In the field : the bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History

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The Field Museum The Field Museum
Exploring goes Hollywood
The Earth And Its with the release this
People summer of two

movies filmed here.

5-8

A complete schedule
of July/August
events, including
prairie and wetland
excursions.

10

A new book by
Field Museum
zoologists examines
all 4,037 species of
Neotropical birds.

SNAILS AS A GUIDE TO
OCEANIC MICROORGANISMS

Museum collections of snails help scientists
learn about the distribution and ecology of
tiny marine creatures that live on or within
the shells in the sunless depths of the
ocean.

CHANGEABLE WEATHER, CHANGEABLE PRAIRIES

By William Burger
Department of Botany

“@@he standard joke in Chicago (and
*around the Midwest) is that if you
don’t like the weather, wait: it will
change. With the possibility of cold
fe air masses coming down from
Canada, hot dry air out of the southwest, and
warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, the
Midwest regularly experiences dramatic fluctu-
ations in temperature and rainfall.

Not only can the weather change dramati-
cally from week to week, but it often deviates
strongly from the norm, month by month and
year to year. While our forests are subjected to
these same fluctuations, it is usually difficult to
see their effects on trees and shrubs. Prairies, in
contrast, offer us dramatic visual evidence of
their responses to local weather patterns. I have
made the mistake of inviting a group of friends
to see a prairie at its peak flowering time in early
August, only to find that it was a particularly
bad year for some of the more colorful species.
I should have checked first! The exact same spot
that was ablaze with hundreds of brilliantly
flowering plants the previous year now looked
like little more than a weedy field.

Our spectacle of prairie flowering begins in
middle May with shooting stars, golden alexan-
ders, and Indian paint brushes. In June, pucoons,
lupines, wild iris, and prairie roses put on a
show. Spiderworts, milkweeds and phlox begin
in late June and flower into July. Wild quinine,
wild bergamot, black-eyed Susan and other yel-
low composites dominate middle and late July.
By early August, the prairie should be display-
ing its most colorful plumage, with purple blaz-
ing stars and swarms of sunflowers the major
attractions, followed by the goldenrods. Finally,
as the grasses begin to turn a golden brown,
white or bluish asters and deep blue gentians
decorate the prairie from early September to
middle October.

William Burger

The season during which a particular
species flowers is fairly consistent from year to
year, with some species flowering for only a
week or so, and others ablaze for more than a
month. Beginning with short little plants in
May, the five-month sequence ends with some
flowers held six feet high. Though this general
pattern recurs each year, unpredictable local
weather determines who the major players will

be and how bright their display.

Of the 300 or so species that make their
homes on our richest prairies, those with really
colorful flowers number fewer than 100. Their
flowers may have very different form and struc-
ture (members of different families) or be quite
similar (members of the same genus), Neverthe-
less, each species does tend to respond in its
own way to temperature and rainfall. What may
be a good year for one species can be an awful
year for another. Spring weather may have
strong effects much later in the summer. A few
years ago, we had virtually no rain in May and
early June. The prairie was noticeably shorter
that year, and the blazing stars simply didn’t
flower. Fields that usually had great swaths of
purple were completely devoid of this colorful
member of the typical mid-summer panorama.

Gentian populations
can be particularly vari-
able. They develop small
root systems and live for
only one year. But it isn’t
easy to say whether a
good gentian year is
based on a large seed-set
the year before, or that it
was good rainfall and
(Continued on page 10)

LETTER FROM MADAGASCAR

Steve Goodman
Antananarivo, Madagascar
7 April 1996

ince arriving here in August 1995 I

have been able to spend the majority

of my time in the field. In late August

Olivier Langrand and I went up to the

; high mountain zone of the Andringi-

tra reserve, south-central Madagascar, to com-
plete an elevational transect for birds and
mammals started in 1993. We had camps at
2,000 and 2,450 meters. The higher camp was
just below the summit of Pic Boby (2,550m),
the second highest peak on the island. Tree-line
on the mountain is about 1,900m. By the time
one arrives at
2,000m there is an
expansive plateau
with open alpine
Savanna and occa-
sional small clusters
of upper montane
forest. The 2,550m
camp was mostly ina
region of exposed
rock, although in the

PRINCESS DI AT
FIELD MUSEUM

Princess Diana is
escorted into the
June 5 gala at the
Museum by North-
western University
President Henry S.

Bienen. The event
drew 1,300 guests
and raised hundreds
of thousands of dol-
lars for cancer chari-
ties. More pictures
on page 4.

basin below the sum-
mit there is a marsh.
During our visit to
the area it was the
end of the winter and
even though we were

within the tropics it was incredibly cold. On
several nights at 7:30 the dew had already
turned to frost and we experienced temperatures
down to -7 °C.

We found numerous interesting animals.
Several species of small mammals, particularly
a group of endemic insectivores (Microgale and
Oryzorictes) occur all the way up to 2,550m.
This is the highest elevation they have been
recorded on the island, and with their high
metabolism and the local extreme temperatures
it is amazing that they are able to live in such an
inhospitable place. We also found a large popu-
lation of Benson’s Rock-Thrush, a species of

(Continued on page 11)

Article, page 10

Left: Phlox and
black-eyed Susan in
the Illinois Beach
State Park.

Wild tris

The summit of Pic
Boby (2,550 meters),
the second-highest
peak on Madagascar.
Left to right: Olivier
Langrand, a local
guide, and Steve
Goodman.

William Burger

Olivier Langrand

Phil Lewis / GN87862.13¢

WHEREWITHAL: THE NECESSARY MEANS

By Willard L. Boyd
President, The Field Museum

he ends never justify the means.

But without the proper means we

cannot achieve our ends.

In the summer of 1893, Edward

Ayer scurried around Chicago to

find the means to create The Field Museum as

the great legacy of the World Columbian Expo-

sition. In the years since, The Field Museum has

flourished because of the commitment of

Chicagoans who have requested and given the

wherewithal needed for an increasingly vibrant

and significant center of learning about the earth

and its people. Soon we will be seeking your

special help to generate the wherewithal to

achieve the objectives of our strategic plan, The

Field Museum: Connecting in Its Second Centu-

ry. To carry out that plan we are undertaking a
$60 million comprehensive campaign seeking:

¢ $13 million — to maintain and build the
annual operating support so vital for the Muse-
um’s ongoing programs which serve our many
publics on a daily basis.

¢ $20 million — to increase our endowment
so that it will continue to provide 20 percent of
our operating budget as it has over the past 30
years.

* $27 million — for crucial capital projects
which involve infrastructure renovations, col-
lections care and conservation, research facili-
ties and exciting exhibits which will bring new
knowledge to the public.

At my age, I consider our 1921 Museum
building of nearly one million square feet to be
young. The fact remains that it is necessary to

replace the roof, plumbing, and electrical
wiring. Our high-pressure boilers are forty years
old and our air conditioning chillers are anti-
quated.

Collections are the grist for our intellectual
mill. To help ensure that these invaluable
objects are available to scholars now and far
into the future, we must consolidate and
improve their storage, especially for our alco-
hol-preserved zoological objects and our cultur-
ally significant anthropological collections. The
Campaign will also benefit the latter by con-
structing state-of-the-art conservation laborato-
ries that will enable our outstanding staff to
perform the crucial work necessary to preserve
these fragile collections.

We also want to make the collections more
accessible. Our Campaign calls for storing col-
lections data on computers so that the informa-
tion they contain is “just a modem-away” from
scholars and youngsters alike. At present our
computer hardware is obsolete and transferring
this data is a monumental task. We are encour-
aged in this area because The Field Museum’s
World Wide Web site is now cited as a national
museum leader, and more than a quarter million
visitors have come through this “electronic
door” this year alone.

