THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AN INTRODUCTION LIBRARY OF THE + AMERICAN MUSEUM ".. QF NATURAL HISTORY © The American Museum of Natural History 1972 All rights reserved. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-89598 ISBN 0-913424-01-3 The American Museum of Natural History Central Park West and 79th Street New York, N.Y. 10024 WELCOME. You are visiting an institution that is perhaps more influential than any other in exploring and illuminating man’s pre- carious relationship with the natural world. It is The American Museum of Natural History, referred to by most people simply as the museum of natural history. We are well over a century old, and with each passing year we get more famous and more beautiful. Maturity and growth have brought the development of imaginative programs, excursions into lively new areas of teaching and exhibition, and involvement in the most profound areas of science. Today our research influences the world’s biological thinking. Our training prepares scores of young scientists for their life’s work. Our classes help urban students and teachers understand the interrelationships of nature. Our anthropology programs ensure a better understanding of the differences among human cultures. Our exhibits bring the past to life, and involve viewers in the complexity of today’s environments. Your visits to the Museum and The American Museum— Hayden Planetarium enable us to bring our programs forward. You provide funds, which are crucial. You also offer a yardstick of Our success in your reactions to our exhibits, in your desire to visit again and read our publications, and in your influence on your families and acquaintances. We think you will agree that the quality of our lives is enhanced beyond measure by an apprecia- tion for the wonders of the natural world. Bee i Rly A eee Le SO Ae Gardner D. Stout, President Thomas D. Nicholson, Director Contents (Pictures are in Parentheses) Page 25 29 EXHIBITION DIRECTORY MUSEUM FLOOR PLAN INFORMATION (10 Museum entrance) Transportation Telephone Information MEMBERSHIP (11 Members’ Lounge) SERVICES PHOTOGRAPHY (12 White-tailed deer) LIBRARY MUSEUM SHOPS (13 Artifacts) MUSEUM HIGH SPOTS (14 Dodo bird, 15 Dried head) PUBLICATIONS NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE MUSEUM BUILDINGS (19 Museum today, 19 Museum in 1877) THE PAST (20 President Grant, 21 Children in 1900s) THE PRESENT Scientific Work Field Stations (22 Public information, 23 Field trip, 23 Public education, 24 Field station) EDUCATION (25 Teaching intern, 26 Natural Science Center, 27 Adult education, 28 Field study tour) EXHIBITION (29 Decorating mannikin, 30 Elephant hide, 31 Blue whale section, 31 Tree section, 33 Clay model of bear, 34 Dinosaur bones) ASTRONOMY (35 Earth, 36 Zeiss projector, 38 Andromeda galaxy, 38 ‘“‘As- tronomia,’’ 39 Guggenheim Theater, 41 Willamette meteorite) MINERALOGY (Minerals and Gems) Morgan Memorial Hall of Minerals and Gems (43 Amethyst carving, 44 Kunzite, 45 Stibnite, 46 Rhodochrosite, 47 Sapphires) 49 52 71 fe 78 79 83 85 91 97 99 100 100 100 100 103 105 107 108 109 109 112 INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY (Invertebrate Fossils) John Lindsley Hall of Earth History (49 Trilobites, 50 Earth globe, 51 Ammonite, 53 Seismograph, 53 Devonian diorama, 54 Pennsylvanian diorama) VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY (Vertebrate Fossils) Fossil Fish Alcove Early Dinosaur Hall Late Dinosaur Hall Hall of Early Mammals Hall of Late Mammals (55 Archaeopteryx, 57 Age chart, 58 Evolution of fishes, 59 Allosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Stegosaurus, 60 Eryops, 61 Evolution of reptiles, 62 Protoceratops hatching, 63 Tyrannosaurus, 65 Ectoconus, 66 Andrewsarchus, 68 Pliocene, 68 Mammoths, 69 Ground sloths, 69 Stenomylus) LIVING INVERTEBRATES Hall of the Biology of Invertebrates Shells . (71 Glass foraminifer, 72 Paper nautilus, 73 Lobster and crab, 75 Generalized cell, 75 Paramecia conjugating, 76 Drop of pond water, 77 Octopus) ENTOMOLOGY (insects and Spiders) (79 Housefly, 80 Tarantula, 81 Praying mantis, 82 Monarch butterfly) ICHTHYOLOGY (Fishes) Hall of the Biology of Fishes (83 Tropical fishes, 84 Filefish skeleton, 85 Coelacanth, 87 Parrotfish and queen triggerfish, 88 Angilerfish and flounder, 89 Mako shark, 90 Nassau grouper) HERPETOLOGY (Amphibians and Reptiles) (91 Snake, 92 Lizard, 93 Crocodile, 94 Tree frog, 95 Salamander, 95 Box turtle) ORNITHOLOGY (Birds) Sanford Hall of Bird Biology Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds Birds of New York City Roosevelt Sanctuary Group Hall of Birds of the World Chapman Hall of North American Birds (97 Egret, 98 Goose hatching, 99 Cuckoo and warbler, 101 Bird of paradise, 101 Seabirds, 102 Cormorant, 102 Hawk, 103 Heron, 104 Ostrich) MAMMALOGY (Mammals) Hall of North American Mammals Corridor of Small North American Mammals Vernay-Faunthorpe Hall of South Asiatic Mammals Akeley Hall of African Mammals Akeley African Hall Gallery 115 117 12] 123 127 132 137 140 143 147 150 152 153 159 159 159 160 Hall of the Biology of Primates (105 Grizzly bears, 106 Musk oxen, 107 Mink, 108 Asian leopard, 109 Gemsbok, 110 Lions, 111 Gorilla, 112 Elephants, 113 Giraffes and oryxes, 114 Chimpanzee, 115 Langur, 116 Blue whale) ANIMAL BEHAVIOR (117 Army ants, 118 Starling feeding, 119 Fish reproduction, 120 Mouse behavior) ANTHROPOLOGY Biology of Man Man in Africa Peoples of the Pacific Eskimo Northwest Coast Indians Indians of the Plains Eastern Woodlands Indians Mexico and Central America Men of the Montana (121 Maya sculpture, 122 Birth of a baby, 123 Evolution of man, 124 Transparent woman, 126 Kidney cross section, 127 Bronze sculp- ture, 128 Nomads, 129 Pygmies, 130 Leopard man, 131 Senufo mask, 132 Pacific masks, 133 Totem ceremony, 135 Feather cape, 135 Wooden bowl, 136 Shadow puppet, 137 Snowhouse, 138 Eskimo sculpture, 140 Haida war canoe, 141 Totem poles, 142 Basket weaving and hide preparing, 144 Crow costume, 145 Blackfoot tipi, 146 Buffalo hunt, 148 Harvesting corn, 149 Birchbark canoe, 150 Stone of the sun, 151 Gold objects, 151 Jade necklace) GENERAL ECOLOGY Felix M. Warburg Memorial Hall Hall of North American Forests Hall of Ocean Life Endangered Species (153 Deer in forest, 154 Polar bear, 155 Wolves, 157 Walrus, 158 Mole underground) Exhibition Directory Floor Section BIRDS Biology of Birds (Santord ER I ss gs iS vi bv blame fg e 19 Birds of the New York NSC. Oc vairvias swe Agsandan O. naidice 7 RENEE, WOTI osc .cccv cavucots 2. ovevee 2 North American Birds Mommeeen WemMOrial) ........ ..cceye D cesses l Oceanic Birds (Whitney NE sce upevx gagwives cuvehens 1 eee 19 DINOSAURS On A eee 13 EE ee eee 9 ECOLOGY North American Mei choca een axtsied oVes ance eS ena 5 Man and Nature (Warburg a ae 3 FISHES NEE sho iccide ss bssseetictecseses eee 10 RIP UE MISHES «. 28... oe .. woes eae ae eee 10 OS Cee 13 FORESTS MMMN SA ICTICAD) <2. PLEISTOCENE a 62 MILLION 7 DURATION QS RR 62 E OLIGOCENE 38 : F 54 it CRETACEOUS sic gheeee hes 136 161 MILLION YEARS Arana 57 JURASSIC | 193 ae URS TRIASSIC | MW) 225 | RY My 55 PERMIAN Sars *e 3 fp>-—~—Kz ; | 280 | PRIMITIVE | Ser rilLes 65 CARBONIFEROUS | st PALE | oe 50 DEVONIAN 345 MILLION YEARS 395 DURATION SILURIAN 435 ORDOVICIAN JINVERTEBRATES 500 WED CAMBRIAN 570 BEGINNINGS LATE PRECAMBRIAN Ca. 2600 | EARLIEST KNOWN ROCKS lca, 3100 FORMATION OF EARTH: CA. 4600 MILLION YEARS AGO PRE OF LIFE CAMBRIAN a Rie nat a = aan ae S Amphibian ; Coelacanths oe ee Actinopterygians Sy a hina NS RAY-FINNED FISHES LOBE-FINNED FISHES wares ae BONY FISHES Sharks Z "ares BE MI CLF Se ~e —— tAcanthodians Ratfishes ! Hagfishes | << ——~~ee +Placoderms , Lampreys oe | BNI aN JAWLESS FISHES tOstracoderms tExtinct | Evolution of fishes. Branches that are now extinct are marked with across. (actinopterygians) have been the most numerous and diversified of all fishes. The lobe-finned fishes (sarcopterygians) are represented by the lungfishes and crossopterygians. They had a common origin with the ray-finned fishes. The conservative lungfishes have changed little since the Devonian; today they are | (such as coelacanths). From the Devonian to the present, the ray-finned forms represented by only three genera. The crossopterygians include the ancestors of the amphibians as well as the related coelacanths. A single species of coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, exists today in the Indian Ocean. | Other Exhibits } The Hall of Fishes and Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10) shows modern fishes and traces some of their evolutionary history. 58 Early Dinosaur Hall (Fourth Floor, Section 13) The Early Dinosaur Hall is dominated by the skeletons of three Upper Jurassic dinosaurs placed on a large center island. The largest of the three skeletons, that of Brontosaurus, is almost seventy feet long and eighteen feet high at the hips. In life it must have weighed thirty or forty tons. The aggressive, meat-eating Al//losaurus probably preyed upon the big, inoffensive plant-eaters such as Brontosaurus, and in this group Allosaurus is mounted as if feeding on a brontosaur backbone. The third dinosaur in the group is the plated Stegosaurus, another plant-eater. Original fossil brontosaur tracks were excavated near Glen Rose, Texas, and reassembled on the central island in the hall. There are six forefoot and six hindfoot impressions made by a brontosaur as it tramped through a limy mud millions of years ago. The three-toed tracks of an allosaur follow those of the brontosaur, and since two of the allosaur tracks are superimposed on two of the large brontosaur tracks, it is evident that the meat-eating dinosaur was actually following the big plant-eater. The first land-living vertebrates were amphibians, which arose from the lobe-finned fishes and developed along several evolutionary lines. They reached Allosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Stegosaurus (left to right) as they might have looked millions of years ago (Early Dinosaurs, Fourth Floor, Section 13). the culmination of their evolutionary development in the labyrinthodonts of the Permian, represented here by skulls and a skeleton of Eryops, and for a brief time they were in active competition with the reptiles for dominance on the land. The last labyrinthodonts lived in the Triassic, and they are exemplified by the large flattened form, Buettneria. Contemporaneous with the labyrintho- donts were various other amphibians, such as the bizarre genus Diplocaulus, a flattened form with an excessively broad skull, shaped rather like an arrowhead. The modern frogs and toads have a poor fossil record, and their closest relatives among the Paleozoic amphibians are not known. The transition from amphibians to reptiles was so gradual that it is difficult to draw a distinct line between these two classes of vertebrates. Seymouria is one of a number of tetrapods that lie near the amphibian-reptile boundary. Although certain features of the skull and vertebral column are used to differentiate the two groups, one of the more significant differences lies in the method of reproduction. Amphibians must deposit their eggs in a moist environment, while reptiles have a self-contained egg with food and moisture enclosed in a hard shell. Although a reptile egg (some are shown in the Late Dinosaur Hall) is known from the Permian, it is impossible to associate it with any particular fossil skeleton. Eryops, anearly labyrinthodont amphibian from the Permian sediments of Texas, probably ate fish as well as land invertebrates. CL ae 11 " ee) ey Nim w vib ' + Dye NE ayy mt \\\| nye \Waikt » oy . MQ \ \\y PE AN YY \) + acon \\ VA ee So \\ . ya" ©) "y : x v ee LN 1\ PN + N i \ AT As \\\ SY) \ ly’ Wd B® A YY \ \\) sa 7 » ~~ \\ \y “i .\) \\y \\\'* yyy He myn) \ ) ey ul S - EO SQ . . Sh we \}\; > - ~~ WN : ) \* yw 4 yy: yyy)’ mt ags im) * \ " = Ds, mks? VE 1) VAT ¥) ANAPSIDA Evolution of reptiles from their first representatives. Mammallike reptiles called pelycosaurs developed during the Permian. Close relatives of the pelycosaurs were therapsids, some of which were directly ancestral to mammals, while others developed in different directions. During the Triassic the dominant land animals were reptiles other than dinosaurs, and mammals appeared during the Late Triassic. But the dinosaurs 61 were probably the dominant terrestrial animals throughout the entire Mesozoic, and they certainly dominated during the Cretaceous. Late (Cretaceous) Dinosaur Hall (Fourth Floor, Section 9) The Late Dinosaur Hall is devoted mainly to dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous Period. Examples are shown in the hall of three dinosaurs that lived together toward the end of the Cretaceous: Tyrannosaurus , the largest carnivorous animal ever to live on the land, Triceratops, a horned dinosaur that lived on plants, and Trachodon, one of the duck-billed dinosaurs. The skeleton of Tyrannosaurus is about forty-five feet long and, as mounted, stands nearly twenty feet high. The huge skull, armed with sharp teeth, is in a case on the floor where it can easily be seen; a plaster replica is on the skeleton. Protoceratops hatching from their eggs. These models are largely imaginary— no one really knows what they looked like (Late Dinosaurs, Fourth Floor, Section 9). Tyrannosaurus, the largest land- living carnivore, preyed on other dinosaurs (Late Dinosaurs, Fourth Floor, Section 9), Si ol ea Trachodon is often called a duck-billed dinosaur because the front of the skull is flattened and expanded into a sort of bill. However, recent studies on the feeding mechanism suggest that this bill was not used for feeding on soft, aquatic vegetation, as is the bill of modern ducks, but was part of a highly efficient slicing mechanism. The mummified remains of one duck-billed specimen clearly show the soft parts and skin of this animal. The horned dinosaurs, or ceratopsians, were plant-eaters well adapted for defending themselves in fighting. Although not related, they were similar to modern rhinoceroses. The skeleton of Triceratops shows the characteristic pose of a ceratopsian dinosaur, the huge head lowered to present the three long, sharp horns toward an adversary. Ceratopsian dinosaurs had a large frill on the back of the skull that served in part as a protection for the neck but more importantly as an area of attachment for the heavy jaw and neck muscles. At one end of the hall is a display of the pterosaurs, or flying reptiles. They arose in the Jurassic, at about the same time the first birds were evolving, and for some time they shared the sky with the early birds. There were many forms of flying reptiles, some as small as sparrows and others, such as the giant Prerandon on the wall, with a wingspread of twenty feet or more. In these reptiles the fourth finger of the hand was elongated for a wing support, and the wing itself was formed by a large fold of skin. Well-preserved specimens with skin and wing imprints show that the pterodactyls were covered with fine hairlike fibers similar to the hair of mammals. Of particular interest are the skeleton and eggs of Protoceratops, found in Outer Mongolia by a Museum expedition in 1923. The eggs were the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered. In some of them are fossilized embryos, confirm- ing speculation about the method of reproduction among these reptiles. Other Exhibits The John Lindsley Hall of Earth History (Fourth Floor, Section 2) explores the succession of life through geologic time and illustrates the formation of fossils. Hall of Early Mammals (Fourth Floor, Section 5) The beginning of the Age of Mammals was characterized by a radical change in the kinds of vertebrate animals that inhabited the earth. The dinosaurs disap- peared at the end of the Cretaceous. Although the mammals had already evolved from their reptilian ancestors by the Jurassic, their dominance began at the start of the Tertiary, the period when they flourished rapidly. The first true mammals of the Age of Dinosaurs are known mostly from fragmentary skulls and teeth. Enlarged models of these are placed on a family tree to show how the early mammals were related to each other and to their 64 Skeleton (top) and restoration (bottom) of Ectoconus, a primitive hoofed mam- mal of the Paleocene. modern descendants. The marsupials are a well-defined group of mammals including the common opossum and the kangaroo. Their most distinctive characteristic is that the young are born at a very immature stage and migrate to a pouch on the belly of the female, where they are suckled and carried for some time after birth. Placental 65 mammals evolved a more efficient system of nourishment of the young in the uterus; consequently, the young are born at a more advanced state of development. The placentals multiplied and diversified rapidly in the Paleocene and particularly in the Eocene. The first hoofed mammals, or condylarths, appeared in the Late Cretaceous and were abundant in the Paleocene and Eocene. The long, low skull, short limbs, and long tail were primitive characteristics shared for the most part with the earliest carnivorous mammals. Meniscotherium was a small condylarth about the size of a cat. Ectoconus, with its relatively small skull and heavy limbs, had the dimensions of a large dog. Phenacodus, which approached the size of.a tapir, represents the stock from which the odd-toed hoofed animals (such as horses) probably arose. The edentates are an order of mostly South American mammals including the sloths, anteaters, and armadillos. The ground sloths became common early in edentate history, and Hapalops is a typical Oligocene—Miocene form. The armadillos were abundant and varied in South America by the Miocene. The first carnivores appeared during the early part of the Age of Mammals, and their remains have been found in Tertiary deposits on all the continents Skull and restoration of Andrewsarchus, a gigantic wolflike mammal from Mongolia (Early Mammals, Fourth Floor, Section 5). except South America and Australia. In Pliocene and Pleistocene times they migrated to South America via Central America. The dingo was introduced to Australia by aboriginal man. One group of placental