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10/06
'#"V>-^
'
Aerial Attacks
QF THE Great
,
%^-^
White Shark
4t
Truth be told,
\'m as financially
ambitious as
an
socially conscious.
V Ve
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well. That's
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DOUBLE DILIG
Our unique
member
An
it
carefully before
U N F L company
I
VOLUME
OCTOBER 2006
NUMBER
115
FEATURES
COVER STORY
42 SOCIABLE KILLERS
New studies
show
social
that
its
life
and hunting
strategies
50
BROKEN PIECES
OF YESTERDAY'S
Traces of lifestyles
ago are
still
retained in
SEAN
B.
LIFE
modern
"
DNA.
CARROLL
56 LIFE
IN
AND DEATH
A PITCHER
tactic for
to
have more up
their leaves.
JONATHAN MORAN
ir:~i
ON THE cover:
White shark launches
in pursuit
itself
skyward
DEPARTMENTS
4
THE NATURAL
MOMENT
Blast Off!
UP FRONT
Editor's
Notebook
CONTRIBUTORS
10
LETTERS
12
SAMPLINGS
News from Nature
16
PERSPECTIVES
As Time Goes By
26
Robert L.Jaffe
NATURALISTS AT LARGE
Blues' Revival
24
BIOMECHANICS
Jaret C. Daniels
Nice Threads
Adam Summers
and
64
Sanchez
StepliaiiieJ.
BOOKSHELF
Laurence A. Marschall
69
nature.net
Ripping Earth
Robert Anderson
70
OUT THERE
My Three Suns
Charles Liu
75
16
THE SKY
IN
OCTOBER
Joe Rao
76
EXPLORING SCIENCE
AND NATURE
80
ENDPAPER
Winning Miss
Rebecca Rupp
our
Web
site at
www.naturalhistorymag.com
Muffet's Heart
12
Natunal Serectio
DARWIMl^^^
LOVCS YOU
Primates and
Philosophers
Sensuous Seas
Tales of a Marine Biologist
E UGENE H.
KAPUN
How
Morality Evolved
FRANS DE WAAL
Edited by Stephen
Macedo
oj
book
really is a celebration
biodiversity."
"Celebrated primatologist
of
John Kricher,
Wheaton College
288 pages. 150
Cloth
line illus.
Frans de Waal
through
All
Naturalists, Collectors,
Biodiversity,
GEORGE LEVINE
ROBERT
work with
his empirical
for ethics."
Publishers Weekly
$24.95
Cloth
Human
Values
Here
wise,
is
possible to
it's
Darwinist and
still
and
1850-1950
E.
KOHLER
a distinguished historian
of science
[Levine]
is
science
demonstrates
Creatures
:,Aj.
brave,
Josiah Ober
.-t^fl-fc^-t^;*
tells
provides
believe
and thought-provoking."
Sally Gregory Kohlstedt,
University of Minnesota
$35.00
Cloth
$22.95
Cloth
m^
er's Scale
Why
From
Irigins of
Whales
Goodness
EEALAN DUGATKIN
If evolution involves a
HADORAM
BRETT lARRETT
in
Now can we
siasm.
explain altruism?
discovery
,
Whales, Dolphins,
and Other Marine
Mammals of the World
Size Matters
Bacteria to Blue
is
everyone interested
gf
human
morality"
-Publishers Weekly
lloth
$24.95
in
the nature
flair
He combines
tion to explain
why dimension
Research Institute
Cloth
i^alin
a literary
SHIRIHAI
Richter's Scale
Measure of an Earthquake,
Measure of a Man
&.
This practical
field
guide brings
of magnitude as a measure
of earthquake
he turned
size,
household word.
336 pages. 45
halftones.
6x9.
Cloth
Universi^,ipress
80G777-4726.
sooV
www.nathist.princeton.edu
./
UP FRONT
Looking
p(ii;cs
Cover Shot
poised
to rocket into
The
of a white shark (aka great white) launching its onefroiTi the water
in the words of R. Aidan Martin and
Anne Martin, "like a Polaris missile" is surely one of the most
heart-stopping spectacles in the animal kingdom. One look at the be-
ocean. And,
havior, pictured
nous siphonophore
pumps
too
its
way
much
all
like
an
machine
to the surface
breaking it
Techniques for capturing
siphonophores a group of animals that includes the Portuguese
man-of-war have vastly improved
in the past few years. As a result,
several new siphonophore species
have been safely ferried to sea level,
and several known ones have been
discovered in unexpected places (as
in the case of this surprise native of
the Arctic Ocean).
Siphonophores seem put together in a more "machinehke"
way than most other creatures: they
are colonies, Hke corals, made up
of repeating units, but they are far
from uniform. Some units are bulbs
attached to the central trunk of
the organism, working in concert
to propel the colony through the
water; others dangle in a mass of
stomach tissue, reproductive organs,
and stinging tentacles.
The siphonophore pictured
here belongs to the genus Mantis
and measures anywhere from a
foot long
scrunched-up as in the
photograph to a stretched-out
length of six feet. In its long form,
the colony trawls its tentacles like a
too
apart.
drift
its cells
self-
generated bioluniinescence.
rejSrigerator.
NATURAL HISTORY
Killers,"
sight
ton body
pictured here
Erin Espelie
October 2006
So what can the Martins say about what curious minds everywhere
want to know: do white sharks prey on people? The answer, notwithstanding the beach-horror flick Jt7i('5,
probably not
is
at least,
not often.
observations
Two of my
make
human
flesh.
museums have
Museum
of Natural History in Gainesville can watch Miami blues being bred during the museum's Florida Butterfly Festival, October 14 and 15.
Arachnophiles will find two
pages. Either
Spider Pavilion
tales
Natural History
at the
complement
timely
5.
Adam Summers
to a visit to the
Museum
how some
incredibly
Rebecca Rupp
wittily
tells
.
"Winning Miss
how
well,
and
son's pet
makes room
silk
this
month
17, presents exhibit A in support of Jaflfe's wider perspective, the vast range
of durations relevant to the universe as a whole from the infmitesimaHy
Lilliputian "Planck time" (5.4 x 10"^''^ second) to the unimaginably Brobdingnagian lower experimental bound on the half-Hfe of the proton (at
least
10^^ years). The case for awe in contemplating the universe has never
been more
forcefully
made.
Peter Brown
gift, a
gift
little
did she
Museum
know
decades of experience as
making thousands of
of Natural History,
is
make
New
this the
York
They
City.
*ZagatSurvey
in
Guide
on
trees for the rainforest within the exhibit. Lenore and her
this
the American
Museum. With
its
Call:
have
E-mail:
treasures within
Write:
photographer and
writer,
American Museum
(212)769-5119
plannedgiving@amnh.org
Office of Planned Giving,
American
Museum
Development Department
of Natural History
New York NY
10024-5192
Natural History
mm
CONTRIBUTORS
Having spent his youth tagging along after his father, an oceanographer, on work trips off the California coast, marine biologist
and photographer KEVIN A. RASKOFF ("The Natural Moment,"
page 4) feels most at home around and under the water. Much
of his research, including the work that became the basis for his
doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles-, has
been done in conjunction with the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research
Raskoff
Institute.
him
Peter Brown
Mary Beth
with,
he puts
as
it,
such
as jellyfish
Wowk
CaMornia.
for Shark
Ititcriis
Conlriimting Editors
Robert Anderson,
Adam Summers,
("Socia-
Chmues
ReefQuest Centre
Mementowski,
Edyta Zielinska
ble Killers,"
the
Judy A. Rice,
R.
Direaor
Mary
and
"some of the most beautiful and
in Monterey,
An
Board of Editors
exotic photographic models anywhere." That includes the spectacular siphonophore, looking Hke a rocket blasting through space, that is featured in this issue.
Never far from the ocean, Raskoff teaches marine biology and environmental
sciences at
Steven R. Black
Excattirc Editoy
Geoffrey
's
Eitiior-iii-Chicf
Aberlin
W Paratore
Sonia
Publisher
Niitioiial Advertising
Rachel Swartwout
Manager
Advertising Services
Manager
Meredith Miller Prodnciiou Manager
Michael Shectman Fnlfillnient Manager
Research
Harris
E.
DrtiiwBarron Media
University, in
Chicago
West
LLC, 313-268-3996
S.iles,
Associates,
&
Associates.
Sales,
312-726-7800
310-710-7414:
415-421-7950
America
prepares graphics for his scientific and educational presentations, edits his writings, and permits him to dissect sharks in their kitchen.
Todd Happer
SEAN
B.
50)
is
tute in
CARROLL ("Broken
being published
this
Ronen Mir
Moran earned
in
his doctorate in
Scodand.
Miisenm
Inc.
Office
Charles Rodin
To contact
Publishing Advisor
new
and plants hold a special fascination for JONATHAN MORAN ("Life and Death in a Pitcher,"
page 56). In addition to his long-term studies on the ecology
of Nepenthes pitcher plants in Southeast Asia, his current re-
history photographer,
On
Hands
E.
site
www.naturalhistofymag.com or WTite to us
He
is
isMiL's in
Inc..
ecology
Harlan, lA 51593-0257.
in aHlliation
New
York.
NY
is
rial
and
all
and
part
of
&
New York.
NY.
this periodical
new
at
at additional
Copyright
at
Natural History
interactions of animals
St.
Web
The
SciTech
Carol Valenta
He
hke
to cont.ict us regarding
Nmmt
Box
5000, Harlan,
Hutor)\
P.
O. l3ox
.,W)rU
- ..
of
Adventure
in Every Issue
Natural History
takes
you
common
universe to answer
questions with
and the
uncommon
far
insight.
reaches of the
From astronomy
Subscribe
FREE
$25 a
savings of
37%
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Museum
of
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Discount on a
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and
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in
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IMAX
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add $10
for
LETTERS
Ones," 7/06-8/06]
ecological
is
largely ignores
it
cal record.
mosasaurs (from
five to
ruled
traits
among
modem squamate
reptiles,
lizards in particular;
we
to review
cUmate
change
com-
alters
those
munities irrevocably.
