSOUNIS e sink into cool, dusky water along the island's rocky foundation. A strong current hinders our swimming and washes in organic part- icles that cloud the view through our diving masks. The particles are food for coral, but wthere's no coral in sight as we descend past 100, then 120 feet. Finally, 160 feet down, first one red coral, then another and another, each as large as a man's palm, appears in the beam of our flashlights. They're the biggest ones I've ever seen, and my partners and I holler into our scuba mouthpieces in excitement. We stop to watch the coral polyps' myriad transparent little tentacles waving gently in the current, and we know we've found precious treasure. Visiting this dark and hidden underwater forest feels like a privilege. For safety in the murky waters, we stick close together. We are three: two fellow marine ecologists, Sergio Rossi of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Lorenzo Bramanti of the University of Pisa, have joined forces with me to study the health of Mediterranean red coral (Coral- Hum mbrum) along the Costa Brava, Spain's northeast shore in the region of Catalonia and the hub of the Spanish coral fishery. Finding some of Spain's oldest red corals is an im- portant part of our research, but it isn't easy. The depth, current, and poor visibility that make this location hard to dive provide a favorable habitat for the coral. For un- known reasons, the species shuns light and prefers to grow in deepwater cave entrances, crevices, and overhangs. Artisans have crafted jewelry and artwork from Mediterranean red coral for millennia. Its color symbolizing the blood of Christ, Corallium rubrum is often used in Catholic art, as in this sixteenth- century sculpture of the Virgin Mary, made of eight ingeniously joined coral pieces (shown approximately actual size). Colony of Mediterranean red coral, at most fifteen years old. Each white cluster is an individual animal, a coral polyp. Much bigger, 100-year-old colonies could be found without great difficulty well into the twentieth century. Recent overfishing has reduced the average age of populations, however, so that rare old corals persist only at great depth. The corals we admire—huge by today's standards, but harvested forjewelry and crafts. C. rubrum's typical intense- small by those of a century ago—owe their size to their vermilion skeleton—which can vary to orange, pinkish, and location, deep underwater in the Medas Islands, a pro- in rare cases, white—makes it the jewel supreme. tected marine reserve off-limits to fishermen. The spe- The skeleton, ot calcium carbonate, is produced by in- cies has been harvested for centuries to make jewelry dividual cnidarian polyps [see photograph above]. The polyps and artwork, and today, with its stocks declining and its take shelter under a crust of tissue covering the entire col- population structure shifting, it has many biologists and ony; they protrude through it to feed, and they exchange conservationists concerned about its future. nutrients via passages in it. (Jewelers remove the tissue be- fore working the skeleton.) Each polyp is little more than a v| * I CoralHum mbrum lives only in the Mediter- digestive sac with tentacles that catch plankton and organic *-\ YjL^ ranean Sea and along neighboring Atlantic shores. particles. Colonies are composed entirely of either male or IJr It grows mainly at depths of 90 to 600 feet, but female polyps. In early summer the males liberate sperm *• occasionally its habitat can be as shallow as 20 feet sacs, which wash over to fertilize eggs inside female polvps or as deep as 1,000 feet. Despite its genus name, Corallium, situated, at most, a few hundred yards away. A month later, it is not one of the "stony," reef-building organisms people each female polyp releases between one and five larvae. typically think of first when they hear the word "coral." Swept along by currents, a larva has onlv limned motil- Those are members of the taxonomic order Scleractinia, ity to help it locate a suitable home: a patch of rock free whereas red coral belongs to the related order Gorgonacea, from competitive algae with dim lighting and a moderate the soft corals. Both stony and soft corals are colonies of current. There it attaches itself and metamorphoses into invertebrate animals called cnidarians, a group that includes a polyp that— might found a new colony by reproducing jellyfish and sea anemones. In both orders, mature colonies asexually "budding" new polyps that themselves bud. act as ecosystem engineers: they and their remains provide After about seven years, colonies are unbranched three-dimensional habitat and shelter for fish, crustaceans, sticks less than an inch tall by a quarter inch in diam- and other organisms, enhancing biodiversity. There are eter. After a century, they grow to a height of one and a thirty-one species in the genus Corallium, ofwhich seven are half feet and have many branches. Thev look like little April 2009 NATURAL HISTORY 31 Investigators examine coral confiscated by police in 2007 from a poacher on the Spanish Costa Brava. Most of the coral was below the legal size limit, and the case went into legal proceedings. red bonsai trees extending their white, flowerlike pol- away as India. About 5,000 years ago, people began harvest- yps into the watery breezes. ing live corals. Working from boats or while swimming, My colleagues and I spent 2002 and 2003 intensively they used iron hooks, probably affixed to wooden poles, to counting, measuring, filming, and photographing C. dislodge colonies from, shallow outcrops. Then, by the first rubrum all over the Costa Brava. We developed a non- century B.C., someone, possibly a Greek, invented a coral destructive photographic sampling method to measure dredge that was used for centuries throughout the Mediter- the size of 7,600 coral colonies. Our results showed that ranean, with many variations. The dredge consisted oftwo the seven-year-old, inch-tall sticks are average for the re- crossed wooden beams with nets attached at the four ends; gion. The oldest corals, like the ones we saw deep in the the nets entangled corals, breaking them off the substrate Medas reserve, were no bigger than our palms, probably [see illustration on opposite page]. about thirty years old. Where were the 100-year-old, Over time, red coral acquired tremendous cultural and foot-and-a-half-tall "bonsais," which local divers in the religious importance. In Greek myth, the first red coral ap- 1940s described as common? peared when blood from Medusa's severed head petrified The populations seemed to be unnaturally, perhaps un- seaweed. To Greeks, red coral's magical powers included healthily, youthful, and we wondered why. Red coral has overcoming evil and protecting ships against lightning. no predators, but it does have a parasite: a sponge that per- Romans ingested it powdered to counteract poison, sor- forates colony bases. Yet if either elevated parasitism or a cery, seizures, and other ills. Later, Christians considered disease were responsible for the skewed populations, dead it protective against Satan, its color symbolizing the blood corals would remain as evidence, and we'd seen few. We of Christ. C. rubrum was often used in rosaries, and neck- knew that Mediterranean red coral is generally thought to laces and branches of it appear in many works of Catholic be overharvested; in fact, Catalonia's fisheries department religious art. had commissioned our project to help guide an update of In 1943, the invention of the Aqua-Lung, a pressur- its coral-fishing regulations. But just nine legal coral div- ized-air delivery system, initiated modern scuba diving. ers work along the Costa Brava; it seemed unlikely that so Swimming and breathing freely, coral divers could selec- few fishermen could distort the populations, though we tively collect large colonies in caves and crevices, where had yet to learn the extent of poaching. dredges were useless. Dredging recovers only 40 percent of the coral it dislocates and destroys most marine life in - Jf^ The traditions ot red-coral fishing and crafts- its path; in 1994, the European Union banned it because B¥tf^2r manship are indeed old ones. Coral amulets some of the devastation it causes. By that point, however, div- ^SgwfL 7,000 years old have turned up around Europe. ing had largely replaced dredging anyway, and it remains ^ *r For millennia, red-coral branches were probably the only harvesting method used today. collected on Mediterranean shores, having washed up after Diving is much