mammals was the insectivores. Fossils of these small, ancient mammals are exceedingly rare and are of great value in evolutionary study. Modern insectivores include moles, shrews, and hedgehogs. During the Paleocene and Eocene the early primates were numerous and divided into a number of separate evolutionary lines. Many of them then became extinct, but some persisted through the Age of Mammals to produce lemurs, monkeys, apes, and, of course, man. Historical zoogeography includes the study of the factors that have influenced the distribution of animals, particularly land animals, in the geologic past. It considers such factors as migration, the geographic isolation of groups of animals, their radiation from a point of origin, their sequence of arrival on a particular continent, animal distribution, and the evolutionary effects of this distribution on the animals themselves. At the very beginning of the Age of Mammals, when North and South America were loosely connected, there were three different groups of mammals in South America: primitive marsupials, edentates, and one group of early hoofed mammals. Later South America became isolated until perhaps four million years ago, and during this long period the mammal population developed along diverse lines. Hall of Late Mammals (Osborne Memorial) (Fourth Floor, Section 3) The fossil record for a few groups of mammals is unusually complete, and it is possible to follow evolutionary changes in the skeleton throughout many millions of years. The Hall of Late Mammals is especially concerned with some of the better-known records in the history of the placental animals. Various types of odd-toed ungulates, or perissodactyls, descended from the earliest hoofed mammals, or condylarths. The perissodactyls were separated into the horses, rhinoceroses, tapirs, and several now-extinct lines by the begin- ning of the Eocene. The rhinoceros, which originated in North America, had a complicated fossil history, and several distinct lines evolved in both the New and Old World. The largest known land mammal, Baluchitherium, of the Miocene of Asia, is a rhinoceros. The large block of Diceratherium bones, which includes the skulls of twenty-one small, pair-horned rhinoceroses, gives some conception of the enormous number of these animals living in North America during the Miocene. The history of horses has long been of interest to students of evolution. The changes that occurred between the early Eocene Hyracotherium (also called Eohippus) and the modern horse can be traced with great exactness because 67 Late Pliocene in Arizona. Glyptotherium (relatives of armadillos) are on the left, Plesippus on the right. In the background are camels and mastodons. Woolly mammoths along the banks of the Somme River in France during the late Pleistocene. —— Giant Pleistocene ground sloths from Argentina. Glos- sotherium (the two specimens on the left) and Les- todon (right) at- tained enormous size during their evolution in South America (Late Mammals, Fourth Floor, Section 3). Stenomylus, small North American camels. Some are the positions in which they were found on a Museum expedition (Late Mammals, Fourth Floor, Section 3). of the excellence of the fossil record. The reduction in the number of toes to the single functional toe of modern forms, along with the lengthening of the limbs, skull, and teeth and the increase in general body size, are well demonstrated. Most of the history of the horse is recorded in North America because the group originated there, although it later spread to the Old World. The even-toed ungulates, or artiodactyls, probably evolved from the con- dylarths in North America, but at an early date they spread to the Old World. There they gave rise to important groups that led to pigs, peccaries, hippopotam- uses, camels, deer, giraffes, antelopes, and cattle. Perhaps the most successful artiodactyls of the mid-Tertiary in North America were the oreodonts, superficially piglike ruminants that were very abundant in the Oligocene and Miocene. The early evolution of the camel also occurred in North America, and a group of Stenomylus, a small Miocene camel of North America, is shown in the hall. Camels did not migrate to South America or Asia until near the end of the Age of Mammals. Among the most spectacular mammals were the Proboscidea, remains of which are widely distributed. Mastodons comprised one group of the Proboscidea. The skeleton of the American mastodon on exhibit is known as the **Warren Mastodon.’ Collected in 1845 from shell-marl beds near Newburgh, New York, it is one of the most perfectly preserved fossil mastodon skeletons ever found. After exhibition in New York and New England, it was purchased by John Collins Warren, a professor of anatomy at Harvard College. It was on exhibition at the Warren Museum in Boston until 1906, when J. Pierpont Morgan bought it and presented it to The American Museum. In 1907 the skeleton was taken apart, cleaned, and remounted as it stands today. The American mastodon was the most abundant Pleistocene proboscidean in the forested regions east of the Mississippi. Mammoths belonged to another group of Proboscidea. The tall Colombian Pleistocene mammoth skeleton, with its great incurved tusks, is a dramatic example of a true elephant. Mammoth skulls and jaws are known from many parts of the world, and one of the largest known mammoth tusks, over sixteen feet in length, is exhibited here. Fossils of many carnivores, such as cats, bears, wolves, and dogs, are shown. One exhibit shows how animals were trapped in the famous Rancho la Brea tar pits in Los Angeles. Other Exhibits Various halls of living mammals such as the Hall of North American Mammals (First Floor, Section 13) and the Hall of African Mammals (Second Floor, Section 13) show the end result of the evolution of these animals. 70 Living Invertebrates LIVING INVERTEBRATES Invertebrates comprise approximately ninety-four percent of the known existing species in the animal kingdom. Responsibility for the care of the vast collections of living (as distinct from fossil) invertebrates in The American Museum of Natural History lies with two scientific departments: Entomology and Living Invertebrates. The Department of Entomology works with insects and their rela- tives, such as spiders, mites, and centipedes. The remaining invertebrates are the concern of the Department of Living Invertebrates. They make up twenty-six of the twenty-seven phyla, the major groups into which all living animals are classified. The scientific collections of the Museum’s department consist of such diverse organisms as minute one- celled animals (protozoans) and huge bivalve mollusks weighing 600 pounds (giant clams). Especially large holdings are the collections of mollusks (including snails, oysters, clams, and squids), with more than two million specimens; crustaceans (including shrimps, lobsters, and crabs), totaling nearly 120,000 specimens; and annelids and other worms, with about 40,000 specimens. There are important collections of other major groups of invertebrates. In its laboratories and in the field, the Department of Living Invertebrates conducts varied research projects in evolutionary and experimental biology. These include the systematics and distribution of land, freshwater, and marine mollusks and of parasitic and free-living worms, and the hormonal control of color change, water balance, growth, and molting in land crabs. Paper nautilus (Argonauto argo Linné). The structure that looks like a shell is a parchment-thin receptacle for this cephalopod’s eggs. —— rl enn eS Sl e eee, ee eee Model of an American lobster (Homarus americanus) attacking a lady (or calico) crab (Ovalipes ocellatus) on the sound bottom (Biology of Inverte- brates, First Floor, Section 9). Hall of the Biology of Invertebrates (First Floor, Section 9) The exhibits in the Hall of the Biology of Invertebrates provide a comprehensive view of invertebrates, their origin, classification, structure, physiology, develop- ment, behavior, adaptations to the environment, and economic, medical, and aesthetic importance to man. As a joint undertaking of three scientific departments (Living Invertebrates, Entomology, and Animal Behavior), the hall reflects the differing approaches and philosophies of several intellectual disciplines. But intrinsic to all exhibits within the hall is a largely unstated commitment to three unifying biological concepts: the continuity of life, the diversity of life, and the inevitability of change. Exhibits in the hall are designed to impart the information discussed below. Details of how life originated are still not precisely known, but it seems _ to have occurred in a series of steps, from gases to amino acids to proteinoids to microspheres, or precells. Models of DNA and RNA, essential to protein synthesis in cells, are shown, as is a three-dimensional model of a cell enlarged 40,000 times. The incredible diversity of living organisms is the end result of continuity and change as one generation succeeds another through reproduction. To bring order to this diversity, scientific names and a place in one of the twenty-seven phyla have been given to over one million different species. 1 eave Organisms can reproduce asexually or sexually. In asexual reproduction, new individuals are formed from only one parent. Sexual reproduction involves two individuals of the same species and can occur in both single-celled and multicelled animals. It is advantageous because it results in new individuals with diverse genetic characteristics. But male and female sex cells, or gametes, must be brought together, which can be accomplished in a number of ways: by chance (in response to a chemical substance released into the water), by mass release of gametes, or by bringing a mature male and a mature female together at breeding time, with the male able to deposit its gametes in, on, or near the female. Hereditary units called genes are in the chromosomes of cells. Generally, when a cell divides, the genetic material is apportioned equally between the two daughter cells (mitosis). But in the formation of the gametes, the number of chromosomes 1s reduced to one-half during cell division (meiosis). The original number of chromosomes is later restored when the male and female gametes unite to form a fertilized egg. The fertilized egg of a multicellular animal divides and ultimately differen- tiates into many types of cells and tissues as different parts of the genetic material become active at different times. Active portions of the genetic material, by directing the synthesis of specific proteins, bring about the formation of various types of cells. Included in the genetic information of a fertilized egg are instructions for step-by-step development of the egg into an adult of that species and no other. Change from one generation to the next is inevitable. In living organisms gradual change over long periods of time is known as evolution. Evolution results in organisms better suited, as a population, to their present habitats and areas and better able to invade new ones. It may occur either linearly, with a single population changing through time, or through diversification, during which the number of species increases. Both types of evolution usually proceed simultaneously. Linear evolution, the kind that most people think of, is illustrated in an exhibit of oak beauty moths in New York City. Smoke and automobile exhaust fumes gradually darkened the trunks of trees on which the light-colored moths rested. As a result, they became conspicuous and were eaten by birds and other predators. Dark-colored moths, less vulnerable to predators, survived and reproduced; the population is now predominantly dark. Just as there is an almost unbelievable diversity of form and function among species of invertebrates, so there is an equally remarkable diversity of behavior. Form, function, and behavior are interrelated, the latter directly or indirectly dependent upon the first two. As form and function gained in complexity during evolution, so also did behavior. For example, a paramecium has a low level 74 Model of a generalized cell, with all the components neces- sary for life (Biology of Invertebrates, First Floor, Section 9). Two paramecia conjugating. They join to exchange genetic material and then separate. ' ’ . ; ' ; ’ ’ of organization, but displays the greatest behavioral complexity possible for a single-celled organism; a sponge, which is multicellular, shows simple reflex behavior; a starfish still is unable to learn a simple sideward turn; and a clam worm can learn to move along a simple maze and learn a new turn when the maze is altered. But the octopus, the leading invertebrate in behavioral organization and resources, has a highly developed brain and can readily modify its behavior, learning quickly, for instance, to touch a white disk for meat and keep clear of a black disk, which gives an electric shock. Glass model of a drop of pond water. The helmet-shaped objects are utricles (animal traps), the bladders of the carnivorous bladderwort plant (Utricularia vulgaris) (Biology of Invertebrates, First Floor, Section 9). Model of a common octopus, an example of a cephalopod mol- lusk that has lost its shell through evolutionary development. Modification of behavior is illustrated in the exhibit of how a flea circus operates. By using a conditioning technique, the trainer obtains fleas that respond to light by remaining quiet. By altering the lighting, he manages the selected fleas so that they appear to do ‘‘tricks.”’ Invertebrates show group behavior patterns, from quasi-social groups, such as associations of protozoans responding to chemicals from bacteria, to true social groups with complex social specialization and organization, such as some wasps, social bees, and ants. Some invertebrates show cyclic, or rhythmic, behavior. Plankton migrate in response to daily changes in the intensity of light; mussels feed rhythmically in response to tidal changes; bees go to buckwheat blossoms when they are open in the morning, but go to clover in the afternoon when the preferred buckwheat blossoms close. An animal does not exist apart from its environment, and many diverse forms of invertebrates have evolved in keeping with their environments. For example, some are gigantic in comparison with their close relatives. The giant squid shown in the hall is an example. Animals adjust to their environments in many ways. They receive stimuli from the environment and, in response, may find food, avoid predators, maintain body processes, and find a mate. Heat energy from the sun raises their body temperatures and thus speeds up their body processes; for example, crickets chirp faster at higher temperatures. But, in order to survive, a living animal must have more than light and heat. It must also have food, oxygen, and salts; it must obtain water and excrete wastes. Invertebrates first evolved within the sea. As they encroached upon the land, they adapted to withstand the assaults of this hostile environment. Some found themselves already well equipped to invade a variety of freshwater and terrestrial environments. They became inhabitants of ponds, streams, and fields, and they moved into dark caves. They now live in very varied environments, 1, from tropical rain forests to frigid Arctic conditions, from dry deserts to salt lakes. Countless species of invertebrates are of economic, medical, or aesthetic importance to man—insects pollinate plants, earthworms cultivate soil, shells are used in artwork. Some invertebrates are parasites of man. Parasites are organisms that live in or on another larger organism, a host, and they depend upon the host for nutriment. Parasites may cause disease or discomfort, but they do not necessarily destroy their hosts. An example of a parasite is the body louse, which can live only on human hosts; it soon starves to death when removed. The large majority of invertebrate pests are insects, and the most destructive of them are imported species that have left their natural enemies at home. Eradication of the pests is seldom possible; controlling them involves manipulat- ing their environment and reducing their numbers so greatly that damage from them is not important. One pest is the cotton boll weevil, which infests cultivated cotton in the United States. In the hall are the world-famous glass models of invertebrates created by the late Hermann O. Mueller of the Museum. There are protozoans, including the familiar freshwater amoeba and a variety of deep-sea radiolarians; rotifers, some of them enlarged versions of models in the exhibit of a drop of pond water, also a creation of Mueller; and coelenterates, including corals, sea anemones, hydroids, small jellyfishes, and large true jellyfishes such as the dangerous sea wasps. Under enlarged models of flashing fireflies are seven displays showing the nature of bioluminescence, the natural light of several invertebrates. In a nearby alcove are exhibits of shrimps, lobsters, and crabs—familiar crustaceans. Shells (First Floor, Section 2) Of the 50,000 species of mollusks, most have shells ranging from a fraction of an inch to several inches in size. Some are microscopic, but others, such as the giant clam, attain a length of four feet. The Evelyn Miles Keller Memorial Shell exhibit shows the classification of the major groups of living mollusks. The New York State Shell Exhibition identifies common mollusks of the region. Other Exhibits The John Lindsley Hall of Earth History (Fourth Floor, Section 2) shows the fossil past of invertebrates and the environments in which they evolved. Many invertebrates are shown in the habitat groups in the Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10), especially the Pearl Diver group and the Bahamian Coral Reef group. 