QH70 .U52N41 \96t LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FRONT COVER: THE AKELEY MEMORIAL HALL OF AFRICAN MAMMALS A PICTORIAL THE WELCOME TO THE MUSEUM Between 77th and 81st Streets in New York City, facing the western edge of Central Park, stands a group of eighteen interlocking buildings housing the 23 acres of exhibits, educational facilities, and research departments of The Ameri- can Museum of Natural History. There are many other facts and figures that can be cited, but the Museum is more than statistics. For the visitor, as he stands before the towering remains of Tyrannosaurus rex, it is a feeling of awe at the passage of time. Or it may be anew awareness of the subtlety of nature’s timing, gained from watching four model fireflies rhythmically flashing their cold light. It is the six- pointed star gleaming in a gemstone, or the 9,000 stars visible several times a day Z 7ST ek of | Vexbercaisaind Poet ; an = a = J)UTH FACADE OF THE MUSEUM, 77TH STREET, NTRAL PARK WEST TO COLUMBUS AVENUE on the dome of the Hayden Planetarium. For some, the Museum is the sound of a Winnebago war party; for others, the symmetry of the sea shell. For most, we hope, the Museum is a deepened sense of the variety and unity of the natural world. James A. Oliver, Director HAIDA CANOE Visitors entering the 77th Street foyer of the Museum are greeted by an enor- mous ceremonial canoe some 64 feet long and 8 feet wide. This great dugout was hewed from a cedar tree by the Haida Indians of Canada’s west coast. In 1883, Haida braves paddled the ca- /noe to Vancouver Island. From there, it | was taken by schooner to Panama, ) across the Isthmus by rail, and then by ) ship to New York. Now, in the canoe, one can see an In- dian chief, his followers, and slave pad- dlers dressed in costumes typical of the 3 ie 3% : A BOSAL VANS : " FARRAR A F ; ee A ‘ . be cae various tribes of the American Northwest. The busy activity of the scene is usually heightened by the noise and bustle of numerous Museum visitors—individuals, couples, and families, as well as school children lining up in the shadow of the great canoe for a tour of the Museum. NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS Beyond the Haida canoe a great hall suggests a slightly damp forest-seashore environment, typical of the region ex- tending from northern California to southern Alaska. It was here that the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Bella Coola, and other tribes lived. These people looked primarily to the sea for food but supplemented their diet by hunting animals and gathering plants in the dense forests. From the forests, too, came materials for their houses and utensils. The fine wood sculptures and great totem poles lining this hall show clearly that these Indians also became master wood carvers. The Hall of Indians of the Northwest Coast is arranged by tribal cultures. Most of the displays consist of artifacts made by the Indians, and include tools, fishing gear, baskets, clothing, textiles, and mu- MODEL OF KWAKIUTL INDIAN HOUSE CHILKAT BLANKET of day-to-day life are objects as- ated with the rich ceremonial life of mportant tangible aspects of a total isplayed along with the many arti- ists succeeded in preserving all culture. Di g — ” tually unaffected by contact with the white man. As a result, Museum anthro- polo the fact soc — ——— sical instruments. In addition, there are models, both miniature and life-size, showing the modes of life of different Material for the hall was collected in the late nineteenth century (the hall was opened in 1896), at a time when the cul- ture of these Indian tribes was still vir tribes. these Indians. The striking masks, some of which are shown on this page, were worn as part of dance and ritual cos- tumes. They are the result of great skill in carving combined with a vivid imagi- nation. The masks represent monsters, ghosts, or spirits in human and animal form, carved in the characteristic style of each tribe. The Hall of Indians of the Northwest Coast has been renovated periodically through the years, and new lighting has been installed, but the romantic mood of the original exhibit has been retained. ESKIMO MODES OF TRANSPORTATION WESTERN ESKIMO DEITY MASK COPPER ESKIMO IN CEREMONIAL CLOTHING MODEL OF ESKIMO WINTER HOUSE ESKIMOS To live in the rigorous Arctic environ- ment of snow and ice, the Eskimos had to develop special skills and cultural adaptations that have long been of par- ticular interest to anthropologists. A basic requirement was ingenuity in fash- ioning tools and obtaining food from a severely limited range of raw materials. One exhibit simulates houses made of snow; others show blubber-burning