less damaging to other marine life than storms. People used red coral decoratively and traded it as far dredging is. Ideally, divers leave colonies smaller than the 32 NATURAL history April 2009 legal size —in Spain, a quarter-inch in basal diameter—and The best way to reveal the effects ofa fishery cut larger colonies off just above the base so they have .1 is to compare harvested with untouched popula- chance to regrow, rather than rip out the entire colony. Not tions, A\\d my colleagues and I set out to do so. .ill divers are so responsible, however. Some, particularly 1 Hiding a harvested population was no problem, poachers, will completely wipe out the red corals .it .1 site. obviously, but we knew of no undisturbed populations oi Red-coral larvae don't travel tar from their parent colonies; C. rubrum along the Costa Brava. (Indeed there are few indeed, recent studies indicate that distinct populations are anywhere.) Our two best options were the Medas Islands fairly isolated genetically. That, combined with the species' marine reserve, and deep populations—260 feet below the low growth rate and late fecundity, makes clear-cutting un- surface —that we could best examine using remotely oper- usually devastating, and leaves ated vehicles (ROVs). Fishing red-coral populations vulner- was banned in the reserve only able to local extinction. in 1991, and though the deep The practice of removing populations are beyond the reach every little scrap of coral from of most divers now. they were a site became profitable a few- dredged until 1994. Even so, decades ago, when the indus- our photographic survey showed try developed a method of us- a difference in demographics: ing epoxy to reconstitute coral deep or protected populations from shards or powder. Before had significantly older, bigger, that, small branches were prac- more-branched corals than har- tically worthless, because only vested populations did. (And of larger pieces could be worked. the two kinds of semipristine Now coral of any size is sal- populations, protected ones had able, and a recent rise in the scantier coral, probably because market value of illegally small poachers can access their shallow branches—to a high of about sectors.) Harvesting essentially $ 180 per pound—indicates the transforms an underwater forest scarcity of large colonies in the landscape into a grass plain. Mediterranean. (Large-diam- To learn how the popula- eter, high-quality coral goes tions had become so distorted, for nearly $700 per pound, we turned to the fishermen and a finished bead necklace themselves, a wary lot. The can retail for $25,000.) Even Costa Brava's nine legal fish- legal fishermen admit they ermen are between forty-five frequently harvest undersize and fifty-five years old. They colonies to stay in business. live in little villages, and keep Several locales have domi- in close touch with one an- with a St. nated the trade in Mediterra- Eighteenth-century engravings depict coral fishing other. Slowly. Sergio Rossi Andrew's cross, a dredge used in the Mediterranean from the nean red coral through time, established contact. He met first century B.C. or earlier until its prohibition in 1994. The first one. then another, and but the most powerful has been cross's four nets entangled coral, destroying "forests" Naples and its vicinity. The re- of mature colonies that had sheltered other sea life. was given introductions only gion rose to prominence for after thorough scrutiny. Good coral production in the sixteenth century; at its peak in the fishing grounds have always been kept secret, passed on mid-nineteenth century, it employed several hundred boats from father to son—and licenses are granted according and thousands of fishermen and jewelers. Today, Torre del to a rather subjective system of merit and family tradi- Greco near Naples remains the world's main center for pre- tion. The legal fishermen often complain that on most cious-coral jewelry manufacture. It processes more than 90 days, poachers outnumber them in the water. Rossi inter- percent of harvested Mediterranean red coral and much ot viewed several of the license holders, and eventually they the world harvest of other Corallium species. It generates allowed him to accompany them during their work and approximately $230 million annually. Several thousand to take samples from their fishing grounds. Never before citizens are employed in the craft. The harvesting is decen- had anyone monitored his work so attentively. tralized, however; dozens of independent divers operate "Come on. you've made some coral as well, haven't off Spain, France, the Italian islands of Corsica, Sardinia, you?" asked one fisherman. To "make coral" means to and Sicily, and to a lesser degree off North Africa. make money selling harvested coral. Onlv when they April 2009 NATURAL HISTORY 33 saw Rossi preserve tiny coral fragments in liquid nitro- similar findings from smaller-scale studies by other teams, gen did the fishermen begin to relax. Eventually, a rare along with the insider knowledge of the fishermen and partnership between fishermen and marine biologists de- historical data. Unfortunately, C. rubrum's story is a clas- veloped. Once, after guiding Rossi and me to a closely sic fish tale: over the centuries, fishermen have become held population of valuable large corals, the youngest increasingly adept at finding and depleting populations. fisherman said, "For God's sake, take all the samples you Throughout the Mediterranean, red-coral fisheries have need and do study the corals!" Fishermen and biologists long followed a boom-and-bust cycle, tapping out one both want red coral to be preserved. rich bank and then moving on to the next. Red-coral So do poachers. But, as one Spanish coast guard of- populations living in shallow water are at the greatest ficer told Rossi, the poachers feel entitled to harvest the risk, because, in addition to overharvesting and poaching, corals on their coast, which leads to stubborn and violent they're vulnerable to a combination of climate change and behavior. The officer's car had been set on fire after he disease. Computer simulations by Giovanni Santangelo, made some arrests. I've spoken with a Spanish fisheries a coral biologist at the University of Pisa, show that mass officer and a biologist at the Medas reserve who were die-offs ofunknown origin, which have occurred during both threatened by poachers. Local part-time profession- recent exceptionally warm summers, can eliminate shal- low-water populations already stressed by overharvesting. Healthy populations will probably recover from such setbacks, but overharvested ones may not. Even so, it is not the species' ecological extinction that is at stake—at least, not yet. Its economic extinc- tion is a real possibility, however, and that would end the centuries-old crafts of coral fishing and jewelry mak- ing. Torre del Greco's jewelers already make only about half—or perhaps less—of their jewelry from Mediter- ranean red coral; for the rest they rely on other trou- bled Corallium species imported primarily from Japan and Taiwan. Attempts at coral aquaculture have failed, and the prospect of finding many new C. rubrum stocks seems remote. Most remaining unknown populations are probably located beyond the depth limit of scuba diving technology. Some coral divers now use ROVs Pumps circulate water through experimental chambers holding to locate a few scattered large colonies, then perform Mediterranean red coral. By sampling the water periodically, the logistically and economically demanding deep dives to author studied the corals' feeding rate. harvest them. And I have heard of one team that targets als, poachers know exactly how to avoid patrols while underwater seamounts, in international waters where diving for coral. Some are well known, but ordinary they don't need licenses, to harvest large colonies that coastal residents aren't inclined to object—only coral can sell for $65,000 apiece. divers, biologists, and the poachers themselves seem to The next step would be to do the actual harvesting be aware that the species is overharvested. with ROVs or manned submersibles, but for the moment In stark contrast, coral jewelers profess faith in the those technologies remain impractical. As with other endless bounty of the sea. Basilio Liverino, a legendary endangered species, however, the scarcer the corals are, jeweler in Torre del Greco, declared in 1983, "It is true the more they're worth, so the more incentive there is that we lack the raw material, but I am convinced