yale environmental n e w s The Peabody Museum of Natural History, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies spring 2006 vol. 11, no. 2 The Peabody’s Torosaurus is a new and prominent presence on the Connecticut landscape and the first full-size public work of a dinosaur in New England. The Yale Peabody Museum brought together paleontologists, zoolo- gists, and an army of artists and volunteers to create a 2-foot, life- size bronze sculpture of Torosaurus. The 7,350-pound sculpture sits on a 3-foot, 70-ton base of Stony Creek granite, the same granite used for the base of the Statue of Liberty. yale environmental news The Science Behind the Peabody’s Torosaurus Statue By Daniel Brinkman, Museum Assistant, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Jane Pickering, Assistant Director for Public Programs The Yale Peabody Museum’s new Torosaurus Torosaurus latus have ever been discovered, statue on Whitney Avenue is rapidly becom- nearly every other part of the Peabody’s sculp- ing one of the most popular exhibits at the ture is based on the anatomy or appearance of Museum, and visitors often ask whether it is some of Torosaurus’s better-known living and “accurate.” Torosaurus fossils are extremely extinct relatives. When possible, Torosaurus’s rare, so restoring and sculpting this animal closest relatives, Triceratops and Chasmosaurus, was very challenging. A team of paleontolo- were used, but information from progres- gists and zoologists led by Peabody Curator sively more distant relatives (such as hadro- of Vertebrate Paleontology Jacques Gauthier saurs, birds, alligators, lizards, turtles, and worked with sculptor Michael Anderson, the mammals) was also used to answer specific Museum’s exhibit preparator, to make educat- questions. The process relied heavily on the ed guesses about many aspects of Torosaurus’s Peabody’s collections of fossils, cast replicas, anatomy and appearance. Since only seven and preserved zoological specimens. partial skulls and one partial skeleton of Like the fictional Frankenstein’s monster, the Peabody’s sculpted Torosaurus is cobbled together using many different parts. This graphic, part of the Peabody’s exhibit on the making of the statue, shows the range of species referenced in the design and construction of the Torosaurus sculpture. Illustration by Sally Pallatto and Daniel Brinkman. skeleton skull ear eye skin texture nostrils hip and knee “cheeks” cloaca tongue and roof of mouth foot and ankle foot placement hand and wrist shoulder and elbow muscles 2 yale environmental news Key of Symbols Torosaurus Ornithopod dinosaurs Turtles Triceratops Birds Mammals Chasmosaurus Alligator Ceratopsipes (Ceratopsian footprints) Centrosaurus Lizards Many of these decisions were difficult. For example, there was much debate over the nature of the material covering the frill: was it The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) a layer of keratin or scaly skin? While the horns is pleased to announce the appointment of and beak were undoubtedly covered by kera- Dr. Michael Teitelbaum, vice president of the tin, Anderson and his scientific consultants ultimately chose to give the frill scaly skin. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York, as Their decision was based on the nature of the the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting underlying bone, in particular its growth and Environmental Scholar for 2006–07; he will vascularization patterns, as compared to those serve in this capacity from September 1, 2006, of living animals. The Yale Peabody Museum would like to through May 30, 2007. thank Elizabeth R. and Stanford N. Phelps (Yale ’56) and their grandchildren Max, Garrett, and Ford for their generous support of the Torosaurus Project. Dr. Michael Teitelbaum: Cover photo by Melanie Brigockas 2006–07 Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholar Dr. Teitelbaum is a demographer of wide inter- of Representatives, and U.S. Commissioner ests who, as the Edward P. Bass Distinguished for the Study of International Migration and Visiting Scholar, will have the opportunity to Cooperative Economic Development. He has key of symbols discuss population issues across campus, also served on a variety of advisory boards, from Science Hill to the Medical School. including those of the National Academy of After earning an undergraduate degree Sciences, the National Institute of Health, and Torosaurus at Reed College, double majoring in biology the American Association for the Advancement and sociology, Dr. Teitelbaum was a Rhodes of Science. Triceratops Scholar at Oxford University where he studied Dr. Teitelbaum taught at Oxford and reproductive biology. After the death of his Princeton. In 2003 he taught a course at Yale Chasmosaurus adviser, he migrated to statistical and