As of tomorrow, our watch has ended.

We're not quite the Night's Watch down here in the basement, although there have been many times during the summer we've wished our collections room was as cold as the Wall. But we come close - we (temporarily) left our families to come to New York and have been charged with protecting from a significant threat: pyrite disease. Our work is probably a little less life-threatening, and definitely less permanent, but just as important.

So, with that, some closing thoughts:

1. The museum is a very good place to catch Charmanders. Almost all of us have Charizards at this point. Ironically enough, though, we haven't found any fossil Pokemon nearby.

2.  As soon as the elevators know you need to get somewhere quickly, they will take eons to get to you. They can smell weakness.

3. You're going to run out of music to listen to after awhile. In the desperate search for more passive entertainment, you'll probably start listening to some weird podcasts that you'll think back on with confusion and mild derision.

4. The urban legend of "Central New Jersey" has finally been debunked. Experts agree it does not, and has never, existed.

5. A small coffee at the cafeteria is $1.52 with tax. A bagel and coffee together are $3.08. You can thank us later.

6. Constant exposure to Kate means we've all inexplicably developed Irish accents and ní féidir labhairt Béarla níos mó, tá sé an-deacair (Buíochas le Google Translate).

7. Bushra is a strong and fearless leader, and probably should have been Hillary's VP pick.

And the most important:

8. The Mapes Collection and this internship has given us an amazing opportunity to experience collections management, either for the first time, or as a continuation of interest in museum work. We've learned so much about the processes involved in fossil curation, from rehousing, to cataloging, to databasing, and about the museum as a whole (did you know it contains the second longest hallway in the United States, after the Pentagon?). We'd like to thank all of the collections managers that have given us fascinating tours, Dr. Neil Landman, Ruth O'Leary, the man himself, Dr. Royal Mapes, for donating his collection to the museum, and especially Bushra for guiding us throughout the summer and taking us under her wing

The Elephant in the Room

Asian Elephants from the Asian Mammal Hall at the American Museum of Natural History

Throughout the life of this blog, you have witnessed what we do, interesting finds, funny jokes, and meaningful people we have been introduced to. The purpose of this post, however, is of a more personal nature: why should we care about collections. It may seem redundant or cliché to include this topic, but it is important that collections are recognized for what they are and what they can do for us.

Collection is defined by Merriam Webster as “the act or process of getting things from different places and bringing them together”. Collections, then, represent the bringing together of natural materials so it can be studied, enjoyed, and saved for future generations. This definition seems meaningless now, but I promise some meaning will hopefully be attached to it by the end of this post.

Humans seem to have an innate fascination with the world around them and a compulsion to try to collect and organize it. These two factors were most likely a driving force for the wealthy and influential men of Europe during the Age of Enlightenment to avidly collect anything that they could get their hands on. Once these men had amassed wonders from around the world they gather and arrange these curiosities into their personal Cabinets of Curiosity. These rooms were meant to be microcosmic world theatres where learned men could gather, discuss and of course brag about their collections. While the beginnings of these natural history collections were private and exclusive, they were the important precursors to modern day natural history museums that benefit everyone and not just the elite.

Some concepts behind the cabinet of curiosity still apply to today’s museums. They still serve as world theatres where people can travel the world in a matter of hours, see rare, elusive or even extinct animals and experience cultures that they may never get to experience firsthand. However, what makes the modern day natural history museum more dynamic and more beneficial to the public is the research that happens behind the scenes in the collections. 

Mammology Collections:

The Deadly Hippo 

Asian Elephant Skulls

This week’s tour was of the mammalogy department and the inspiration for this week’s blog. On the tour we saw lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) as well as a thylacine (extinct marsupial), both African and Asian elephants and a room full of hippo skulls. While physical specimens such as these are wonders to see, the ethics of physical museum collections often need to be justified because some think that photos would be good enough. The problem with photos is they do not capture every detail and descriptions can be taken in multiple ways. Without the physical specimens, organisms can easily be warped into mythical looking beasts such as the elaborately armored Durer Rhino or the bulbous and fish like dolphins found in renaissance art and sculptures. Even more importantly, the photo cannot provide DNA, viruses, and other microbiological information that could have important applications to the health of the environment and to the health of humans.  

The Room of Hippopotamus History

Icthyology and Herpetology Collections:

L: "Samantha", the Reticulated Python | R: Storage in the Icthyology Department

Ichthyology and Herpetology collections can also play an important role in monitoring the health of the environment since some species are sensitive to pollution and declining water quality.