Michael A. Mares
that evidence
University of Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
is
debatable,
fossil data, as
well
as data
we
on jaw
be qualified to do
We
so).
structure, cheinical
Perhaps
all
terrestrial
snake
test.
he wrote it.
out
the contributions of
Kinsey s elder colleague
Merritt
glossan lizards.
the
until
and
are
which
sentence, in
mistakenly asserted
The
literature
acmally
snakes belong to a
states that
extinct,
on
additional information
those creatures.
W Caldwell
has
ma-
record
Uneage of
mosasaurs.
The
theory never
discovery.
It
group of
which
snakes,
among
other things.
On morphological
grounds, snakes appear
among herpetologists
all modern snakes are
that
they
de-
phiids as well
a terrestrial
snake ancestor
that
wiU prove
perhaps
correct, per-
provided by
origins
would suggest
and
that
As exobiologists try
to learn how and where Hfe
might exist elsewhere in
the universe, much of our
planet, especially the
like alien
seem
most
realms, remain
to us
home
to remarkable
my
ecosystems,
as
I
trial
[see
mosasaurs belong.
that
Michael W. Caldwell
marine
habitats,
they did so
col-
have found
"Desert Dreams," by
and to Frank B.
Colton of G.D. Searle &
Co., who developed
Playboy,
Enovid, the
first
modern
M.
Stnrtevant
Sarasota, Florida
Out on
and verdant
salt flats,
The
Canada
October 2006
Bloomin^ton, Indiana
independently of mosasaurs.
NATURAL HISTORY
Institute
University of Alberta
ma-
Kinsey
Edmonton, Alberta
Catherine Johnson-Roehr
Hugh
unexplored.
leagues and
On
been forgotten.
itable.
arose in the
snakes originated in
know
to
Ttje
basis, if
fossils.
Andes seem
good
Indiana University
own
from mosasaurs.
As for the consensus
highest
sex re-
as a
it is
parts that
A recent
The
work
for his
illustrates
unique diver-
reaches of the
9/06]
sity
scended from
Life,"
the
all
perfectly the
fossil
the Pythonomorpha,
is
names. Given
based on the
est relative
their
searcher,
dolosaurs, pontosaurs,
Among all
Lyndon Fernald to
book that bears both
High
autarchoglossan squamates,
doHchosaurs).
also sorts
more or
aquatic lizards
after
within
less
long
Del Tredici
long-necked, long-bodied,
10
Michael
that, ac-
saurs."
it is
impelled speciation.
islands
They
"From
Limb
Fins to
Limbs"
[7/06-8/06] reminds
something
me
of
wasn't that
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
eralization in print
Hans
in print.
form
transitional
is less fit
(in the
Mal-
much going on
Berliner
among
that
did not
thusian-Darwinian sense)
vertebrates in the
story,
well
Mesozoic
terres-
it
tetrapod
is
less
evolved.
evolving from.
It is
it is
also less
compared with
fiaUy
more
individuals sur-
new
path to the
Hence
question
"less
is,
what
hving conditions.
role did
form.
and
What
words,
it
in other
Forrest
explains the
nhmag@natural
lurked
historymag.com or by fax
and
646-356-6511. All
Bogan,
Maryland
To answer
Bogan
Neavitt,
new
deal of speciation.
form
environments.
tional
it
to
Forrest
letters
seems there
and
may
and
clarity.
"Balanced yet provocative, witty but never flippant, clear without being
/ the
Beat of a Heart
it's
and wonderful
October
trip into
Biology/Ecology
$27.95
280 pages
rT^^Hls^irrs-Ta
Ji
888-624-7651
www.jhpress.org
and
and Science
all
simplistic,
to
letters
time.
rep-
basins, as
tropical climate?
it is hard to
of any transi-
And
fmd
fossils
in the early to
some
prising that
Most of the
and sur-
it
era.
been found
river channels,
fossil
When
conditions change,
lineages can adapt
when
almost miraculous
some
My
adapted descendants.
It is
that
its
case
SAMPLINGS
Feast or Famine
The prevalence of obesity and Type 2
betes
certain populations
in
dia-
often attrib-
is
People
who
express the
in
goes
in
times
times of famine.
In
so the theory
Neel
first
in
1962,
gatherers than
some
Now a new
frightening detail
question.
How
computer
scientist at
gon
in
in
study adds
In particular,
at Las
They detected no
societies.
lifestyle
between
lifestyle
cycles
generalization
and food
nutrition
right
left
lar
dinosaurs'
to
eyes overlap.
amount
com-
probably ambush-predators,
thrifty
But the
31
:1
Stephan Reebs
20-6, 2006)
Before Appellation
Controlee
The wild Eurasian grape, Vitis
sylvestris, was first domesti-
ke modern crocodiles.
greatly assisted by a
of bin-
and
possessed
Velociraptor,
much wider
conferring excellent
for large,
variety of colors,
plant vegetatlvely.
positions of objects
view. For each
dinosaur reconstruc-
Stevens
mapped
pursuit.
and
bumps blocked
the view.
sharpest,
perfectly
hunting.
equipped
for active
to the
NATURAL HISTORY
rex
its
T.
snout or
large, widely
separated eyes,
its
Thanks to that
October 2006
Nick W. Atl<inson
overlap,
vinifera
In
judge the
tion,
say.
in
in
between
link
12
Nevada
Watson, a physical
how
he meas-
large
T.
and
lifestyle
answer to the
vision
farmers, because
hunter-
among
genotype
among
rex
thrifty
When
common
tive
V.
sweet grapes
in
and they
The do-
way
in
Does that
history,
which
is
based on archae-
all
grapevine
Jungle Smarts
Buzzing Off
There's less buzz
these days.
in
A new study
confirms what
luck.
tor's
markedly
in
species are
reproduce.
A team
in
two
countries, the
made the
England
in
team
observa-
The species
extinct
is
tic
af-
decline
tors',
is
likely culprits
in
And the
pollinators.
on wild
S.R.
31 3:351-4, 2006)
Go
West,
Young Primate
known primate
is
particularly
worrisome to farmers
rely
on
..
tional
team of
collabora-
how
primate
ing.
were
fossils
laid
A new
study
warm-
^,
>
'^
I
id
emergence on three
caused by massive
may have
from Andalusia.
1
0.1
94X.2006.03049.X, 2006)
1 1 1/j.l
365-
SM.
ing ability
and behavioral
keep
it.
may
flexibility,
well enable
so
one to
N.W.A.
rsbl.2006.0519, 2006)
genus
re-
that period
air
now
The
Teilhardina,
and
The
and
during
help paleontologists
cali-
that the
his
team theorize
enabled
then linking
was
the investi-
Teilhardina
Brussels,
primate
in
fossils
more
in
a small, big-
that trapped
dates,
primates, originated
in
new
leases of carbon-bearing
worldwide.
making an
predator to
Now there's
you
in
difficult for a
mined that
in select-
animal easy or
continents.
per-
the
is
more than 70
dis-
Martinez-Zapater discov-
that
whether
can't say
began
Dunbar
ly
in
in
brains, such as
occur
who grow
trast,
Shultz and
The
species
fossils
forests across
sented
earliest
in five
to their
in
causing the
pollinators
which
honey bees
feel
and puma)
ocelot,
the U.K.
in
Africa
ry. In
M. Dunbar,
I.
plant popula-
a million
a preda-
Kunin of
E.
become
by Ja-
of biologists led
to
likely
more
strictly arboreal,
03:1
223-7)
October 2006
Oara Curtin
NATURAL HISTORY
13
SAMPLINGS
A
As
Rash of Consequences
there weren't enough ominous con-
if
little
consequence
nasty: bigger,
is
plantation
Already
ivy.
of
ly in
and those
relatively little of
in
study
its
10
ivy
bad news
From 1996
pumped CO2
Lucky Break
A trace
of
persists
life
Duke
prehistoric fossils.
in
preserved that
quisitely
may
still
in
its
in
10-
and salaman-
Spain,
so ex-
is
visible.
The marrow
growrth,
McNamara and
Patrick
gists at University
J.
DNA.
Maria
Most
54 percent increase
in
atmospheric
tinued burning of
fossil fuels.
CO2
scratching?
the
in
[PNAS
S.R.
six
last five
College Dublin
in Ireland,
fossils
Uphill Battle
Rise too quickly from a prone position,
might see
stars,
and you
still is
it
are
soft tis-
Its
job
is
or mineralizing, the
still-stretchy
ered
last
muddy
consumed
pores
lake bottom,
tulates, bacteria
in
Instead,
seeped
fit
even smaller
in
their skin
pos-
and
through minute
their
sulfur
molecules
mud
fossil record,
so
fairly
is
why
is
common
in
the
organically preserved
Most paleon-
McNamara
quite
literally
says.
marrow
in
inside.
Many more
such finds
may
Edyta Zielinska
NATURAL HISTORY
heavy load. As a
result,
the locus of
some
is
the base
is
of the high-
be
trees outright by
103:9086-9,2006)
Jacqueline
Duke, and
a biologist at
kill
sils
Durham, North
in
it,
for trees:
E.
Orr, paleobiolo-
in
Mohan,
most of
14
2004 investigators
E.
until
University
Carolina.
in all
trig-
years
rr\ilHon
substance that
toxicity
proliferates
urushiol, the
And the
up by some 33 percent.
wood
growing more
warm-
the
boosts photosynthesis
A new
form of
urushiol shot
CO2
In
its
Extra
grew
badder poison
in
the
Some physiologists have suggested that the giraffe's heart may get
some help from a siphon effect created by the blood travelling back
down the neck veins: perhaps its weight helps pull the blood behind
it up the arteries to the head. To test that theory, Graham Mitchell,
an animal physiologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie,
and three colleagues
built a life-size
tem
ing,
and
model
pump.
PVC
made
of rigid
tubing
which,
when
pipe.
all
When
collapsible
is
naturally rigid
does
all
it's
just
made
of rubber
siphoning was
because of the
giraffe's
all.
S.R.