It is imperative for us to apply new research
techniques to our collections and the Campaign
will enable us to do so. Much of The Field
Museum’s collection was assembled before
DNA was discovered. Nevertheless, we can
extract DNA from the environmental collec-
tions. Similarly, anthropologists are able to use
molecular markers in studying historical patterns
of human migrations, and geological dating
enables us to study changes in the world’s"geolo-=
gy and biology over extraordinary spans of time.

The purpose of our collections-based
research is to provide greater public knowledge
about environmental and cultural change.
Exhibits are our classrooms. With your help,
great changes have been made in our permanent
exhibits during the past decade. The time has
come for us to reenter the special exhibit arena
in order to bring new knowledge on a continual
basis to our publics. To do so, we need a new
exhibition center adjacent to Stanley Field Hall.
It will be versatile enough to mount an art
exhibit, recreate a rain forest, or install an army
of terra cotta soldiers.

We also plan two new permanent exhibits
which will focus on present and future Museum-
based research. The first is “Living Together:
Common Concerns, Different Responses.” It
will provide an introduction to the Museum’s
cultural exhibits just as “Nature Walk” intro-
duces visitors to the environmental exhibits.
“Life Underground” will be the largest exhibit
we have ever undertaken. It will be an adventure
into the biological world beneath our feet. In the
next decade, our curators will be unlocking the
many secrets of the underground.

This $60 million Campaign will provide the
crucial wherewithal necessary for The Field
Museum to serve its many publics in the years
to come. A campaign committee of 57 outstand-
ing volunteers, chaired by Judy Block, will lead
us in this Campaign. In my retirement, I will
serve as the honorary chairman of the Cam-
paign. I am ever grateful to each of you for the
steadfast support you have given the Museumin
the past, and I look forward to being your part-
ner in keeping the Museum at the forefront as a
center of learning about the world’s cultures and
environments SE ae SL TR nt

LEAKEY RECEIVES AWARD OF MERIT

July/August 1996

John Weinstein / GN87817,12c

July/August 1996
Vol. 67, No. 4

Editor:
Ron Dorfman

Art Director:
Shi Yung

Editorial Assistant:
Rhonda Jones

John Weinstein / GNB7817.12c

In the Field _

ichard Leakey, the Kenyan paleontolo-

gist , conservationist, and politician,

receives the Award of Merit from

Founders’ Council co-chair Pam Wal-
ter. At left, Leakey with his former student Cha-
purukha Kusimba, who is now a Field Museum
curator. Below, the crystal globe from Tiffany
that is part of the Award of Merit.

The award is given from time to time to
recognize outstanding achievement in bringing
to public attention issues in evolutionary and
conservation biology.

In a public lecture, Leakey observed that
“poaching and agriculture have forced ele-
phants into small areas, and they destroy the
forest” and threaten people’s livelihoods: “It’s
one thing to have a squirrel in your garden,” he
said. “It’s quite another to have an elephant in
your garden.”

The Field Museum
Exploring

The Earth And lta
People

In the Field (ISSN #1051-4546) is published bimonthly by The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive,

Chicago IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1996 The Field Museum. Subscriptions $6.00 annually, $3.00 for schools. Muse-
um membership includes In the Field subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not neces-
sarily reflect policy of The Field Museum. Museum phone (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should
include address label and should be sent to Membership Department. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to In
the Field, The Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605-2496. Second class postage paid

at Chicago, Illinois.

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

Murray Close

ASIAN
CERAMICS
CONFERENCE

Smiling for the cam-
era during a Collec-
tions Committee
reception at the sec-
ond annual Asian
Ceramics Conference
are, from left, Ben-
nett Bronson, curator
of Asian anthropolo-
gy and co-chair of
the conference; Car-
olyn Moore, associ-
ate in anthropology;
Shinichi Fukagawa,
president of the
Koransha Corp., a
ceramics maker in
Japan; and Chuimei
Ho, adjunct curator
of anthropology and
co-chair of the con-
ference.

At right, Akiko
Saito demonstrates
the form and func-
tion of ceramics in
Matcha, a Japanese
tea ceremony.

Diane Alexander White / GN87895.9Ac

Diane Alexander White / GN87895,30Ac

SUMMER AT THE MOVIES

Left, Keanu Reeves
and Rachel Weisz on
the run in Chain
Reaction.

THE FIELD MUSEUM CORDIALLY INVITES MEMBERS AND GUESTS To A BRUNCH LECTURE

THE FIELD MUSEUM

JOIN US FOR A BUFFET BRUNCH AND CURATOR’S LECTURE. THEN DISCOVER THE FASCINATING WORLD OF
ONE OF NATURES GREATEST HUNTERS WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE SPIDERS!
Dr. JOHN KETHLEY, ASSOCIATE CURATOR OF INSECTS

WILL PRESENT A SLIDE LECTURE INTRODUCING SPIDERS AND RELATED ARTHROPODS INCLUDING AN OVERVIEW
OF SPIDER BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, AND BEHAVIOR.

SUNDAY, JuLy 21, 1996
11:00 a.m. To 1:00 p.m.
Rice WILDLIFE RESEARCH STATION

ADMISSION IS $20 FoR Memsers, $25 FOR GUESTS
RSVP sy July 18, 1996 (312) 322-8871
SEATING IS LIMITED - ADVANCE PURCHASES ENCOURAGED

PLEASE PARK IN THE NORTH LOT AND ENTER THE NORTH DOOR, BARRIER-FREE PARKING AND ACCESS ARE AVAILABLE AT
THE WEST DOOR. PLEASE DIRECT INQUIRIES TO THE MEMBERSHIP OFFICE AT (312) 322-8871.

* he Field Museum stars in two feature
‘films opening this summer: The Relic,
starring Penelope Ann Miller, Tom
Sizemore, Linda Hunt, and James
Whitmore; and Chain Reaction, with Keanu
Reeves and Morgan Freeman.

In The Relic, Miller plays an evolutionary
biologist using DNA technology to try to iden-
tify a mysterious creature that is killing people
in her museum in advance of the opening of an
exhibit on superstition. Sizemore plays a Chica-
go cop helping her out, Hunt is the director of
the museum, and Whitmore is a world-famous
evolutionary biologist who provides the key to
the reptilian creature’s proper classification.
The film is directed by Peter Hyams. The cast
and crew were on location in the Museum for
three weeks last October, and re-created the
curators’ offices and laboratories on a Holly-
wood sound stage for the remainder of the film.

Chain Reaction is an action-adventure film
in which a physicist (Rachel Weisz) and her
team’s machinist (Keanu Reeves) go on the run
after they are framed for the murder of the team
leader and the destruction of their laboratory.
The research team had discovered how to pro-
duce a cheap, pollution-free form of energy and
it appears that somebody out there didn’t want
them to succeed. Pursued across the country by
half a dozen Federal agencies, Reeves and
Weisz try to figure out who the real conspirators
are, with assistance from Morgan Freeman as
the head of a foundation that has backed the
research. Several scenes were shot at the Muse-
um and at the University of Chicago. Chain
Reaction was directed by Andrew Davis.

In addition, The Ghost and the Darkness,
starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, is
scheduled to open in October. The film is based
on the experiences of Col. John Henry Patter-
son, who in 1898 shot two lions in Kenya that
had killed 160 members of his railway-building
crew. Patterson later sold the pelts and skulls of
“the man-eating lions of Tsavo” to Stanley
Field, who gave them to the Museum, where
they were mounted and are stil] on display, now
in the Rice Wildlife Research Station.

Above, Penelope Ann
Miller as a museum
curator searching for
the identity of a mys-
terious predatory
beast in The Relic.