Ornithology Collections:


Dr. Paul Sweet exemplifying typical preservation methods

Ornithology’s collection is comprised of bird skins, disarticulated skeletons, wet (preserved in alcohol) preps, and shmoos. And the one thing you may notice in this collection is that there are numerous examples of species in most cases. This may seem like literal overkill, but sometimes the birds will differ slightly due to location, which is an indication of natural selection at work. This shows why having multiples of each bird from different areas and over time is crucial to understanding biological processes.

Invertebrate Zoology Collections:

L: Typical Housing for Pinned Specimens | R: Wasp Nest 

The invertebrate zoology collection at AMNH houses a staggering 500,000 species. The collection includes Arachnids, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera, to name but a few. Curation methods for this collection vary depending on the specimen involved. For example, insects are stored using the pinning method. Specimen are pinned flat, with the pin piercing only the right side of the thorax, ensuring an unscathed half of the specimen. As well as smaller beetles, spiders, and ants, the collection houses a giant squid (Architeuthis kirki). The giant squid is stored in a large metal tank, and is preserved in ethanol. AMNH’s collection also houses gall wasp nests. Thus, this collection allows complete and thorough research to be conducted on different aspects of invertebrate zoology ecology.

Anthropology Collections:

Woven Baskets Housed in the Anthropology Dept.

When the anthropology department was established at AMNH, it had the goal of preserving cultures that were either dying out completely or rapidly changing due to the people’s interaction with other cultures. Today it resembles a Victorian museum but the impact that Anthropological collections can have on people, especially children, is extremely relevant. The cultural artifacts on display in museums can be used in early childhood education as tools to combat stereotypes, help children understand their own culture and develop an appreciation of other cultures (Bowers, B., Brightful, D., Heflin, C., Hindley, A., Kiehl, K.L., Pruckno, E., Raso, C., and Wolfe, J. (2015), Museums Providing Opportunities for Promoting a Positive Sense of Self in the Early Years. Museum and Society, 13: 142-157. ISSN 1479-8360.)  


Paleontology Collections:

Comemorative decorative plate of extant Coelacanth

Typical Mapes Collection Catalogued Drawer

Paleontology collections allow humans to explore our world’s distant past and gives us a glimpse into our own evolution. Just like our innate attraction to collecting and organizing the natural world, humans also have an intense desire to figure out where we fit into this biological picture. Whether it be closer relatives like Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neaderthalensis, or our more distant relatives like the lobbed finned fishes such as the coelacanth, the fossil record provides the puzzle pieces needed to figure out our place in the natural world.

Frozen Tissue Collections:

The Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics is AMNH's very own DNA Library. It houses 100,000 samples of frozen tissue and DNA. The collection allows researchers to sequence genetic material, utilize DNA barcoding, and use comparative methods to help build an understanding of the Tree of Life. The following video is from the collection tour for this department,

What Museum Collections Mean to Research

One Series of Completed Cabinets in the Mapes Collection

The scientific importance of collections is sometimes overlooked by the public audience. However, it remains one of the most significant reasons collections have existed for centuries. From a predictive natural sciences viewpoint, collections provide centers where the past can be studied to foretell future events. More eloquently summarized as: the present may be the key to the past, but the past is the key to the future. Collections house the past. This is especially relevant in studying how climate change has and will impact future generations and ecosystems.

One example of paleontological research focused on this problem studies how mass extinction events changed fauna and associated ecosystems. This research has provided some hypotheses focusing on how global warming will impact atmospheric conditions, ocean chemistry, and other large scale ecosystem processes. Paleontological collections house specimens from every age both before and after extinction events. Some of those samples can be studied to understand how organisms have reacted to rapid changes in environmental conditions. In addition, some of those organisms (most commonly mollusks, but ice cores and other geological samples have been used) can hold a record of those changes in their external shells. So, collections hold vital pieces of the puzzle that can tell past stories. These stories can hold answers to what might happen in the future.

Ocean temperature and depth changes based on oxygen isotopes throughout onotogeny (life and development) of listed genera. The left panel contains recent fauna. The right panel contains extinct organisms from the Mesozoic.

(Ritterbush, K.A., Hoffman, R., Lukeneder, A. and De Baets, K. (2014), Pelagic palaeoecology: the importance of recent constraints on ammonoid palaeobiology and life history. J Zool, 292:229-241. doi: 10.1111/jzo.12118.)