Octofae; 2006
kf^f
ARACHNOPHOBIC?
FACE YOUR FEARS hT OUR FASCINAriNG LIVE EXHIBIF
..
SEPTEMBER 24 - NOVEMBER
Join us as
^^^atiiral
2006
5,
we welcome
where you
will
see amazing
Orb Weavers
History
m useum
of Los Angeles
900 Exposition
County
213-763-DINO www.nhm.org
CA 90007
at feeding time!
www.nhm.org/spidei-pavilion
Admission
Adults $3.00
Cliildren
Museum
5-12 $1.00
Membeis
aie FREE.
Duration of shortest
laser pulse
PERSPECTIVES
As Time Goes By
Comparing
the
human
experience of time
on our place
By Robert
L.
new
outlook
in the universe
Jaffe
Switching time
of fastest
transistor
Life
-
Time
typical
Crack
in
span of a
lambda
for a
particle
home computer
glass
propagates
-o
about one
-Electron
beam
a standard
one
paints
ta
a:
10"''
millimeter
line
10^
North America
New
in
England. Yet
from ordinary:
10=
its
my
stone
is
the oldest
known
rock
of
lized
more than 4
when
10"
is
TV
Formation,
far
its
present age.
gneiss
second
A year (Earth
Time to saute
chicken breasts
(20 minutes)
completes one
orbit
around
the Sun.)
Single
human
heartbeat
-Average bonobo
copulation
(13 seconds)
Length of time
before sexes can
be distinguished
anatomically
a
16
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
in
human embryo
Duration
of the Second
World War
billic
time interval
Arr-^
10
10,-*3
visible
bits inside
Quark completes
one orbit within
a lambda particle.
small,
no more than
and
their motions,
which ap-
proach the speed of light, are exceedingly regular. Once around a proton
Occasionally I take the rock in
trying in vain to capture
for that vast expanse
my hand,
some
feeling
ingly fast
My
my
bit
of
rhythm of quarks.
Whatever evanescent
particles
and
intervals
lasts
spiral timeline
is
on
often considered
determined to be
at least
W^
is
They
we
fit
in?
takes a
of time.
is
extremely
it
up
brief, 10"'
orbit
one another a
times before the panicle disintegrates (translucent blue cylinder). For comparison, that is
200 times the number of orbits the Earth has completed around the Sun in the 4.6 billion years
since the planet was formed (translucent yellow cylinder). In a more "Copernican" view of time,
trillion
cre-
that
first
Coperni-
revolution.
Observed
moments,
own
computer
at
The smaller
tempo but all
the factory.
as
of a mi-
human
or slowing
broadest plan.
phenomena.
10^2
orbits of Earth
around Sun
18
r-
Age
of the universe
Half-life
of the proton
(lower bound)
Age
-Span of time
hominids have
walked the earth
in
of rock
Acasta
Formation
o
Age
^fchirt^**^'
of the Earth
Expected
life
span of
Duration of the
collapses, forming
Age
planetary nebula
of Dinosaurs
in perspective can
be
startling: the
mi-
measured time
in
human-size inter-
vals: in
human
guorously.
with
Sun
My
Copernican analogy is dehberate: what Copernicus did for the human sense of place, modern science has
done for our sense of time. For inillennia our ancestors believed the universe was made for us. The Sun, the
Moon, and the stars appeared to re-
in cubic feet,
and
in time as utterly as
we
in direct proportion,
the
speed with
seemed
28,
ty,
By
to
is
the
same token,
if
lost
our bearings
The
solar system.
as-
is
no constant that
fixes the
ics
better to
it is
univer-
sal.
The same
ity
constant of proportional-
is
6. 6x 10"^'* joule-second
compensations.
it
roughly
ally
energy,
ry,
hub of the
abbreviated
h, is
as Planck's
constant,
minute,
units,
when
even
expressed in everyday
to
on an astonishingly short
One quantum ofgreen Hght,
oscillations
timescale.
mechan-
of
Newton
is
Newton-
and
light led
him
to
second.
Hon times
It
0~^
tril-
longer.
about
became
The
scales
by the German
physicist Werner Heisenberg provided
the crucial link. The laws of quantum
mechanics, Heisenberg realized, do
as relating
utterly as
From
our
the
18
with
the
more
periphery of
ter,
the ener-
E is
num-
two
mass. In
this case
more
ality is
M=28x V.
Mand Kvary
M the mass
related properties
ceaseless change.
volume
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
ter in
is
as
is
simple
same quantity
in cubic feet. If
Fis the
clear.
uncertain-
ty principle articulated
rest.
It is
come perfectly to
know exactly
impossible to
0^--
Finally, a different
grammar
Combining thousands
without
of
real-life
first
drills.
in
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immersion
a step-by-step
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French
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Indonesian
Korean
Hebrew
Polish
Pashto
Spanish
Portuguese
Hindi
Turkish
Welsh
Swedish
English
(US or UK)
(Latin
America or Spain)
in all
key language
skills:
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ACTS
ON
RELATIVE
MAJOR ROLE
zero-point motion
RANGE
STRENGTH
The atoms
Holds nucleus
and hadrons
together
Short
,1
(10"''^
meter)
Drives
all
Electrically
chemical
charged
10-2
Long
and biological
processes
(which include
Causes some
Short
orbit
10-^2
kinds of
(10-''^
radioactivity
meter)
electrons)
Holds Earth
in
around Sun;
keeps stars in
orbit around
electrons' orbits.
10-3'
Long
it
on the microscale
is
zero-point motion.
And
Planck's
tem, the more precisely confined its position in space; the higher
its
energy;
more powerful
instruments. Accelera-
of Manhattan have
"microscopes" that
ever simpler, more fun-
When
new fundamental
forces,
came
quantum buzz
characteristic of the
of the system. All those clocks tick
20
such
NATURAL HISTORY
such
seem
as
eternally long.
electron takes
Here
at last is
make human
October 2006
inter-
first
With more
more powerful
from the constraint of viewing time in human terms, one can
take a "Copernican journey" to find
the tempos that rule the microworld.
Imagine delving once more into my
fragment of Acasta gneiss. This time,
magnify the rock over and over again,
just as you might repeatedly click the
" + " button while you read a document
on a computer. Your journey, lasting
no more than a few minutes, will whisk
you through hard-won discoveries
that took a century to make. Just a few
clicks
a few steps
will take you
through the realms of the three fundamental forces that govern the microworld: electromagnetism, the
strong force, and the weak force. Each
Freed
that everything
vals
oc-
size
An
the
the
vwth
by
galaxy
as
rules: the
orbit
All particles
still
leptons
Gravity
covered
and individual
clicks
within. Electromagnetism
Quarks and
timescales.
few more
particles
Weak
functioned
Electromagnetic
as
"6*'"
less
of
detectable.
Strong
The
become
has
its
The
own
characteristic
rhythm.
few clicks resolve the pattern of flecks and ripples in the gneiss
into jewel-like crystals, but betray no
hints of time. More cUcks, and patterns
of striations within the crystals, the first
hints of molecular substructure, come
into focus. Still nothing moves. Not
first
individual atoms,
faint,
forces. Five
more pow-
tal
Although
clei.
less
rapidly
vides
sible
all
on
It
Earth.
In
acts
(as far as
physicists
indivisible bits
MINERALS
A
OF THE EARTH
ROSE QUARTZ
your collection.
Thousands
common
Each specimen comes with
minerals were sought after for making decorative items like jewelry as
- and more
its
Get them
silver.
useful
in a
an
attractive
for just
Just $1.95 each for the first two minerals!
now
You
museum.
both...
$1^
is
- bronze.
many of Earth's
-M?erate of the
binder
a colorful fact
each.
is
collection
two minerals
in the
RED AGATE
at
FREE
Deposits exist
make
reflected in
different directions)
variety of quartz,
^^^DHjii
presence of
translucent sheen
with sparkling
reflections.
Found worldwide.
!^^hIk.
^^^^B
^^^^
to:
my
me
iron.
my
found
South
first
month
The custom-designed
America, Australia,
Russia and Madagascar.
at
Bill
receive
- crystal
collection
consisting of 50 speciniens.
95i! for
in
del prado
clusters - are
Geodes
giving semi-
popular
ORDER FORM
is
produced by
two
it
*'J^^^
AMETHYST
GREEN CALCITE
all
display
may cancel
any time.
'
^^
^
^^^^^
J
M
m ^E^K
^1^^^-
^f^V
fire."
sparking produced
when
iron is struck
by a lump of
AZURITE
IRON PYRITE
pyrite.
^aJ^^W.
SBt^ iSVy.
J^Jh^hBmHb ^^|H|
'^'wlf^%n&l ^^^K.
^^in^v^^Hll
found
Fm^H^
^'rwinu^HW-^^^^
^"PHBtbH M^^idfl^^.
\^^^^YnrH KS^^^^^^
iii^vHfilHl ^I^^^HB^
^4I^H
in
copper
ore deposits
^^^^
in
North and
Address-
City-
Central
Africa
only.
Name
PA and NY residents
-Zip.
state-
Telephone
will
at the
minoi5
Quark
come
known whim-
in three varieties,
Color charge
sically as "colors."
way
electric charge
is
is
the
much
the
more ac-
name
curate
charges
is
the
"chromodynamic," force.
Only inside protons and neutrons, at
a distance of 10"'^ meter, does the true
tempo of the chromodynamic force
come into focus. Confined to such minuscule spaces, quarks struggle mightcolor, or
ily,
but
The
escape.
futilely, to
regular,
It is
time to
ask:
What
own
terms?
particles discov-
known by
Greek
the
on
spective
human
per-
cists
its
"stable,"
it
capital letter
signature
telltale
After
this
my
word
on new
sig-
what
my
call stable!
hand,
What
sets
the
tempo of the
as
In "only" another 5
not-
is left
Sun
will
of it, along.
on
das Hve,
he next stop on
Copernican
journey, and the last where any
ne"w phenomena appear, comes into
view at about 10~'^ meter, one onethousandth the size of the proton. At
this
the
force
as
the elec-
^becomes
strong
as
tromagnetic force.
weak
is
tive
range
is
the
weak
its
effec-
one-thousandth the
size
of the proton,
motions of quarks
and
it is
never the
is
The
weak forces
of the
what?
udice of a
human
NATURAL HISTORY
Though
complete
weak
22
tive
cleus disintegrates,
usually the
October 2006
its
one
is
average, about
Honth of a second (IQ-^'-* second), a typical life span for a subatomic particle that
decays because of the weak interaction.
it
Lamb-
ten-bil-
force.
second
IQ-^*^
tive to the
It
is
imperceptible to
a long,
long time
it
us,
rela-
tempo of chromodynamics.
second to
within the
quarks within
it
orbit
one another
on average.