\ ly/August 1996

Richard Foreman

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

THE ROYAL VISIT

Photographs by Diane Alexander White

he Field Museum was the site
of a gala dinner-dance on June
5 in honor of Princess Diana.
The event raised hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars for cancer charities in
the United States and Great Britain.
The Princess also attended a seminar
on cancer research at Northwestern
University, visited patients at Cook
County Hospital and the Northwestern
University Medical Center, and attend-
ed a fundraising luncheon at the Drake
Hoiel.

Below left, Stanley Field Hall
decked out for the gala, which attract-
ed 1,300 people, and, right, Princess
Diana arriving at the Museum escorted
by Northwestern University President
Henry S. Bienen. Ticket prices for the
gala ranged trom $500 to $50,000 for
a full table and admission to other
events on the Princess’s schedule. The
elaborate decor and set-up took cater-
ers days to complete.

Guests included, left, Delores Jor-
dan, mother of Michael, who carried
gifts of Chicago Bulls paraphernalia for
the Princess’s sons; and, above left, the
actor Gene Wilder, widower of Gilda
Radner and founder of Gilda’s Club for
cancer patients and their families and
friends, which was one of the benefi-
ciaries of the evening’s fundraising.
The other beneficiaries were the

GNa7908.36¢

GN87911.29¢

GN87909.33A¢

GN87908.30¢

Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center of
Northwestern University and the Royal
Marsden Cancer Appeal supporting
Royal Marsden Hospital.

Counter-clockwise from above
right: Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas
(Donahue got the first dance with the
Princess); Tony Bennett rehearsing for
his performance at the gala; and, rac-
— ing up the stairs, madcap Joan Rivers,
who later said she was impressed by”
the Princess and was “sorry | ever
called her a tramp.”

(GNB7908.10¢

GN87910.26¢

he special summer exhibit “Spi-
“ders!” will run through August 25.
The exhibit examines the lifestyle
of one of nature’s most fascinating
«@ and feared creatures and traces its
role in nature as well as its relationship with
humanity. It puts spiders on a level playing field
with other organisms, showing how arachnids
deal with the universal basics that all living
creatures face — finding food, mating, produc-
ing offspring, and defending against predators.

Along with the exhibit, the Museum has
planned a full summer of programs, including
daily spider activities and special weekend pro-
grams. The opening days of “Spiders!” featured
visits from the Marvel Comics super-hero, Spi-
der-Man.

The dinner-plate-size Madagascar orb
weaver as well as live poisonous brown recluse
and black widow spiders are on display.

The carnivorous creatures that humans love
to hate are actually harmless creatures —
except, of course, for the infamous black widow
spider and the funnel web spider. The black
widow is notorious for her deadly way of killing
her mate. But, on the whole, spiders are benefi-

cial in that they eat billions of disease-laden
insects like flies and cockroaches. Spiders have
a unique way of getting around in their world.
The hairs on their bodies serve as their primary
sensory faculty, helping them to see and to feel.
Spiderize!, an element of the exhibit, adds a new
perspective on life from a spider’s viewpoint.

Using dioramas, “Spiders!” shows the
range of spider sizes and habitats, a spider fam-
ily tree, and freezed-dried spider specimens.
The Museum worked with Marvel Entertain-
ment Group to bring the traveling exhibit to the
city.

John Weinstein

FROM THE GOOD EARTH

he Field Museum joins the Council

for Creative Projects in bringing the

photographic exhibit “From the

Good Earth” to the Museum; it

opens July 10 and runs through
October 13. The exhibit celebrates food grow-
ing through pictures taken by farmer/photogra-
pher Michael Ableman during his excursions
over five continents. The vivid images offer
glimpses of traditional farming cultures and
demonstrates the impact of industrialized agri-
culture on our own society as well as the cultur-
al and ecological issues industrialization has
engendered.

The photo documentary covers traditions
that are thousands of years old and shows how
modern cultures can work with them to restore
the earth through growing food. “From the
Good Earth” glimpses the agricultural history
shared by many cultures and shows how indi-
viduals are reclaiming their agricultural roots,
using lessons from the past in ingenious and
modern ways to produce food for the future.
Ableman, through his camera, illustrates our
increased isolation from the land and the envi-
ronmental problems of large-scale agriculture in
the chemical age.

Through poignant fine-art photographs, the
exhibit challenges us to rethink our relationship
with food, and to see how what we eat is affect-
ing us and the environment. Many of the foods
we take for granted are produced in ways that
seriously affect our world. Ironically, the com-
mon potato, strawberry, loaf of bread, or ham-
burger can be directly linked to the destruction
of the rain forests; nitrate pollution of ground-
water; the poisoning of our land, water, and
wildlife through the use of pesticides; and, per-
haps most urgent of all, the rapid depletion of
the earth’s topsoil—upon which all life depends.

Food became tainted as a result of modern-

ization and mechanization. Modern orchards
and fields are designed to produce great quanti-
ties of inexpensive food. To accomplish this,
there must be high levels of industrial efficien-
cy. The fields are leveled and rows are spaced
with precision to accommodate machinery. The
earth is saturated with synthetic fertilizers. Then
it is pumped with fumigants and doused with
herbicides to inhibit soil-borne disease and
retard weed growth. Crops are sprayed and dust-
ed with a variety of insecticides in an effort to
maintain high yield and guarantee consistency
of appearance in the supermarket.

“From the Good Earth” includes 80 color

John Weinstein

Above, Petra Sierwald, the Museum’s expert on spiders, demonstrates for
students from Chicago’s Bright Elementary School how brown-widow spi-
ders dine on live crickets. Left, Spider-Man showed up for breakfast with
Linda Starczyk’s sixth-grade class from Bright. The kids had been working
on spiders for months, using Field Museum experience boxes, videos, and
other materials.

Spider-Man returns to the Museum July 10-12 and July 19-21; limited
numbers of free tickets to see him will be available.

images of agricultural exploration from around
the world. The world’s smallest farms and gar-
dens, grand agricultural landscapes, and tradi-

tional and modern farmers are among
Ableman’s subjects. Settings include lush diver-
sified farms in Switzerland, Germany, the
Netherlands, England, and the United States;
market and winery gardens in France and Cali-
fornia; and ingenious food gardens in yarious
settings such as urban lots in Philadelphia and
New York, a San Francisco jail, a suburban Lon-
don backyard, and other sites.
The exhibit was organized by the Council
for Creative Projects in New York.
— Rhonda Jones

Above, a community
garden in Philadel-
phia thriving near a
decaying elevated
railroad track where
drugs are openly
exchanged. Left, a
Peruvian farmer car-
ries home mustard
weeded from a bar-
ley field. It will be
feed for his donkeys.

Lynn Terr

Zydeco musician
Alphonse Bois-Sec
Ardoin will be joined
by his son, Morris,
and grandsons Gus,
Alphonse Paul, and
Dexter (above) at the
Cajun & Zydeco
Music Festival July
20. The Cajun Aces
headline the Cajun
side of the program.

Lynn Terr

# Saturday
Workshop: Buffalos

1-3 p.m. Where would you go to get
things like fly swatters, rope, snow sleds,
and spoons? Native Americans turned to
the buffalo to provide meat, hides for blan-
kets, and bone for toys and tools. Come lis-
ten to the story of the mud pony and draw
a pictograph that tells your own story.
Adults and children grades K-3. $10 per
participant ($8 per member participant).
Call (312) 322-8854 for more information.

7 15 Monday

Worlds Tour Camp

9:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m. Space may still be
available for the collaborative day camp
offered by The Field Museum, the Shedd
Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium.
Four-week long Monday-Friday sessions
begin today for children age 5-14. Don't
miss the fun! $195 ($175 members). Call
(312) 322-8854 for futher information.