lamps, cooking implements, children’s games, and many other artifacts of Es- kimo culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since that time, re- peated contact with technologically ad- vanced society has greatly changed Eskimo ways. CHAMBERED NAUTILUS SHELLS Man has long prized shells for their beauty and usefulness. There are more than one million shells in the Museum’s study collection, and a small but choice selection is featured in the Keller Memo- rial shell exhibit. Specimens of the major classes of mollusks are displayed, in- cluding lifelike models of an octopus, a squid, and a queen conch. Of the 100,000 species of mollusks, most have shells ranging from a fraction of an inch to several inches in size. Some are microscopic, but others, for example the giant clams, attain 43 inches or even more. On exhibit are some of the smaller shells, including the delicate sea butter- flies, and some of the largest, including the giant band shell, with a length of two feet. MODERN HORSES This small exhibit, temporarily housed in Education Hall, illustrates the great modifications that man has brought about in adapting the horse to his various needs. Under his management speed has been increased in the race horse, weight and strength in the draft horse, while the Shetland Pony has been reduced to a diminutive size. The similarity in structure of the skele- tons of horse and man is brought out in the exhibit of a rearing horse, controlled by man. It is interesting to note that both have the same principal parts, in spite of the many conspicuous differences. Also included in the exhibit are skele- tons of several famous race horses, as well as animals akin to the horse, such as the donkey and Grévy zebra. RECONSTRUCTIONS OF EARLY MAN o yy. THE BIOLOGY OF MAN << — For many people, man is the most in- ” teresting subject of all. This hall, one of A the most comprehensive exhibitions of its kind, focuses on the biological as- pects of man. On entering the hall one is first con- fronted by a series of sculptured recon- structions of 15 prehistoric beings. These, plus other exhibits in the first section of the hall, illustrate the struc- tural changes that took place in the WALKING MOTION OF THE HUMAN LEG forerunners of modern man. Here, on a 21 by 14 foot ceramic mural, is a huge spiral that represents the two billion years that life is known to have existed on earth: on this time scale, man’s time on the planet appears as a small, red square. A greatly enlarged, illustrated plastic model of the basic unit of life, the cell, showing the internal structure in detail, introduces the second section of the hall. Models of specialized cells from different parts of the body — nerves, bones, skin, muscles, and connective tissue — demonstrate the ways in which cells are adapted to different functions; illustrations of the processes of meiosis and mitosis show how cells divide. One striking attraction of the hall is a transparent plastic model of the human body. Various organs and systems are illuminated in succession as a taped voice describes their functions. The elements involved in the most THE TRANSPARENT WOMAN BIRTH OF A BABY Successive exhibits show how we grow; how we breathe; how our circula- tory, nervous, and digestive systems work; how we move; how our bodies eliminate waste; the functions of the en- docrine glands; and our sensory organs. For example, a model of the circulatory system, made of transparent plastic with etched arteries and veins, simulates by means of edge lighting the dynamics of blood circulation. In another model, nearly a mile of wire is used to trace the human nervous system. basic of all natural processes, reproduc- tion, occupy the next stage of the exhi- bition. Photographs enlarged 8,000 times show a human egg surrounded by sperm. There are fetal specimens, ranging in age from nine weeks to seven months, preserved in plastic. A series of ingeni- ously colored plaster models shows the changes in facial structure that occur as the fetus develops. A series of six other sculptures sensitively depicts the crucial moments during the delivery of an infant into the world. J i \f. Lp | = i 4 6 = i [AA Z ™ b; Kink Sar < . a bet. 9 4 j : ‘Mig » 0 dy é Db BALA 1 z i - ha ‘ i ‘ Nz eS ee pay! ( Ah , i yy \ Ss -& ta j ji / t Yat \ A y j ¥ ihr a a Le a, fi AY Wag \ Y 3 er. he 7 eA A \ : lar c —— i. —j SS) F fae Be i R J il =<) +S Sy EP ee, .) al te va . Bes +, Sd tb gs 4 4 that time. The character of the ground, for instance, is simulated by contoured wire netting, burlap, and plaster. Earth, vegetation, rocks, and wildlife are placed over this foundation so that a remarkably realistic effect is achieved, even