Additionally, collections hold some answers to more personal and modern questions like understanding how humans are related to primates. Some primate specimens housed in museum collections have been sampled for genetic purposes to better understand the relationships between and evolutionary timeline of humans and their ancestors. As collections preserve materials in a variety of forms, a lot of modern techniques are possible and have been applied to well preserved specimens for anatomical, genetic, and other biological studies. For example, collections have opperated as vital tools in the study of epidemiology, particularly with zoonotic diseases. When dealing with any zoonotic epidemic, a complete understanding of the vector is vital. The current epidemic of Zika Virus means a complete understanding of the vector (the mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus). Natural history collections with specimen of Aedes mosquitos allows for the history of the vector to be studied, and a more thorough understanding of the spread of the disease.

One species of mosquito that carries the Zika Virus

Another important purpose of collections for research purposes is housing specimens for taxonomic purposes. Collections compose our record of what we know exists or has existed and how it relates to everything else. These are known as type collections. Essentially, they are a collection of specimens that define the type or species name. For example, the brown bear, Ursus arctos, has a single specimen defining what the species looks like.

Holotype (original defining specimen) of a female (macroconch) Jeletzkytes spedeni (A late cretaceous ammonite).

(Landman, N.H., and Waage, K.M. (1993), Scaphitid ammonites of the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Fox Hills Formation in South Dakota and Wyoming. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 215: 1-257.)

In sum, a lot of research is done with specimens from collections for a wide array of studies. Keep in mind the examples above are just a glimpse of what has been done. Collections and research have been tied at the hip for a very long time and will continue to be as they are dependent on one another: research provides specimens and purpose to the collections and collections stores and preserved specimens for future research purposes.

What Museum Collections Mean to the Public

Natural history museums allow members of the public to dive into the deep ocean of facts on a range of organisms, from modern day mollusks to Precambrian prokaryotes. Information in museums is readily available on extant species’ conservation status, the evolution of different reproductive strategies, and even the future repercussions of a changing world. Additionally, visitors get an up-close view of models of species they might never see otherwise. I am fairly certain that *most* people will never see the world’s largest extant mammal, the blue whale, in real life. The global population of the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) was decimated as a direct consequence of the whaling industry. Today, this species is listed as endangered, a stark reminder of the negative impact anthropological actions can inflict on the natural world. Upon arrival to the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life in the American Museum of Natural History, visitors are greeted with a 98-foot model of this species. Suspended from the ceiling, this model blue whale is a buoyant reminder that we are obliged to protect the life on the planet.



Model of the blue whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History



In the past, the public have had involvement in museum-based scientific studies. Public donations of deceased domestic dogs, for example, were used when researching the relatedness of dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) to wolves (Canis lupus). Engagement between the scientific community and the public allows for an inclusive environment, one where facts can be shared and appreciated by all. Museums are vital in bridging the gap that often exists between scientific information and the general public, and collections play a pivotal part in the interactive and immersive aspect of museums. AMNH’s on-going exhibition, The Secret World Inside You, is a unique experience, where visitors delve deep into the world of the microbiome.

To quote the eminent ethologist Dr. Jane Goodall, “only if we understand can we care”.  Natural history collections give members of the public a unique opportunity to explore the past and understand the future. By allowing visitors this peek into the past, a picture can be painted on the threats faced by fauna and flora around the world. By better understanding the biodiversity of our world, we can encourage visitors to adopt lasting behaviours that will lead towards a sustainable future.

The Continuing Saga of the Ammon-knights

As the weeks pass, we have continued on our quest to catalog them all. Overcoming pyrite disease and overflowing boxes, we have conquered the obstacles in our way to being the very best ammon-knight masters.

The Ammon-knights (L-R Spencer, Ashley, Kat, Nick, Sara, Kate)

This post marks the end of our sixth week. Our work this summer has passed swiftly. Currently, we are on track to meet and even (dare I say it) surpass our goal for the summer.

So what does this work look like?

This work is done in a setting which has a tendency to look like very controlled chaos.

 

Each specimen is given a catalog number that is adhered to the specimen or to a box. This number is then input into the database along with all the information about the specimen.

This photo shows specimens after being rehoused
(in clear plastic boxes) and before rehousing (dark vials)

Specimens are placed in drawers, which are then labeled based on the locality and age.

Along with the drawers, each cabinet gets its own label, which is color coded according to time period from the International Chronostratigraphic Chart. So a cabinet of Cretaceous material gets a different color than material from the Triassic.

Green is Cretaceous; Purple is Triassic

 

Tour of the week

This week we visited ornithology. Our wonderful tour guide showed us the ins and outs of the department, including their amazing collection of specimens. We had an exciting opportunity to see many unique birds, including some that were collected in the 1800s.