78 Entomology ENTOMOLOGY Entomology is the study of insects, arachnids (spiders and their ‘‘cousins’’), and myriapods (centipedes and millipedes)—the terrestrial representatives of the great phylum Arthropoda, consisting of segmented animals with external skeletons and jointed legs. Systematics (also called taxonomy), or classification and nomenclature, is basic to all disciplines of biology, because no information about any organism is of scientific value unless the organism has been properly identified. Insects alone number some 850,000 species—eighty percent of all the known kinds of animals—and thousands of ‘‘new’’ ones are identified every year. The identifi- cation of an insect or spider is work for experts. Physiologists, behaviorists, ecologists, and other investigators must rely on taxonomists to name the species with which they are working. Since man himself is a land animal, in continual association with insects, dependent on them for much and competing with them for everything of organic origin that is useful to him, understanding of these animals is necessary for his comfort and prosperity, sometimes for his very survival. South American tarantula and three examples of an ancient type of spider (Hypo- chilus sp.) from California. One of many species of the praying mantis, a predator of insects. The principal tool of systematists is a comprehensive collection of preserved specimens of known origin. The Museum’s Department of Entomology houses one of the finest collections of terrestrial Arthropoda in the world. There are over fourteen million specimens, of which 36,000 are myriapods, 740,000 arachnids, and the rest insects. Accumulated through gift, purchase, exchange, and the fieldwork of Museum expeditions, the study collection continues to grow, and the task of maintaining it is formidable and endless. This collection is not on exhibition, but is stored in laboratories on the Fifth Floor, where it is available, by arrangement, to scholars and qualified students of all countries. Members of the department are concerned chiefly with research into systematics and evolution. 81 Exhibits At present the Museum has no Hall of Insects and Spiders, but exhibits of insects can be found interspersed throughout those in the Museum. The origin and fossil history is treated in the John Lindsley Hall of Earth History (Fourth Floor, Section 2). The Hall of North American Forests (First Floor, Section 5) includes exhibits showing the importance of insects as pests and harvesters of trees, as links in the food chain of forest animals, and as components of the community of the forest floor. In the Warburg Memorial Hall (First Floor, Section 3) exhibits touch on insects as pollinators and pests of crops, as disposers of organic wastes, and as conditioners of the soil. Throughout the Museum, habitat groups often include a few of the most spectacular insects characteristic of the place represented. The major exhibits concerning insects, however, are in the Hall of the Biology of Invertebrates (First Floor, Section 9). Here the Departments of Entomology, Living Invertebrates, and Animal Behavior worked to illustrate, in effect, animal biology with invertebrate examples. Monarch butterfly on a milkweed flower, from which it will ex- tract nectar. Ichthyology ICTHYOLOGY Fishes have always been used by man for food, and today, as the world’s human population is increasing, they represent an even more critical supply of vital, high-quality protein food. Fishes serve man in other ways, too—as sources of oils, vitamins, drugs, leather, animal food, fertilizer, and many other products. They are important in many forms of recreation—sport fishing, aquarium care, and skin and scuba diving. Laboratories use them for studies of animal behavior, physiology, genetics, and areas of medical research, such as the actions of drugs. The Department of Ichthyology at the Museum carries out basic research in the classification, life history, and evolution of fishes. Scientists from all over the world study the nearly 500,000 specimens in the Museum’s research collection, and students from nearby colleges and universities work toward advanced degrees using the resources of the department. Scientist examines the skeleton of a filefish. 84 al @. ao ¥ Cast of Latimeria, the coelacanth, a fish belonging to a group that was thought to be extinct but is today found in the Indian Ocean (Biology of Fishes, First Floor, Section 10). Hall of the Biology of Fishes (First Floor, Section 10) The exhibits on the mezzanine of the Hall of Ocean Life are designed to show the structure of fishes, how they meet the special demands of their aquatic environment, how they find food, how they avoid enemies, how they live together with other aquatic organisms, and how they reproduce. A large part of the hall is devoted to representative models of more than 400 families of fishes, showing their amazing diversity and how they are related. There is a section depicting the worldwide distribution of fishes, and in the arches around the hall are models of large and seldom-seen fishes from all parts of the world. The term fish is generally used to describe backboned animals that swim by means of fins and breathe by means of gills. Actually, there are several varied groups of fishes that are more different from each other than mammals are from reptiles or birds are from amphibians. The first fishlike vertebrates are found in fossil rocks more than 500 million years old. These are agnathan fishes—they lack a lower jaw. Today the jawless fishes are represented by a few species of hagfishes and lampreys; the rest of the approximately 21,000 species all have jaws. About 400 species of sharks and rays have cartilaginous skeletons; the remainder are bony fishes. The basic body plan of fishes is the same as other vertebrates. There is 85 ——— EEE ee —— ee re aces se ee —eeoaYmwmammw»»»=----——_ —> a central vertebral column with a complicated skull at the anterior, or head, end. The skull, which consists of many more bones than that of man, protects the brain and sense organs and supports the jaws and gill mechanism. There are two sets of paired fins, the pectoral and pelvic fins, corresponding to the four legs of mammals. In addition, most fishes have dorsal and ventral median fins as well as a tail fin. The fins and jaws are powered by muscles and supported by bone or cartilage. The internal organs and the circulatory, nervous, endocrine, digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems are specialized in various ways in different fishes but are not too different in structure and function from those of man. Four large models show the internal structures of fishes. Because water is many times as dense as air, fish bodies are generally streamlined. Since fishes can move in three dimensions, they must be able to detect depth pressure and to adjust their buoyancy, usually by adding or removing gas from the gas bladder, a modified lung that is no longer used for respiration except in a few specialized fishes. Other peculiarities of the water environment—low oxygen content, reduced light transmission, extremes of water motion and pressure—are reflected in the fish structure. Fishes live in a variety of habitats, from torrential mountain streams to the deepest parts of the ocean. A few species, such as the climbing perch, can leave the water for short periods, but all must remain moist. Because their eggs must remain wet at all times, fishes cannot reproduce on dry land. Each type of environment has special requirements that influence the form and physiology of the fishes. For example, fishes living in torrential streams, such as the hillstream loach, have special shapes and fin structures that enable them to remain in place without swimming constantly. Many deep-sea fishes have light organs. One exhibit shows a school of luminescent lanternfishes reproduced from specimens collected by the deep sub- mergence research vessel Alvin. Fishes that live in perpetual darkness in the depths of the ocean or in dark caves often have reduced eyes or have lost their sight entirely. Ordinary-appearing fishes may have physiological adaptations that permit them to tolerate extreme thermal and chemical conditions; for instance, several species living in habitats where little oxygen is available in the water can breathe atmospheric air. In order to survive, every animal must first find the environment that is acceptable to it, and then it must have an adequate supply of food for energy, growth, and reproduction. Fishes feed on a wide variety of other organisms, and their food habits are reflected in their mouth structure and general body shape and color. The surgeonfishes eat mostly plants, although they may require animal matter as well. They have specialized teeth for cutting plants and gizzards for crushing the walls of the plant cells so digestive enzymes can reach the living material inside. 86 x weer ie Parrotfish (top) bites off pieces of coral and turns it into fine silt. The queen triggerfish, here attacking a sea urchin, also has strong teeth with which it can chew coral (Biology of Fishes, First Floor, Section 10). 87 Carnivorous fishes have a bewildering array of specializations for locating, capturing, and digesting their prey. Some, like the gars, have teeth designed for grabbing and holding, while others, such as the bluefishes and barracudas, have slashing teeth for cutting chunks from large morsels. Still others have crushing teeth for smashing shelled animals. A number of fishes that feed on soft-bodied organisms have no teeth in the mouth, although nearly all fishes have pharyngeal teeth behind the gills. The elongate face of the African elephantfish enables it to feed on insect larvae in muddy bottom sediments. By far the most common food item is other fish, and many predaceous species are little more than animated fishtraps. The goosefish in particular has an enormous mouth and a special long ‘‘fishing rod’’—actually a modified section of the dorsal fin—with which it attracts prey. Food and predation are two aspects of the same phenomenon; every species has its predators as well as its prey. Survival is dependent upon avoiding predators. Some fishes have armored skin or sharp, heavy fin spines that discourage pred- ators; others avoid capture by camouflage and concealing or confusing colors and patterns. Many can alter their colors to match their backgrounds, and others have special means of changing their shape. Several fishes produce venoms that can be fatal to man, and some, such as the electric eel and torpedo ray, produce electric shocks that can stun a man. Other electrogenic fishes set up Lophius piscatorius has a wormlike lure on its first dorsal spine that looks like food to a small flounder (Biology of Fishes, First Floor, Section 10). a weak field that they use for navigating and locating prey in murky waters. Mere survival of the individual does not ensure survival of the species, for all organisms grow old and eventually die. The only way new individuals can be formed is through sexual reproduction. Reproductive processes are varied in fishes, who must have ways of finding mates (sometimes involving long-range migration to spawning grounds) and courtship rituals to enable them to recognize the opposite sex of their own species. A number of fishes bear live young, which means they must have internal fertilization and special organs for transfer- ring sperm from the male to the female; some carry the developing eggs in their mouths. Some fishes, such as the belted sandfish, are hermaphroditic—one individual produces both eggs and sperms. Many fishes leave the fertilized eggs without further care, but others build nests and guard the young. The bitterling lays its eggs in the gill chambers of freshwater mussels; the splashing samlet deposits eggs above the water level and keeps them moist by splashing them with water every few minutes. One exhibit illustrates the life cycle of the Coho salmon, from its freshwater beginning, through its ocean life, to its death back in the stream where it was born. In each aspect of reproductive behavior, the objective is the same: to ensure that an adequate number of young survive to carry on the species. No organism occurs everywhere in the world, and so each geographic Mako shark, an excellent sport fish. Shark teeth grow in rows, one row replacing another as they wear out (Biology of Fishes, First Floor, Section 10). Nassau grouper hides in a coral reef, the most complex environ- ment in which fishes live (Ocean Life, First Floor, Section 10). region contains a characteristic assemblage of fishes. The salmon of the northern coasts, the lungfish of the southern continents, the minnow, bass, and catfish—all have distributions that reflect the evolutionary history of the fishes superimposed on the history of the earth itself. Where a fish occurs depends upon how it is dispersed and whether conditions are suitable for it after its arrival—questions of opportunity and ecology. Land masses are barriers to ocean fishes; salty oceans block the dispersal of freshwater fishes. There are still many patterns of distribution that are not understood and are continually being studied. The problems of finding a proper environment, obtaining food, avoiding predation, and reproducing are common to all living organisms. How the problems are solved depends upon the species. Through complex evolutionary processes, many different solutions have developed, and these are reflected in the more than 21,000 species of living fishes. The models of representative fishes in the hall give some insight into the diversity of variation on a common body plan that enables fishes to take advantage of every kind of aquatic habitat. Included are many rare, bizarre, and evolutionarily important fishes, such as the rays and skates and coelacanths. From giant sharks to tiny gobies, from slender needlefishes to stocky anglerfishes, from sleek mackerels to lopsided flounders—each species is uniquely in harmony with its environment. Other Exhibits On the lower floor of the Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10) are habitat groups of marine animals of all sorts, showing how they live together and depend upon one another. The Fossil Fish Alcove (Fourth Floor, Section 13) shows the evolutionary history of fishes from the earliest fossils. 90 \ 4 Herpetology HERPETOLOGY The branch of biology that deals with the amphibians and reptiles is known as herpetology. In its broadest sense, herpetology is concerned with the origin, evolution, distribution, and classification of the amphibians and reptiles, their relationships to their environment, their life histories, their habits and behavior, and their structures and _ functions. Herpetology is also concerned with the economic importance of amphibians and reptiles and their bearing on the activities of man. The study of extinct amphibians and reptiles is usually included under paleontology. The staff of the Department of Herpetology at the Museum conducts research along a variety of lines, all directed toward achieving a better understanding of the evolution and ecology of amphibians and reptiles. Attaining this goal involves the integration of studies on preserved specimens in the laboratory (the Museum has one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections) with studies of living animals in the laboratory and field. Gonyocephalus nigrigularis, from New Guinea, is one of the some 3000 forms of lizards existing today. Young crocodile (Crocodylus acutus). Most species of crocodiles are endangered because man has hunted them for their hides. Investigation of the anatomy of preserved specimens helps to determine the relationships among different species and thus casts light on their evolutionary histories. Such studies are also pertinent to the animal’s ecological relationships because they promote an understanding of how its anatomical features relate to its way of life. Studies of living amphibians and reptiles in the field (often of animals marked so that they may be recognized when recaptured, perhaps years later) reveal such facets of an animal’s life history as breeding habits, rate of growth, food habits, movements, and longevity. Conventional anatomic and life-history investigations are supplemented by diverse specialized studies. For example, electronic instruments are used to analyze the tape-recorded vocali- zations of frogs; high-power microscopes enable comparisons of chromosomes among different species. ze, Amphibians are backboned animals with a moist glandular skin. They lack the protective covering of feathers or hair seen in the higher vertebrates; scales are rarely present and are then hidden in the skin. Amphibians lay their eggs in water or at least in moist places on land. Most young amphibians pass through a fishlike, water-dwelling stage, where gills are used for breathing, before metamorphosing, or changing, into the adult, air-breathing form. There are three major groups of living Amphibia: caecilians (Gymnophiona), superficially wormlike, limbless creatures, of burrowing as well as water-dwelling habits, that live in the tropics; salamanders (Caudata), or tailed amphibians, usually having four limbs, confined to the northern hemisphere, except for several South American species; frogs (Salientia), including those popularly called toads, tail- less amphibians with relatively long hindlegs and a hopping or leaping mode of progression. Frogs are found on all major land areas of the earth (except Antarctica and Greenland) but are absent from most oceanic islands. The three groups of amphibians comprise a total of approximately 2500 living species. Hyla ebraccata is an inch-long tropical tree frog that sleeps during the day and hunts insects at night. errr | Box turtle (Terrapene carolina) lays its eggs in holes in the ground of the forest where it lives. North American tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is black with vivid yellow markings and spends most of its life underground. a a ee . Amphibians evolved from lobe-finned fish ancestors well over 300 million years ago. Some fifty million years later one amphibian stock gave rise to the reptiles. Thus the amphibians are classified between the fishes and the reptiles. Reptiles are backboned animals with dry, scale-covered skins. Many species give birth to live young, but most lay eggs, always on land. When the reptile emerges from its egg it is similar to its parents and is equipped to breathe air. The major groups of reptiles include: turtles (Testudinata); alligators and crocodiles (Crocodilia); **beakheads’’ (Rhynchocephalia), represented by a single species, the relict tuatara (Sphenodon punctatum) of New Zealand; lizards and snakes (Squamata), considered units of a single group. The close evolutionary relationship of lizards and snakes is indicated by numerous similarities, including the existence of snakelike characteristics in several lizards and the retention of vestigial pelvic girdles in some snakes. Approximately 6000 species of reptiles now exist; many others have passed into oblivion or are known only from their fossilized remains. The reptiles flourished at an early period of their evolution, well over 200 million years ago. The original stock gave rise to a variety of forms, including the dinosaurs. Other stocks led independently to the warm-blooded mammals and birds. Many stocks, including the larger “‘ruling reptiles,’ failed to survive. The modern reptiles include a few species of great size—some marine turtles may reach a ton in weight, and crocodiles twenty-four feet in length may weigh even more. The largest surviving lizard is scarcely ten feet long, but some snakes are thought to exceed thirty feet. Exhibits New exhibits depicting the biology of amphibians and reptiles are under construc- tion, and at present there is no specific area in the Museum devoted to these animals. There are many amphibians and reptiles in habitat groups in other halls, however. For example, a sea turtle is shown with a shark in the Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10). A frog sits on the edge of a pond in the Warburg Memorial Hall (First Floor, Section 3). A rattlesnake is in a cypress swamp in the Hall of North American Forests (First Floor, Section 5), and other snakes are shown in the mammal and bird halls. The ancestors of the reptiles are shown in the Dinosaur Halls (Fourth Floor, Sections 9 and 13). 