that to track down the very last ones. Unfortunately, it's the it still exists. It is only necessary to find and harvest it." large, mature corals that are the most fecund. Exposing That position may have been tenable twenty-five years deep populations of mature colonies to heavy harvesting ago, but many Italian coral jewelers still cling to it today, could indeed send the species into extinction. even in the face of annual C. rubrum catches that have There are lessons to be learned from other precious- declined to 40 percent of their historic levels, and that coral fisheries. Several red and pink Corallium species include ever-younger specimens. have been harvested by dredge in the Pacific Ocean for 200 years, and today the stocks are devastated. Black cor- Six years and several hundred dives als of the genus Antipathes, harvested in Hawaii since the after we began our project, Rossi, Bra- 1960s, provide a counterpoint. Besides being Hawaii's manti, and I started piecing together the official state gem, black coral shelters fish communities results of our population studies with that support endangered Hawaiian monk seals. A man- 34 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 agement program developed by Richard W. Grigg, a coral biolo- gist at the University of Hawaii .it M.itio.i. and implemented in the 1970s has made it the world's iinh' sustainable precious-coral fishery. Black coral is protected under Appendix II of the Con- vention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which ensures that only licensed businesses can ship and sell it. In 2007, the same was proposed for the entire Corallium genus, which has no international pro- tection. CITES' expert panel at first accepted the proposal. Then it made the unorthodox move ot voting again by secret ballot af- ter the meeting's scheduled close, when some delegates had depart- ed. Under pressure from the jew- elry industry and North African Licensed diver harvests typically small Mediterranean red coral coral-exporting nations, the panel rejected the proposal, citing a lack of sufficient popula- als. Those are bold moves, but not ones realistically pos- tion data. (This was despite having included both black sible for Italian companies specializing in coral jew-dry. coral and blue coral, Heliopora coerulea, in Appendix II. Their future lies in scaling back their business to align Both are less well-known biologically and also ot lesser with a sustainable coral harvest, a change that will prob- economic importance than Corallium.) But the panel did ably require international as well as local regulation to acknowledge the need to conserve the genus, and com- achieve. Finding a solution is an enormous challenge, but mitted to study how CITES can contribute. To that end, the rewards will be great: ensuring the survival ot red the first of two promising workshops convening interna- corals and the species that depend upon them, as well as tional experts was scheduled for this March (after press preserving the fascinating and ancient traditions ot coral time) in China. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric diving and craftsmanship. Administration was to host the meeting, in recognition Gone forever are the innocent days old divers remem- of the United States' responsibility as one ot the largest ber, when corals were so abundant they could pick a col- importers of precious coral. ony, like a bouquet, for their girlfriends. Nevertheless, Experts agree that Corallium species are overharvested, with proper management and plenty ot tune, the rich again. though how best to manage them is subject to debate. red-coral forests of the past can come to life Then Even "sustainable" management allows target species to the northern Catalan coast will again live up to its col- be fished after their population structure changes drasti- loquial name: Ccvm Vermeil—the Vermilion Coast. cally, as long as the stocks don't collapse. But because of corals' importance in structuring their habitats and sheltering other organisms, the mere survival of popu- Georgios Tsounis studied marine biology in lations and species is insufficient: they must be healthy Germain. Hawaii, and the United Kingdom to fulfill their ecological role. Conserving seamounts in before earning his doctorate in 2005 from University of Bremen. Germany, tor re- deep, international waters perhaps the last reservoirs ot the — search on the ecology of Mediterranean red virgin populations—is therefore as important as protect- coral. He is .1 postdoctoral researcher at the ing overharvested stocks. Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona, Realizing that precious corals were in trouble, lead- Spain, where he studies precious-coral fishery management and I is involved in documentary filmmak- ing jewelry manufacturer Tiffany & Co. stopped using deep-coral ecology. le also ing on environmental topics. them in 2002. They and other fashion and jewelry busi- Web links related to this article can be found at nesses joined a campaign, launched last year by the U.S. www.naturalhistorymag.com conservation group SeaWeb, to conserve precious cor- April 2009 NATURAL HISTOKY 35 ! m ^THIS LAND BY ROBERT H. MOHLENBROCK 1989 to conduct a survey of Nevius's stonecrop, a candidate for the federal list of endangered and threatened species. Since the plant was known to grow on rocky bluffs along the Little Cahaba River in Bibb County, Alabama, Allison decided a canoe trip down the river might be a way to spot new populations. His hunch was correct, and the newly identi- fied populations were a factor in not deeming the species endangered or threatened. In 1992 Allison fulfilled a similar mission, this time looking for Georgia rockcress. In the process he and his companions on the canoe trip collected some plants they couldn't identify. From that and subsequent visits, it became evident that several rocky, relatively treeless slopes above the river deserved careful exploration. Although many of the plants growing in those rather open areas, known as glades, were common- place, Allison eventually tallied five species and three varieties new to The Magic Rock Garden science (and still known only from Bibb County). He also documented populations of two species on the A rare dolomite plays host to Alabama rarities. federal list of endangered and threat- ened species (and of two more that Exploring parts of the future state of tieth century—made significant are candidates); eight other species Alabama in 1775, William Bar- discoveries. As a result, two hundred never recorded before in Alabama; tram was one of the first prominent years after Bartram's visit, Alabama and another fifty-six species or va- naturalists to record some of the na- could boast one of the largest docu- rieties already known in the state tive vegetation. In the ensuing years, mented floras in the United States. but considered rare by the Alabama many professional and amateur en- So it's all the more remarkable that Natural Heritage Program. thusiasts scoured the region to add an area about fifty miles south of to his list of plants. Some—such as Birmingham, harboring many new Glades occur here and there in the Charles T. Mohr in the latter part or rare species, went undiscovered eastern United States. Among the of the nineteenth century, Roland until only twenty years ago. most familiar to naturalists are the ce- M. Harper in the early 1900s, and Georgia botanist James R. Allison dar glades of northwestern Alabama, Robert K. Godfrey and Robert Krai had been contracted by the United northwestern Georgia, central Ken- during the latter half of the twen- States Fish and Wildlife Service in tucky, and central Tennessee; the shale Ketona dolomite glade Little milkweed. Expected woody Cahaba paintbrush, Cahaba and Georgia rockcress are in bluestem is the dominant species are chinquapin oak prairie clover, Cahaba torch, candidates. The eight plants grass; other predictable and eastern red cedar; un- deceptive marbleseed, Ke- never found before in Ala- glade plants include false usual for glades are longleaf tona tickseed, and sticky bama are blue wild indigo, garlic, glade sandwort, and pine and the shrubs Alabama rosinweed. Mohr's Barbara's- Catesby's false bindweed, CO grooved flax— all spring croton, dwarf palmetto, buttons and Tennessee yel- dwarf Carolina horsenettle bloomers—and the sum- and maidenbush. Unique to low-eyed grass are federally (not seen anywhere since < mer- and autumn-bloom- the Bibb County glades are listed endangered or threat- 1837), hybrid cloak fern, X ing elm-leaved goldenrod, Alabama gentian-pinkroot, ened plants growing in the needle beaksedge, shining fringed bluestar, and green Cahaba daisy fleabane, glades, and Georgia aster ladies'-tresses (a kind of 36 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 River National Wildlife Refuge, established in 2002 with plans to i in < >i 1 1 >.i ss some 7,300 .ares of land 1 in-. ii the confluence of the Little Cahaba and ( !ahaba rivers. is The Cahaba River itseli i worthy. For one thing, it is the only major river in Alabama that has been left essentially undammed. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, its waters harbor barrens of Maryland, Pennsylvania, of calcium and magnesium without 131 species of fishes and 73 species Virginia, and West Virginia; and oth- the usual impurities, including silica, of snails and mussels, some found ers in southern Illinois, Missouri, and that most other dolomites contain. nowhere else in the world. elsewhere. But except for eastern red The soil derived from the rock is cedar and chinquapin oak, the scat- particularly rich in an magnesium, Robert H. Mohlenbrock is a distin- tering of woody plants that grow in element essential to plant growth, guished professor emeritus of plant biology at the Bibb County glades are atypical, but one that in high concentrations Southern Illinois University Carbondale. including longleaf pine and shrub- proves toxic to many species. That size dwarf palmetto, Alabama croton, probably explains the conspicuous and maidenbush. That difference, as absence of several plants that usually well as the presence of so many rare grow in dolomite glades. species, can be attributed to the local About forty Ketona dolomite rock, called Ketona dolomite, found glades lie within an area about nowhere else in the world. eleven miles long and one-half mile A dark gray sedimentary rock, wide, forging openings within the Ketona dolomite contains carbonates surrounding dry forest. Some are only a quarter acre in size, while others cover as much as twelve acres. Along with thin soil containing rock particles of dolomite, they fea- ture boulders and occasionally ex- panses of exposed bedrock. The soil deepens where glade meets forest, and species from the two habitats VISITOR INFORMATION intermix in a transition zone. Kathy Stiles Freeland Bibb County In 1996 the Nature Conservancy Glades Preserve moved to protect the unique glade The Nature Conservancy of Alabama habitat by purchasing land. The 2100 First Avenue North, Suite 500 Conservancy now oversees a 370- Birmingham, AL 35203 205-251-1155 acre preserve and is working in www.nature.org/wherewework/ partnership with local landowners northamerica/states/alabama/preserves/ protect additional acreage. to The art902.html preserve is adjacent to the Cahaba orchid), Thome's beaksedge, Glade and forest transition Dry forest American horn- Riverbank Trees along the and Virginia nailwort. Other Woody species include Caro- beam, chinquapin oak, flow- river include hazel alder, river relatively rare species include lina buckthorn, chalk maple, ering dogwood, loblolly pine, birch, sycamore, and Vir- Alabama phlox, Boykin's dwarf hackberry, loblolly pine, longleaf pine, red buckeye, ginia sweetspire. Among the milkwort, eastern white-flow- longleaf pine, sand hickory, and winged elm are the prin- shrubs are false indigo bush er beardtongue, Great Plains and shortleaf pine. Among cipal trees. Other common and stiff dogwood, while ladies'-tresses, Michaux's the wildflowers are cross-vine, plants are muscadine grape, Cahaba lily, northern sea gladecress, pinnate-lobe eastern purple coneflower, poison ivy, rusty blackhaw, oats, Philadelphia fleabane, black-eyed Susan, and Ten- false sunflower, hoary puc- shrubby St. John's-wort, and and savanna sneezeweed are nessee gladecress. coon, and whorled milkweed. Virginia creeper. among the wildflowers. April 2009 NATURAL HISTORY 37 BOOKSHELF BY LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL more for what it is—a remarkable harvesting and wildlife manage- and intelligent beast—than for its ment. It's a difficult balancing act, precious dentition. A growing world to be sure, but ivory, he proposes, conservation movement has led to can transcend its bloody past "long campaigns for the elephant's protec- stained with the slaughter of el- tion (some species are endangered), ephant herds and human misery" and in January 1990, all international to become a self-renewing resource Ivory's Ghosts trade in ivory was banned. which can fund national parks, Still the lust for ivory persists, vir- stabilize local economies, and pre- by John Frederick Walker tually undiminished. John Frederick serve the impressive creatures that Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009; Walker, who has written extensively make it. 312 pages, $25.00 about African wildlife in the past, quotes estimates of between 5,000 n 1889, Henry Drummond of and 12,000 elephants illegally killed Scotland's Free Church College each year to supply the black market wrote that "the only thing of value for ivory, and notes that valuable the interior of Africa produces at stocks of tusks, harvested legally present in any quantity is ivory." from natural deaths in national And such quantities! After the turn parks, have been piling up in gov- of the nineteenth century, tradi- ernment warehouses because they tional hand carving of ivory -was are too valuable to trash. Despite the dwarfed by its machining for indus- wonders of chemistry, ivory still has trial use. Throughout the Victorian its charms; and despite the best ef- era, streams of slaves, staggering forts of conservationists, elephants under unwieldy loads of tusks, car- are still being shot ried the white gold to the coasts of Walker provides a sensitive and Africa, where it was loaded on to insightful analysis of all this ivory Sometime in the first century b.c, ships bound for Europe, America, mischief, past and present. It's not, a heavily laden sailing vessel and the Far East. Britain alone im- in his view, a case of greedy capi- struck a rock off the small island ported about 500 tons annually talists versus sensitive eco-warriors. now called Antikythera, just south between 1850 and 1910, mostly for Ivory, he acknowledges, is as won- of the Greek mainland, and went the manufacture of brush and cut- drous as the creatures that produce straight to the bottom. It lay there, lery handles. Even more went to it, and if there were abuses in the timbers rotting away, until the the United States, to feed produc- way it was harvested and sold in autumn of 1900, when itinerant tion lines of piano keys and billiard the 1800s, it makes no more sense sponge divers noticed shapes of hu- balls. In 1922, estimating that at least to shun it now than to eschew cot- mans and horses emerging from the 4,000 elephants died each year to ton because it was once harvested mud. Over the next year, with the supply the ball factories, a U.S. bil- by slaves. Ivory remains an ideal encouragement of Greek authori- liard enthusiast remarked that "some medium for carving and sculpture, ties, those diver's salvaged all that thin-skinned person might question sensuous in texture and subtle in remained, an exquisite cargo of the killing of this large number of coloration, with traditional uses marble and bronze statues, jars, and elephants to provide . . . recreation, that go back to the dawn of civi- gold jewelry, which today occupy but on second thought. . . . All lization. And on the other side, a major portion of the National animals have been created for man's elephants cannot be preserved Archaeological Museum in Athens. special use, and for his good, and this by simply ignoring them. They Price was an expert in ancient includes the elephant and his ivory." compete with humans—and other scientific instruments, and he had No longer does public opinion animals—for scarce resources, and come to Athens because he realized support such brutal exploitation of while they may delight urban tour- that an analysis of the operation of native labor or such self-serving ists on safari, they can also terror- such an odd device "must entail a slaughter of wildlife. Over the past ize rural populations. complete reestimation of ancient century, plastic has gradually replaced Walker sees the future of ele- Greek technology." Dazzled by the ivory for most industrial uses, and phants not in an absolute ban on all glory of those artworks, archaeolo- the elephant has come to be valued ivory, but in a system of sustainable gists