 

 

Sarah with Andean cock-of-the-rock

Sara also completed her personal quest to find an old bird that she had once known.

Kate and deadwig

Kate enjoyed her photo opp with hedwig (deadwig)   

We're also the most fashionable people you know

Gotta love a good geology pun
(Nick hard at work)

Here's a baby squid to help get you through the rest of your week/ weekend / summer / work / life

Recent Squid Hatchlings

And a Nautilus pompilius all the way from Japan!

These are a Few of our Favorite Things

Welcome back to The Intern Report. This week, everyone is in good spirits and we are blazing through our targets. We are seeing the wide range of specimen in this fascinating collection, and we are appreciating the significance our work will have for future paleontological studies. The illustrious Dr. Royal Mapes has compiled a truly extensive collection, in which we have come across Triassic Treasures, Desmoinesian Delights, and Missourian Marvels, and although my alliteration abilities end here the Mapes Collection does not. Working on this collection has exposed us to fossils from a range of stages, and throughout the weeks we have adopted favorites in the collection, fossils that we like to believe would induce a pang of jealousy in any invertebrate paleontologist. 

I have compiled a list of specimen that exemplify the beauty of this collection. Readers, I give you this week’s Fantastic Fossils.

 A heteromorph ammonoid from the Cretaceous, collected in Japan

An ammonoid from the Virgilian stage, collected in Texas

A very pretty Permian ammonoid

Scaphites sp. from the Pierre Shale, South Dakota

Gaudryceras sp. from the Cretaceous, collected in Hokkaido

If you haven’t already, be sure to read last week’s post for details on the collection’s lagerstätte from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry, Oklahoma.

This week’s Wednesday adventure took us from the extinct to the extant, as we got the chance to visit the Invertebrate Zoology Department. The Department has a range of species, including butterflies, termites, spiders, and mollusks. We were given an up-close view of a giant squid, saw spectacular wasp nests, and were shown an array of pinned specimen.

The storage container for the giant squid (Architeuthis kirkii) is bigger than my apartment (featuring Ashley for scale)

Actually, the giant squid is bigger than my apartment

  *sings* We are Family (Belostomatidae)

Back in Mapes HQ we are continuing on our quest of cataloging and rehousing the specimen. Each day we are becoming more efficient and proficient, getting closer to our goal of cataloguing ‘em all. I will end this week’s post with a photograph of Spencer and the giant squid recreating a scene from ET.

Into the rabbit hole

Over the past few weeks you have seen a brief introduction to all of the interns, what we do, exciting visitors, and wonderful tours. Now, I think, it is time to jump into the rabbit hole, and see what the collection holds.

First, I should provide some background information about most of the fossils we work with. The Mapes collection holds primarily fossil cephalopods (ammonoids and nautiloids – the externally shelled ancestors of squids and octopi). These fossils can come in any size from microscopic (you will see this later) to extremely large (some can have external shell diameters of 8+ feet). Modern Nautilus, shown below, are thought to be the closest model for all of these extinct shelled organisms. 

Nautilus pompilius (left) and Allonautilus scrobiculatus (right) – modern representatives of an externally shelled cephalopod (image courtesy of University of Washington).

Nautiloids and ammonoids are revered for their shells and the patterns you can find on them. These patterns – called sutures – represent the contact point of dividing walls (septal walls – provide structural support for the shell, does have some other minor functions) inside the shell with the exterior shell body. These patterns cannot be seen on modern nautilus until the outer layers of the shell have been worn away. One of the coolest things about working with the Mapes collection is you can see the evolution of complex sutures through time.

 

Sutures started out in the “nautiloid” form which is the simplest pattern one can find on a shelled squid. Modern nautilus and its ancestor nautiloids have retained this simple pattern throughout time. Ammonoids, on the other hand, have not. They have developed an increasingly complex suture pattern through time right until they went extinct in the Cretaceous. From the “nautiloid” pattern, sutures developed first into a “goniatitic” form (looks like waves or subsequent chevron folds) during the mid-paleozoic. Then, the “ceratitic” forms developed in the later Paleozoic. Both the goniatitic and ceratitic forms coexisted in the later Paleozoic. Once you reach the Mesozoic, the suture patterns become their most extreme in the “ammonitic” form during the cretaceous. Below you can see a generalized schematic of each type with a corresponding picture taken from specimens in the Mapes collection. Keep in mind, these types are more of a continuum than a “four types fits all” scheme. Not every ammonoid will fall into one of these categories, and will sometimes fall somewhere in between.  