96 —_ 00 So mm a) < “ms — — oS : = ORNITHOLOGY The science of bird study in all its aspects is known as ornithology. A major task of the ornithologist is to describe and name the birds of the world and to arrange them into species, genera, families, and higher categories of kinship. About 8700 species are known. There is still much to learn concerning the evolutionary relationships of the families and orders of birds. New methods in systematics, as applied to populations of closely related birds, are constantly leading to a better understanding of the process of evolution. Migration, homing, direction-finding—the whole range of a bird’s behavior, to the extent that it is modifiable by learning—as well as its genetics and its adaptations, are today being intensively studied by critical experimental methods, both in the laboratory and in the field. Quantitative and statistical techniques have largely replaced random observation. Computers, electron microscopes, and other new tools are facilitating broader approaches to many problems. As a result of their striking characteristics, living birds offer a very fruitful subject for research in animal behavior. Because of these advantages, and the numerous scientific advances made by ornithologists, many universities are add- ing trained ornithologists to their biological faculties. The Museum has about one million bird specimens in its collection. With such a large collection, dating from many years ago to the present and aided by field and aviary studies, all aspects of bird biology and evolution can be studied. An important side result of such collecting has come from the study of the collection of eggshells. Those of a hundred years ago are thicker and stronger than those of today; the change is a result of the extensive use of DDT and other pesticides. Domestic goose hatching from an egg (Biology of Birds, First Floor, Section 19). 98 European cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of another bird. The young cuckoo pushes out the other nest- lings. Here a garden warbler pushes food down the throat of the much larger young cuckoo (Biol- ogy of Birds, First Floor, Section 19). . The Whitney Wing (Section 19) The Whitney Wing of the Museum was built in the 1930s as a joint gift of Harry Payne Whitney and the City of New York. It is wholly occupied by the Museum’s Department of Ornithology. Two of the seven floors of the wing are devoted to public exhibits. Sanford Hall of Bird Biology (First Floor, Section 19) The Sanford Memorial Hall of Bird Biology is devoted to exhibits illustrating the structure, descent, classification, and behavior of birds and their relation to man. The exhibits deal with fundamental scientific problems. There are also examples of all the families of birds from penguins to finches. A large exhibit of tropical water birds in flight against a sunset sky faces the entrance of the hall, and a number of other habitat exhibits show beautiful and spectacular birds, extinct species such as the dodo, and certain extraordinary aspects of reproductive behavior. A number of remarkable fossil birds are exhibited. Among them is the toothed swimming bird, Hesperornis, which lived in the age of dinosaurs sixty million years ago. Some bones and an egg of Aepyornis, the so-called *‘elephant- bird,’’ are shown. This bird was the heaviest known, weighing about 1000 pounds. With it is shown the skeleton of a hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world. Other exhibits in the hall display aspects of bird life, such as evolution, distribution, and migration. One alcove depicts the cultural and economic value of birds to man. oD Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds (Second Floor, Section 19) The displays in the Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds represent the bird life of far-flung islands of the Pacific Ocean, from the Arctic nearly to the Antarctic and from the coast of Peru to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. The painted backgrounds are all the work of one artist, the late Francis Lee Jaques. The spectator has the illusion that he is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean viewing scenes in every direction for hundreds or even thousands of miles. From a common horizon linking the painted backgrounds of the habitat groups, the sky appears to rise above the exhibits to the blue dome forming the ceiling. Suspended from this sky are examples of oceanic birds in flight. In the hall are many of the world’s most remarkable birds—the rare honey- creeper of Hawaii, the extinct moa of New Zealand, the unique tooth-billed pigeon of Samoa. The habitat groups in which these birds are shown depict many of the romantic or historic islands of the Pacific—the Marquesas Islands where Melville’s Typee was located, Corregidor and Guadalcanal of World War II fame, the Galapagos islands that were visited by Darwin in 1835. Birds of New York City (Third Floor, Section 13) Despite the great congestion of buildings in the New York metropolitan area, a large variety of birds is still to be seen there. The number of nesting species is dwindling, however, as more and more marshes and other favorable habitats fall before the spread of business and residential construction. This very restriction of habitat, though, leads to some remarkable concentrations of migratory birds. Central Park in particular has long been favored in this respect, and over 200 species of birds have been recorded in this oasis of greenery in mid-Manhattan. The exhibit, located next to the Hall of North American Birds, includes most of the more than 300 species of birds that are known to occur with reasonable regularity in the New York area. Roosevelt Sanctuary Group (First Floor, Section 12) In the entrance hall of the Roosevelt Memorial Building on the first floor is a group showing many of the summer birds found in the Theodore Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary at Oyster Bay, Long Island, an area now administered by the National Audubon Society. Hall of Birds of the World (Second Floor, Section 2) Birds live in all parts of the world, from mountaintops to the high seas, as is apparent in the Hall of the Birds of the World. The habitat groups show a great variety of birds of all sizes, colors, and habits. Their attributes are the result of adaptation to all sorts of environments. The habitat groups show 100 “s Greater bird of paradise in Papua, New Guinea. Once killed by the thousands for their beautiful feathers, the birds are now protected (Oceanic Birds, Second Floor, Section 19). Varied seabirds on a cliff on Little Diomede Island in Bering Sea. Murres, ] guillemots, puffins, auklets, gulls, and cormorants come here each summer to | lay their eggs and rear their young (Oceanic Birds, Second Floor, Section 19). Swainson’s hawk, still quite young, practices flapping its wings until it is strong enough to fly and catch prey for itself (Biology of Birds, First Floor, Section 19). 102 Brandt’s cormorant with its young at a nest- ing site near Monterey, California (North American Birds, Third Floor, Section 1). Little blue heron stand- ing at its nest in the Cuthbert Rookery of the Everglades National Park (North American Birds, Third Floor, Section 1). such birds as king penguins on the frozen shores of South Georgia Island in the Antarctic, cranes assembled at a lake in the Gobi Desert (collected by Roy Chapman Andrews of dinosaur-egg fame), scintillating copper pheasants on the lower slopes of Fujiyama in Japan. Birds are certainly among the most noticeable and attractive of living crea- tures. Like man, they are active by day and their sight and hearing are the most important of the five senses. Because of these traits they are easier to study than many other living things. Chapman Hall of North American Birds (Third Floor, Section 1) The Chapman Hall of North American Birds, on the third floor, was built in the early 1900s under the guidance of Frank M. Chapman. It was the first hall in any museum in the world devoted to the habitat type of group display. The hall was renovated during the 1960s, but many of the exhibits are essentially the same as when they were first installed. | The hall exhibits many of the species that comprise the rich bird life of North America. Large, dramatic, and endangered species are featured, although there are intimate displays of warblers and other smaller birds. The hall contains the world’s only habitat exhibit of the extinct labrador duck, of which fewer than fifty specimens exist in the collections of the world. Among the dwindling or endangered species included are the American, or bald, eagle, the peregrine falcon, the California condor, and the whooping crane. 103 Other Exhibits Various other exhibits in the Museum contain birds. For example, the Nile River Group in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals (Second Floor, Section 13) contains a fine specimen of the rare and remarkable shoebill, or whale-headed, stork. In the balcony of the same hall is a group showing a family of ostriches, the young just hatching from huge eggs, the parents concerned with the approach of a group of wart hogs—enemies of the eggs and young. Nearby is a group depicting vultures and other scavengers at the carcass of a zebra. Young ostrich just after hatching in the Ostrich-Wart Hog Group of the African Hall Gallery (Third Floor, Section 13). Mammalogy : — en MAMMALOGY A mammal is a warm-blooded, backboned animal with fur or hair. The young are fed with milk by the mother. Mice, cats, dogs, horses, elephants, whales, monkeys, and men are mammals. Birds, snakes, frogs, turtles, and fishes all have backbones but are not mammals—they have neither fur nor hair nor do they nurse their young with milk. The Department of Mammalogy is devoted to the study of mammals—clas- sification, development (including growth and size), distribution, adaptation to environment, abundance, and many other areas of research. Field and laboratory investigations are reported in both scientific and popular publications. The department is also responsible for the accuracy of the mammals in exhibits in the various halls, where representative mammals from all parts of the world are shown in the environments in which they live. Natural habitat exhibits have a multiple purpose: the visitor sees the animal at home, he appreciates the relationship between the environment and the kind of creature that can live in it, and he should realize the necessity of preserving such environ- ments if the animals themselves are not to be driven out of existence. Thus the aims of both education and conservation are served. Musk oxen, with long, dense fur and hair, are especially adapted to live in cold climates (North American Mammals, First Floor, Section 13). Minks, members of the weasel family, are ranch-raised for their valuable fur (Cor- ridor of Small Mammals, First Floor, Section 13). Hall of North American Mammals (First Floor, Section 13) The varied environments and habitats of North America are shown in the displays of the larger mammals. The cold of the tundra, home of caribou and musk-ox, the craggy peaks where mountain goats and mountain sheep dwell, and the vast evergreen forests inhabited by moose exemplify some of the northern regions. Brown bears are shown in Alaska at a salmon stream, grizzlies at the edge of a canyon in Yellowstone National Park, and black bears in the cypress swamps of Florida. The vast herds of bison that once covered the western plains together with fleet pronghorn antelope are exhibited in the center of the hall. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is the setting for the mountain lion group, while America’s largest cats, jaguars, are shown at dusk in arid Sonora, Mexico. A much smaller cat, the lynx, is shown tracking a snowshoe hare in Canada. Closer to home, white-tailed deer are exhibited in a setting near New York City, while the mule deer and the wapiti are displayed in typical western settings. In the corridors on the sides of the hall other characteristic North American species—coyotes, beavers, skunks, squirrels, opossums, foxes, porcupines, rac- coons, and jackrabbits—are shown in typical habitats. At one end of the hall an illuminated map shows the migration routes taken in past ages by animals moving between Asia and North America. At the other end of the hall, two miniature dioramas show animal life of North America in ages past. 107 MASS we AR hi Indian leopard. Both Indian and African leopards eat large birds such as this pea- fowl and mammals such as wild pigs and gazelles (Asian Mammals, Second Floor, Section 9). Corridor of Small North American Mammals (First Floor, Section 7) Many of the smaller and uniquely American mammals are displayed in this corridor in small habitat settings. Some of the more valued fur-bearers—mink, wolverine, marten, and muskrat—are exhibited in settings from the Canadian tundra to the Louisiana marshes. The black-footed ferret, one of the rarest and most endangered of American mammals, is shown peering into the burrow of its principal prey, the prairie dog, while nearby the common woodchuck of the eastern United States peers watchfully over the hillsides of upstate New York. North America has a wide diversity of natural habitats, and the mammals living in them vary as well. The nine-banded armadillo, an invader from the south, and the piglike peccary are shown in warm southwestern habitats. In cooler areas are a flying squirrel in the northern Rockies and a Kaibab squirrel on snow-laden pines in northern Arizona. Among the other habitats displayed here are Mount Katahdin in Maine, 108 the first place in the United States touched by sunrise each morning, Crater Lake in Oregon, the Grand Tetons of Wyoming, and Death Valley, California; these are the homes of weasels, martens, badgers, and kit foxes. Vernay—Faunthorpe Hall of South Asiatic Mammals (Second Floor, Section 9) In South Asia man’s huge populations and wildlife have come sharply in conflict, and as a result, the future existence of many species is in doubt. In the Vernay— Faunthorpe Hall are a number of these gravely threatened mammals, including the tiger, the Indian and Sumatran rhinoceroses, the Asiatic lion, the leopard, and Eld’s deer. Some have been decimated by hunting, but most are now threatened by the destruction of the habitat they need for survival. Among these are several kinds of deer and antelope, including sambar, swamp deer, and blackbuck. Asia has also been the source of many domesticated mammals. The wild water buffalo, the gaur, and the banteng each have domestic relatives, and the Asiatic elephants have long been domesticated for use in the lumber industry and for ceremonial occasions. Among the more unusual Asiatic mammals in this hall are the four-horned antelope and the termite-eating sloth bear. Akeley Hall of African Mammals (Second Floor, Section 13) Africa today is the home of vast assemblages of large and fascinating mammals. The diverse habitats—desert, forest, savannah—are occupied by particular species, some of which still occur in huge numbers. The Akeley African Hall displays the fauna and flora of many of these regions with startling and dramatic accuracy. Gemsbok, once widely distributed in south- ern Africa, are now common only in dry parts of the Kalahari Desert (African Mam- mals, Second Floor, Section 13). | African lions in the Serengeti. They prefer the open country where there is long grass for cover and game is plentiful (African Mammals, Second Floor, Section 13). Some of the numerous species of antelopes are exemplified by the greater kudu with spiraled horns, the gemsbok with its rapierlike horns, and the giant sable with gracefully curved horns. The Serengeti Plains group shows a mixture of hoofed animals in a natural gathering—zebras, eland, wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, topi, and Coke’s hartebeest—sheltering under acacia trees to escape the midday sun. Mountain gorillas in their high humid habitat, okapis in the low rain forest, and bongo in bamboo forest are examples of the fauna of these regions. Lions, mountain nyala, and giant eland are shown in typical habitats in drier regions. The Nile group and the water hole group each show representative species congregating to drink, including giraffes, kob, zebras, waterbuck, lechwe, and roan antelope, as well as some that make their homes in or near water such as the sitatunga and hippopotamus. 