of the time scarcely noted a 38 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 remarkable yet humble-looking Fast forward to 1958, when a ogy was far in advance of anything item id one of the wooden boxes: .1 young historian of science, Derek historians had believed the Greeks few lumps of corroded metal— the de Solla Price of Cambridge capable of. remains of an elaborate assembly University, first examined the Price died of a heart attack in of interlocking gearwheels and in- Antikythera fragments at the Athens 1983, but subsequent researchers, S< ribed metal plates. museum. Even though the device using increasingly sophisticated Finding a geared mechanism resisted understanding. Price re- imaging techniques, have verified in a wreck of such antiquity was mained obsessed by it, and in the the basic thrust of his work. They "eerie and otherworldly," writes 1970s, now a historian ot science continue to elaborate on the opera- science journalist Jo Marchant, at Yale, he applied newly advanced tion of the complex mechanism, "like finding a steam engine on X-ray and gamma-ray imaging scrutinizing inscriptions previously the ancient, pitted surface ot the technology to see what naked-eye obscured by two millennia of cor- Moon." Although there were a few inspection could not. rosion, building real and virtual descriptions ot simple screw-and- By counting the number of teeth models, filling in gaps, and cor- gear lifting devices in surviving on the interlocking gears, Price was recting misapprehensions. We now classical texts, elaborate clockworks gradually able to get an inkling of know, for instance, that one use of did not appear in Europe until the how the machine might have func- the device was to predict eclipses. late Middle Ages, and mechani- tioned as a mechanical calculator Nowadays you can go on the Web cal calculators not until even later. of positions of the Sun and Moon and watch the ancient Greek clock- The purpose of the Antikythera (the five known planets, too, as work come to life in numerous ani- mechanism was unknown, though London Science Museum curator mated diagrams and modern repli- a tew decipherable words on the Michael Wright would figure out cas. As Marchant points out. we are oxide-encrusted disks hinted that twenty years after Price's death). still unsure who made the original, it was an astronomical device. But It embodied a knowledge of astro- nor do we know if there were others whatever it was supposed to do, it nomical cycles well known to have like it. Whether it was an isolated seemed to be 1,500 years ahead of been passed down to the Greeks by curiosity or the lineal ancestor of its time. the Babylonians, but the technol- the Rolex, however, the device was WHO YOU TRAVEL WITH MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE TOUR HIGHLIGHTS • Learn from lectures and informal American MusEUM/p discussions with Tina Bruderlin. research scientist in the Museum's o Natural History TU Anthropology Division. • Discover the acrobats, magicians, Expeditions and snake charmers of Djemaa el MOROCCO Fna Square in Marrakech. Palaces, Deserts and Artisans • View the finest in Moorish archi- - tecture at visits to mosques and September 26 October 6, 2009 palaces in Casablanca. Z°°k by Enjoy sweet mint tea in a Berber home, overlooking the magnificent Ait Benhaddou Kasbah. a UNESCO World Heritage site (shown at right). • Join with Berber musicians in cele- brating their traditional songs and dances. Sleep in deluxe tents among Saharan sand dunes, then observe the sunrise from atop a camel. Admire the many crafts in the Fez v and on private visit to a souks a : ceramics workshop. .vT. • Wonder at the Roman ruins in \ Volubilis. • Ride along the Road of 1001 Kasbahs from Ourazazate, passing spectacular rock formations, palm groves, and rose plantations, grown 1 for rose-water essence. " • Discover the 1 ,000 foot cliffs of the ^& 1 natural Todra Gorge. -:*«3»- For more information visit: www.amnhexpeditions.org or call 1-800-462-8687 a work of genius—and art—to rival years it was a natural progression anything Greek culture produced in from there to bringing the animals bronze, gold, or marble. into the family: a domesticated wolf could help with the hunting in re- turn for a secure share of the catch and the added protection of living , with wily humans. Interspecies bonds are more than just a marriage of convenience. According to Olmert, they are ce- Made for mented by a hormonal mediator Other known as oxytocin. In new mothers, it's what produces labor contractions by Meg Daley OlrrL and stimulates lactation; released dur- Da Capo Press, 2009; ing courting, cuddling, and sex, it 291 pages, $26.00 promotes intimacy and pair-bonding. In mammals in general, it functions Why do we love our cats and dogs as a sort of "anti-stress" hormone, so much? If you think it is just lowering heart rate, reducing blood that they are cute, clever, and af- pressure, and producing a general fectionate, well, that's only part of feeling of contentment, peaceful- the story. And if you think they are ness, and attachment. Oxytocin is fond of us only because we fill their produced—in both humans and ani- food bowls, rest assured that animals mals—when we touch each other, really do love us—truly, madly, and and also when we are touched. We deeply. Meg Daley Olmert, who may not be able to talk with the produces natural history documen- animals like Dr. Doolittle, but on taries for TV, has investigated the a chemical level, apparently, we all scientific and historical background speak the same language. MathTutdrDVD.com of the bond between humans and Although mediated by a single For manifestations 5 Press Flay Success their domestic animals, finding that chemical, the social it's as the human-animal bond take Having Math Problems? as socially complex and bio- of logically mediated as the love we many forms. Horse whisperers have WE CAN HELP! SUBJECTS: humans have for each other. discovered a spot on the back of the • BASIC MATH We are, Olmert reminds us, social horse's neck that seems to stimulate WEBME • COURSE BASIC MATH WORD and as such naturally oxytocin-induced feelings of sym- 'EMM: 8 animals, we PROBLEMS MUDS MOST not only of oth- pathy. and their milkers have COURSES COST seek the company, Cows • PRE-ALGEBRA DULY S2B.99 ers of our species, but of all sorts of been known to go into a mutual •ALGEBRA 1 &2 other animals. E.O. Wilson called meditative state during the milk- •ALGEBRA WORD PROBLEMS this trait biophilia, and though not ing process. However it is manifest, •ADVANCED ALGEBRA oxytocin boost •GEOMETRY everyone shares his fascination with Olmert believes, the •TRIG/PRECALCULUS ants, we all seem to enjoy watch- we get from pets not only makes us •CALCULUS 1,2, 3 ing creatures as they go about their love our animal buddies, but can •PHYSICS daily business. Zoos, nature films, make us "smarter, calmer, friendlier, •MATRIX ALGEBRA and TV documentaries all cater to healthier, even more attractive." •UNIT CONVERSIONS this interest, which Olmert traces Good pets, as animal lovers have • PROBABILITY/ back to the adaptive advantage our long known, make us good people. STATISTICS ancestors gained when they ob- served wolves and lions to become Laurence A. Marschall is W.K.T. OUR WEBSITE VISIT their pupils in predation, rather than Sahm Professor of Physics at Gettysburg TO VIEW SAMPLE VIDEO CLIPS OF their prey. 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Then mail card, fax it to 856-380-41 01 , or visit us at www.naturalhistorymag.com. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 g 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 City/State/Zip 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Offer expires June 30. 2009. Email Address (optional) 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 I.,.I.,!.II...,I,I.mI.II.I.mII..II...II..,II,mI advertisement For free information from the advertisers listed below, circle the corresponding numbers on the attached postage-paid card. Mail card, fax it to 856-380-4101, or visit us at www.naturalhistorymag.com. If the card is missing, mail your request to: P.O. Box 9000, Maple Shade, NJ 08052. ADVENTURE TRAVEL/TOURS 14. PAPUA NEW GUINEA 27. GORILLA GLUE is ideal solution for projects 1. 