7/ 1 Siete

Educators’ Overnight

Educators, come stay a night in the Muse-
um. Venture into the wild and explore the
world of insects. Come learn how to do
classroom activities and visit the summer
exhibit, “Spiders!” The overnight includes a
totebag, handouts, two workshops, class-
room activity fair, evening buffet, continen-
tal breakfast, storytelling, and more.
Registration $55. Reserve your space now;
registration deadline is July 12. Call (312)
922-9410 ext. 365 for more details.

Saturday
ei & Zydeco Fest

7:30 p.m. — midnight Celebrate the rich
cultural heritage of Southern Louisiana with
music, fun, and dance at the Cajun and
Zydeco Music Festival featuring legendary
Creole performers Alphonse Bois-Sec
Ardoin and his family and the Chicago
Cajun Aces. Ardoin has played in festivals
here and abroad while his family accompa-
nied him at the Smithsonian and Carnegie
Hall. The fest complements the exhibit
“Cajun Music and Zydeco,” a photographic
exhibition of Philip Gould’s work on dis-
play in the Webber Gallery until August 4.
$20 ($15 members). Food and beverages
available for purchase. Call (312) 922-9410
ext. 861 for more information.

“#4 &# Saturday
Mardi Gras in The Field

10 a.m. — noon Fait les bon temps rouler!
Let the good times roll! Mardi Gras is a spe-
cial time of celebration in New Orleans
complete with parades, festivities, and danc-
ing. We'll see some of the honored musi-
cians who play the Cajun and Zydeco music
of Louisiana in a special photo exhibit.
Music, face-painting, mask making, and our

own family-style “hurricanes” will complete...

our festivities as we look into the cultures of
Louisiana. Adults and children grades K-4.
$10 per participant ($8 per member partici-
pant). For more information: (312) 322-

8854,
3 Saturday

Wetland Birding

8:30 a.m. —4 p.m. Nature Network’s Paul
Baker takes you on a day-long hike, with
emphasis on_ bird-watching, through
Moraine Hills State Park near McHenry, IIli-
nois. More than 100 species of birds have
been identified in the park. We'll hike the
trails enjoying a diversity of habitats as we
look for a number of bird species. Bring a
bag lunch, beverage, field guide, and don't
forget the binoculars. Departs from the West
Door. $40 ($35 members). Call (312) 322-
8854 for further details.

8/10 secs

Navajo Arts Lecture

2 p.m. Pearl Sunrise is a full-blooded Nava-
jo and third-generation weaver, singer, pot-
ter, and storyteller. She is Professor of Fiber
Arts, Fashion Design and Navajo language
and culture at the Institute of American Indi-
an Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Through
slides and personal stories, she will talk
about details of her life and work, describing
the importance of Navajo traditions to her
own artistic expression. $12 ($10 members).
Call (312) 322-8854 for more information.

Sunter Prairie Hike

9a.m.—4 p.m. Join the Museum’s Phil Han-
son on an excursion that will heighten your
awareness of the Illinois landscape and the
people who lived in the area over 200 years
ago. You'll visit three sites: Lockport Prairie
on the edge of the Des Plaines River flood-
plain; Vermont Prairie Cemetery, nearby;
and the Isle a la Cache Museum where you
will learn about this area's cultural heritage.
Wear comfortable shoes, bring sun protec-
tion, lunch, and beverage. Departs from
West Door. $40 ($35 members). For futher
information, call (312) 322-8854.

8/10 sani

Spiders Workshop

10 — 11 a.m. Spider fun for adults with a
three- or four-year-old. Visit our summertime
exhibit “Spiders!” to see through spider eyes,
learn how webs are woven, and how spiders
benefit people. Later, learn about spider
body parts when you make a toy spider. $14
($12 members) for one adult and oné child.
Call (312) 2) 322-8854 for more information.

Was nae Ane Ss: : San © 6

8/24 sn

Amazing Spider Mask

10 a.m. — noon People make and wear
masks for many different purposes. Learn
how masks are used in different parts of the
world from an expert mask maker and
watch her special performance, Later, make
a spider mask and visit the exhibit “Spi-
ders!” Adults and children grades 3-6. $10
per participant ($8 per member participant).
Call (312) 322-8854 for more information.

8/24 sei

Botanical Exploration

9 a.m. — 2 p.m. Botanist Thomas Lammers
will help you learn the characteristics of the
most common plant families during this day-

long workshop. Classroom lectures, live as
well as dried specimens, slides, and a visit to
the Museum’s extensive herbarium are

included. $40 ($35 members).
322-8854 for more information.

Call (312)

John Weinstein / GN87733.4

John Weinstein / GN87838,36Ac

Diane Alexander White / GN87831,20Ac

inder White / GN87832.29c

John Weinstein / GN87835.25c

he 45th Annual Members’ Night on May 3 drew a crowd

of more than 11,000 Museum members and their families
and friends and produced record sales in the Museum store.
Members enjoyed live musical performances by the Midway
Ramblers Cajun Band and Guy Lawrence & Chideco Zydeco as
well as a dance performance by Khalidha’s North African
Dance Experience. Khalidha teaches ancient Egyptian dance at
the Museum. The annual event gives members of the Museum
the opportunity to meet curators, scientists, exhibit develop-
ers, and educators, all of whom inspire imagination and teach
about the diversity of the earth and the people who inhabit it.
Members also get a behind-the-scenes look at how and where
exhibits are designed.

Diane Alexander White / GN87832,29c

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Clockwise from top left: Volunteer Bill Duvall frightened
visitors with a lion skull. Jim Nesci of Orland Park, Illinois, a
member of the Chicago Herpetological Society, entertained
youngsters of all ages with the help of Bubba, a very much
alive alligator. A young visitor took his chances with the Web
of Fortune; whether he drew the dreaded Black Widow was
not recorded. President Boyd joined members who watched
with fascination or revulsion or both as mammal preparators
skinned the carcass of a snow leopard.

William Simpson, chief preparator of fossil vertebrates,
demonstrated the finer points of extracting specimens from
rock. Guy Lawrence & Chideco Zydeco entertained from the
main stage, and the members of Khalida’s North African
Dance Ensemble posed for their portrait after a performance.

Diane Alexander White / GN87832,29c

Become a Member
of The Field Museum

and receive these benefits:

Free general admission

Free priority admission to “Life Over Time”
Priority admission to special exhibits
Free coat checking and strollers
Invitation to Members’ Night

Free subscription to In the Field

10% discount at all Museum stores

10% discount at Picnic in the Field
13-month wall calendar featuring exhibit
photographs

Reduced subscription prices on selected
magazines

Opportunity to receive the Museum's
annual report

Use of our 250,000-volume

natural history library

Discount on classes, field trips, and seminars
for adults and children

Members-only tour program
Opportunity to attend the annual
children’s Holiday Tea

Children’s “dinosaur” birthday card

YY VES YY ¥

yy ¥¥ ¥Y¥VY¥ ¥

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
New Members only. This is not a renewal form.

f ™% Please enroll me as a Member of

‘ The Field Museum
Name

Address

City

State ___Zip

Home phone

Business phone

GIPT APPLICATION FOR
Name

Address

City
State___ Zip
Home phone

Business phone

Gif T PROM
Name

Address
City

State ___Zip
Home phone

Business phone

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

‘@) Individual — one year $35 / two years $65

O Family — one year $45 / two years $85

: (Includes two adults, children and grand-
children 18 and under.)

{ Student/Senior — one year $25

} (Individual only. Copy of I.D. required.)

@) Field Contributor — $100 - $249

C) Field Adventurer — $250 - $499

C) Field Naturalist - $500 - $999

C) Field Explorer — $1,000 - $1,499

All benefits of a family membership

— and more
C) Founders’ Council — $1,500

Send form to:
The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake
Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605

Diane Alexander White / GN87644.20

See spiders using a
video microscope.
Phil Parillo, collec-
tions manager of
insects, or another
Field Museum scien-
tist will be in the
Curator’s Office in
the “Spiders!” exhib-
it every Saturday and
Sunday from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.