quantita- called 21st Century Demography which was tive treatments and earned a Ph.D. in demog- cross-listed in International Studies, History, Centrosaurus raphy. One of his major contributions to the and Sociology. field is his book The British Fertility Decline Ornithopod Dinosaurs (Princeton University Press). This book, and For more information on the Edward P. Bass the rest of the Princeton Project, laid the foun- Distinguished Environmental Scholars Program, or to schedule an appointment to meet with Birds dation for all subsequent studies of the global Dr. Teitelbaum, please call the Yale Institute for demographic transition. Biospheric Studies Office at (203) 432-9856. Alligator In addition to his purely academic con- tributions, Dr. Teitelbaum also brings to Yale Lizards two other hats: that of an executive with major foundations and of a longtime adviser to Turtles the government. He has been with the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for Mammals International Peace, and the program direc- tor for science and technology at the Alfred P. Ceratopsipes Sloan Foundation. Among other stints in gov- (Ceratopsian footprints) ernment service, he was staff director for the Select Committee on Population, U.S. House yale environmental news 3 conferences, seminars, symposia Guild of Montane Skinks n Terri Williams, Research Scientist, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Crustacean Development and Evolution: A History of Repeated Parts n Craig Layman, Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Using Stable Isotope Ratios to Assess Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Trophic Diversity n Peter Raymond, Assistant Professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Artic Rivers and Global Change n Grazyna Jasienska, Associate Professor, Institute of Public Health, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, yibs/esc friday noon seminars Geology & Geophysics, The Fossil Record of Poland; Research Affiliate, YIBS Center for The Yale Institute for Biopsheric Studies Plants and Insects—The Transformation of Human and Primate Reproductive Ecology, (YIBS) sponsors weekly YIBS/ESC Friday Molecular Components through Time n Neung- Markers of Biological Quality: Endocrinological Luncheon Seminars during the fall and spring Hwan Oh, Postdoctoral Associate, School Answers to Evolutionary Questions n John semesters. The seminars are held in the Class of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Effects Vanden Brooks, Graduate Student, Department of 1954 Environmental Science Center (ESC). of Agricultural Practices on Riverine Carbon of Geology & Geophysics, The Effects of The spring 2006 featured the following speak- Export n Jamie Childs, Adjunct Professor, Phanerozoic Oxygen on Vertebrate Development ers and topics: Department of Epidemiology and Public and Evolution n Lisa Pfefferle, Professor, Health, The Epidemiology of Wildlife Rabies: Department of Chemical Engineering, Soot Günter Wagner, Chair and Alison Richard Lessons from a Model Animal-Based Surveillance Formation in Flames and Toxicity Considerations. Professor, Department of Ecology & System for a Viral Zoonosis n Tracy Langkilde, Evolutionary Biology, Is Developmental Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental For information and the speakers list, please visit the Genetics Affecting Biodiversity? n Neal Gupta, Fellow, School of Forestry & Environmental YIBS website at www.yale.edu/yibs/. Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Studies, Factors Shaping Habitat Use In a Oxford (malaria) n Gregory Glass, Professor of Forum on Climate and Disease Infectious Disease Ecology in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at A Forum on Climate and Disease, held on cussed by each of the speakers. The National the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public December 9 and 10, 2005, was co-sponsored Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Health (hantavirus) n Cecile Viboud, Research by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (NOAA) Global Earth Observation System Scientist in the Division of Epidemiology and Center for the Study of Global Change and the of Systems (GEOSS) and its application to International Studies, Fogarty International Center for Eco-Epidemiology, and funded by disease prediction were presented by the Center, National Institute of Health, Bethesda ExxonMobil. The forum was attended by 95 Assistant Administrator for NOAA, Richard MD, USA (influenza) n Rudolfo Acuna-Soto, people despite a serious snowstorm on the Spinrad. Other speakers and their topics Professor at the Department of Microbiology first day, and it featured a slate of 10 interna- were Rita Colwell, Chairman of Canon US Life and Parasitology at the Medical School tionally known specialists