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Come visit India and exploration, invites you to send for more 81 for an experience that is truly incredible! information on a free issue. SKYLOG BY JOE RAO WORD EXCHANGE n a joint initiative of the International Continuedfrom page 6 Astronomical Union and UNESCO, this year has been des- Not Dead Yet ignated the International Year of In his article about the revival of Astronomy—IYA2009. The cel- Hebrew ["Flowers Have No Names," ebration coincides with the 400th 2/09], Benjamin Harshav correctly anniversary of Galileo Galilei's identifies the importance of language '/ n historic astronomical observations / \ to smaller nations that seek to define is with a telescope. A cornerstone "- _£'• ig themselves in the absence of political project of IYA2009 is "100 Hours sovereignty. To my surprise, how- A drawing of the Moon by Thomas Harriot, of Astronomy," beginning 12 noon ever, he then states that "To that end, dated July 26, 1609, is the first record of the April 1. immense efforts were invested in Greenwich Mean Time on astronomical use of a telescope. The narrow One aim of this worldwide event is field of view includes several dark lunar reviving old, 'dead' languages, such to coax as many people as possible features and the line of the Moon's shadow. as Irish, Welsh, and Breton, but none to look at celestial objects through a of them became the base language telescope. (Visit www.astronomy2009. anniversary celebration. For those of a nation." Irish is the first official org and www.100hoursofastronomy. who live in large cities, this is a language of Ireland, and there are an org for details on the activities.) good year to schedule an excursion estimated 275,000 speakers of Breton Another public occasion is to the countryside to become reac- and 575,000 speakers ofWelsh who Astronomy Day, which was started quainted with the night sky. use those languages on an everyday in 1973 by amateur astronomer Although Galileo has generally basis. Globalization and the late grant- Douglas Berger. His intent was to received credit for being the first to ing of a public place for Welsh and set up telescopes in busy urban loca- train a telescope on the heavens, new Breton threaten their survival, but tions to captivate passersby. Since evidence shows that an Englishman, there are people working ardently to then the annual event has expanded, Thomas Harriot, made a draw- see that they remain alive and well. and it is now sponsored by a number ing of the Moon, viewed through a Lois Kilter of organizations. This year there telescope, on July 26, 1609—several U.S. Branch, International Committee will be two Astronomy Days. The months before Galileo's first astro- for the Defense of the Breton Language first will be observed on May 2 (go nomical observations with the device. Jenkintown, Pennsylvania to www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/ Joe Rao is a broadcast meteorologist and astroday.html for more information); an associate and lecturer at the Hayden lllogic a second is planned for October 24. Planetarium in New York City In "Onboard Computer" ["Sam- Or just organize your own 400th- (www.haydenplanetarium.orgJ. plings," 2/09], Stephan Reebs describes a cell designed to signal "when one particular drug is present APRIL NIGHTS OUT 22 Venus rises before dawn just a couple but the other absent" as perform- of degrees to the lower left of a slender 1 Saturn lies on the meridian around ing a NAND function. But NAND 11:30 p.m. local time. Visible through a crescent Moon. Viewers near and along would signal that only one drug or telescope, the planet's brightest satellite, the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada neither is present—that is, any con- Titan, lies west of the ring edge, about can watch the Moon occult Venus. (For dition except both being present. It five "ring-widths" away. viewing details see this "Skylog" column is the opposite of AND. at www.naturalhistorymag.com.) 2 The Moon waxes to first quarter at Ed Schoch daylight time 10:34 a.m. eastern (EDT). 24 Mars and Venus are in conjunction Los Angeles, California 9 The Moon is full at 10:56 a.m. EDT. this morning. Venus, 4.1 degrees above the Red Planet, outshines it almost 13 Mercury's best evening apparitions The Editors respond: The scien- 200-fold. The Moon becomes new at of the year (for mid-northern latitudes) tists in question designed a NAND begin tonight and continue until May 3. 11:23 p.m. EDT. function, BUT we characterized it Look for the little planet about forty-five 26 Mercury is at its greatest eastern incorrectly. minutes after sunset. elongation this evening, 20 degrees Natural History welcomes correspon- 17 The Moon wanes to last quarter at above the Sun, thus able to linger as dencefrom readers. Letters should be sent via 9:36 a.m. EDT. twilight fades. With binoculars look for e-mail to [email protected] or 19 During the predawn hours, Jupiter is the Pleiades and a two-day-old crescent byfax to 646-356-6511. All letters should about 4 degrees to the lower left of the Moon hovering about 3 degrees above include a daytime telephone number, and all crescent Moon. the speedy little planet. letters may be editedfor length and clarity. 42 NATURAL HISTORY April 2009 EXPLORiRGUIDt !. 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The inclusion of Palmyra Atoll in the new protection measures stems in part from a unique public-private partnership between the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, a consortium of eight universities and cultural institutions; The Nature Conservancy; and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. CBC Direc- tor Dr. Eleanor }. Sterling was named Chair of the Consortium in 2006. The Consortium was created to undertake basic and applied research at the field station on Palmyra Atoll and has played a strong advisory role in the conservation activities of The Nature Con- The Palmyra Atoll coral reef servancy and the Fish and Wildlife Service at Palmyra. Through their combined work, The coral reefs of Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean have on December 23, 2008, Palmyra Atoll was designated a long been prized by scientists as a relatively untouched Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. This designa- ecosystem. Despite dredging and other alterations to ease tion places Palmyra within a framework for national action the movement of military supplies in World War II, near- and international cooperation for the conservation and wise pristine conditions still exist for the sharks, sea turtles, cor- use of wetlands and their resources. al, sea birds, and other fauna there—and will now continue Working with Brumbaugh and Holmes in the Palmyra to exist because of the persistence of scientists and a rare study are Douglas McCauley and Hillary Young of Stanford presidential gesture that brought the string of islets into one University and Robert Steneck and Suzanne Arnold of the of three new marine national monuments. University of Maine. Funding for this research is from the Through an executive order issued in the waning days of National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and the Bush Administration, under the same law—the Antiqui- Atmospheric Administration, and the Jaffe Family Founda- ties Act of 1906 —used by President Theodore Roosevelt to tion. The goal of the current research is to establish a base- set aside such national treasures as the Petrified Forest and line of what constitutes a healthy ecosystem and use that to the Grand Canyon, oil and gas exploration are prohibited, determine steps needed to restore damaged ones. and commercial fishing will be phased out over the next five "People tend to think of the ocean as this enormous en- years over a total area of 195,280 square miles in the central tity that can absorb pollutants and disperse them, that we and western Pacific. The protected areas are Rose Atoll in can throw whatever we want into the water and it will disap- American Samoa; the three northernmost islands of the pear," says Dr. Sterling. "We also have, in the past, thought Marianas chain, including the Mariana Trench, the deep- of the oceans as a massive resource for fish that just show est canyon on Earth; and a set of seven other remote Pacific up on our plates. And yet ocean studies show, more and Islands that includes Palmyra Atoll, a small circular chain more, the extended harmful effects of our overfishing and of some 50 uninhabited islets and sand flats surrounded by our adding pollutants and trash to the oceans." more than 15,000 acres of coral reef systems and lagoons. These new marine national monuments expand on the "These are 'gem' ecosystems in the Pacific," says Dan 2006 creation of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Brumbaugh, Senior Conservation