Nothing in our everyday experience
times,
lives so
ity's
long in
its
most enduring
institutions
Hved
have
at
times.
frost.
Even the
Since
its
solar
system
and out of existence in some tiny firaction of a second. What sets the immense scale of cosmological time? And
what of gravity, which plays such a central role in cosmology?
Gravity, that most familiar of forces,
has not figured in our search for the
tempos of the microworld, because
gravity is too weak to affect atoms or
nuclei. Human beings are only aware
of it because it reaches out across great
distances and builds up when huge
quantities of matter are gathered together. Because it plays such an important role in the dynamics of stars
and galaxies, could gravity hold the key
to understanding the scale of cosmological time?
other journey,
distances
Robert
L.
Jaffe
M.I. T, where
lie
is
formation, the
lion times.
would ex-
M.I.
T. facuhy
is
a professor of physics at
oretical Physics.
His
Tlie-
on the
form particles
and
sucli as
verse.
quantum
hiking,
structure of the
vacuum. Photography,
left
ofhis time.
Do you have
wings't
Common
Buckeye Buiierfly
\
iG?.'
J\s'
.c^<
Oct. ii|-i5
FLORIDA
inGainetville,fioridal
RCGKTCRTODfly!
imeti\^^''^'''
y^
naturalists
y{
Field Trips to Paynes Prairie,
Trail,
Whole Family
&
Florida Wildflower
Butterfly Garden
y{ Photography Contest
Art,
y{ Workshops on
will feature:
is
McGuire Center
for Lepldoptera
The
and
Florida
flying
Biodiversity,
Is
largest
research facility for butterflies and moths and houses over 4.2 million
BIOMECHANICS
does the morbid work of netting insect prey.
The
Threads
IsTice
by stretching short sections of the individual fibers on a new kind of testing frame. Silk fibers are strong, but
Orb weaver
draw on a wide_
spiders can
By Adam Summers ~
selection
and
of exceptional sensitivity
and accuracy; until now, no one had
been able to test temporary, egg-sac,
takes a device
strength.
or prey-wrapping
Illustrations
they're also so
of silks
species
All
of spider about
count extrude\
species
40,000
at last
called
Many
silk
weavers, produce a
different kinds
Two
silks are
together create an
toughness.)
new
measure forces
might be
making
new, high-pefformance
orb
o;
fibers.
are gooey,
fibrous
Todd A. Blackledge,
Akron
armamentarium
a behavioral
and
in
Y.
For
tricks.
brous
(for
of the
silk,
dropping in
Spiderman) or
web.
like
as
such
in stiffness
and
to get
web
temporary
is
are also
worth imitating
five
of those
perhaps
to spin
would be
silken wares
all
to the building-minded,
all,
silk is
prey. Finally,
biodegradable ingredients.
edible, at least to
Looking
at
even
It's
an arachnid: spiders
webs
fay
(2)
forms a
silks:
egg-sac
shown
to
silk (3)
the
silk (1)
web and is
they col-
and
-^^the
differ in
stuff that
and more
be the toughest
silk
of
all
spiral
laid
strength.
how
scafFold,-
down. Third,
the biomethanists confiscated and unof "capture" silk
Learning
In addi-
together until a
showed
so.
silk (5),
the sticky
silk (4)
silk
silk
elastic
recently
that
more than any other silk. The "stiffness, " or relation between
and tensile force applied, is plotted on the graph at the far right of opposite page:
the upper end of each curve represents the breaking strength of the material.
24
of
even more
five kinds
all
that fiinctions as a
artificial
proof vests),
managed
holding the
silk
polymers as
nylon and Kevlar (the fiber of bulletrivals
side,
fi-
silks,
which
stretch
NATURAL HISTORY
whopping seven
of silk.
October 2006
"
R
(major ainpuuate>
^^'^3
Sil
The
To
much
the
sense,
though, "strength"
sprength:
is
same
how much
of most
about
as
much
as
would
spider silk
fell
on
tion, strength
it.
is
it
By
nylon
technical
is
breaking
a strand
dragline, before
weight
about that
steels.
silk
it
of the capture
spiral
is still
the
well in strength
fails.
and
sill;c
The
standout. T\oughness
sometimes mearis
resting
much as
breaks. The sdcky
In casual conversa-
its
thing. In
silk
ping
[see
big surprise
silk
is
a real
graphs below].
is
that
Kevlar
prey-wrap-
killer. It
can
before
it
its
Hfe
demands
sin
When
first
timeT"
/'and
capture
ered that
The
stiffer
th^iMifagUne,
loadsTand egg-sac
at least for
all
small
silk stretches to
prey-wrapping
silk
can be imitated,
that inake
crime.
proitjise.
Adam Summers
an
(asumnners@ua.edu)
assistant.p'rofessor
of bioengineering and
is
apture
.silk
fiagelliform)
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY 25
NATURALISTS AT LARGE
Blues' Revival
Can
and
a change in diet
assistance
By Jaret
C. Daniels
and Stephanie
J.
Palm fronds
crackle as the
Honda
wind
State Park,
524
etation, small
Miami blue
laboratory
crowded
Usually
loving tourists,
sky.
little
size
of
butterflies,
thumbnail,
Sancliez
man
habitats
have
ly different. The
Miami
blue (Cyclargiis
endemic
thomasi bethunebakeri),
to
hang on for dear Hfe. In the next twenty-four hours they wiU fight a critical
battle for survival, one that if lost,
Florida,
city,
its
namesake
mainland
home
hammocks
in coastal
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
scrub.
^1
Miami
,
Key West^
Honda
Bahia
State Park
National Park
Key
Largo^
Homestead
orange. By
26
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
Now
amid beachside
aU those habitats
terfly, failed
sighting of a
ists
of urbanismall fraction of
entirely as a result
Only
remains, primarily
as
remnant
Miami
and amateur
discovered in Bahia
a
it
was
hurricane
up
call for
those
Miaini blue.
who
The
wake-
love the
gradual loss
aUke began
preserves.
Perhaps
blue. Lepidopter-
naturalists
Key Lar-
zation.
Biscaynsf
Dry Tortugas
rocklands, and
Honda
State Park,
of Key West.
leagues and
at
my
col-
known colony
en part in
the
Miami
blue
is
Miami
now on
blues to
its
way
The
to
details
straits.
Honda
Following
Park. Yet
er recapturing individual
technique
mark-recap-
viduals remaining
butterflies (a
call for
known
as
ture). In that
way we
public.
individuals.
Preliminary estimates
Female
butterflies typi-
than
five
sedentary: individuals
of the naturalist.
hurdles we
Miami
blue and
da's list
of endangered
firom the
The
sis.
on
its
continued
mentation of
habitat;
and
frag-
mismanagement
FWC
endan-
stiff fines
its
addition to Flori-
clear
species.)
of these insects
effectively.
With
and
recovery. The first priority was to
make an in-depth biological study of
the Miami blue and the causes of its
decline. Precisely because it was once
efforts shifted to research
so
ogists
and
as a result,
many
details
of
its
understood.
Our most
intriguing preliminary
finding, though,
butterfly's
larval,
the
its
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY
27
bondtic),
ers,
tation
much
other
is
not
weedy
like a
invasive.
uncommon among
cial nectar.
Shifting from
ing
them
We began by hand-feed-
for us
and
stressful for
much
trial
and
compounds
But the
in-
way
for
them
error,
to feed
them. After
we
on
devised
their
own
that
ward off most herbivores. The Miaini blue had evolved highly specific
cyanide-generating
The
with
ically refresh
a competitive advantage:
on
most
plants that
butterflies.
And
forming
ficial
abandoned
its lifestyle.
Now,
we
tried, substantially
in-
for
more than
forty days!
fines
butterfly) has
couple of days of
vul-
one
perhaps a
in
the upper
all
nectar
its
original niche.
and predators.
Starter
wUd, we
first
as
potential release
for
butterflies.
sites
Our
established a
er, pesticides,
eral species
many
of
collected in the
ant.
family,
Miami
that followed;
under
artificial
Florida
we
adults
mated,
an alarm,
nearby ants to
rally at
the
first
calls
sign of
as their
makeshift homes.
Accommodating
the short-lived
outdoor
difficult.
and observed
As soon as a female
us,
field research
we were
ready to
ly
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
2,500
Miami
That
reproduced.
we brought
effort, state
human
flight cages,
carefully.
nated
are
them
trouble.
28
alive in-
efforts.
The
Secti
2^}
ARIZONA
RIZONA
sweeping
and
IS
variety,
canyons
autumn, the
state
of deserts
and awe-inspiring
from bustling
city
life.
is
Come
With
dazzling range of choices, lovers of the Great Outdoors can personalize their Arizona experience. Start your day
on
a Scottsdale
jeep
and
visit the
in the afternoon.
ing
ancient
cliff
morning desert by
a poolside
massage or
This
fall, visit
the
Arboretum at Flagstaff to see the magnifisumac and bigtooth maple, and the gold-
Stroll
quaking aspen and reddish orange currant bush, and don't miss
studying, interpreting, and preserving the region's natural and cultural heritage.
biology, geology,
galleries
and
fine art.
city
fall,
a breathtaking
rainbow
sugar maples.
its
distinct
riparian areas,
Sedona
is
year. For
worth
your
free
long
visit
Arizona
much
available at
the|
a vibrant variety of
experiences.
cultures,
Arizona
With
is
.and choices,""
Grab
More
to
life.