within the walls of a New York City building. The “‘life expectancy” of such exhibits is 25 to 30 years, after which some renova- tion may be necessary. BIRDS OF THE ARGENTINA PAMPAS AND LAGOONS TUNDRA BIRDS OF THE HUDSON BAY REGION i MEN OF THE MONTANA Just to the east of the Andes lies an area known as the Montana, a dense tropical rain forest that is the home of some 30 Indian tribes. Although they lived near the Incas in the Peruvian high- lands, the tribes of the Montana were little influenced by them. Instead, Mon- tana culture became much more closely linked to that of other Amazonian Indians. The Indians of the Montana subsist principally by gardening, fishing, and hunting. The tribes that live along the Ucayali and other large rivers depend greatly on fish, manatees, and turtles to supplement their diet of manioc and maize. Those living away from the main rivers rely more on hunting than on fishing. The tribes of the Montana make exten- sive use of raw materials offered by the forest in making tools, weapons, utensils, and ornaments. The skill and care with which these artifacts are fashioned can be appreciated by examining the speci- mens on display. Although there is a general similarity among all Montana cultures, differences do exist—in house types, settlement pat- terns, social organization, and religious beliefs. A unique trait of the Jivaro, for example, and one for which they are widely known, is their practice of shrink- ing the heads of their slain enemies. Several of these are on display. CAMPA FISHERMAN me peer rity (Pdasan diel pe TYPICAL FACE ADORNMENT / | e = Qs Wi WEAVING SCENE ASIATIC MAMMALS The visitor interested in comparing the animal life of one area of the world with another will find his task easy and inter- esting as he walks from the Akeley Hall of African Mammals to the nearby Hall of ii South Asiatic Mammals. li = In the Asiatic Hall, the Indian elephant, SIBERIAN TIGERS which occupies a central position, is | smaller than his African counterpart and has smaller ears. The Asian lion looks much like its African cousin but is slightly smaller and paler in color. The mane of the male does not seem as heavy and dark as that of the African male. Comparisons can also be made between the various species of antelope, gazelle, wild dog, leopard, and buffalo that inhabit the two areas. The wild cattle and deer of the Asiatic Hall have counterparts in the Hall of North American Mammals. One of the most beautiful displays in the Hall of South Asiatic Mammals is the Indian leopard. In a forest clearing, a leopard pauses in its meal, with the gor- geous feathers of a peafowl scattered around it, while another leopard looks on. The forest vegetation includes the Semal tree, from which silk cotton is made; the cinnamon tree, and the weird banyan tree, which strangles the tree that supports it. The mammals displayed in the hall were collected by Arthur S. Vernay and Colonel J. C. Faunthorpe in six expedi- tions to India, Burma, and Siam between 1922 and 1928. Adjacent to the Hall of South Asiatic Mammals are two habitat groups from northern Asia. The rare giant panda is shown feeding on bamboo in the moun- tains of western China and the Siberian tiger is displayed in a snow-covered forest. INDIAN ELEPHANT GIANT PANC The four-story Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, facing Central. Park West, was a gift of the people of the State of New York. Dedicated in 1936, it honors the native son who was Governor of the State at the turn of the century and later Presi- dent of the United States. An equestrian statue of Roosevelt stands before the arched entrance, which opens into a monumental hall, one of the largest unobstructed concourses remain- ing in New York City. Above the terrazzo floor, walls of marble and limestone rise to support a 120-foot-long barrel vault that arches to a height of 100 feet. Light streams through large windows at either end of the vault. Recessed murals on the north, west, and south walls depict three events in T. R.’s varied career; his expedition to Africa in 1910; the digging of the Panama Canal; and the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth. The murals, painted by Wil- liam Andrew Mackay, cover an area of 5,230 square feet. In the center of the hall three bronze sculptures by Carl Akeley comprise “The Lion Hunt.” On the first floor of the Memorial, di- rectly below the main hall, are exhibits related to the life and interests of the twenty-sixth President. Habitat groups \" ( _ THEODORE RO show scenes of New Amsterdam, the home of his earliest American ancestor; Elkhorn Ranch in North Dakota, where he lived as a young man; the Adirondacks, one