Scientist at the American Monument, which covers 139,797 square miles in the Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Northwestern Hawai'ian Islands. Together, these rare and Conservation (CBC), who has been studying coral reefs in valuable resources offer scientists a chance to learn more Palmyra Atoll and The Bahamas with Kate Holmes, CBC about a rapidly deteriorating environment—and serve as Marine Biodiversity Specialist, and other scientists. "The powerful symbols of the importance of understanding and great thing about Palmyra is that it's relatively untouched. sustaining healthy ocean ecosystems. — Creatures Great and Small do you replicate How an animal that no one has ever a pint-sized tapir is held aloft by a metal-rod "leg" secured seen? That was one of the central challenges of mounl in a vise; and a heavy-wire "skeleton" is covered in foam in ing the exhibition Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest, the humpless-camel shape of a long-nosed Macrauchenia. and Most Amazing Mammals ofAll Time, which opens on The typical process of creating a model starts with the May 23 at the American Museum of sculpting of a soft clay likeness of what- Natural History. ever fossils or fossil fragments are avail- Along with examples of familiar able. (The diminutive Batodonoides van- living mammals with unusual adapta- houteni, for example, was built up from tions — flying squirrels or the duck-bill a single, very small jaw.) When the clay platypus —the exhibition will include model is completed to the finest detail, models of such mysterious extinct from feathered fur strokes to taxidermy creatures as Ambulocetus, a whale with marble eyes, it's covered in liquid rub- legs and feet; Indricotherium, the largest ber that sets to form a pliable mold. known land mammal ever, standing 15 The mold is peeled away from the clay feet tall at the shoulder; and Batodonoi- cast and filled with resin, which hard- des vanhouteni, a shrew-like mammal so ens into a realistic cast that requires tiny it could fit on the tip of a pencil (if only the restoration of the marble eyes there were pencils, that is, when it lived and the painting of finishing touches. about 50 million years ago!). Larger models may use the first pro- Following in a long tradition of mar- cess for the head and then depend on a rying art and science, a dozen or more complex, jerry-rigged structure of wires, staff artists have worked with curators wood frames, foam blocks, and spray-on to fashion the models that will enliven foam, sculpted into shape for the body. the exhibition. Their studio, on the Preparator Rebecca Meah meticulously The realization of this painstaking fifth floor of a Museum building called recreates a massive Macrauchenia. yet—to see the artists at work—plea- the Powerhouse, looks like a combina- surable process continues to have value tion factory and artist's atelier. Here, the signs of crafts- beyond its use in the current exhibition. After the exhibi- manship and creative expression are everywhere: a sculp- tion finishes its run, the molds are archived, like scientific tor patiently applies clay to a fossil jaw of the knobby-head- specimens, for future reference and possible use for gen- ed, saber-toothed Uintatherium; a nearly finished model of erations to come. Rx for a Greener World Ten years ago, a cutting-edge film fears about global warming and other opened with a women telling environmental threats. Then, Natalie Save the Date: her therapist she couldn't stop think- Jeremijenko, director of the xDesign Yo-Yo Ma and Friends ing about garbage. "I've gotten real Environmental Health Clinic at New atAMNH concerned about what's going to hap- York University and an artist with a pen with all the garbage," she says. background in biochemistry, physics, Join us on Sunday, May 3, when "I mean, we've got so much of it, you neuroscience, and precision engineer- music, art, and science come to- know?" The garbage represents a prob- ing, will write a "prescription." (Tell- gether in the world premiere of a lem over which she has no control ingly, Jeremijenko calls participants musical composition about the and a feeling of helplessness many of her "impatients"—an indication of evolution of mind. Visit www. us may share about looming environ- frustration with the slow pace of amnh.org/programs for tickets mental crises. But a remedy is at hand change in public policy.) You might be and more information about this in the Environmental Health Clinic directed to participate in a community exciting event. coming to the Museum on Thursday, project, cultivate plants that improve April 23. the air quality in your home, or learn An Art/Sci Collision program sched- more about how consumer products intelligence of people. This is the real uled in conjunction with the current are made— all voluntary, but designed and powerful and renewable resource exhibition Climate Change: The Threat to create a sense of empowerment. "My required to address the climate crisis." to Life and A New Energy Future, the hope," says Jeremijenko, "is to engage For more information, visit clinic invites people to express their the wonder, observational skills, and www.amnh.org/programs. The contents of these paces are PROVIDED TO NatuR At the Museum www.amnh.org American Museum S Natural History y[) EXHIBITIONS On Feathered Wings LECTURES FIELD TRIPS AND Climate Change: The Threat to Through August 30, 20og Mack Lipkin Man and Nature WORKSHOPS Life and A New Energy Future See the work of renowned Series Panel Discussion: Spring Bird Walks in Through August 16, 20og wildlife photographers who It Takes a Planet: Connecting Central Park This timely exhibition explores showcase the majesty of birds the Health of People and Tuesdays, 4/7-5/26, y-g am the science, history, and in flight. Nature Wednesdays, 4/8-5/27, j-g am impact of climate change on a The presentation of both Saturn and On Thursday, 4/2, 7 pm Thursdays, 4/g- Major support has been provided by Co-sponsored with the Asian/ Pacific/ The Wilderness Warrior: presentation with wildlife The Rockefeller Foundation. American Institute, New York University Theodore Roosevelt's Crusade expert Andrew Simmons. Additional support for Climate Change Support for Global Weekends is made for America programming possible, in part, by the May and Samuel and its related educational Tuesday, 4/28, 6:30 pm Dr. Nebula's Super Cold has been provided by Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the Tolan Author Douglas Brinkley, Adventure Mary and David Solomon, Family, and the family of Frederick H. the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, Leonhardt. Rice University, examines Sunday, 4/ig, 2-3 pm the Linden Trust for Conservation, and President Theodore Explore the properties of cold the Red Crane Foundation. MILSTEIN SCIENCE Roosevelt's pioneering and learn how temperature The Butterfly Conservatory SERIES environmental policies. affects different states of in Nebula's lab. Through May 25, 20og Center for Biodiversity A book signing follows. matter Dr. Mingle with up to 500 live, and Conservation Milstein free-flying tropical butterflies Science Symposium: Women of Discovery Robots in Space II in an enclosed habitat. Exploring the Dynamic Wednesday, 4/2g, 4 pm (Intermediate) Relationship Between Meet the extraordinary Tuesday-Thursday, 4/28-4/30, Saturn: Images from the Health and the Environment women recipients of the 2009 4-5:30 pm Cassini-Huygens Mission Thursday-Friday, 4/2-4/3, Wings WorldQuest Women of Hone your skills as an expert Through July 26, 20og 8:30 am-^pm Discovery Awards. robot designer. (Ages 8-10) This stunning exhibition symposia.cbc.amnh.org reveals details of Saturn's This two-day conference Art/Sci Collision AMNH Adventures: rings, moons, and will present a diversity of Environmental Health Clinic Spring Camps atmosphere with images sent viewpoints and experiences Thursday, 4/2}, 6:30 pm Monday-Friday, 4/13-4/17, over half a billion miles by the spanning the natural, medical, Natalie Jeremijenko, Director 9 am-4 pm Cassini spacecraft. and social sciences, as well as ofthexDesign Environmental Fossils and DNA policy planning. Health Clinic at New York Take an exciting journey The support of the National Aeronautics through human evolution. and Space Administration is appreciated. University, creates actionable Special thanks to the Cassini imaging Proudly sponsored by the Paul and Irma prescriptions for participants' (Grades 2 and 3) team, especially those scientists at Milstein Family. Additional support