Immerse yourself
in a
day
full of
all
full of fun.
TUCSON
Kitt
WITH
and many
Astronomy Capital
IN
THE
U.S.,
of the world's
of the World.
is
Kitt
known
as
it's
the
Peak National
Tucson,
is
It
(tel.
520-318-8726),
which introduces visitors to star charts, constellations, and state-of-the-art telescopes that open the mysteries of the universe.
Continuing south from Kitt Peak, visit the Fred Lawrence Whipple
Observatory near Amado, Arizona, located
just
The Whipple
base of
at the
Mount Hopkins,
features displays
and exhibits on
Tucson
and
is
world renownedlo.
viewing a year
al
views
at
One
way
(tel.
520-670-5707).
International Observatory
is
home
to
several
renowned
'
f'jff:'
j4r
f-
*1v^
.%^
work-
ing research center and observatory at the mountain top, with spectacular
'1^^^aat>^'
-^^^i^
-
-^
'"
telescopes.
the Empire-Cienega
at
Resource Conservation Area, near Sonoita; or watch the stars all night
long at the Astronomer's Inn (520-586-7906), a bed-and-breakfast near
especially
is
a birders' paradise,
plentiful
viewable
mountain
forest.
And
or go to visitTucson.org.
of the Desert.
Captivating sights are everywhere. Lush desert plants and wildlife,
fresh breeze coolsjour soul. Why, even the colors are different here.
Tucson
is
TUc&oni
Metropolitan Tucson Convention
&
Visitors
Bureau
QUEBEC CITY
Snow geese
It's
Migration
at
Cap Tourmente
North
ful city,
America.
in
of C6te-de-Beaupre,
bursting with spectacular shades of red and gold. Enjoy the autum-
is
Beaupre coast
is
artists
coastal landscape, a
afar.
The
You may
species
Atlantic
fall,
at the
Cap Tourmente
where
is
located
in
of the St.
Lawrence
River,
walk along Cap Tourmente's 20 kilometer (twelve-mile) netwhich connects to 200 (120 miles) more kilometers of hiking
leading you past waterfalls
one taller than Niagara Falls and
the birds
work
it's
is
to
of trails
trails,
Geese
Anne
Snow
call
418-827-4591.
itself in
all
directions,
From
the summit, a
Be sure not to miss out on the many fun activities in this area,
known for its skiing but also offers horseback riding, golf, museum
Charlevoix.
which
tours,
is
and opportunities
Quebec promises
to
to
shop
and
crafts.
Come
friends.
rain or shine,
l<sFecial
Advertising Secti
2^^
ICELAND
WATERFALLS, GEYSERS, GLACIERS,
VOLCANOES,
and
geothermal
ancient lava
pools,
fields:
Iceland
is
snowmobile
60 miles south
in the
land of
fire
and
ice.
of the Arctic
a naturalist's
on
round of night-
Swimming
popular
is
throughout the country, and most towns and villages have out-
filled
at
84 degrees).
in the
West
Fjords,
the largest known bird cliff in the world, where you'll also find
the largest razorbill colony in the world. Look for seabirds in
the Westmann Islands, home to the world's largest puffin
Myvatn
on the sands
in
in the north;
South Iceland
and
the
its
neighboring
commu-
esting
mix
Best of
all,
of cosmopolitan culture
you'll
and
ICGlSnCl. A
pristine
geysers.
fish,
Visit
Inot springs,
bliss.
Come
and
lcelandNaturally.com to learn more about Iceland and Icelandic products. Also, register online to win an exciting adventure
trip.
MARYLAND
famed Eastern Shore or
Whether on
its
Maryland
is
in the Capital
Region,
DORCHESTER COUNTY
WITH
20
Dorchester County
is
of marshes,
This
fall,
County
offers a
and waterfront
(twenty different kinds have been documented here), geese, and tundra
swans
as they
trails,
west of the
iovatcm
Yours to explore...
legends of
in
Quaint
classi|
^^
y^*^*^^
2"
'"
^^
Heart of
Chesapeake Country.
Chesapeake
*"
Country/
FREDERICK COUNTY,
Sliop, dine, hike,
taste
and
spires"
MARYLAND
enjoy...
orwww.frederickcourism.org
;^
^C^Special Advertising SectionS^
refuge are Hoopers and Taylors Island where you can spot migrating songbirds
and hawks
the
especially prevalent in
that are
Adjoining
fall.
and wetlands
in Fishing
tidal
untouched area
KENT COUNTY
marsh
FREDERICK COUNTY
travel to Frederick
County
90 national,
state,
activities
first in
Maryland
to
be designated
museums
& more.
Visitor Paclcet,
and
with
its
life
ers,
home to
many
including
fish species,
known
and the
locally as rock-
fish
found
in
Neck
island with
habitats
characteristic
of the
galleries, antique
For a Free
birders,
the state
became
trout
spawn
brown,
and
rainbow
trout
stream.
Brook,
its first catch and return
in the stream. A Maryland fishing license and trout stamp are required.
of
cyclists,
fish, is
towns and
broken only
city parks to
of waterfront
is full
..
please contact:
www.kentcounty.com
410-778-0416
Kent County Office of Tourism Development
meadows
to tidal wetlands.
forests
to
Ic^Special Advertising SectionS|
QtmnAnn
f*ll\
T\-
Coimty
::(^cdAAAdaM to
tk&
was
a royal colony,
Ireland.
L-/pend
Grab a
The
fall
trail,
trails
colors, fields,
traveler to stroll
species.
The
trail
to the
WORCESTER COUNTY
IS
buffs to
FALL
bite at a
side
flat
bike
trail
that
The
in
through
and
farmlands
forests,
along
is
the
only
more than
and don't
crab cakes.
With
its
few
trail,
famous
variety of environments
call
888.400.7787 or log on
www.discoverqueenannes.com.
and plant
it's
fall,
Assateague
is
home
to
peregrine falcons, merlins, and flocks of tree swallows; you'll see clusters of northern
^ [^Special
Advertising SectionVf
TdWu
Explore historic ^^JtW
Easton, one of -i
jC>.,*,<C''
i^Li
>
Tjgjw.
and
^j.
art communities.
^^A
Discover 300
SKf^' wi^vll''*^'
';"c'-r~~-^
W^
history, the
'
Strait
Chesapeake Bay
and the waterfront
tion of
of St. Michaels,
Tilghman Island and Oxford.
for a
St.,
Easton,
traditional boats
8- to 27-day
your
own arrangements
own
boat with
the
to build
MD 21601
schedule of great
fall
CruiseTours
from
\p
L^Ly y pp
your
museum's boat-
With
Cain-888-BAY-STAYforyourfree
1 1 S.
Chesapeake Bay
in the country.
villages
visitors
in St. Michaels,
dA
years of maritime
6oo miles
Chesapeake
^^^M^f%
events.
lazuli.
ORIENT LINES
the philosophy of Orient Lines, the
and extraordinary
the hidden
gems
famed
oil
With
its
superb
known
is
Marco
European ports
to
diversity
Orient LINES
'
Chilean
visit the
fjords,
Montevideo, and Santiago. You may even venture to the magnificent Iguazu
the
2007 schedule
at
Falls.
See
http://www.orientlines.com/Galendar/calendar07.htm for
orientlmK.com
"Fare
shown
for i
in
minimum
additional 10 CruistTour
apply. All offcs art based
liiit,
on
a\'ailablc
a\^ilabilii)-,
occuponci-,
Airfere
is
may
may be viithdrami
mors
bisd on double
Lino
is
at
not nsponsible
2006
far t\-pogtapbcal
NQ Ccrporaotin, Ld.
ALA
k^ivirr, ;'v
t:;m"
lown for
its
Maya
sf
heritage
and
colonial cities^
making
it
Guatemala
//
also
is
a biologically
Take A GLANCE
AT AN EXOTIC
LAND.
away
in the
birds in the
Land
Head about
Guatemala City
of the Quetzal.
hours
three
to
Lake
west of
Atitlan,
whose
waters reflect three of the country's 33 volcanoes. The lake is sprinkled with traditional
Maya
where
weavings and
From
here,
cano
in
guan.
With
distinctive, coral-colored
guan
Thousands of years old Maya metropolises,
legendary colonial cities and the warmth
of people waiting for you. Thousands
of miles of jungle and forests filled with
adventure and mystery. Everything you sigh
for
is
in
Guatemala.
tial
is
its
forehead, the
in danger of extinction.
It's
par-
are
two other
natives, the
pink-headed
The
mountainous
forests.
is
found
in
THE CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMbF LOS ANGELES
COUNTY
October 2006
'.AVi
Masters
f
Disguise
^>
'^^iSr^lMs
'^
A^ffP
''*-t./^
still
suited
from
GonWa
Bancroft.
Natural History
Museum
wafK t()e
.,,
:p(cmR!
History
his scurvy
members
($275)
MM
advehtuilBf^flmg 213-763-3512.
^;^
r^^^^:;
*sss;.
'
kngeles Counly
Polishing a
Civic
^%
iV^^I
ewe
Dear Friend,
This
fall
we
prepare for the restoration and seismic strengthening of our 1913 Building.
first
County
Museum
commemorate
of History, Science,
doors on November
6, 1913.
The
civic
and
is
now
Because of the auspicious timing of the Museum's opening and the beauty of its Beaux Arts-inspired design,
writers at the time noted that the Museum signified the birth of Los Angeles as a cultural center.
The
building's patterned red brick exterior featured arched windows, terracotta ornamentation,
Its focal
and an
walls, and topped by a painted glass dome. Seven months after the Museum's opening, Julia Bracken
Wendt's bronze sculpture "The Spirit of History, Science, and Art" was unveiled in the center of the rotunda.
It was the first public statue funded by Los Angeles County.
marble
a strong history collection and a growing trove of fossils excavated at the La Brea
holdings quickly outgrew the original building's three wings, and substantial additions were
completed between 1924 and 1930, including the Grand Foyer and four diorama halls.