of his favorite camping grounds; and the Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, established after his death. Display cases in the center of the lower hall contain memorabilia of Roosevelt’s many roles in life: conservationist, natu- ralist, hunter, rancher, writer, family man, and public servant. The collection in- cludes photographs, sketches, and note- books; original political cartoons of T. R. and newspapers of the period; a “Teddy and the Bear’ bank; and a buckskin suit worn by Roosevelt. In other exhibits on the first floor of the Memorial, the natural history of New York State is represented by collections of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and geologic specimens. Several quotations from Roosevelt’s writings are inscribed on the interior walls of the Memorial. One that expresses a lifelong concern of his also describes a major aim of the Museum: “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural re- sources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.” BLACK RHINOCEROS COLOBUS MONKEYS AFRICAN MAMMALS This hall is dominated by the herd of eight great elephants, shown on the front cover of this book. Here one also finds many of the other distinctive creatures— the lions, giraffes, gorillas, and zebras— that one learned about in childhood. The animals in each exhibit are ar- ranged in natural groupings of family units or herds and in association with birds and other animals that are part of their environment. Such is the skill with which the reconstructed terrain, vege- tation, and animal life are combined with painted backgrounds of land and sky that it is difficult to see where the three-di- mensional parts end. Usually it is only after repeated visits to the Museum that one begins to notice some of the finer details of these exhibits —the veins of the giant eland’s muzzle, for example, or the spittle of the African buffalo. Birds in many of the exhibits are so much a part of the scene that visitors sometimes fail to notice them. That is a pity, for some of these birds, native to Africa, are not to be found in any of the bird halls. If only one person were to be given credit for the lifelike animals in these exhibits it would be Carl Akeley (1864- 1926), conservationist, sculptor, inventor, and taxidermist, who devoted the greater BONGOS part of his life to the protection of wildlife. Although he designed the hall now named in his honor, he died 10 years before it opened in 1936. A major concern of Akeley, the survival of the gorilla, is still very much the con- cern of naturalists. One of the most mem- orable exhibits in this hail shows a group of mountain gorillas with the Kivu vol- canoes of the Congo in the background. Akeley died near there while on a Mu- seum expedition and was buried on the slopes of Mount Mikeno, one of the vol- canoes shown. He called this part of Africa “‘the most beautiful place in the world.” The gorillas, like almost all the large animals in the museum’s habitat groups, were mounted by a process Akeley him- self developed. Before his time, animals exhibited in Museums consisted of little more than skins given bulk and form by excelsior. Akeley pioneered a new ap- proach that led to the ‘“‘manikin”’ models. The process begins in the field when measurements are taken of an animal that has just been killed. (Quite often photographs of it have already been taken when it was alive.) Next, the skele- ton and skin, along with such parts as hoofs, claws, tusks, or horns, are sent to the Museum. The skeleton is arranged RIGHT: MALE GORILL 7, 7 oer A a. a in the desired pose, and a clay figure of the animal, including such details as muscle forms, is modeled over it. When the clay figure fits the skin perfectly, a plaster mold is made over the clay model. When the mold is removed, an inner shell is built up with layers of wire mesh, bur- lap, and glue. The whole is then rein- forced with wood braces. This hollow but durable structure, about half an inch thick, becomes a manikin. The skin, which in the mean- time has been treated, is then pulled over the adhesive-coated shell and sewed to- gether. The face and other fleshy parts of the animal are modeled in wax, then painted. Glass eyes are added and origi- nal parts such as hoofs and horns are attached. The results of this painstaking method are the lifelike animal models seen in this hall and its gallery, as well as in other parts of the Museum. Saas AFRICAN BUFFALOES AFRICAN LIONS EFT: GIRAFFES AND GAZELLES AT A WATER HOLE IMPALA :FT: DETAIL OF LIFE ALONG THE RIVER NILE OCEANIC BIRDS Imagine yourself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, able to see its various is- lands and coasts