110 Gorilla shown in a clearing of the dense rain forest of the Kivu Mountains (African Mammals, Second Floor, Section 13). checks odor with its extended trunk, while another checks the rear (African | East African elephants, alert to danger, huddle to protect the young. One | Mammals, Second Floor, Section 13). The center of the hall is dominated by a herd of African elephants in alert formation. The great bull’s trunk is raised to test the air for scent, while a younger animal wheels about to cover the rear of the herd from possible attack. Akeley African Hall Gallery (Third Floor, Section 13) From the Gallery of the Akeley Hall one can look down on the African elephant herd as if in a machan—the tree platform so frequently used for observation in Africa. Around the hall are habitat groups of many intriguing mammals, including both kinds of African rhinoceroses—the square-lipped and the black. The fastest of the cat family, the cheetah, is shown alertly watching some nyala in the background. Another cat, the leopard, stalks a bush pig at a river’s edge. Reticulated giraffes and oryxes at 112 a water hole, where plains animals gather to drink during the dry seasc (African Mammals, Second Floor, Section 13). Tree-living langur from southeastern Asia (Biology of Primates, Third Floor, Section 2). At dusk several chimpanzees start constructing their nightly sleeping plat- forms, while deep in the central rain forest a band of bright-faced mandrills forages on the ground. In another treetop group a troop of colobus monkeys, dramatically colored black and white, feeds on vegetation. In a South African setting, a herd of springbuck ‘‘pronks’’ by the now-rare black wildebeest and blesbok. In the Serengeti of Tanzania, scavengers assemble over a Zebra kill—vultures, hyenas, and jackals will make short work of the carcass. Hall of the Biology of Primates (Third Floor, Section 2) Man, apes, and monkeys all belong to the same group—the primates. With mounted animals, skeletons, and diagrams, the Hall of the Biology of Primates shows the range of specialization of primates from tree shrews to man. Lemurs and tree shrews are considered primitive primates. Lemurs are found primarily in Madagascar, and some of them, such as the aye-aye, are endangered species because their forests have been destroyed. Of the several monkey families, two are from South America: the marmosets and the cebids. Some of the latter have a prehensile tail, most developed in ‘such groups as the spider monkeys. The Old World monkeys have many charac- teristics in common that are not found in New World monkeys. They have specializations for leaf-eating and ground-dwelling, they have bare patches of skin over the bones on which they sit, and none uses its tail as a fifth hand. The apes—chimpanzees and gorillas from Africa, orangutans and gibbons from Asia—are the primates most closely related to man. Exhibits in the hall show the evolutionary development of the structures, reproductive systems, kinds of locomotion, and habits of the primates. | impanzee, from equatorial Af- a, is chiefly vegetarian but will 115 1 and eat some small animals dlogy of Primates, Third Floor, tion 2). ; ri i" LITT J aie ' ? _— ~*~ a Be lk, a Blue whale is the largest living mammal. The model weighs ten and a half tons; a real animal this size would weigh 100 tons (Hall of Ocean Life, First Floor, Section 10). Other Exhibits The Hall of the Biology of Man (First Floor, Section 4) shows further details of the evolutionary development of man. The Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10), dominated by the great model of a blue whale, shows habitat groups of many mammals living in marine environments. 116 ANIMAL BEHAVIOR Most visitors are unaware that the Museum houses a large laboratory devoted entirely to the study of living animals. This is the Department of Animal Behavior, located on the Sixth and Seventh Floors of the African Wing and on the Fifth Floor of the School Service Building. Although these areas of the Museum are not open to the general public, they are used by high-school, college, and graduate students for training in the methods of studying animal behavior. The staff of the department is also available for consultation when important problems concerning animal behavior arise. About four decades ago, Museum authorities in their deliberations concern- ing Museum policy decided that while a major function of the institution would continue to be the census, classification, and structure of animals, the relationship of the various animals to each other and to their surroundings was an equally important endeavor. Museum scientists should investigate and exhibit not only what animals do, but also why and how they behave as they do. Thus the Department of Animal Behavior was established so that specialists in animal psychology and biology could study these aspects of natural history, be available for consultation in the planning of new exhibits, and participate in various training programs. Hand-feeding a mealworm to a starling. The bird was taking part in an experi- ment on vision. Much can be learned by the scientist when he observes how animals behave in their natural surroundings. Field studies, however, have very definite limita- tions. It is generally difficult, for example, to rearrange the surroundings so that a given aspect of behavior can be studied reliably. Laboratory study offers an opportunity to follow up, to supplement, or to correct ideas developed in the field. Also, many important problems must be brought into the laboratory if they are to be studied at all. For example, some species of fish live in water so muddy that they can be seen only when the seine brings them to the surface. They can be collected in the field, but their way of life remains hidden except to laboratory study. For reasons such as these, the Department of Animal Behavior has a laboratory designed to keep animals alive and in good health so that their behavior can be observed and analyzed under suitable conditions. A large greenhouse situated on the roof has aquariums for warm-water fishes and facilities for other tropical animals. There are nest quarters for birds; there are rooms with controlled lighting so that animals can be placed in reversed daylight cy- cles—thus nocturnal animals can be studied during the day. There are special heat- and humidity-controlled rooms and other means of regulating surroundings to meet the conditions needed for each type of animal and problem. Scientist examines a male mouth-breeding fish used in studies of reproductive behavior. The departmental program is focused upon the important problem of behavior development in the individual and in the species and upon the evolution of behavior. Physiological mechanisms involving brain, nerves, glands, and hor- mones are studied along with social factors, previous experience, and the general influence of an animal’s surroundings upon its behavior. All of these affect the animal's behavior to some extent—the question is how. Somewhat as the evolution of animals is reflected in changes from simple to more complex struc- tures, we find among animals an evolution of behavior from the simple, forced movements characteristic of one-celled forms to the elaborate behavior patterns and mental capacities characteristic of mammals and man. For a proper under- standing of the evolution of behavior it is necessary to study a variety of behavior patterns in very different animals. Thus, as the departmental program progresses, living quarters are provided for many types of animal under study, including mollusks, insects, fishes, amphibians, birds, and various species of mammals. Gray spiny-backed mice in a simulated environment in the laboratory. These mice are born at an advanced stage of development, unlike laboratory or house mice, to which they are related. >, 0 2 = 5 =e <— > eS, > x ANTHROPOLOGY Anthropology is both a natural and a social science in that it deals with man as a biological and as a social creature. To treat the various aspects of so vast a subject, the field is divided into four scientific disciplines: physical anthropology, archeology, ethnology, and linguistics. Physical anthropology studies man’s evolution, the classification of the past and present racial variations of man, and all aspects of human biology. It studies the cultural and environmental factors that shape the physical characteris- tics of a population. Ethnology is the science of culture, that body of learned behavior including all of man’s knowledge, beliefs, and customs, his social organization, institutions, and crafts. Archeology analyzes the artifacts of ancient cultures. Working with objects whose material is imperishable, such as tools, pottery, and building foundations, the archeologist attempts to reconstruct cultures of remote times. The fourth specialty, linguistics, is the scientific analysis of language and the laws controlling it. While these four fields are separate, they are closely interconnected. They augment and amplify each other, while offering four perspectives upon their common subject, man. The research interests of the anthropologists on the Museum’s staff reveal the breadth of the field. They range from the study of man’s prehuman ancestors to an investigation of the Indian caste system as it relates to certain sociological and economic factors. They include the ancient cultures of Mexico and Peru, as well as the primitive cultures of today, and the effect upon them of increasing contact with modern civilization. Baby is born head-first through the narrow pelvic opening into a doctor’s hands (Biology of Man, First Floor, Section 4). Heads of man’s ancestors show the changes of skull structure. The heads are re- constructed from fossil fragments and therefore the features can only be surmised (Biology of Man, First Floor, Section 4). Biology of Man (First Floor, Section 4) The Hall of the Biology of Man presents man as a species—his relationships to other members of the animal kingdom, his evolutionary history, and his functions as an organism. Man belongs to the zoological order of primates, which also includes prosi- mians (lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies), monkeys, and apes. The order falls into the larger categories of mammals and vertebrates. The earliest primates presently known existed in the last part of the Cretaceous Period, at the time of the last dinosaurs (64-60 million years ago), but their fossil remains consist of no more than a few teeth. The earliest primate of which some anatomical knowledge is known is Plesiadapis, a primitive form that lived in North America and Europe during the Paleocene (64-58 million years ago). Plesiadapis was rather squirrellike in many of its adaptations and possessed front teeth similar to those of modern rodents. During the Eocene (58-36 million years ago) much more modern primates lived, in many ways similar to the present lemurs. By Oligocene times (36-25 million years ago) the first of the higher primates had appeared. All the fossils of Oligocene higher primates were found in the Fayum depression in the Egyptian desert, which contains both monkeylike primates and a primitive ancestral ape. 123 The ancestors of the modern apes were well established by the Miocene (25—14 million years ago), but not until the very end of the Miocene and the beginning of the Pliocene (14-5 million years ago) were there primates that can be included in the zoological family of man, Hominidae. Only fossil fragments of this form, Ramapithecus, have been found, but the pieces of jaws and teeth show that Ramapithecus is of, or close to, the ancestry of man. Comparative studies of these early teeth and jaws and living primates show that the line leading to man probably differentiated from that culminating in modern apes because its members adopted a new set of feeding habits, especially in that they ate small, tough morsels that required strong teeth for grinding before ingestion. It is unlikely that Ramapithecus was an erect biped; certainly the enlargement of the brain that characterizes modern man took place at a much later date. A few remains of Australopithecus from the beginning of the Pleistocene (about two million years ago) have been found in South and East Africa. Aus- tralopithecus probably walked erect, but its brain was much smaller than man’s (about 500 cubic centimeters, the size of a modern gorilla). It manufactured stone tools, an important step in development. At some time during the Middle Pleistocene (less than a million years ago) members of man’s genus, but of a different species, began to appear. Brain size has grown since Homo erectus, but the oldest remains of his limb skeleton are virtually indistinguishable from those of modern man. Men of the ‘“‘Neandertaloid’’ type existed later, with large brains but still possessing archaic skull features. The picture of the emergence of modern man is still unclear, but men of a completely modern type appear to have evolved in the Near East and spread into Europe about 30,000 years ago. Human occupation of North America was much more recent. Man as a biological organism is discussed in neal in the hall. Man is made up of combinations of different kinds of cells, which have different func- tions. The resultant systems interact and function to maintain a viable human being. The muscles and skeleton together provide support and protection for the body, and the ability to move. The nervous system, controlled by the brain, controls responses to stimuli of all sorts—including the senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Man has many glands, which together form the endocrine system. Glands send out secretions called hormones to various parts of the body to regulate the development and functioning of the organs. The pituitary gland controls many functions, especially physical growth and sexual development. Other impor- tant glands are the thyroid, the pancreas, the adrenals, and the gonads. The digestive tract is composed of a long tubelike structure and various accessory organs. The muscular action and the chemicals of the stomach break 125 nsparent model of a woman showing the internal organs and structures iology of Man, First Floor, Section 4). down food, sending what remains through the intestines. Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream, wastes are sent to the bladder and lower intestine for excretion. The kidneys and liver aid in these processes. Through the respiratory system, air is taken into the lungs and oxygen is sent into the bloodstream. The circulatory system sends oxygenated blood, pumped by the heart, to all parts of the body, where the oxygen and nutrients are used and the blood is sent back for replenishment. All of these body functions are detailed in the hall, and the various systems are brought together in their anatomical context by a transparent model of a woman, in which all the components are precisely located. Human reproduction is accomplished by the joining of a male cell (sperm) with a female cell (ovum). The embryo grows in the female uterus and is born after forty weeks. The hall shows the stages in this intrauterine development and shows how the baby is born. Other Exhibits The Hall of Primates (Third Floor, Section 2) shows the immediate ancestors of man. of a kidney, showing the fine network of capillaries and neph- rons, necessary for fil- tration (Biology of Man, First Floor, Section 4). Enlarged cross section Bronze sculpture from Dahomey in west Africa. A court procession is accompa- nied by aband playing musical instruments (Man in Africa, Second Floor, Section 1). Man in Africa (Second Floor, Section 1) Although the Man in Africa Hall deals largely with the past, it can help to give a better understanding of the present by showing the heritage that remains and influences the character of new nations and that, in the New World, gives Afro-Americans an individuality of their own. Present evidence suggests that man had a very early beginning in Africa more than two million years ago and may have first appeared there. As man’s brain developed, his cultural behavior began to specialize, and he started to make tools. He had to adapt to the environment in order to serve his own needs, and his social evolution resulted in response to this adaptation. A band of men, which is small and able to change composition and size, best meets the needs of a hunting, nomadic society, where the family is the only social unit. When man begins to cultivate land, his whole social life changes radically because he settles in one place. Africa has such a multitude of environments that adaptation to them took on many forms. Man had to relate to the desert, the forest, the grasslands, and the river valleys. The hall is separated into sections dealing with each of these. The nomadic existence on the desert depends on seasonal variations that 127 Berber desert nomads, who live near the Atlas Mountains of Morocco (Man in Africa, Second Floor, Section 1). may place water and food sources far apart. Water shortage has led to several forms of cooperative organization, as has the unifying influence of Islam, which has spread far since the Holy War in the seventh century. Nomadic Kalahari Desert Bushmen are shown in the hall. Their severely simple life sharply contrasts with the richness of their dream world. The rain forest stretches from coastal Guinea to the central Congo and the edge of the eastern grasslands. The first hunters and gatherers in this area lived in harmony with the forest. Later immigrants, accustomed to open country, felt threatened by the forest and cut it down to allow sunlight to reach their crops and ward off evil. Men living in the forest rely on many aspects of spiritualism to give meaning to their lives. Kings rule by virtue of descent from semidivine ancestors. Masks and other sacred objects impart power through divinity. Music is the prime means by which the living can commune with the spirit world. Dance reinforces traditional beliefs and values, even on occasions that appear