The
Pits. Its
1913 Building
- or "Rotunda"
history,
as
it is
also
known -
is still
when the
city's cultural
we
remarkable and
is
Museum
was at the forefront of civic progress then, and today, with our mission to inspire wonder, discovery and
responsibility in our natural and cultural worlds, we continue to play a pivotal role in its enrichment.
Sincerely,
Jane G. Pisano
President and Director
wur missio..
>
responsibility
Friday,
October 27
at
Page Museum
La BreaTarPits
by an
adult.
cats.
Wear
at
^9
am
Our
Masters or Di sguise
he natural world
T!
filled
is
On
Chaney.
Chaney is
Phantom of
and shrimpfish
of a
sea urchin.
Opera (1925)
sometimes, things
the
costume, holding a
Below
makeup
nothing
^- '^
at all.
Humankind
also
now belongs
Museum.
to the
animals use
guise for
J" ;
While
I*
f5
dis-
sixrvival,
J;
I"
There are
insects
stick
and
katydids in our
Insect
Zoo
that
worship, entertain,
5"^
and
I 5
they live
to teach,
^'J
especially this
time of year, to
trick.
Since October
with illusion,
let's
is
month
look at
rife
how a few of
art,
and
made
copper
state
tigre
of
in the early
group
is
and D are
worm. At least
nudibranchs; E
is
a flat
Our
dioramas also show
in.
And
at
Mammal
Guerrero, probably
is
(above)
"mimicry complex,"
B, C,
resemble the
branches and leaves
it
though of
are different.
is
we use
"^j
1^^
kit that
is
anemones
at
illusion
in with
attach shells
and
bits
their exoskeletons,
have
them
to
of seaweed to
maldng them
shown with
is
and without
and sea
costume.)
all:
its
algae
squirt
in
accessories
Kristin Friedrich
museum
do
things to
exhibitions
muse
at the
Pleistocene
GARDEN
Super Spiders
[5j NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Saturday, October 14,
am
10
Visit
5,
all
2006
am
II
craft,
Curb
stories! All
programs
are
at
2006
happens
No
on a first-come, first-served
more
'
---.
~^
FREE
/
'
^i.-'-'i
.-^i
".-
".'
r""^
I'.i
''
^^H
i^tf
I^Ht^"^
9:30 am
Hunting
in
fossils
Manager of Malacology,
provided
is
provided by
programs
is
provided by
Dinosoles (www.dinosoles.com/nhmla).
Saul,
has
chaparral plants
tlrat
and
former Collection
with Ijndsey
Ice
2006
pm
Groves, Collection
^B
...inMEilfll
Canyon
12:00
and LouEUa
footsteps of the great saber-
'V
l|HH^r^^^'Tx'
Walk in the
^:J^
-S@j
I^IHp R^J|
i^:^\S^^fl BS^?3r'
Silverado
PAGE MUSEUM
Open year round
"j^'
;
Fossil
"*"
.'
-"
is
'',
tickets.
^
n
....
AL'' r
dirt
is
under your
This
some
Museum scientists.
accompanied by an
adult.
and
own
up,
Members $2q;
coming soon!
Group Overnight
CrAUENfiERX
Adventures
SAI-AKi
[Jj
Vn
PAGE MUSEUM
2006
at either
Museum or
11
the Page
Museum at the
12
and find
out!
activities
On this
special safari,
we'U go behind
Angel Valdes.
highlights of the
the biggest
through the
galleries
on a moUusk-themed
FREE with
Patron
(213 j
y6y}426.
Pits at night,
morning surrounded by
in the
is 6:1.
7:30
Saturday,
Nonmembers $4^
Birds
fly
turtles
[museum
November
2006
marauded by
An
artists
friends. Critter
fiin! Ml
Museum admission.
programs are
Qub is hands-
on a first-come, first-served
basis.
For more
Schumann, Shostakovich,
and other famous classical composers.
2006
Boccherini,
11,
y^,.:^/e^'f.--y/ jaij.T:4
club
critter
Uj
cellist
www.nhm.org.
2006
pm - 9:30 pm
visit
surrounded
Bunt
Mansion
WILLIAMS. HART MUSEUM
on
the
pirates
and we
Tourmaline Dreams
OFF SITE FIELD TRIP
Sunday, November 19,
2006
visit
$20;
Nonmembers
$2y, Children 12
and
fossils.
Minimum
our animal
in
$40;
Music
uww.nhm.org/fellcws
invitation
yGy^pG or
to learn
more.
Yom
Kippur
use
Free Tuesday
13
Football
Game
*
(TBA) *
14
BO Critter Club
Columbus Day
Museum opens
al
use
10 am)
20
Football
Goo
Family
Overnight
(5
* *
pm)
Si Scavenger's Safari
HI Music in the
Q Boo and
Game
Mansion
28
Adventure
Haunted
29
30
Museum
Halloween
>JS Spider
^^
Pavilion
doses
Free Tuesday
time
everyday
Mornings
:00
atNHM
am*
:30
2:00
BS 900
T^^History
IVliiseum
Discovery Center
Discovery Center
Dueling Dinosaurs
Live
Animal Presentations
Discovery Center
Learning Adventures
Dueling Dinosaurs
pm
pm
activities
Pit
Page Museum
5801 Wiishire
Los Angeles,
Page Museum
La BreaTar Pits
and Sundays
323.934.pAGE
only
Blvd.
CA 90036
www, tarpits.org
www.nhm.org
Page Museum
91 Tour
CA 90007
213-763-DINO
21 3-763-3569 (nV hsorlng impaired]
Discovery Center
:00
Dinosaur Hall
pm
2:15
Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles,
Cleaning Demonstration
Animal Presentation
Discovery Center
Afternoons
jS^atural
Live
pm
3:00 pm
Museum
Fossil
Tarantula Feeding
2:00
Page
location
activity
pm*
12:00 noon*
1
'
WILLUMS.
NewhallCA 91321
www.hartmuseum.org
MUSEUM
661-2544584
Rd.
TASMANIA
^I^^^MRP~IIII^T^'^
hideaway,
IN THE SOUTHERN
LOCATED
Ocean, Tasmania
has a small
Unlike mainland
Australia, the landscape is mountainous, with rugged untouched valleys,
snow-covered peaks, and broad sweepof coastline.
On the western
by the
winds of the Roaring Forties and
side of the island, swept clean
rain,
are
of
wet-
to
'
lands,
and dense
Gondwana
rainforests of ancient
including Antarctic
relics
On
much
the warmer,
side, the
L_s
drier eastern
the
and
in
along with
entire island
is
'Efi^i^^r
*
rela-
(September to December)
the
best
time
to
see
is
birds,
always
most
identified as
tively
'
*
the
where the
special to you!
mosaic of habitats
isolation,
AiTsIt
landscape offers
itineran
drift into
all
Phone;
www.naturetravelspeciallsts.com
OUTBACK
WUn
^'^ AUSTRALIA'S
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Y TASMANIA
-mt-
^t^^^
"^^1
OCTOBER 2006
Sociable Killers
New studies
its
By
R.
t's
winter morning.
Our
For white sharks (also known as great whites), sotrumps dining. Sneaky turns his attention to
Couz. Is he friend or foe? Of higher or lower rank?
For half a minute. Sneaky and Couz swim side by
side, warily sizing each other up as white sharks do
when they meet. AH of a sudden. Sneaky hunches
his back and lowers his pectoral fins in response to
the threat posed by the larger shark \set illustration of
"hunch display" on page 44], whereupon he and Couz
veer apart. As we record their interactions, a female
sweeps in and usurps the remains of Sneaky's abandoned jpesl. Then cakn returns to the sea. Just six
miAites have passed since the seal pup was inno-
cializing
a ton
by an astonishing
clears the
time before
it falls
breathlessly as the
drama unfolds.
Now
cendy making
mortally
the seal
assaults
raises its
The
The
wounded
seal prickles
our
way
to shore.
ferocious predatory
is
shark,
its
'^^tchingi-'^fffPFi
imal kingdom's
nostrils.
its
entrails,
squawking avian obscenities at one another. Sneaky returns to his meal, and another white shark rises from
below
male
we
a thirteen- foot
call
Couz.
off
squid, fish,
whose
thick blub-
Bay, to prey
on
seal
pups
in
nearby False
%r
feeding cycle,
its
is
its
knovviTaD^j^he
hunting tacti^
preferences in prey.
Its
migration
Nowhere
more
movie Jaws
assume
white sharks
But
after
observing the
known
at least since
less is
at
oddly
skittish creatures,
whose
social in-
and doc-
attacks,
that social
is
Our
we
Cape
fur seals,
is
cember.
seals give
end of De-
er siblings
yond. That's
ing up
when
from
parts
unknown
young-of-the-year pups.
Chris Fallows and
Rob
Lawrence, South
when
1995,
site's
Town on
attractions in
remarkable
aerial
hunting
style.
(Both be-
less
then
we
ter to
we
At
Fal-
visited
largest
is
of
predatory sharks,
it
The
reaches a
it
access to envi-
degrees
much
as
twenty-five Fahrenheit
warmer than
as
it
URAL HISTbUY 43
.
"
other sharks,
snails, squid,
mammals may be
are big,
its
dirt
when
means
to catch
right,
them
as
many
but
hit caloric
mam-
when
whale
when
fers a
it
mathematical explanation of
how
predators
High Society
White sharks engage
eight are
largely
in
at least
twenty
it.
Ac-
maximize
either ener-
but so
more moderately.
as
and handhng
fat
carcass)
How
model known
it
By
for
of searching for
pound,
Pound
getic cost
calories as protein.
one estimate, a fifteen-foot white shark that consumes sixty-five pounds of whale blubber can go a
month and a half without feeding again. In fact, a
white shark can store as much as 10 percent of its
body mass in a lobe of its stomach, enabhng it to
gorge
weigh the
has
own
pay
favorite meal.
is
imizers,
by
contrast, eat
which
the
more
Numbers max-
Of all
social
Way
Give
other
determine which
ownership of a disputed
side
kill.
apart.
in
sizes to
a white-shark ver-
dominant, or simply
nance
flinches
in
sion of "chicken.
perhaps to identify
one another or to detercircle,
mine
rank.