Friday, July 5

10am - 1pm Native American
Tools activity. Enjoy a game of
chance or skill as you play tradi-
tional Native American Games.

Saturday, July 6

11am & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec
Empire and Its Predecessors tour
(English.) Find out about the diver-
sity of languages and cultures from
this region and how these cultures
built a mighty empire founded
3,000 years ago.

1pm El Imperio Azteca y Sus Pre-
decesores tour (en espafiol).
Aprenda sobre la diversiday de
lenguas y culturas de esta regidn y
cémo estas culturas construyeron
un poderoso imperio que se fundé
hace 3,000 afios.

Sunday, July 7

l1lam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30 pm The Early
Maya Civilization tour. Explore the
Maya’s ancestors’ art, architecture,
technical innovations, math and
writing systems, and find out more
about the two million people in
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Sal-
vador and Honduras who still
speak the Mayan language and
maintain Mayan traditions.

1pm - 3pm Adinkra activity. Tradi-
tional designs from Ghana repre-
sent different African proverbs
Stamp your favorite!

Thursday, July 11

10am & 12noon Africa Exhibit
tour. Learn about the diversity of
Africa's people, their history, art,
technology, and their contributions
to the Americas.

12:45pm The Aztec, The Maya and
Their Predecessors tour. Learn
about the diverse and complex Pre-
Columbian cultures of Mexico and
Central America.

Friday, July 12

10am - 1pm Terrific Teeth activity.
Can teeth tell you what an animal
eats? Take part in this fun activity
and find out!

Saturday, July 13

1:30 p.m. Tibet Today and a Faith
in Exile slide lecture. Learn about
Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal
and elsewhere. Witness the dedica-
tion ceremony of a Himalayan
Buddhist chorten in Indiana by His
Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Monday, July 15

1pm Anansi stories told by Shanta.
Hear West African tales of the
tricky spider named Anansi.

2pm American Indian Spider Sto-
ries as told by Florence Dunham of
the Mohawk people.

Sunday, July 14

1pm Anansi stories told by Shanta.
Hear West African tales of the
tricky spider named Anansi.

2pm American Indian Spider Sto-
ries as told by Florence Dunham of
the Mohawk people.

Thursday, July 18

11am & 2p.m. Web Spinning Tales
storytelling. From Arachne to
Anansi‘to Sider-Man, people have
alkways been fascinated by spiders.
Listen to a variety of stories from
many parts of the world that
describe spiders and their amazing
feats and strange ways.

12:45 pm The Aztec, The Maya
and Their Predecessors tour.

Saturday, July 20
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Sunday, July 21

11am & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30 & 2:30 The Aztec Empire
and Its Predecesors tour.

Tpm - 3pm African Metals activity.
Learn about the ancient African art
of metallurgy.

Monday, July 22
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Thursday, July 25

10am & 12noon Africa Exhibit
tour.

11am & 2pm Web
Spinning Tales story-
telling.

12:45pm The Aztec,
The Maya and Their
Predecessors tour.

Friday, July 26

10am - 1pm Rocks
and Minerals Match
activity. Try to match
minerals with the
familiar products they
produce.

Saturday, July 27
llam & 1pm High-
lights of The Field
Museum tour.

11am and 2pm Web-
spinning tales story-
telling

11:30 & 2:30 The Early Maya Civi-
lization tour (English.)

Tpm La Civilizacion Antigua Maya
tour (en espafiol). Explore el arte,
la arquitectura, las inovaciones tec-
noldégicas, los sistemas de
matematicas y escritura de la civi-
lizacion antigua maya. Aprenda
mas sobre los dos millones de per-
sonas que viven en México,
Guatemala, Belice y Honduras que
todavia hablan el idioma maya y
mantienen sus tradiciones.

1:30pm Tibet Today and Bhutan,
Land of the Thunder Dragon slide
lecture. A slide presentation which
takes you to Lhasa and other places
now open to tourists in Tibet. Also
travel to the small Himalayan
country of Bhutan.

Sunday, July 28

llam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30 & 2:30 The Aztec Empire
and Its Predecessors tour (English.)
1pm El Imperio Azteca y Sus Pre-
cesores tour (en espanol).

Monday, July 29
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Thursday, August 1

10am & 12noon Africa Exhibit
tour.

11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Friday, August 2

10am - 1pm Pareus activity. Try out
a Pacific Island style as you wrap a
pareu-style dress.

Saturday, August 3

10am - 1pm Adinkra activity.
11am & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Sunday, August 4

1lam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Early Maya
Civilization tour.

Monday, August 5
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Thursday, August 8
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Friday, August 9

10am - 1pm Lava activity. Now
that they’re cool, touch some of the
substances produced by a volcano.

Saturday, August 10

11am Web spinning tales story-
telling

11am & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11:30 & 2:30 The Aztec Empire
and Its Predecessors tour (English.)
1pm El Imperio Azteca y sus Pre-
decesores tour (en espanol).

1pm Native American Spider Sto-
ries told by Florence Dunham of
the Mohawk people

1:30pm Tibet Today slide lecture
and a Field Museum Tibet exhibit
tour. A slide presentation which
takes you to Lhasa and other places
now open to tourists in Tibet. A
guided tour of the Tibet exhibit will
be offered after the lecture.

Monday, August 12
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Thursday, August 15

10am & 12pm Africa Exhibit tour.
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Friday, August 16
10am - 1pm Native American
Tools activity.

Saturday, August 17

llam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum

11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

11:30am & 2:30pm The Aztec, The
Maya and Their Predecessors tour.

Sunday, August 18

llam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

1pm - 3pm African Metals activity.
11:30 am & 2:30 p.m.The Aztec
Empire and Their Predecessors
tour.

Monday, August 19
11am & 2pm Web Spinning Tales
storytelling.

Thursday, August 22
11am & 2pm Web spinning tales

Friday, August 23
10am - 1pm Terrific Teeth activity.

Saturday, August 24

1lam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

11am & 2pm Web spinning tales
1:30 p.m. Tibet Today and a Faith
in Exile slide lecture.

Sunday, August 25
1lam & 1pm Highlights of The
Field Museum tour.

Friday, August 30

10am - 1pm Sea Shells activity. Did
you know that shells were “left-
handed” or “right-handed”? Dis-
cover more about different types of
shells in this informative activity.

Saturday, August 31

10am - 1pm Adinkra activity.
11:30 & 2:30 The Aztec, The Maya
and Their Predecessors activity.

Daniel F. & Ada L. Rice Wildlife
Research Station

Learn more about the animal king-
dom through videos, computer pro-
grams books and activity boxes.
Open daily 10am-4:30pm

Webber Resource Center

Native Cultures of The Americas
Use books, videos, tribal
newspapers and activity boxes to
learn more about native

peoples.

Open daily 10am-4:40pm

Place for Wonder

Touchable objects let you investi-
gate fossils, shells, rocks, plants,
and items of daily life in Mexico.
Open daily 10am - 4:30pm.