purely festive. Magic is a science, both for prevention of harm and for its cure. Tribal doctors know many effective medicines, and even their ‘‘charms’” are helpful because they offer a needed sense of security to the 128 be 4 all ~ 3 ‘* ts ee i rolls ae P : . ee a te es Sade hi Be gtr \ ’ tw Pygmy youths from the Congo area will not grow to more than four and a half feet tall. They live and hunt in traveling bands (Man in Africa, Second Floor, Section 1). patient. Different objects showing the spiritual aspect of African life are shown in the hall. Farming in the forest is arduous, as new fields must be cleared. But organiza- tion is not required, and so the villages are autonomous. Common crops such as manioc, beans, plantains, and peanuts deplete the fields in two or three years. Because of their oil palm cultivation, which does not deplete the soil, the Mangbetu have retained the centralized state organization with which they settled their area over 1000 years ago. The Bira and the Lele fear the forest as a hostile world that perpetually hinders their efforts at cultivation. To defend themselves against competing neighbors and evil forest spirits, they use magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. Ritual propitiation of the forest, and the water in the case of fishermen, is vital for cultivation and hunting. One diorama shows a band of Mbuti pygmies, where each member of the group has a specific job depending on his age and sex; the hunting and gathering is a cooperative effort. The grasslands, mostly in east and south Africa, were formerly occupied 129 by nomadic hunters. The land is now divided between farmers and herders, each scorning the other’s way of life. Herders usually remain loosely organized, whereas the cultivators have sometimes organized into powerful, complex states. Traditional African society is based on kinship—from the family to the clan to the tribe, with a single imaginary ancestor. A strong central authority rose with an expanding population and an increasingly complex social organiza- tion based on agriculture. The chief eventually becomes king. Women have an important place in farming, government, and ritual, where they are the diviners and doctors who influence the fertility of the earth. Economic and political prestige and authority are enjoyed by women all over Africa. Inheritance is frequently through the female line. A large exhibit details the role of women. A group of grassland herders, the Pokot of northwest Kenya, are shown bleeding a calf. The blood is used for food. Africa’s river valleys have always been important. Civilizations flourished along the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, and the Zambesi because the rivers sim- plified trade and travel and the rich riverbanks produced surpluses for the settled farming communities leading to economic specialization and political expansion. Behind a facade of autocratic rule, the Niger kingdoms were essentially democra- tic. Along the Zambesi the Zulu state developed mostly through conquest, and the Lozi grew more gradually through riverine farm bases. States rose in the Congo Basin bringing unity and peace, cultivating the arts, and creating splendid royal courts. Dynastic Egypt on the Nile relied on agriculture with a good annual surplus to support the many nonfarming groups such as priests and craftsmen. Pharaoh was deified but was outside the social Bira man paints his body to resemble the sacred leo- pard for a male initiation ceremony deep in the for- est (Man in Africa, Second Floor, Section 1). * / SS ; a _v > i » NU | \\ ys i gil | Masks are used for many functions, usually to sym- bolize a person, animal, god, or emotion. Shown here is aSenufo mask used for rites ina women’s so- ciety (Man in Africa, Second Floor, Section 1). hierarchy that characterized the state. Social mobility was common, and men of humble origins often rose to key posts. Ethiopia is a Christian country, but the religion has retained its archaic form somewhat resembling Eastern Orthodoxy. Regionalism and warfare, due to rough, irregular terrain, marked Ethiopian development until unity in the nineteenth century. Africans transported to the Americas as slaves brought elements of African culture with them, and some traditions are still apparent today in the southern United States. The institution of slavery in North America tried to undermine African tradition by dividing families and destroying cultural patterns. However, much of what is African, particularly the broad concept of family with its focus on the mother, has been retained by the Black American as part of his own identity. Other Exhibits The Akeley Hall of African Mammals (Second Floor, Section 13) shows the variety of landscapes and animals found on the African continent. 131 Peoples of the Pacific (Fourth Floor, Section 8) The Hall of the Peoples of the Pacific shows the remarkable diversity of cultures found in the South Seas. The people of these areas may once have been related, but their geographical distance from one another led to great variations. The main cultural areas represented in the hall are Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Polynesians, ‘*people of the many islands,’’ was the name given by European navigators to the tall, golden-skinned people found on every habitable island from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south and Easter Island in the east. Polynesian origins have long been a subject of controversy. Earlier theories of their voyages from the Asian mainland or from the Americas have been replaced by the current feeling that they developed some 2000 years ago in eastern Melanesia and were subsequently dispersed. Polynesian groups were remarkably similar both racially and culturally. Many had been separated for so long that they did not know of each other’s existence, yet many spoke mutually intelligible languages and shared the same myths. Such myths attributed their origins to an emergence through a long series of births from paired personifications of natural forces or to long evolution- ary sequences. Masks made of local materials from New Ireland, an island of the Bismarck archi- pelago east of New Guinea (Peoples of the Pacific, Fourth Floor, Section 8). The basis of social organization was descent groups, and chieftainships were based on genealogical descent and relationships to sacred places of the ancestral gods. Political organization responded flexibly to differences in land and population sizes. Gods and men, objects, and descent groups were ranked and had mana, supernatural efficacy, in different degrees. A system of tapu— from which the English word taboo derives—governed the respect demanded for them. Polynesian religion was based upon a belief in an ordered universe; if the order were violated, disaster would result, if it were observed, prosperity would reign. Technology was primarily based on wood, with a great dependence on the coconut palm. Material for clothing was made of the beaten bark of the paper mulberry. Yams, taro, and sweet potatoes were grown with only a digging stick for a tool. Clubs, spears, and axes were used in warfare. There was some variation of the homogenous culture patterns of the people. Each island culture had its special extravagances: the enormous stone statues of the Easter Islands (a cast of one is at the back of the hall); the clubs and paddles of the Cooks and Australs that were carved beyond the possibility of use; the feather capes of the Hawaiians, woven of pairs of wing feathers plucked Black snake totem burial ceremony of the Warramunga tribe in Australia (Peoples of the Pacific, Fourth Floor, Section 8). from individual birds that were then released; the elaborate Samoan kava cere- monial; the dried tattooed human heads from New Zealand. All of these are shown in the hall. Micronesians, ‘‘people of the small islands’’ (about 2500 islands west of Polynesia and north of Melanesia), are a brown-skinned people much more diversified than the Polynesians. Status defined by well-established lineage was the political base, with descent rigidly fixed through the female line. Leadership was vested in membership in high-ranking lineages. Land was owned collectively by descent groups or, in cases of unused land or unlimited reefs or lagoons, by districts. Scattered homesteads or small hamlets were the rule. The inhabitants of the high islands—Saipan, Truk, Ponape, Guam, and some large islands like Yap—had fertile land and ample resources for farming and fishing. Those who lived on the low islands—the tiny windswept atolls —depended more on fishing and coconuts. The coconut had many uses. Dried coconut meat was drained of oil, making copra, which was used for cooking. Copra-making is now a substantial industry in the Pacific—the oil is also used as a cosmetic base. The fibers of the coconut were braided into rope called sennit. Melanesians, “‘black islanders,’’ was the name given to the dark-skinned peoples of New Guinea and surrounding islands, east as far as Fiji and north to the Bismarck Archipelago. Nowhere else is there such diversity of culture, language, religion, and physical type. New Guinea itself has a population of about two million people speaking more than 500 different languages, and the rest of the area numbers only another two million. Political authority rarely extended beyond very small units of clan, ward, or village. ‘‘Big Men’’ achieved status through mobilization of food for extensive feasts. Magic and sorcery were highly developed, and the division between men and women was particularly strong. Pigs formed the basis of feasting and wealth, except where turtles and large sea mammals were sometimes avail- able. Beyond such similarities, the differences in the cultures were staggering. Some aspects of many of them are shown in the hall. A scale model of Pere, a village in Manus, is a microcosm of one of these culture patterns. It shows the fishing village exactly as it appeared in the 1920s. The people have since moved from living in stilt houses in the lagoon to houses on the land. The first aborigines settled in Australia at least 26,000 years ago, having traveled over water from Southeast Asia. They have always hunted, especially with the boomerang and spear-thrower, and collected wild foods rather than farmed. Group decisions, particularly when involving conflicts and marriage arrangements, are made largely on the basis of known kin relationships, which also guide daily decisions about sharing food and locating camps. All Australian aborigines share a belief in sorcery, and most groups have 134 Hawaiian feather cape. The crescents represent the rainbow, symbol of the aristocrats who wore these capes (Peoples of the Pacific, Fourth Floor, Section 8). Wooden feast bowl carved by Maoris in New Zealand (Peoples of the Pacific, Fourth Floor, Section 8). individuals who practice white or black magic or both. The people have a variety of rituals, myths, music, and visual arts. Myth is fused with religious life, so that many rituals are reenactments, set to song and dance, of mythical events. The two great archipelagic regions of Indonesia and the Philippines have contributed significantly to the long, complex history of Asia. Today, almost all the area of the two archipelagos makes up the modern republics of the same name. In the past, the peoples shared the same traditions, which have now evolved into ones specific to the various regions. Many aspects of their life style are similar. Agriculture has long been practiced, especially cereals and root crops. Rice, grown both in dry fields and on irrigated terraces, is the staple food. Rice cultivation provided a base for specialization of work, stratification of society, and elaboration of architecture and ceremonies. Religion was characterized by a close communication between the spirits of the living and the dead. Social differentiation was determined by wealth and family rank. Such implements as the kris and bolo were common throughout, with both Indic and Islamic styles of manufacture and design. Textiles, especially the batik process, were important both economically and culturally. Examples of these arts are on display. The peoples of the Pacific are still sharing many cultural and economic similarities. They are all facing the impact of Western civilization and its encroachment on traditional values. Other Exhibits Landscapes of many of the Pacific Islands are shown in the habitat groups of the Hall of Oceanic Birds (Second Floor, Section 19). ih oa SSD KS) ‘ EAS) ) CY) ra (Ha) ~) 3, Shadow puppet from Bali. Made of leather, such puppets cast their shadows on a screen during dramatic presentations (Peoples of the Pacific, Fourth Floor, Section 8). Eskimo (First Floor, Section 7) The Eskimo live in small groups scattered over the arctic and subarctic coasts and islands of Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the eastern tip of Siberia. They now number less than 40,000. The earliest known Eskimo ancestors lived on the shores of the Bering Sea at least 5000 years ago. Their cultural remains, consisting of hundreds of small flint tools discovered at Cape Denbigh, Alaska, are known as the Denbigh Flint Complex. The principal roots of modern Eskimo culture rose in the Bering Strait region of Alaska about 2000 years ago. The Thule phase of Eskimo culture developed about 1000 years ago on the arctic coast of Alaska. It spread rapidly across arctic Canada to Greenland, resulting in considerable similarity of Eskimo customs and language. The traditional culture portrayed in this hall is a way of life that existed until the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It has since changed in many ways due to contact with the dominant cultures of Denmark, Canada, the United States, and Russia. Characteristic traits of that culture are a response to the challenge of the harsh arctic environment—dependence on sea mammals, use of dogsleds and skin-covered boats, a religion centering on the powers and rites of shamans, and other traits depicted in the hall. Interior of a Copper Eskimo snowhouse. Air is heated as it rises to the platform where the occupants live (Eskimo, First Floor, Section 7). The Eskimo tribes of Canada, with the exception of the Mackenzie, are collectively called the Central Eskimo. The Yuit, Alaskan, and Mackenzie are the Western Eskimo, and the Greenland Eskimo are lumped together. There are some cultural differences among the groups, but the similarities are more important. The Eskimo lead migratory lives because of the effect of seasonal variations on game, on which they rely for almost all aspects of life. Sea mammals and caribou are used for food and clothing. Seals are harpooned from kayaks or through their breathing holes in the ice; walrus are lured to the edge of the ice; caribou are driven toward concealed hunters or into a lake or river where they are killed with lances. Kayaks, an excellent example of which is shown in the hall, are made from pieces of driftwood and walrus hide. The Greenland and Western Eskimo made special waterproof clothing and fitted the jacket over the rim of the manhole of the kayak; the boat could be overturned and righted again without shipping water. Dogsleds are used for traveling overland in winter. The runners of the sled are glazed with ice to reduce friction. The Central Eskimo live in snowhouses in winter; the Western and Greenland Eskimo use them as temporary shelters erected when traveling. A Copper Eskimo snowhouse model is in the hall. Fresh air enters the house through an entrance tunnel and rises to the level of the lamp where it is warmed. Stale air is released through a small hole in the roof. Thus, while the air at floor level is well below freezing, it is Eskimo art made of soapstone and ivory from a walrus tusk (Eskimo, First Floor, Section 7). 138 reasonably comfortable on the platform where people sit, work, and sleep. A block of freshwater ice is used for a window. Polar Eskimo houses of northern Greenland are made of stones covered by sod and another layer of stones. They are heated in the same way as the snowhouses. Traditional household utensils are made of various parts of sea mammals. Perhaps the most ingenious is the blubber lamp, an adaptation to an environment where wood is scarce. The lamp itself is made of soapstone. The heat from a lighted moss wick on the front edge of the lamp melts blubber placed to the rear, and oil flows forward to the wick. Most Eskimo clothing is made of caribou and seal skins. Caribou skins are preferred because they are strong, light, and have excellent insulating qualities. In winter the Eskimo wear an inner and outer set of clothes, generally similar in construction except that the inner set has hair facing inward to maintain a layer of warm air between the wearer and the outer wall of the garment. In summer the outer set is taken off. The distinctive skill of the Eskimo craftsman lies in his ability to produce weapons, clothing, boats, and other articles to cope with an extremely difficult environment using sparse raw materials and a few simple tools. Raw materials consist chiefly of pieces of driftwood and animal products such as bone, ivory, sinew, and hides. The joining together of small pieces of wood and bone by skillful pegging and lashing is characteristic of Eskimo craftsmanship. Carvings in stone, bone, ivory, and wood are known from prehistoric periods, but the production of sculpture increased on contact with Europeans who, appreciating their artistic and exotic nature, purchased them. Modern Eskimo produce sculpture and other works of art of noteworthy quality. Eskimo religion reflects the uncertainty of the food supply. Important deities, as well as the souls of animals, are believed to control the supply of game, and must be placated to assure success in hunting. Masks and drums are used in religious rites, and several are shown in the hall. Eskimo adaptation to a harsh environment involves a knowledge of nature and a set of techniques that have been developing for millenia. This traditional way of life is rapidly changing and nothing can save it. The Eskimo may survive and grow as a people, but the archetype of the self-reliant hunter living solely on the meager resources of the Arctic is from another era; it has disappeared in this one. Other Exhibits The marine mammals on which the Eskimo depended are shown in their icy habitats on the lower level of the Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10). Some of the land mammals are shown in the Hall of North American Mammals (First Floor, Section 13). 