Splash Fight
in
foreground
its
its
back
pectoral
fins for
Two sharks
tails,
several seconds
the most or biggest splashes wins, and the other accepts a sub-
missive rank.
fleeing or attacking.
dominance or contest a
onds, perhaps to
size
44
and lowers
and
establish dominance.
in
response
kill.
sharks.
They have
a thick
Klimley
of blubber, Hmited
diving and fighting skills,
and a naivete about the
dangers lurking below.
Furthermore, they weigh
in at about sixty pounds, a
good meal by anyone's
standards. Their seasonal
layer
presence
draws white
tide,
mammals
high
Seal Island,
waves
nearly
for white sharks
' constant viqilance
^
the water.
Cape
AustraUa
back year
after year,
sharks
seals.
White
sharks that
making those
islands the
come
marine
Far
But on what
basis
making them
less
Ukely to de-
white shark.
'
t:when hunting
stealth
and ambush
below.
An
indi-
or ventures just
Gaping
cate vukierabihcy.
Repetitive
on single-
Aerial
J u
the
San Francisco, and
Neptune Islands ott South
T-
Ob-
servatory in California^
with
at certain off-
shore islands
along
population
seal
at Seal Island.
Most
is
low.
Then,
much
easier to see
is
is
from indiscriminate.
At high tide on the Farallon
surface, repeatedly
gaping
is
jaws,
be a
socially
provocative
non-
way to
vent frustration.
so far
phant
selves
the
seals
competition forces
own
right,
and
riods.
do
When
a headstand, vigilantly
seals
often
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY 45
air.
Cape
know
be predator
To avoid
its
it
pairs,
or
even foUow
as if to let
the
would-
may
leap in a zigzag
away from
flank, safely
kill
its
lethal jaws. If
or incapacitate
now
superior agility
The longer an
an attack-
a seal in
the
it
will
One
established rank,
When members
lish social
One
in a circle.
splashes at another
by thrashing
shark
its tail,
Once rank
is
giving way
shark
ing altogether.
if they
formidable predator.
may direct
may leap
or it
kill.
We
plex.
During the
twenty
is
astonishingly
we have
com-
cataloged
white sharks
at
its
its
jaws. In
1996 Wesley R. Strong, a shark investigator then affiliated with the Cousteau Society in Hampton, Virginia, suggested the behavior might be a socially nonprovocative
fails
way
to vent frustration
the
teeth,
White
ings that
sharks have a
may
number of markThe
but
which
are
new
to science.
We
many
illustrations
Rank appears
armed
predators,
combat is a risky prospect. Indeed, unrecombat is extremely rare. Instead, the white
sharks at Seal Island reduce competition by spacing
themselves while hunting, and they resolve or avert
conflicts through ritual and display.
At Seal Island, white sharks arrive and depart year
after year in stable "clans" of two to six individuals.
Whether clan members are related is unknown, but
trailing edge.
make
the sharks
tions
to that
of
fact,
the social
a clearly
more
among white
And if so,
sharks.
sharks,
and predatory
strate-
gies
es its seal
tail
tainly learn.
is
strained
structure of a clan
And
physical
46
on the
squatter's rights
es
The
average shark
on 47 percent of its
at Seal Island
catch-
and enjoy
than youngsters
^.
'fl%'
TM
predatory
ly
own
employ
sharks give
call
up
female
and
movements. She
almost always claims her mark, and seems to have
honed her hunting skills to a sharp edge through
boats)
is
a relentless pursuer,
seal's
ly
is
Fortuusual-
For
all
it is
ironic that
fins,
white sharks are highly curious creatures that systematically escalate their explo-
White
between
sharks take
from the
visual to the
tactile. Typically,
birth to just
rations
two
to ten
pups
their teeth
a life in the
much
levels
of fishing.
ways
fearless
of our
"tactile explorations"
vessel, lines,
and cages. By
swim thou-
vestigations.
Some white
dividual
though much-publi-
loss,
which
Ex-
Any
edge
territorial waters
sharks
needs, their
movement patterns,
rine ecosystem,
and
of their habitat
is
ma-
critical to
the
species' survival.
As September approaches, the white sharks' huntat Seal Island draws to a close. Soon most
ing season
of them will depart, remaining abroad until their reThe Cape fur seal pups that have
and
thus
much
harder to
False
fishes
such
feeding
shift to
on
and smaller
consumed
on their menu.
compared with blubbery
Next May we, too, will return. But fieldwork always has its surprises, and we cannot predict what the
white sharks of Seal Island will have in store for us. D
fied cases in
a person. Clearly,
Khmley
48
of a person
trial-and-error learning.
We
we
we
are not
suggests that,
strategies
to
numbers
maximization.
It filters
as
floors!"
Tm David Oreck.
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PBY3R
Broken Pieces
of Yesterday s Life
abandoned millions of years ago are
decipherable in 'fossil genes" retained in modern DNA.
Traces of lifestyles
still
By Sean
B. Carroll
er,
was
fish
nay-Latimer, the
fish for
first
the eastern
South Africa, was busy trying to put together a dinosaur skeleton she had excavated. Still,
she seldom got such calls, so she put her work aside
and went down to the dock. Boarding the trawler,
she surveyed a stinking pUe of sharks, sponges, and
other familiar creatures lying out in the heat of the
sun. She was about to return to the museum when
it caught her eye: "the most beautiful fish I had ever
seen. ... It was five feet long and a pale mauve-blue
with iridescent markings."
The fish was also unlike any other she had ever
seen. It had four limblike fins and a strange puppydog tail. She managed to persuade a taxi driver to
put the 127-pound hulk into his car and haul it back
to the museum. Its director promptly dismissed her
prize as nothing more than a rock cod.
Courtenay-Latimer thought differently. She recruited a second opinion fromJ.L.B. Siruth, a chemistry lecturer and amateur ichthyologist at Rhodes
University, a himdred miles away. When Smith studied Courtenay-Latimer's description and sketch of
the fish, he was unsettled by a possibility that his
coast of
in
lives
of other crea-
became extinct long ago. They and many other lifeforms also carry gene fragments that offer similar windows
tures that
50
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
sent arrived
a coelacanth, a
first
Courtenay-Latimer.
discovery,
swam
ferent.
been dubbed
it
a "living fossU."
living a golden
moment,
as
they
come
face to face
of
DNA
blueprints for
as
"junk"
them
and
as
DNA,
genes were
initially
now
dismissed
as
recognizing
thus,
ways of Hfe
that date
back millions of
years.
cripple or even
served
disable a
he coelacanth holds a special place in natural history. The animal is the only hv-
Such lUuniinating
most fortunate scientists get to experience the kind of excitement Courtenay-Latimer and Smith must have felt. Yet today, geneticists have begun to recognize that they, too, are
has
cause
effects
it
or lose
it.
DNA
are
no longer used,
of hfe.
When
coding
ered a valuable
non-
of ancestral
and evolution.
have
he coelacanth
carries
own
its
extinct
it
retreats
Yet even during the day, only dim, blue Ught penetrates to
cists
visual system.
chromophore, which
in people
is
chemical
pigment
to see in
has
because
it is
became a
it wUl
not functional,
they erase
it
as
coelacanths?
there anything
common
to animals as dis-
could explain
The
why
and whales
that
best explanation
in
mon-
more
CGA in
DNA
letters
TGA,
of the sequence
October 2006
many
have only
cats, dogs, squirrels, and the like
two opsins and hmited color vision. But full color vision is by no means a unique advance of Old World
primates; birds, many fishes, and reptiles have four or
opsins
sion. In fact,
it.
NATURAL HISTORY
And
mals
gene.
code for the violet opsin gene are recognizable in its genome. Deletions
and changes throughout the sequence of bases that make up the gene
code for violet opsin, the coelacanth has TGA. The change from a C to a T
may seem small, but in this case it is a whopper.
In the language of DNA, the letters TGA are a
"stop" code; when the cell machinery for mak-
52
a functional
The
one time,
severely disrupted
the
at
nonfunctional sequence: in
which provide full color vision across the spectrum, from violet through blue,
green, and yellow, and on to red. Other land mam-
it
''
canth in
gene into
violet opsin
other disruptions.
vertebrates,
nonprimate mammals have fewer opsin genes and relatively poor color vision.
One leading theory about the deficiencies of color vision in nonprimate mammals is that because
the earhest mammals were nocturnal, full color vision was largely dispensable. Happily, one kind of
evidence for testing that theory, and the general
idea that gene fossilization is linked to shifts in
hfestyle, is still around today. A nocturnal lifestyle
has evolved repeatedly and independently in mammals, and so one can examine how more recent
Intact
gene sequence
^^
gene sequence
Fossilized
BB
gene
PB
liB
cow and
common
is
Bl
depicted
g EB9
in
sequence of DNA base pairs, which enabled it to see the color violet (part of the gene is shown
in the top row). As an ancestor of dolphins began to evolve an aquatic lifestyle, sensitivity to
violet light no longer mattered for its survival; the opsin gene for violet vision accumulated
mutations, including the deletion of five base pairs (middle row). Because base pairs are "read"
in groups of three, the lost pairs disrupted the gene's code, and the ancestor became blind to
a fossil opsin
violet. Nevertheless, modern dolphins still carry the disrupted DNA sequence
gene for violet vision in their genome (bottom row).
markedly different
The
ov/l
monkey,
turnal species
enough,
its
for instance,
among
it
And sure
accumulated mu-
gene has
nonfunctional. Moreover,
monkey
all
by
opsin gene. Those two
that are active
good evidence
Thus
lifestyles.
violet opsin
is
on
in
all
the species
have mentioned
in the
mon-
Furthermore, close
relatives
no longer
monkey.
matters to the survival of the owl
What about animals that go underground? The
bhnd mole rat has the most degenerated eyes of any
mammal. Yet
the
fossil
The mole
skin,
and covered by
retinas
mole
rat's
rat
can
tell
its
Still,
the animal's
evolutionary history
carries
gene leads to
Thus
tioning,
is
encodes a
toward the
first
Hence
despite the
mole
rat's
atrophied vi-
Its
decay. Furthermore, in
is
on
those
is
vital to
dog
is
usually
enough
One walk in
to persuade
at
Columbia
fami-
gene
a fossil.
all
highly selective.
ly
is
for
ries
various times in
which demonstrates
tuned, or shifted,
its
at
two
gene
overwhelming support
daily biorhythms.