Pawnee Earth Lodge

Visit a home of mid-19th century
Pawnee people. Learn about these
Native Americans and their tradi-
tional life on the Plains.
Weekdays: Programs at 11am,
11:30am, 1pm and 1:30pm
Weekends: 10am-4:30pm

Ruatepupuke, a Maori Meeting
House

Discover the world of the Maori
people of New Zealand at the
treasured Maori Meeting House.
Daily 10am-4:30pm

FROM THE FIELD

MASSIVE BIRD SURVEY IS PUBLISHED

orget not the Amazon rain forests,
but consider too the much more
imminently threatened forested Museum who is
slopes of the northern Andes, the now director of ;
Atlantic Forest of coastal Brazil, the Cornell
and the dry forests and grasslands of central Laboratory of ©
South America. While these regions are notas Ornmithology;
biologically diverse as the rain forest, most of and the late
them contain habitat-restricted species that are Theodore A.
seriously threatened with extinction as a result Parker III.
of human encroachment. By preserving large Parker, one
tracts in just 38 of these regional habitats, we of the world’s |
could go a long way toward solving the most _ leading ornitholo-
urgent problems of conserving tropical diversi- gists, died three
ty. By contrast, the Amazon rain forests are still years ago in a
relatively intact. plane crash in
That is the message of Neotropical Birds: Ecuador while ona — F
Ecology and Conservation, just published by reconnaisance mis-
the University of Chicago Press. The book ana- sion for Conserva-
lyzes the ecological and geographic distribution tion International’s —
of all 4,037 species of birds in the Western Rapid Assessment —
Hemisphere south of the Rio Grande. Nearly Program. (See In
three-fourths of the volume’s 502 oversize the Field, Septem-
pages are devoted to databases, also available in ber/October 1993.)
searchable and manipulable electronic form, The book is based
that report in detail the ranges, habitats, eleva- largely on data col-
tional limits, foraging levels, relative abun- lected by Parker, who |
dances, breeding and migratory behaviors, and = was legendary in the
sensitivity to human disturbance of each field for his ability to recognize the songs of
species, assigning priorities for research and = some 4,000 species.
conservation. The health of bird communities is Neotropical Birds, seven years in develop-
taken to be an indicator of the general health of ment, is a joint project of The Field Museum
the local ecosystem. and Conservation International.
The authors are Douglas F. Stotz and Debra In essays accessible to lay readers and of
K. Moskovits of The Field Museum’s Office of _ particular interest to conservation workers and

DEEP-SEA SNAILS AND
THEIR TRAVELING COMPANIONS

dapting paleontological meth-
ods to marine biology, Field
Museum zoologist Janet R.
Voight and her colleague Sally
sh E. Walker, a geologist at the
University of Georgia, have used museum col-
lections of snails to infer biogeographic patterns
of tiny deep-water protozoans, barnacles,
worms, and other creatures that live on or with-
in the snail shells.

Many scientists have suggested that the
deep sea has greater biodiversity than any other
marine or terrestrial environment, but most of
the diversity is due to the presence of very small
animals that can be difficult, and very expen-
sive, to sample. By examining the frequency
and distribution of these animals on the shells of
two species of the snail genus Gaza (including
G. superba, pictured here), Voight and Walker
tested whether the shells offer an easy way to
assess deep-sea diversity.

They examined under the microscope 455
snail shells that had been collected at depths of
300 to 1,000 meters on the Gulf Coast, the
northern coast of South America, and the Less-
er Antilles by the research vessels Oregon and
Silver Bay between 1954 and 1970 and deposit-
ed in The Field Museum and the Los Angeles
County Museum of Natural History. Voight and
Walker conclude that the snail shells do indeed
permit such assessment, finding that the compo-
sition of the sediment in which the snails forage,
rather than any characteristic of the shells them-
selves, accounts for the uneven distribution of
the microorganisms they observed on the shells
of the museum specimens.

All of the specimens collected near conti-
nents, even at depths of 1,000 meters (about
3,300 feet) carried two or more of the ten pas-
senger species, with those found near the

g

John Weinstein

mouths of rivers carrying the greatest variety.
But snails from similar depths off the Lesser
Antilles carried no associated animals.

After considering a number of hypotheses
to explain the differential, Voight and Walker
suggest that the salient factor is the nutrient-rich
terrestrial sediments deposited even in deep
water near continents. These sediments appar-
ently provide food for the snails with enough
left over to support a variety of their traveling
companions, while the comparatively barren
sediments of the open ocean can support only
the snails.

The findings have been published in the
journal Deep-Sea Research.

Environmental and Conservation Programs;
John W. Fitzpatrick, a former curator at the

_ Exhibit gallery next door.

government officials throughout the hemi-
sphere, the authors argue
that our conservation pri-
orities have been mis-

placed — that our
emphasis on Amazonia
and on _ threatened

charismatic “flagship”
species has blinded us to
the much greater and
more imminent threat to
the habitats of thou-
sands of species of

birds, other animals,
a and plants. Habitats,
not individual species,
should be the basis for
conservation — plan-
ning, they say.

The databases,
which include
minutely detailed
listings of the micro-
habitats favored by
each species, will be

of use to birders as
well as to the scien-
tific community.

Neotropical Birds is available in paperback
for $37.50 and in cloth binding for $100.

INDIAN HALLS
ARE REINSTALLED

* orking cooperatively, members of the Museum’s Anthro-
pology and Exhibits departments helped bring closure to
' # . several years of “shuffling cases” in the former North
American Indians wing. It was in disarray after a 1991 construction
project necessitated moving elements to protect them from damage.
All of the North American Indian displays are now together, in one
location in the northeast wing of Stanley Field Hall near the bookstore.
The North American Indians exhibit consists of five halls that give
information about Indians from the Plains, Southwest, and Woodland
and Prairie as well as ancient Indians. It showcases the cultures and
lifestyles of the original inhabitants of the land. From textiles to wea-
pons, the exhibit offers a realistic representation of Native American
life all over the United States and Canada.

Pieces at a time, the exhibit was slowly interspersed throughout
the Museum to accommodate the spacial demands from the construc-
tion project. The Plains Indians display, which includes artifacts from
the Sioux, Comanche, Cheyenne, Assiniboine, Arapaho, Crow, Cree,
and Kiowa tribes, prompted a lot of confusion after being mixed with
some prehistoric material.

In order to build the new Special Exhibit galleries, the Southwest
Indians display had to be moved. The Museum is moving the galleries,
where “Spiders!” is now, from the ground floor to the first floor; the
“Life Underground” exhibit, which is still being developed, will be in
this space. The Insects exhibit was moved from near the south end of
the bookstore to the ground floor to make room for the Plains Indians

_ material. Since the space the exhibit now occupies is somewhat small-
er-than before, some material had to be trimmed so that almost all of
the items originally displayed could be retained.

In the hall that houses the Pawnee Earth Lodge and the Indians
of the Woodlands and Prairies, two display cases were removed and
three new ones added to allow visitors to enter and exit the Special

— Rhonda Jones

July/August 1996

Lynn Terr

The Chicago Cajun
Aces will perform at
the Cajun and Zyde-
co Music Festival.

Michigan lily

CAJUN AND
ZYDECO MUSIC FEST

*he Cajun and Zydeco Music Festival at

the Museum on July 20 features two of

Zydeco and Cajun’s best performing
groups. The party celebrates the rich cultural
heritage of southern Louisiana, with regional
cuisine, beers, and dancing. The event is from
7:30 p.m. to midnight; admission is $15 for
members and $20 for the general public. For
tickets call (312) 322-8854.

Alphonse Ardoin, one of the legendary
Creole (precursor of Zydeco) performers,
earned his nickname “Bois-sec” (dry wood) in
his youth because of the great efforts he made to
avoid getting wet while working in the fields.
When he was seven, he was forbidden to touch
his older brother’s recently acquired accordion,
but could not resist. By the time he was 15,
Bois-sec had begun to play for dance and house
parties with fiddler Canray Fontenot. Bois-sec
has played in festivals here and abroad; the
Smithsonian and Carnegie Hall are among the
places he and his family have performed. At the
Cajun and Zydeco music fest, his son Morris
will join him on fiddle; his grandsons Gus, Dex-
ter, and Alphonse Paul (base, drums, and guitar)
will play with him as well as perform their own
Zydeco music.