Generalized schematic of suture types with corresponding images of real specimens within the Mapes Collection.

 

The Mapes Collection can tell amazing stories, like the sutures above. You can also see the diversity in ammonoid shapes that have arisen through time.

 

One of the most uniquely shaped groups in the world of ammonites are the heteromorphs. These ammonites are not your typical spiral shape. Some have long extending hooks detached from the main shell (if you want an example of hooks on ammonite shells click here). Some don’t even resemble an ammonite at all. For example, one of the interns had this Cretaceous aged torticone (a turreted spiral shape) ammonite in one of their cabinets.

As you can see, the Mapes Collection holds a wide array of unique stories that aren’t just limited to cephalopods. The collection houses more than we thought possible. In the past week we have found cephalopods (by the ton in ammonoids, nautiloids, and some coleoids (modern squids with internalized shells), vertebrates, bivalves (clams), brachiopods (they are similar in appearance to clams but not even closely related), even some of the more mysterious groups like conularids (there is no way to describe them, no one knows where they belong, click here for more on conularids), and scaphopods (tusk-shells).

Our task, as described in an earlier post, is to “rehouse, conserve, and catalog” the Mapes Collection. This is easier said than done. As you have seen, the collection houses just about every type of organism imaginable from a vast array of locations. Over the past few weeks we have sorted by locality, changed trays, assigned catalog numbers, and digitally linked any associated information for more than 2,000 catalog numbers (keep in mind 1 catalog number can hold anywhere from 1 specimen to upwards of 500 depending on the tray). We are aimed to pass the half way mark this week to meet our goal of 5,000 lot numbers (I think this totals about 27 cabinets).

You have seen some of the wonders this collection can hold. However, for each wonder there are a host of surprises and problems that can arise in our line of work. This week we were introduced to new methods of cataloging as we encountered unexpected microscope slides hosting ammonitella (embryonic stage ammonoids – more commonly known among the interns as tiny baby ammonites).

Microscope slide hosting numerous ammonitella.

There have also been severe cases of pyrite disease. Pyrite disease is where the mineral pyrite (FeS2), or potentially similar minerals, form within the bone, shell, or other material of the fossil. If incorporated, pyrite can oxidize (FeSO4 – Iron sulfate). Iron sulfate is much larger in volume than the original material and during crystal growth can cause the specimen to fracture. This is especially common in more humid conditions. The end result is what appears to be a large pile of cigarette ash with no specimen to be found. Shown below is a picture of a pyrite diseased specimen found in one of our cabinets.

 

However, pyrite does have its redeeming qualities. All of the problems and unexpected surprises within the collections become worth the effort when you find a true gem like the one below. This is a pyritized ammonoid. Pyritization is not the same as pyrite disease. Pyrite has replaced the original shell material and does not oxidize. This specimen also depicts some beautiful goniatitic sutures.   

Unusual localities have been a reoccurring theme this week. For example, one of the interns ran across a lagerstätte. For those of you who don’t know, a lagerstätte (lagerstätten – plural) is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits fossils with truly extraordinary preservation. This preservation can include soft tissues and other fragile pieces of anatomy. Below are some pictures of preserved original orthoconic nautiloid shell material from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry deposit. This material is impregnated with hydrocarbons (oil) preventing the destruction of the original aragonitic shell material. For some context, finding a lagerstätte is equivalent to finding a diamond in the rough. They are very rare, and those that do exist provide us with a fortune in scientific insights into what some of these organisms actually looked like with all preserved soft parts (not typically found in your everyday fossil bed), behaved, and where they lived.

 

Orthoconic (straight) nautiloid with original shell material from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry.

Granted, all this work isn’t without the typical mid-week break. This week we went on a tour of the herpetology departmental collections. Let me tell you, some weird things are housed there. I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves here rather than provide narration. Well…maybe some so you know what you are looking at.  

Talk about an unusual find…an approximately 4,000-year-old gecko. This gecko was found during an archaeology dig in Egypt. It was thought to be an accident as animals were not usually buried within the mummy wrappings. Though animals were typically buried with the mummies within the tombs. 

Your typical crocodile hide with skull.

Your typical crocodile hide with skull.

Did I forget to mention they have Komodo Dragons?

Don’t forget the live animals too J. These tortoises seemed content basking in the light of their heat lamp.

Sorry, I forgot what kind of snake this was…

Oh, and have you ever seen a rattlesnake penis?

Now you have.

As I have no real sign off ideas, I will leave you with one last image that I believe summarizes our goal for this collection. Be forewarned, it may not be what you expect.