thousands of miles away. This is the illusion the Hall of Oceanic Birds is designed to create, and the effect has been heightened by linking all the habitat groups with a common ho- rizon line. Rising from the painted backgrounds of the 22 exhibits, the sky converges on the dome, forming the ceiling of the hall. Suspended from the ceiling are some of the oceanic birds that wing their way across the sea from the Pacific to the Antarctic. The exhibits represent many unfamiliar landscapes and locales. There are the Peruvian coastal islands from which, since Inca times, guano has been taken for use as fertilizer. One exhibit features the now-extinct moa, a great wingless bird, together with other species still found in New Zealand today. The Galapagos Archipelago exhibit contains some of the species of finches that Charles Darwin saw in 1835. Darwin noticed that the bill structure of the is- lands’ finches varied noticeably accord- ing to the birds’ feeding habits. He decided that all finches had evolved from one species that originally inhabited the islands. It was this observation that en- couraged Darwin to think of natural se- lection as an explanation of evolution. BELOW: EMPEROR WILLIAM’S BIRD-OF-PARADISE RIGHT: MOA i : VW" Hane ss} iy 4 Yih) it LAYSAN ALBATROSS The Hall of Oceanic Birds is named in honor of William C. Whitney and Harry Payne Whitney, father and son, for it was the Whitney family who sponsored this wing of the Museum. They also spon- sored the expedition that collected many of the specimens in the exhibits. The schooner of the expedition, the France, can be seen in the background of the display that shows birds accompanying a vessel off the coast of New Zealand. Several of the displays offer graphic examples of one of the special chal- lenges of creating habitat groups. To use actual boulders and cliff faces in the Bering Sea group, for example, would have put too great a burden on the struc- ture of the building. Therefore, although the smaller rocks are real, all large rock formations are artificial. Despite their authentic appearance, they are made of wood, wire mesh, burlap, plaster, and papier mache, dyed and painted to in- clude even such details as lichen growth and dampness. ARCTIC SEABIRD LIFE PRIMATES Man is a primate—and that fact alone goes a long way toward explaining the popularity of this recently opened hall. Displayed here are the other major pri- mates, including the apes and the New World and Old World monkeys, as well as some lesser-known members of the order such as the lorises, the potto, the aye-aye, a tarsier, and several lemurs. Of particular interest is the exhibit showing some of the characteristics that distinguish primates from other mam- mals—for example, the grasping fingers of the hand with the apposable thumb. The first primates arose from a group of insect-eating mammals about 70 million years ago and continued to diverge from these primate-like insectivores by spe- cializing in various ways. Many of the adaptations that eventually led to the de- velopment of the species Homo sapiens can be seen in the exhibits comprising this hall. THE FAMLY TREE OF PRIMATES INDIANS OF THE EASTERN WOODLANDS SEMINOLE COSTUMES tell IROQUOIS COSTUME YUCHI WOMEN TANNING SKINS It would be hard to find someone who did not know that the Indians made ca- noes out of birch bark. But it was also hard to find someone who knew exactly how they did it. This process is exhibited in one of the Museum’s newest halls de- voted to the Indian tribes who inhabited the woodlands from Florida to the sub- arctic regions of Canada. Here, on brightly colored panels and murals, in models, and miniature dio- ramas, one can see costumes and artifacts from the Museum’s vast anthro- pological collections, artfully arranged to show how these Indians lived before the arrival of Europeans. One of the most al- luring features of this hall is that one walks through it to a musical accompani- ment: songs for a Winnebago war party, an Ojibwa song for the maple-sugar col- lecting season, and a chant for the ‘“‘moc- casin game’”’ are all an integral part of the exhibition. INSIDE A BLACKFOOT TIPI INDIANS OF THE PLAINS Think of American Indians and the im- age that comes to mind is the colorful buffalo hunter and warrior of the Plains. The finest artifacts from the Museum’s vast Plains Indian collection have been used to illustrate the culture of the 25 In- dian tribes that roamed the Plains be- tween the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Texas. All exhibits are accompanied by models or paintings depicting Indians hunting, farming, playing, or engaging in One or another of their elaborate cere- monies. Indian