The Cajun tradition will be represented by
the Chicago Cajun Aces featuring Charlie Terr
(accordion), John Terr (guitar), Denise Thomp-
son (fiddle) and Bill Sudkamp (triangle and rub-
board). Having played with a number of the
masters of Cajun music, Charlie Terr was made
an honorary Cajun by the Cajun French Music
Association in 1989.

The festival complements the continuing
exhibit of Philip Gould’s photographs of the
southern Louisiana music scene over the years.

Ron Dorfman.

PRAIRIES...

temperatures that caused more seeds to germi-
nate. (Many seeds lie dormant in the soil for a
number of years and become part of what is
called the “seed bank.”) In 1994 there was an
interesting switch in gentian flowering at Zan-
der Woods. There, on a moist embankment,
over a hundred fringed gentians regularly
flower each September. In nearby Jurgenson’s
Woods Prairie, one can often find a few bottle
gentians flowering at about the same time. But
in 1994 things went differently. The bottle gen-
tians numbered over fifty, while the fringed
gentians numbered fewer than fifteen, a dra-
matic reversal of the usual situation. Similarly,
one usually sees only a few brilliant-orange
lilies on the Gensberg-Markham prairie in early
July, but in 1995 I counted 50 in one area. Why

these numbers fluctuate so wildly is hard to say,
but weather has to be part of the answer.

Desert flowers are famous for their dra-
matic response to good rainfall, especially after
a series of dry years. Prairie flowering covers
many more months, includes more species, and
is more subtle in its variations. Even the tropi-
cal rain forest responds to weather changes
with variations in flowering and fruiting pat-
terns from year to year, but it takes many care-
ful observations to note such variation. For
those of us who regularly visit the prairie, these
annual and seasonal variations are clearly
apparent. Visit a prairie, expect occasional dis-
appointment, but be ready for unpredictable
surprises.

NATURE NETWORK VIEWS FOSSILS

Nature Network got
a closer look April
20 at recent fossil
discoveries from
Madagascar. Greg
Buckley, research
assistant in Geology,
who was one of the
discoverers, talked
about the find, and
then Nature Network
members got a
chance to help
extract the fossils
from the solid rock.

ANDES SYMPOSIUM DRAWS 200

na breathtaking day of scientific cross-fer-

tilization, the Museum’s 19th annual

Spring Systematics Symposium brought

together botanists, zoologists, geologists,
and archaeologists to consider the ways in
which physical processes, biological evolution,
and human activity have interacted over the mil-
lennia to create the varied environments of the
Andes mountain chain of South America —
environments that are still subject to these
dynamic forces and still in the process of change.

The meeting on May 11! included eleven
formal presentations and two periods of open
discussion, in addition to the buzz of informal
exchanges among the 200 attendees. The pro-
gram, the first broad contemporary synthesis of
Andean research, was organized by John J.
Flynn, MacArthur Curator and chair of the

Field Museum botanist Michael Dillon (right)
and his Peruvian colleague, Abundio Sagastegui
Alva at the reception following the symposium.

Museum’s Department of Geology, and Barry
Chernoff, associate curator of fishes and chair of
the Department of Zoology.

Flynn said the symposium was designed “to
integrate the biological with the physical and
with the human element to shed light on the
dynamics of the entire system.”

“In order to make any rational decisions
about conservation issues in this diverse area,”
Flynn said, “we need a better scientific under-
standing of what’s there and how it came to be.”

The Andes, stretching 5,500 miles from
tropical to sub-arctic latitudes in western South
America, have been the locus of important new
discoveries in many disciplines in recent years,
and the symposium sought to integrate these
findings to establish a baseline for further
research. The region includes desert to the west
and rain forest to the east of the mountains, and
a wide range of ecosystems at different eleva-
tions and latitudes. These areas harbor large
numbers of species of plants and animals found
nowhere else in the world, though continental
movement links many of them to the flora and
fauna of Africa, Australia, and North America.

“The key idea here is that the Andes didn’t
come up all at once,” Chernoff said. “As the
geology was changing, climates were changing,
which affected the distribution of plants and ani-
mals. We’re looking at these dynamic changes
to see what caused what. Almost everything
that’s there is not found on other continents, or
anywhere else in the world, because of the iso-
lation of the Andes. In a sense, this was a unique
experiment in the history of life.”

Last year’s symposium took a similarly
expansive look at human, biotic, and geological
interrelationships on Madagascar, again with an
eye toward developing a scientific understand-
ing that could inform conservation strategies.

Paul Baker / GN87819.22

Olivier Langrand

MADAGASCAR .. .

(Continued from page 1)

bird described in 1971 and thought to be
restricted to the Isalo Massif towards the west.
Perhaps most interesting was the discovery of a
high mountain population of the Ring-tailed
Lemur. Normally this species inhabits lowland
forest areas in the extreme south and southwest.
The most remarkable aspect of this high moun-
tain population is that the pelage coloration and
pattern of rings on the tail are distinctly and con-
sistently different than standard ring-tails. We
were able to gather some information on what
they are eating and Olivier obtained excellent
photos.

In mid-September I was in Paris for a week
to attend a symposium on the biogeography of
Madagascar organized by the Société de Bio-
géographie and the Muséum National d’ Histoire
Naturelle. It was an interesting meeting and
many Malagasy and foreign researchers attend-
ed. We also had a chance to compare the photos
taken by Olivier of the ring-tails from Andringi-
tra with specimens in the Paris museum, and as
originally thought in the field, the high moun-
tain population is distinctly different.

fter the meeting in Paris I returned to

Madagascar to conduct a reconnais-

sance trip of the Andohahela reserve, a
poorly known forested area in the extreme
southeast. This is the forest in which Tom Schu-
lenberg and I rediscovered in 1989 the Red-
tailed Newtonia, a bird species described in
1933 and only known from the type specimen.
(See In the Field, July/August 1990.) The main
point of this trip was to figure out the trail sys-
tem and to provide access to the eastern slopes
(400 — 1,980m) for a multidisciplinary group of
researchers that was due to assemble in Antana-
narivo in a few weeks time.

Once back in Antananarivo from the recon-
naisssance trip, all of the material and provi-
sions for the Andohahela transect were
purchased, packed, and hauled down to the
southeast; the expedition group members orga-
nized, and off we went. The group consisted of
17 biologists of seven nationalities with special-
ties in ferns, higher plants, soil invertebrates,
aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial snails, reptiles,
amphibians, lemurs, birds, carnivores, and small
mammals. The group also included a cook and
three local fellows. With all of the food and
equipment needed for such a large group, the
shifts between camps were a bit complicated. In
several cases it took 40 — 45 porters to move
everything. The folks in the nearest village were
exceptionally helpful in arranging porters and
getting us in and out of the forest.

The main purpose of the expedition was to
conduct a multi-disciplinary elevational transect

of the eastern slopes of the Andohahela reserve.
We had camps at 400, 800, 1,200, 1,600, and
1,925m., The highest point in the reserve is Tra-
fonaomby (meaning “cattle hump”) at 1,950m.
Our last camp was just below the summit.
Above the 400m camp there was pristine forest
to the summit. From the nearest road on the
eastern side of the reserve to the summit was
about a three-day walk. We were in the forest
for a little under two months.

Most of the researchers on the trip are still
working up their data and it is premature to give
a broad overview of the results. However, for
small mammals and birds, the groups that I
worked with, it is clear that the reserve is
extremely rich. On
the basis of field
identifications it
appears that 13
species of shrew-ten-
recs, all in the same
genus (Microgale)
occur on the eastern
slopes of the reserve,
at least one of which
is new to science.
Further, we found
two new species of
rodents that are in
two different new
genera we are in the
process of describ-
ing.