is Cornell University's Department of provided by a grant from the Defense environmental worries. Astronomy, along with the staff of Cornell Advanced Research Projects Agency of Mission Earth: Our Changing photography. The Eastman the United States Department of Defense Public programs are made possible, in University Planet Kodak Company of Rochester, NY, printed (DARPA), and by the Mack Lipkin Man part, by the Rita and Frits Markus Fund the images. and Nature Series. for Public Understanding of Science. Examine the elements of climate change and its impact MEMBERS' PROGRAMS Saturday, 4/18, 10 am-12 pm universe. Narrated by Robert on Earth. (Grades 4 and 5) Coal Mining in Pennsylvania and 1-3 pm Redford. Thursday, 4/23, 6:30 pm, 7 pm, A walking tour with geologist Coimic Colliiions was developed in collaboration with the Denver Museum Robotics Camp and 7:30 pm Sidney Horenstein. of Nature & Science; GOTO. Inc., Tokyo. Design, build, and program Join geologist Joe Boesenberg Japan; and the Shanghai Science and your own robot to explore an to explore Pennsylvania's HAYDEN PLANETARIUM Technology Museum. Made possible through the generous planet. (Grades 6 Llewellyn Formation unknown and PROGRAMS support of CIT. and 7) visit the Anthracite Heritage Cosmic Collisions was created by the Museum. TUESDAYS IN THE DOME American Museum of Natural History After-School Programs Virtual Universe with the major support and partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space in Universe Courses in the Sciences BEHINDTHE SCENES What's Hot the Administration's Science Mission Session V, 4/20-5/29 (once or TOURS Tuesday, 4/7, 6:30 pm Directorate, Heliophysics Division. twice per week), 4:30-6:30 pm Behind the Scenes in amnh.org/education/ Herpetology Celestial Highlights IMAX MOVIES highschool Tiuirsday. 4/23, 6:30 pm, 7 pm, The Lord of the Rings Resides Wild Ocean New York City high school and 7:30 pm in the Realm of the King Experience the massive students interested in Join Curatorial Associate Tuesday, 3/31, 6:30 pm. annual feeding frenzy in the a David Kizirian, Biodiversity oceans of South Africa as science can choose from These programs are supported, in part, by diverse range of scientific Specialist Raoul Bain, Val and Min-Myn Schaffner billions offish migrate up the topics. Biodiversity Scientist Richard KwaZulu Natal Wild Coast. Support for the After-School Programs Pearson, and colleagues LECTURES is provided by the Goldman Sachs to visit the Department Death from the Skies! with Dinosaurs Alive! Foundation. of Herpetology research Phil Plait This stunning film tracks A Night at the Museum collections. Monday, 4/20, 7:30 pm AMNH scientists past and Sleepovers Astronomer and author Phil present search for dinosaurs Plait discusses possible in Mexico and Mongolia. Saturday, 4/4 WALKING TOURS New Friday. 4/24 (Girl Scouts) Who Was Who in Old New cosmic catastrophes and amnh.org/sleepovers Amsterdam what we can do to protect LATE NIGHT DANCE ourselves. PARTY One Step Beyond INFORMATION Cosmic Collisions Friday. April 17 Call 212-769-5100 or visit www.amnh.org. Journey into space to explore Visit amnh.org/onestepbeyond TICKETS AND REGISTRATION the impacts that formed our for details. Call 212-769-5200, Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm, or visit www.amnh.org. A service charge may apply. All programs are subject to change. AMNH eNotes delivers the latest information on Museum programs and events monthly via email. Visit www.amnh.org to sign up today! Become a Member of the American Museum of Natural History You'll enjoy many valuable benefits, including unlimited free general admission, discounts on programs and in shops, subscriptions to Natural History magazine and Rotunda. our Members' newsletter, and much more! For further information, call 212-769-5606 or visit www.amnh.org/join. The contents of these paces are provided to Natural History by the American Museum of Natural History. — ENDPAPER Possum on the Rostrum By William F. Laurance A m When we ponder the perils of global among the most vulnerable species warming, the polar bear pops on Earth. 'As the world gets hot- into many people's minds before ter, these creatures have nowhere any other threatened creature. But to go," says rainforest ecologist a different icon may be needed. Stephen E. Williams ofJames Cook Undoubtedly the bear is seeing its University in Queensland, Australia. habitat melt away; yet the Arctic har- Williams has attempted to predict bors only limited biodiversity. Plant the responses to global warming of White form and animal species at the Earth's every endemic bird, mammal, frog, of Australia's lemuroid ring- equator vastly outnumber those at and reptile species in the rainfor- tail possum the poles—and may be even more ests of northern Queensland. His vulnerable to temperature changes. conclusions are jolting. If average Polar bears and others living temperatures rise by more than 4 I any biologists now believe that near the poles have adapted to sea- degrees—which could easily happen I global warming could rival habi- sonal swings of temperature, whereas this century;—his studies suggest that tat destruction as a threat to tropical tropical-zone species are thermal extinctions will spike dramatically. biodiversity, endangering possibly specialists, adapted to a narrow, stable For Williams, the poster child for a thousand times more species than temperature range. For every 1,000- global warming should not be the those imperiled by warming near the foot rise in tropical-mountain eleva- polar bear, but the white lemuroid poles. With an expanse of rainforest tion, temperatures drop by about 3.5 ringtail possum, a rare color morph the size of fifty football fields go- Fahrenheit degrees. Accordingly, lo- ol the species Hemibelideus lemuroides ing up in smoke every minute, that cal species adapted to relatively cool, [see photograph above] . As photogenic says a lot. At the very least, the two cloudy upland conditions, often find as any polar bear, that marsupial is threats will conspire synergistically. the sweltering lowlands unbearable. restricted to a single mountaintop Increasing habitat loss and fragmenta- Their montane populations become in tropical Queensland, and it hasn't tion are likely to trap forest species, geographically isolated, allowing been seen by anyone in four years. preventing them from shifting to them to evolve and diversify Its death knell may have been a more favorable climates or elevations. spawning kaleidoscopes of unique, heat wave that hit the region in late The small populations that remain locally endemic species. 2005, when dead possums of several could then be battered by heat waves, Those montane endemics may be species were found in the forest. droughts, storms, and other manifes- With their white brethren gone, tations of global warming, perhaps lemuroid ringtail possums that sport disappearing forever. the species' more common brown This alarming scenario has tropical fur may not be far behind. biologists, myself included, wonder- Tropical lowland species could be ing which battle to fight first—habi- just as vulnerable as their mountain- tat destruction or global warming. I dwelling cousins. On Barro Colorado believe that slowing habitat loss is the Island in Panama, where I sometimes higher priority, in part because the ~v work, research suggests that many rapid destruction of tropical forests species—such as silky anteaters, in- produces about a fifth of all green- sects, and iguanas—are living danger- house gas emissions today. Hence, ously close to their thermal maxi- saving rainforests is also a very effec- mum. "If you heat an anolis lizard tive way to combat global warming. just a few degrees above its preferred I, for one, will be keeping the foraging temperature, you risk kill- white rainforest possum in mind as ing it," says evolutionary physiologist temperatures rise. Young green Raymond B. Huey of the University iguana on in Seattle. Barro Colo- of Washington Mass die- William F. Laurakce is a biologist with rado Island, offs of tropical animals during heat the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Panama waves seem to confirm this view. in Panama. history April 2009 Where vou can experience the beauP Natural History useum of LOS Angeles County 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007 • 213-763-DINO • www.nhm.org J* *5&fc OYSTER PERPETUAL SUBMARINER DATE ROLEX For an Official Rolex Jeweler call 1-800-367-6539. Rolex * Oyster Perpetual and Submariner are trademarks. NEW YORK