songs associated with various activities play from loudspeakers near the appropriate exhibits. A highlight of the hall is a habitat group showing a life-sized interior of a Black- foot tipi. Six costumed figures are en- gaged in the Thunder Pipe ceremony. The scene gives an authentic glimpse of what life must have been like in the middle nineteenth century among the Blackfoot, a typical Plains Indian tribe. ORS WR PORTS EVANS hat ras x s 3M Yo HIDATSA EARTHLODGE OFFICER OF ARAPAHO DOG SOCIETY AND DANCER OF ARAPAHO CRAZY SOCIETY DAKOTA CEREMONIAL DRESS ABOVE: AMERICAN EGRET ce y & 59 A te A me ts ape & at » dy >. oe | eT A = —— === — ABOVE: MARSH DUCKS IN SPRING NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS The Frank M. Chapman Memorial Hall of North American Birds offers a tour of our continent and its diversity of bird life: a peregrine falcon is shown nesting on a rocky ledge of the New Jersey Pali- sades, just across the Hudson River from New York City; Brandt’s cormorant is shown in its home near Monterey, Cali- fornia, on the other side of the continent. An Arizona desert group includes such birds as the cactus wren, the roadrunner, the curve-billed thrasher, and Gambel’s quail. There is also a night scene along the Potomac, where a great horned owl is shown returning to its mate with a muskrat in its claws. Wood warblers throng a dogwood branch, and a colony of anhingas, or snakebirds, nest in the Florida Everglades. A visitor to the Hall of North American Birds will notice that several plaques are written in the past tense: the New Jersey marshes were visited by vast numbers of migrating swallows, bobolinks, and other birds, but pollution and construction have driven most of them away. Several of the birds shown in these exhibits are extinct. The Carolina para- keet, only member of its family to nest in the United States, became extinct around 1900 and the Labrador duck dis- appeared around 1871. Only 50 skins of PEREGRINE FALCONS GREATER SNOW GEESE the Labrador duck were preserved and the Museum's exhibit of this bird is the only one in existence. Other birds on display are seriously threatened. The California condor, which weighs about 20 pounds and has a wing- spread of almost 10 feet, is among the world’s largest flying birds. Only about 40 condors remain today. The whooping crane, of which less than 50 survive, is shown here in a former nesting place in Minnesota. The United States’ national emblem, the bald eagle, has so de- creased in numbers that its survival is seriously threatened in many areas. The Hall of North American Birds is situated in the Museum’s first building, which was opened in 1877. The original bird groups were prepared in the first decade of this century under the able direction of Dr. Frank M. Chapman, orni- thologist and educator. Eventually the exhibits deteriorated, and the hall had to be closed for renovation. When it was re- opened in 1964, it was dedicated to Dr. Chapman in honor of his lifetime of serv- ice to the Museum and to the preserva- tion of wildlife. GREAT HORNED OWL THE BIOLOGY OF MAMMALS This hall—ringed with such a wide vari- ety of animals as bats, an egg-laying platypus, rabbits, a horse, and, at the center of them all, a great whale—shows the diversity of that class of animals known as the mammals. Skeletons and mounted specimens of the common members of all living orders —and the main families to which they be- long—are on display. The exhibits also explain the evolution of mammals, in particular their adaptations for special functions, such as teeth modified for her- bivorous or carnivorous diets. Among the many specimens exhibited, One is of particular interest historically. It is the first specimen in the Museum’s mammal collection—a lion dating from the middle of the nineteenth century. As in most early examples of taxidermy, the lion’s backbone and limbs are made of wood or metal, and its general shape is given by excelsior bound to the frame- work with string or with plaster. But it is the whale, not the lion, that dominates this hall. Some 76 feet long, this life-size plaster model of a sulphur- bottom whale went on display early in the century. Through the years it has contin- ued to be one of the Museum’s most pop- ular exhibits. The photograph that is used here was taken in 1907 and shows the whale at its best. The collection of mammals owned by the Museum now numbers about 210,000, mostly in the form of skeletons or skins. As is true of the other impressive collec- tions maintained by the Museum, the specimens are studied not only by the Museum scientists but by researchers from many other institutions of the world. ~ o oa = ee 2) Ww = a = O O x Ww a LL