In January,. Olivi-
er Langrand and I
organized a survey of
two forested areas in
the southwest that are
being proposed as
part of a new national park. These forests are
transitional between the rain forests of the east
and the spiny bush of the west. For example, in
these forests one can find epiphytic humid forest
orchids growing on the branches of a baobab
tree. The group was slightly smaller than the
Andohahela survey and our sites were accessi-
ble by vehicles, which made logistics very sim-
ple. Compared to the work in Andohahela, it
was much more like a holiday. Some of the
interesting results include the discovery of
another new Microgale, very mousy in appear-
ance, and a large population of Benson’s Rock-
Thrush, the same species we found in the
Andringitra reserve in September, and which
significantly expands the known distribution of
this endemic species.

n February, J went up to a high mountain

zone called Ankaratra, not far from Antana-

narivo, with Daniel Rakotondravony, Luci-
enne Wilme, and a group of students from the
University of Antananarivo. The main point of
the trip was to provide training in field tech-
niques to young Malagasy scientists about to
start graduate school in the zoological sciences.
Further, the mountain is the type locality of a
new genus and species of rodent that Mike Car-
leton and I are describing. The holotype was
collected in 1929 by Rand and was the only
known specimen from the site. Unfortunately,
not much forest remains on Ankaratra, although
the course went well and we did find Rand’s
mouse.

The first half of March was spent in town
working on manuscripts and dealing with vari-
ous administrative details. The University of
Antananarivo received a grant from the
MacArthur Foundation for refurbishing rooms
housing specimens in the zoology, paleontol-
ogy, botany, archaeology, and geology depart-
ments. | was nominated the “manager” of the
project. It is now going well and new rooms,
walls, cabinets, etc. are currently under con-
struction. I have also been named a faculty
member at the University of Antananarivo.

Link Olson arrived in mid-March and soon
thereafter we headed north to Amber Mountain
to complete an elevational transect that I have

been working on for a couple of years. On earli-
er surveys we found in this forest two unde-
scribed mammals — a rodent in the genus
Eliurus and a shrew-tenrec in the genus Micro-
gale. On previous surveys considerable num-
bers of introduced rats (Rattus) were trapped
and we have been monitoring the situation, It
appears that as the number of rats increases the
number of endemic rodents decreases. Near our
camp below the summit of the mountain
(1,450m), which was in undisturbed forest and
many kilometers from the forest edge, rats were
everywhere. We caught literally hundreds of rats
and only on the sixth night of trapping at the site
did we capture the first and only endemic

rodent. Moreover, on the basis of the food pref-
erences of the rats, they are caching and con-
suming nuts and fruits that make up a
substantial proportion of the diet of the large
diurnal lemurs of the area. Thus, there is evi-
dence that introduced rats are displacing the
endemic rodents of the area and perhaps also
lemurs. Link’s main purpose in joining the sur-
yey was to karyotype insectivores and gather
more tissues for his Ph.D. research. Most of the
insectivores were captured with pitfall traps,
and at several sites it is not too much of an exag-
geration to say our buckets were brimming over.

Tam now in town for a few weeks catching
up on various things, filing reports, dealing with
permits for exportation of specimens and the
next season of work, working with students at
the university, and eating well to fatten myself
up a bit. Lucien Rakotozafy, who has been to the
Field Museum twice, presents his Ph.D. next
week. I will leave Madagascar on 5 May and
spend about eight days in Paris working in the
museum and then head back to the Field Muse-
um for the summer. I am due back here in late
August to commence another cycle of field
research and instruction at the university.

In short, it has been a busy field season with
lots of time in the forest. These inventories are
critical to document the biological diversity of
this island, and this data hopefully will be used
for improved management of the few remaining
forested areas on the island. Also, the education
of young Malagasy scientists during these sur-
veys and associated with my role at the World
Wildlife Fund and the university is perhaps the
most important role we can play in conservation
on the island. These students are the next gener-
ation of Malagasy professors, researchers, and
administrators who will have the knowledge and
background to make wise and appropriate deci-
sions associated with their natural heritage.

Steve Goodman is a field biologist in birds and
mammals at The Field Museum.

11

July/August 1996

Above, participants
in a biological inven-
tory of the Vohibasia
Forest in southeast-
ern Madagascar,
organized by WWF-
Madagascar. The
region is soon to be
designated as part of
a new national park.
The group consisted
of researchers from
five countries and
more than half the
participants were
Malagasy.

Left, expedition field
party on the Cuvette
de Pic Boby (2,450
meters) on the
Andringitra Reserve.
The summit is direct-
ly behind and above
the group. This is the
site at which a
bizarre and perhaps
new form of lemur
was discovered.

FIFLD

SONI

wii iin

08

MUSEUM
TOURS

312/322-8862

Egypt and the Nile By Yacht

- 0 other area of the world possesses such a
concentration of truly monumental sights and
historic landmarks: the Pyramids, the Sphinx,
Abu Simbel, Luxor, Karnak, the Valley of the
Kings .. . an endless list of wonders for you to

explore. From the resplendent barges with prows of beaten
gold used by the Pharaohs, to the humble, colorful feluccas
manned by the populace, the ships of the Nile ply their way
through the heartland of Egypt.

You, too, can follow their ancient paths, enjoying the
fabled sights and absorbing the atmosphere of the country
in unmatched luxury during your 8-day cruise on the M.S.
Nile Empress, With a capacity of only fifty passengers,
accommodated in spacious cabins, each with its own
picture window, it is more like a private yacht than a
passenger ship. But the public areas and facilities —
including sun deck, pool, bar, lounge, and dining room —

make the yacht the equal of any large luxury liner.

Your Egypt experience will be greatly enhanced by the
excellent leadership of Frank Yurco (Field Museum) and
Ismail Mohammed Aly (Egypt), your accompanying
Egyptologists who will conduct all sightseeing tours and
shore excursions. Through their special lectures, travelers
gain rare insights into the people and cultures visited, and
through visits to exclusive sites not open to the general
public, you will experience the Nile as few Americans ever
will. You will explore the ancient capital of Memphis,
Saqqara, and the 5,000-year-old King Djoser’s Step Pyramid
as well as the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

Our co-sponsors will be the University of lowa Alumni
Association, and the ship is chartered for the two groups.
Join us for an exciting adventure on the historic Nile River.

The dates are February 9 — 23, 1997. Price is $4,995 per
person, double occupancy, including air fare from Chicago.

e will embark on a 9-
day voyage exploring
the wildlife-rich waters
and islands of the Sea
of Cortez and the
remote Baja California peninsula.
Here witness, first-hand, one of
nature’s most fascinating phenomena
as we view the California gray whales
that come each winter to the bays and
lagoons of Baja California's Pacific
coast to breed, birth, and nurture
their young.

Formerly in danger of extinction,
these gentle giants survived poaching
and are no longer fearful, but are truly
tender, playful and majestic.

Our ship, the Sea Lion, with its
unique maneuverablity, can follow the
whales or anchor in quiet, isolated
bays. Where the Sea Lion can't go, her
fleet of Zodiacs, motorized landing
crafts, can.

The 70-passenger Sea Lion offers
delicious food complemented by a
friendly, well-trained American crew.

A dedicated staff of naturalists,
including the Field Museum's Dr.
Janet Voight, Associate Curator of
Invertebrate Zoology, will accompany
you throughout the tour.

The spirit of our voyage is an
informal one of discovery and
adventure. We may stop to explore an
interesting arroyo, change our course
by 180 degrees to follow a group of
blue whales, or linger over a barbecue
on an uninhabited island and watch
the stars move across the desert sky.

Palace on Wheels e February 1-16, 1997

|| aboard this royal train outfitted for and befitting of kings for a journey through Rajastan, India. Newly assembled,
the Palace on Wheels has 14 coaches, each named after a former Rajput state. You will journey through a historic and
memorable land where majestic kingdoms once reigned.

Watch For:

Kenya: The Other Africa September 18 - October 2, 1997 ¢ South Africa February 1997