139 # Haida canoe hollowed from the trunk of a cedar tree (First Floor, Section 2). Northwest Coast Indians (First Floor, Section 1) The major part of the Northwest Coast geographic and cultural area lies along the coast of Canada and Alaska. The climate is mild, though, because the entire area is warmed by the southward-flowing offshore Japan Current. The seasonal rainfall is heavy, forests are dense, and there are many streams. The Indians who lived in the area shared many of the same cultural traits, and the hall points out these similarities, as well as the differences. The tribes of the area depended greatly on the wood and bark of the cedar tree for many uses, especially houses and canoes. The great 64% foot Haida war canoe in the Seventy-Seventh Street Lobby was hollowed from the trunk of a single cedar tree. Canoes of this size were used for war parties or for making ceremonial visits. The figures represent a chief of a neighboring tribe, the Chilkat, with his followers coming to share a feast. The paddlers are slaves from other tribes of the region. With their extraordinary skill in woodworking, Indians of the Northwest Coast made towering wood totem, grave, and house poles that are unique in aboriginal North America. The same skill, which produced original artistic styliza- tions, is found in the weaving, basketry, and carving of stone and ivory. Their clothes were woven of cedar bark, and the wood from these trees was used for many everyday objects. The Indians had an abundance of food in the ocean and streams and growing wild, and thus did not practice agriculture; dogs were the only domesticated 140 animals. The Indians were very dependent upon fishes and sea mammals for food. They had many religitous rites directed toward spirits of the sea, and they held a series of elaborate religious dramas during the winer. The Haida inhabited the Queen Charlotte Islands and the southern part of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. The Haida were almost totally dependent upon the sea, which was reflected in their religion. Most of their prayers and offerings were directed toward the ‘‘Ocean Beings,’’ who were believed to embody themselves in fishes and sea mammals and thus affect the food supply. The Haida traveled by sea from one end of the Northwest Coast to the other, adopting customs of other tribes. They had a unique skill in their carving of slate, however, into beautiful boxes, pipes, and miniature totems. The Tsimshian lived on the mainland of British Columbia, mainly on the Nass and Skeena Rivers. They became noted traders because they lived in a strategic location. The Tlingit to the north were the source of copper for the Northwest Coast; the Kwakiutl to the south traded slaves and the coveted dentalium shells; the Haida had sea otter furs. The Bella Coola lived on the upper reaches of Dean and Burke channels and the lower parts of the Bella Coola River in British Columbia. Their principal food was salmon, but berries, abundant in the summer, were pounded into a pulpy mass, dried in the sun, and eaten in the winter. Totem, grave, and house poles along the hall show grotesque human and animal forms (Northwest Coast Indians, First Floor, Section 1). - y \4 es Z x » x j 4 we X * | i Thompson women weaving a basket (left) and preparing the hide of an elk (right) (Northwest Coast Indians, First Floor, Section 1). The Thompson and Lillooet belonged to the plateau culture area to the east of the Northwest Coast. Culturally, these tribes were very different from those of the Northwest Coast. They ate land mammals, used less wood, and wore clothes of animal skins. Social and religious organization was much less elaborate than that of Northwest Coast tribes. The Lillooet were the intermediaries in the trade between the Northwest Coast and the interior, and thus were exposed to Northwest Coast culture patterns, some of which they adopted. A number of Salishan-speaking tribes inhabited the Northwest Coast from the Gulf of Georgia south to Oregon. All the tribes (the Comox, the Cowichan, the Klallam, the Quinault, the Snuqualmi, and the Twana) had cultural traits characteristic of the Northwest Coast to varying degrees. The Tlingit occupied the southeastern coast of Alaska from Yakutat Bay to British Columbia, except for the southern part of Prince of Wales Island, which was inhabited by the Haida. Slavery was prominent among the Tlingit; about one-third of the population was Coast Salish slaves. Tlingit ceremonies centered around the stages in the life of noble people, such as receiving names, coming of age, etc. Elaborate potlatches (a general term for a variety of cere- monies) were held, where a huge amount of valuable property would be destroyed or given away. In this way an individual would acquire social status for himself and his family. Although temporarily pauperized, he would soon become richer because gifts had to be returned with interest. 142 The Kwakiutl lived on the northern part of Vancouver Island and in adjacent areas. An outstanding feature of their culture was the Winter Ritual, an elaborate four-month ceremony that gained for uninitiated youths the protection of a super- natural being. Upon initiation the youths became members of the secret society, which was probably started by the Kwakiutl and spread throughout the Northwest Coast. The Nootka lived in independent villages on the west coast of Vancouver Island. No single leader or tribal council ruled them, but villages often united into confederacies for war or defense. Fishes and sea mammals were the basic food, but the Nootka were one of the few tribes that hunted for whales. Paintings of family gods and ancestors were executed on house fronts and board screens inside the houses of chiefs and heads of families; they were displayed only at ceremonies. Today the culture of the Northwest Coast Indians has largely disappeared. The Indians still live in their original villages, but in modern houses. They work in the local industries—fishing, lumbering, and canning. Many of their wooden artworks, especially the totem poles, have simply rotted in the wet weather. Indians of the Plains (Third Floor, Section 4) The Plains encompassed the territory from Canada to Texas between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. It was the home of such tribes as the Sioux, Apache, Blackfoot, Mandan, and Arapaho. The ancestors of the Plains Indians had inhabited the region for 10,000 years before the coming of the Europeans. The historical tribes were primarily hunters of the large herds of buffalo that were then plentiful. In the Eastern part of the area they also practiced agriculture. The Spaniards brought the horse to the New World and by the seventeenth century had established stock-raising setthements. The Indian tribes living nearby learned about horses, their equipment, and the techniques necessary for their use. The horse revolutionized buffalo hunting for the Indians. Instead of chasing the animals on foot, they were now able to pursue the herd on horseback. They also had greater mobility, as the horse could transport household equipment over long distances. Thus a new way of life was established, based on the horse and the hunting of big game, that reached its peak early in the nineteenth century. Then, as the European settlement extended westward, the efficient buffalo rifles of the newcomers drastically reduced the herds upon which the Indians depended. The tribes were economically decimated by the near extermina- tion of the buffalo. Nomadic tribes lived in tipis the year round. Farming-hunting tribes lived in tipis when following buffalo in the summer; the rest of the year most of 143 Crow Indian costume made of skins and decorated with porcupine quills (Plains Indians, Third Floor, Section 4). them lived in earthlodges in permanent villages. A tipi housed a man, his wife (or wives), and children. It consisted of a semicircular cover of about fourteen buffalo hides placed over a framework of about nineteen poles arranged to form a cone. The earthlodge was a dome-shaped structure forty to fifty feet in diameter. More permanent than the tipi, it lasted from seven to ten years and housed several related families. The nomadic tribes of the Plains lived almost entirely on buffalo meat, which was often made into pemmican, a preparation of meat, fat, and chokecher- ries. The skins of buffalo and other animals provided clothing until the late nineteenth century, when commercial cloth was used. The art of the Plains Indians is represented by the quill and beadwork with which they decorated the objects used in daily life. The women were skilled in creating geometric designs of porcupine quills and glass beads (obtained from Europeans), while the men painted realistic scenes of warfare on skins. Ritual ceremonies were an important part of Plains Indian culture. Aspects of many of them are shown in the hall, such as in the diorama of the ceremonial Blackfoot tipi, where the Indians are participating in the Thunder Pipe Ceremony. The Sun Dance was celebrated annually by most tribes, usually during the tribal gathering for the summer communal buffalo hunt. The calumet, a wide- spread institution in the Plains, was a reed decorated with feathers. When given by one person to another the calumet symbolized adoption. The term came to be applied to the pipe that was smoked at the conclusion of a peace treaty, the peace pipe. The Wawan, the calumet ceremony of the Omaha, is shown in the hall. 144 The shaman, or medicine man, played an important role among the Plains Indians, who believed that success could be gained with the help of supernatural power obtained in a vision or dream. To receive such a vision, people went to isolated places where they fasted, prayed, and sometimes cut off part of a finger to gain the sympathy of a supernatural being, who would bestow powers, such as the ability to manipulate the weather, to predict the outcome of battle, or to cure disease. Most shamans used their powers to benefit others, but some engaged in sorcery. Music was a part of most Plains Indian activities. Singing, accompanied by drums and rattles, was essential to the exercise of supernatural powers. Indians sang at religious ceremonies, at social dances and games, and to prepare for war, hunting, and the planting of crops. Most Plains Indian tribes had several men’s organizations. The function of these societies was to foster a spirit of daring and courage in warfare. The ceremonies of some societies were primarily religious and were believed to contribute to the tribal welfare. In a few tribes the women had similar societies. Ceremony to the god Thunder at an alter in front of the fire in a Blackfoot tipi (Plains Indians, Third Floor, Section 4). Before the introduction of the horse, Plains Indians hunted buffalo on foot, often by driving a herd over a cliff (Plains Indians, Third Floor, Section 4). Games played by the Indians included foot and horse racing, archery con- tests, and gambling on all contests, where the stakes were frequently high. The nomadic hunting life of the Plains Indians led to frequent intertribal contacts. Because they spoke different languages, they developed an efficient system of sign language. Warfare among the tribes was common, however, and winning war honors was as important as the practical concerns of defense or the capture of booty. Each tribe recognized a graded series of courageous deeds, known as coups, such as taking a life or scalp or stealing a bow or horse. The greater the number of coups to his credit, the greater a man’s prestige. The present life of the Plains Indians, whose numbers are now increasing after a period of population decline, differs radically from that of buffalo days. Many Indians now participate successfully in every aspect of American life, but some, handicapped by poverty and inadequate education, have not. The transition from a nomadic hunting culture to full participation in a modern industrial society has been difficult. Other Exhibits The landscapes and animals among which the Plains Indians lived are shown in the Hall of North American Mammals (First Floor, Section 13). 146 Eastern Woodlands Indians (Third Floor, Section 4) The Hall of the Indians of the Eastern Woodlands portrays the life of the American Indians who lived in the wooded eastern parts of what is now the United States and Canada. The first settlers, known as paleoindians, lived about 12,000 years ago. They hunted big game and probably lived in small nomadic bands. The paleoindian period was succeeded by the archaic period, when Indians still depended upon hunting and gathering, but with improved hunting implements such as the atlatl, or spear-thrower, and the bola. During the burial mound period (1000 BC to 800 AD), the Indians became farmers as well as hunters, cultivating the principal New World crops—maize, beans, and squash. There was considerable artistic development, as shown in pottery and carved stone pipe, especially during the Hopewell culture (500 BC to 500 AD) of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. The period of the temple mound builders (900 to 1500 AD) was characterized by ceremonial centers featuring a high mound surmounted by a temple. In the final phases of this period, which ended with the beginning of European settlement, the Indians began to live in compact walled towns, indicating a time of hostility between tribes. When the first European explorers arrived on the eastern seaboard at the end of the fifteenth century, Indian culture was flourishing over all the Eastern Woodlands. In the succeeding 350 years many of the tribes were annihilated by disease and warfare; others were driven west of the Mississippi River. A few tribes were later assigned to reservations in their aboriginal territories. Many aspects of the daily life of the Eastern Woodlands Indians are illustrated in the hall. One of the best-known artifacts was the birchbark canoe. It was ideal for traveling in the heavily wooded and well-watered northern parts of the Eastern Woodlands. Light enough to be carried easily on men’s shoulders and drawing only a few inches of water, the birchbark canoe could carry two or three tons of crew and freight. Both men and women participated in making the canoes. Most aboriginal clothing was made of animal skins, but after contact with Europeans cloth was often substituted. Women made textiles and produced designs with the spaced-weft, warp pattern method. The women also made pottery, but after the introduction of European utensils, the art of pottery-making all but disappeared. Beads of seashells, known as wampum, were originally used in ceremonies and were woven into belts to record important events. The European settlers found that Indians would exchange furs for wampum, and it began to function as a medium of exchange. For a time wampum was legal currency in the colonies. In the Eastern Woodlands war consisted of brief raids made by small groups of men who sought personal glory or vengeance. The bow and arrow, the 147 club, and the knife were the principal weapons. Equally important to the Eastern Woodlands warrior was war medicine—various small objects believed to be endowed with supernatural powers. Throughout the Eastern Woodlands, the Indians believed that shamans had the ability to control disease by the use of supernatural powers. Ceremonies, such as those given by the Iroquois False Face Society, involved curing and spiritual purification. Tobacco was sometimes smoked for pleasure, but it was considered sacred and was used mostly in religious ceremonies. Dreams played an important role in Indian life. Through dreams came hunting rituals, war chants, and other sacred messages. The Eastern Woodlands Indians lived principally by hunting, fishing, gather- ing wild plants, and cultivating small farms. Although their implements were simple, hunters and fishermen had an intimate knowledge of forest animals and fish, which helped their efforts. Most tribes cultivated maize, beans, pump- kins, squash, gourds, sunflowers, and tobacco. Women did almost all the farm work except for clearing the land. When the first corn ripened in the summer, Cherokee women harvesting and husking corn. Men are responsible for clearing the land, women for planting and harvesting (Eastern Woodlands Indians, Third Floor, Section 4). Birchbark canoe, the most important means of travel along the waterways of the Eastern Woodlands (Third Floor, Section 4). a ceremony of thanksgiving was held—the Green Corn Dance. This annual ritual, which marked the beginning of the new year, was a time of amnesty and forgiveness. Although there were basic cultural similarities among the tribes of the Eastern Woodlands, the variety of their activities, depicted throughout the hall, illustrates the diversity of the many tribes. This cultural individuality was a source of tribal identity and pride for the early Indians and it underlies the Same sentiments of their modern descendents. The Eastern Woodlands Indians are now increasing in population after a period of decline and are participating fully in American and Canadian life. Although the bulk of Eastern Woodlands culture has vanished, the modern Indians still maintain some of their old customs, which serve as a source of identity and satisfaction and which are reminders of a proud and ancient heritage. Other Exhibits The Warburg Memorial Hall (First Floor, Section 3) shows the area where some Eastern Woodlands Indians lived, and the Hall of North American Forests (First Floor, Section 5) shows different kinds of woodlands in the east. 149 Mexico and Central America (Second Floor, Section 4) The Hall of Mexico and Central America attempts to give the visitor an impression of the ancient civilizations that existed in these regions before their discovery by Europeans in the sixteenth century. Composed of various peoples such as the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztec, and others less well known, the civilizations endured for about 3000 years—from 1500 BC to 1520 AD. Legendary history, written down at the time of the conquest, reaches back to only about 1000 AD in central Mexico, so our knowledge of most of the history is based on archeology—the finding and excavation of ancient sites and the study of the objects that have been preserved. The archeological history of Middle America, or Mesoamerica, as it is often called, is divided into three major periods: the Preclassic (1500 BC to 1 AD), the Classic (1 to 900 AD), and the Postclassic (900 to 1520 AD). The hall shows objects of all the cultures of these periods. The Olmec of the Preclassic period, the beginning of civilization in Middle America, were noted for their very large sculptures and for their extraordinary jade carvings, such as a colossal stone head and a notable jade axe. The Maya culture of the Classic period was one of the largest and most spectacular of the regional developments. In the hall are casts of large stone sculptures with elaborate carving and hieroglyphic inscriptions, objects from the great ‘‘city’’ of Teotihuacan located north of modern Mexico City, and stone sculpture, ceramic figurines, and vessels from central Vera Cruz. The Toltec culture was in the early Postclassic period, followed by the Aztec, the dominant people until the capture by Cortes in 1520. The outstanding object in the hall, because of its size, is the copy of the so-called Aztec Calendar Stone, the best known of all Aztec objects. Aztec stone of the sun, often called a calendar stone. The symbols re- late to the sun, to which human sacrifices were offered (Mexico and Central America, Second Floor, Section 4). Gold objects found in Peruvian tombs were once used as body de- corations by rulers of the area (Mexico and Central America, Sec- ond Floor, Section 4). Cultures of other regions of Mexico and Central America are represented in the hall. There are numerous fine examples of the ceramic sculpture of western Mexico and the stone carvings of the state of Guerrero. From Oaxaca, a distinctive cultural center that played an important role in the history of Middle America, are elaborate Zapotec funerary urns and a full-size facsimile of one of the painted tombs of Monte Alban. From the Huasteca, a region of northeastern Middle America, are delicate pottery figurines and a distinctive style in stone sculpture. In an alcove just outside the entrance to the Hall of Mexico and Central America is a special exhibit of gold objects and jewelry made by the pre- Columbian peoples of the New World. This was the gold that so excited the European explorers and conquistadores of the sixteenth century. The objects here—from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico—were all found in graves; almost no gold remains of the treasures carried back to Europe by the conquistadores. Jade necklace from the Olmec culture. The longer pendants are in the form of jaguar claws (Mexico and Central America, Second Floor, Section 4). 151 Men of the Montaria (Second Floor, Section 3) The area of tropical rain forest stretching from the foothills of the Andes eastward to the border of Brazil is known as the Montana. This area of Peru and Ecuador is the home of a number of Indian tribes. Despite the fact that these tribes live very near the Andes, they are much more closely related to other Amazonian tribes than they are to the ancient Incas. Within the Montana there is an important environmental contrast between areas of rugged hilly terrain cut by narrow streams and low, flat areas lying along the larger rivers. Riverine tribes rely more heavily on fishing than on hunting, and are serious cultivators. They also have larger and more nearly permanent villages. On the other hand, tribes living in higher terrain away from the rivers do more hunting than fishing and are less careful cultivators. Moreover, their settlements are smaller and are moved more frequently. The slash-and-burn method of cultivation, which is practiced throughout the Montana, is depicted in the hall, along with the various crops grown by this means. Bows and arrows, blowguns, traps, harpoons, and other implements used to subsist are also shown. Ceremonies, which are common among Montana tribes, are generally accompanied by the consumption of large amounts of manioc or maize beer. Important stages of the life cycle are marked by ritual observances, and one exhibit case shows a young Conibo girl undergoing puberty initiation. Warfare, once widespread in the Montana, still occurs among remote tribes. In some raids, heads are taken, the best-known headhunters being the Jivaro of Ecuador. Not only do they cut off their enemies’ heads, they also shrink them to about the size of a fist. Two shrunken heads are shown in the exhibit. Decorative art in the Montana is quite well developed among such tribes as the Shipibo, Conibo, and Piro of the Ucayali River. These tribes apply a series of complex geometric motifs to pottery and textiles, engrave them on artifacts of wood and bone, weave them into beadwork, and paint them on their faces and bodies. Most tribes of the Montana perforate their lips, noses, or ears for the insertion of a variety of ornaments. The Shipibo and Conibo seek to enhance their appearance further by artificially flattening their heads. 152 General Ecology ~ 2 av NH b, Of: >7 me? AA a * GENERAL ECOLOGY Ecology is the study of the relationships of living things with one another and with their nonliving physical environment. Plants and animals of various kinds live almost everywhere, both in the water and on land. Their distribution, how- ever, is neither uniform nor random. The ranges of green plants are controlled largely by climate and the chemical constitution of the soil, both of which are modified by the configuration of the landscape. The ranges of animal species depend directly or indirectly on the distribution of particular plants. Parasitic and saprophytic (scavenger) plants resemble animals in this respect. The face of the earth is a vast patchwork of irregular and ill-defined areas, great and small, within which the physical environment is roughly uniform. Each area has developed its own characteristic assortment of green plants, which, in turn, support a characteristic variety of animals and dependent plants. Such a dynamic association of organisms constitutes a ‘‘biotic community.”’ So strongly does the environment affect its inhabitants that communities half a world apart, though composed of different species, look very much alike, provided the climate, soil, and topography are similar. The number of species in a biotic community reflects the climate and the variety of available ‘‘niches’’—places to live and resources upon which to draw. The gentler the climate and the richer the assortment of niches offered, the more species of organisms that can simultaneously inhabit a region. No two species can fill exactly the same niche; sooner or later one will eliminate the other. Polar bears are now threatened with extinction because they have been hunted from airplanes (Hall of Ocean Life, First Floor, Section 10). eo, ; ’ | i Wolves have been killed off in many places by man because they are predators, re- sulting in an ecological imbalance among their former prey species (North Ameri- can Mammals, First Floor, Section 13). Coral reefs and tropical forests are the world’s most complex biotic com- munities. Salt lakes and arctic tundras are among the simplest; resources are few, and physical conditions are so harsh that not many organisms can tolerate them. Individuals of adapted species, however, are often exceedingly numerous. Whether of few species or many, the ‘““biomass,’’ or total quantity of living substance in the community, is as great as the physical environment allows, and fluctuates with the seasons. The interdependence of species within a community is nowhere better illus- trated than by the “‘food web.’’ Green plants are the primary source of food. In the presence of light they can build their own tissues out of nonliving materi- als—air, water, and minerals from the soil. Herbivorous animals feed on the plants. Inhabitants of dark environments such as caves and deep water are depen- dent on organic materials that reach them from lighted places. Carnivorous animals, both predators and parasites, eat the herbivores and one another. Scaven- gers and nongreen plants subsist on the wastes and dead bodies of other organisms. Ultimately, microbes in the soil complete the reduction of complex organic substances to simple compounds that green plants can use. Nothing is ever wasted. Recycling is not a human invention—it is the order of nature. The number of individuals of any one species that a community can support is inversely proportional to their size. The territory of a fox is home to hundreds of mice and millions of insects. For every sulfur-bottom whale there are countless billions of krill; one whale daily harvests tens of thousands of them without appreciably affecting the total krill population. The importance of organisms to one another is obvious; their importance 155 in shaping the physical environment is easily overlooked. Oxygen, vital to ani- mals, is the gift of green plants—a by-product of photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide, a by-product of respiration in both animals and plants, is suffocating to animals. During daylight green plants remove it from air and water and use it in the manufacture of sugar. A ground cover of vegetation protects soil from erosion and ensures the absorption of rainwater. Plants draw water out of the soil and transpire (exhale) it into the air, where it is eventually precipitated as rain or snow. The coral reefs and atolls of warm seas are built by generations of small polyps that extract their building materials from seawater. The limy shells of other marine creatures, accumulated on the ocean bed for eons, are incorporated into sedimentary rocks. Uplifted to the surface and weathered for millenia, they become constitutents of alkaline soils. A beaver dam creates a pond. Earthworms, ants, and other burrowing animals open the soil to air and water. Trails worn by the feet of animals become runoff channels, then gullies. Tree roots growing in crevices can split the rock and help to level mountains. The physical world would evolve slowly, even without living inhabitants, but plants and animals hasten the changes and influence their direction. Of all animals, man has most greatly affected his environment. He is naturally adapted to a wide variety of biotic communities and is able to alter others to meet his requirements.When man was rare and modest in his demands the community functioned smoothly, supplying his needs and disposing of his rubbish without endangering other species. This no longer happens. Man is now so overwhelmingly abundant, so insatiably demanding, and so ingenious in exploit- ing the environment that most other organisms are incapable of surviving in his company. Man-made environmental changes are so great, so sudden, and so extensive that evolution cannot keep pace with them. Organisms whose accus- tomed environment has been disrupted must find other homes or die, and the number of possible places of retreat grows smaller each year. By the natural laws of community dynamics, if the human population continues to grow, the whole world must ultimately become a single ecological community inhabited almost solely by man and the few plants and animals best suited to supply human food. In the end, if man does not voluntarily curb his rate of reproduction, famine will control the population. Our best hope of avoiding this bleak future lies in learning to accept ourselves as members of an ecological community in which each participating species and every aspect of the physical environment plays a necessary role. We must take no more out of the environment than the community can replace and put no more in than the community can absorb. Unfortunately, we do not yet have sufficient knowledge of any of the communities in which we live to use them optimally, with maximum benefit to ourselves and minimum disadvantage to our fellow organisms. The work of ecologists in gaining that knowledge is 156 lai Walrus on an ice floe in the Arctic. The large tusks are used to plow up the ocean floor in search of mollusks and other invertebrates (Hall of Ocean Life, First Floor, Section 10). 157 of the most immediate and practical importance, not only for saving all the species that still share the planet with us, but also for preserving our own species from catastrophe. There is no Department of Ecology at the Museum, but members of many of the departments are involved with research in varied ecological fields. Felix M. Warburg Memorial Hall (First Floor, Section 3) The Warburg Hall shows a multitude of biotic communities in one area—Pine Plains, a typical rural area in Dutchess County, ninety miles north of New York City. Here is shown something of the geological history of the region and of its natural biotic communities, as well as the story of man’s impact : on the land—his establishment of artificial communities, their eventual abandon- ment, the development of new natural communities on the exhausted soil, and their gradual reversion to the original forest. Examining this one small area in detail reveals natural laws that govern all the biotic communities of the world. Hall of North American Forests (First Floor, Section 5) In the Hall of North American Forests one type of biotic community—the forest—is analyzed and dissected. The variety of this type of community, from northern Mexico to central Canada, is seen in eleven habitat groups. Many aspects of the internal workings of the community and of external influences upon it, including man’s use of the forest, are shown in a number of smaller exhibits. Hall of Ocean Life (First Floor, Section 10) In the Hall of Ocean Life are several habitat groups of all sorts of animals living in marine environments. These include invertebrates, fishes, birds, reptiles, and mammals, all of which depend on each other. Various kinds of mammals have adapted to life in the seas in different ways. Some, suchas the whales, dolphins, and manatees, are so highly specialized that they cannot exist on land at all, while others spend most of their time in water but, like seals and sea lions, return to the shores to give birth. Still others, like the polar bear, are equally at home on land or sea. The ninety-four-foot replica of a blue whale that dominates the center of the hall represents not only the largest animal that has ever lived on earth, but also the plight of many marine mammals. Excessively killed for oil and other products, blue whales are now gravely endangered and threatened with extinction. Some of the other mammals shown on the lower floor are also considered endangered. Polar bears are hunted for trophies and are much diminished in numbers, 159 ole burrows beneath tulips during the spring. All of the lants and animals shown are necessary to the eco- ystem of the region (Warburg Memorial, First Floor, ection 3). while sea otters and elephant seals are now recovering from near extinction in the recent past. Some kinds of dolphins are being killed in huge numbers as an accident of commercial tuna fishing, while new threats loom as seals, sea lions, sea otters, and polar bears are found to accumulate the toxic chemicals man has dumped into the seas. ENDANGERED SPECIES One hears all sorts of talk these days about endangered species, and the definition of endangerment has become critical to the laws that are being passed and even to individuals in determining what products they might buy. Industries involved in utilizing wild animals often claim that the species they use are not endangered. Biologists claim otherwise. Who is right? What do they mean by endangered? To the biologist an endangered species is one that will become extinct if the trend of utilization is continued. All too often, endangered to an industrialist is only when an animal is in such short supply that he cannot get sufficient quantities of it to maintain production. Neither the biologist nor the manufacturer may know the actual numbers of the animals remaining. Counting the animals in the wild is a difficult problem, to say the least. Who is right? When is a species endangered? A species is endangered when, as in the case of the cheetah, it has disappeared from areas it once formerly occurred. In India, where cheetahs once lived, they are no longer to be found. A species is endangered when, as in the case of the Antarctic blue whales, the number of animals required to maintain the industry is greater than the existing stocks. The recent whaling quotas are more than five times the 2000 or less Antarctic blue whales remaining. A species is endangered when, as in the case of the vicuna of the Andes, its numbers diminish markedly in a short time. If the United States imports the same amount of vicuna wool this year as it did in 1965, the species will be extinct. There are fewer than 5000 of these animals remaining; twenty years ago there were almost half a million. A species is endangered when, as in the case of the red wolf of the United States, it is persistently and relentlessly persecuted because it sometimes attacks man’s livestock. Or when, as with the polar bear, its hunting for trophies is conducted in such a manner as to permit no individual to escape. All species are endangered when their environment is destroyed, their sources of food eliminated, their sites of shelter destroyed, their drinking water polluted, their air, food, and water poisoned in subtle ways that affect their ability to reproduce themselves. 160 On the Cover Tin Detail from a shaman’s mask in the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians. The mask is made of wood, plaits of human hair, eagle feathers, swansdown, bluejay wings, and the fur of the brown bear. The mask was used by a Tlingit shaman in religious and curing ceremonies in the nine- teenth century.