Biologists
it
of fur.
intensity,
a layer
fact,
NATURAL HISTORY 53
compared
mouse they
to those of the
are
About
half of
silized.
The
them
are fos-
contrast be-
human genome
includes
No
question: our
longer rely
on our
we no
Two
questions
And when
Clues to the answers emerge from studying the fraction of fossilized odor receptors
in other primates
lad,
now
at
stitute for
among
mammals such
colors.
right.
Almost
other land
the colors
it
same
rat
right),
their
left),
which
rat are
is
is
two
a speculative reconstruction of
violet-to-red
(above
above
all
which
range of input
lives
fur,
but the
efficiently their
in
of fossiUzed olfactory
29 percent. In nonthe chimpanzee, the go-
receptor genes
ani-
rises to
the bars
monochromatic
rilla,
genes.
specificity
genome of 20,000
the
many
airborne chemical
is
perceived
as a
How
The human
54
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
given
scent depends
also
have fuU
8 percent of ol-
But in
Old World monkeys, which have fUl color
colors.
monochromats. The
nocturnal, are
light intensity.
Planck In-
Leipzig,
animals
Max
Evolutionary Anthropology in
on
genes
is
in
significantly higher in
color vision.
It
which
enables
them
to
it.
been studied
some 50 percent of
reduced
laxed selection
their reliance
on the
on
smell.
Re-
on
genes
much
is
of intact olfactory
or extinction of species.
think that
gists
now
extinct.
higher.
he process of gene
n organism
flinctional
DNA
is
of
Gene sequencing has shown that the M. lepgenome carries about 1 ,600 flinctional genes and
leprosy.
rae
about 1,100
genes
fossil
a far greater
proportion of
known
species. M.
M. tuberculosis, the species repulmonary tuberculosis. But M.
fossil
leprae
is
closely related to
sponsible for
tuberculosis
is
fossilization
of "design" or intent
species.
The
and
loss
of
a
is
fossil
genes.
Compar-
M.
in the course of
its
evolution.
What
explains
two bacteria?
the answer comes down to
Once
again,
M.
lifestyle:
leprae's is
own
its
in the laboratory.
It is
also the
known
slow-
bacterial
species:
M.
leprae's
abled
it
specialized
to rely
on
its
of fossil genes
contrast, only
about 40 percent of
about
lug
around a
in
the closely
host for
color).
in false
would otherwise have to carry out on its fossilized because the organism relies more on its host than its ancesown. Since the host-ceO genes do so much of tors did. Both micrographs are magnified 6,000X.
the work, natural selection has relaxed its control on maintaining many M. leprae genes. As a refactory system that was once much more acute than
sult, those genes have decayed on a massive scale.
the one we have today.
The example demonstrates that a large fraction of aU
The patterns of gain and loss are exactly what one
it
when
pensable
The
dis-
bfestyle shifts.
its
fossilization
sets of genes
even larger groups
of individual genes,
would expect if natural selection acts only in the present, not the way an engineer or a designer would.
Natural selection cannot preserve what is not being
and it cannot plan for the
used,
when
is
generally a
one-way
loss
of gene
fiinc-
once gone,
street
the
it
or lose
it" is
Furthermore,
selection
same events
new
is
relaxed
is
on
disciplines
DNA. The
"Use
fliture.
of genes has important consequences for the evolution of an organism's descendants. Because decaying
life
The downside
is
even
This
article
adapt to the
sic
of genes
by
Fittest:
Record of Evolution,
which
is
beingpublishcd
this
month
Inc.
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY 55
to
employ
to
have more up
Borneo
their leaves.
By Jonathan Moran
^P2^K
In
the
ist
on
summer of 1854
stopped for
a rest
young Welsh
natural-
a collecting
slopes of Mount
on the rocky
now
The
Welshman and his guides had been assured that
water would be available nearby. Yet none was to be
Ophir, in what
had:
as
"We
we were
is
peninsular Malaysia.
it
thirsty.
he wrote,
in vain,"
At
we turned
last
to the
wise uninviting.
On
tasting
it,
thirst
who
we found
however,
palatable,
it
very
quenched our
all
own
|Hn^^B
'^HHPH'
V^^^H
thirst that
Of course,
day on
of,
si-
Charles Dar-
er plant
^^^HHteii^Bt'fPP^'^^^^^^^^l^^
^^^^^^O
terrain,
from the
soil.
By one means
Others, such
as
on
their leaves.
"Snap!" by
[see
in
Borneo. Ants
pitchers
56
NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
are
"fired"
vacuum
traps;
the
when
hairs.
is
usually
no
escape.
plants,
all
are familiar
members of the
with
New
family Sar-
the
and
a couple
cade or
so.
diversity.
They
The
reasons for
all
now coming
on
nectar
to capture
the most basic enticement
any hapless insect that stumbles into a pitcher. But
in recent years investigators have learned that the
plants in the genus display a wide range of feeding
strategies, some of which are exquisitely fme-tuned
for trapping specific prey. Furthermore, it has now
become clear that not all their prey are animals. For
example, my own research, in which I measure the
ratios of nitrogen isotopes in the tissues of various
consume
ani-
same
according to
number of pitchers
that rest
on
the ground.
than
terrestrial ones,
The
plant's
prey
ly a fatal mistake. In
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY
57
leases
absorbed by glands
carcass are
PACIFIC OCEAN
the natural world form follows function. So
Incomes
as no surprise that the structural diversity
it
Brunei
*r>Moijnt
Kinabalu
NewGuinea
Equalnr
of Nepenthes pitchers
matched by
is
of
a diversity
iddnfesian archipelago
Operating
Sulawesi
at
species such as N.
>*
gracilis,
which
is
common in open,
Australia
New Caledonia
.^
gracilis traps
They work by
is
depicted
in
orange.
the
them
microscopic waxy
scales,
making
terlogged,
flight
down proteins
i^
LlJ^1^
^^m^mi^
mm^ls^^y-^
a rare
N.
rafflesiana is a
my
its
smaller relative;
it is
its
also
spent
biology.
and
its
trast to
reflects
number of insects
It
which a large
tive.
^'''^^-
rafflesiana
many
insects.
Both kinds
V
V,.,
trial"
pitchers that
N. rafflesiana, far
ft
left,
level.
the
same
exterior, as
October 2006
left,
>
plant,
li|v
from "terres-
grow at ground
insects.
differ
tern
&',-'
and
An
NATURAL HISTORY
pho-
Ri^
'mm
{see
attractive to
^C 'i^m^-
gracilis
traviolet wavelengths, to
iPKr^/^'i
t^.-'
58
N.
"'
itl
at
are
pitchers in coastal
of N.
prey.
"
to bite through
zymes
is
flies,
An
to
below.
all
its
It
pendently
[see
two
Amy Litt,
June 2006].
beetles,
trial
aerial pitchers
aerial
of N.
raf-
including bees,
and the
terres-
its
neighbor, N.
gracilis.
and N.
rafflesiana in
neo. N. alhomarginata
may be
grows alongside N.
the lowlands of Bor-
Charles
M.
Clarke, an ecologist
now
Terrestrial pitcher
of N. rajah
is
the largest of
all
Nepenthes
pitchers.
in
Borneo.
at
no need
tissue.
to
The
the attractant
is
its
on
this
on Uchens, which
hirsute band. At-
I,
known
Nitrogen
topes,
as
exists as
known
as
stable-nitrogen-isotope analysis.
two
stable,
or nonradioactive, iso-
by
soil
micro-
which incorporate the nitrogen in their tissues. Planteating animals subsequently accumulate the nitrogen
in their bodies.
is
consumed
is
good
By
rafflesiana,
indeed get
we confirmed
much of its ni-
swarm on a pitcher of
N. albomarginata. The cream-colored band just below and
Termites of the genus Hospitalitermes
many
plant, instead.
open,
grow
Most lowland Nepenthes small number
tend
species
live
in
to
common
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY 59
forest species
is
New
above
and
I,
at
the University of Victoria in British Columbia, susits mats of pitchof material even before it
To confirm our
suspicions,
we compared
the ra-
tis-
growing in open
ar-
from whatever
managed
insects they
to trap.)
highlighting
worth
It is
how
forest-
now
is
Borneo.
It
bears distinctive
in
mat about
to catch leaves
and
gape open
from the canopy. The species appears to be
a foot wide over the forest floor,
of
material.
forests, so called
and poor in
an ecosystem, the
limited nutrients are seldom left idle, and plants scavenge nitrogen as soon as it becomes available. Many
nutrients. In such
heath-forest trees
grow
from the
slow but steady rain of organic material from
the
60
NATURAL HISTORY
soil
October 2006
What
most
like
fruits.
as toilets?
The
on
invertebrates
and sweet
lowii,
per-
Clarke and
hope
to solidify
nitrogen-isotope analyses.
them with
What
is
clear
is
stable-
that the
reach
diverse appetites:
meat, one
an,
and
is
primarily vegetari-
at least
to prefer
its
most prefer
nitrogen predigested.
One
mosquito larvae
side
of
er,
tents,
and consequent
pitcher function
loss
of
common
schmitzi does
their Hfecycles,
fluid,
suming
Crab spider (Misumenops nepenthicola) lives
only in Nepenthes pitchers and makes its
in the pitcher
Swimming
face.
lives
It
intercepts
is
a kleptoparasite:
Dangling from
up
station
on the
What
does N.
and board
it
hicalcarata
One might
room
expect
by aggressively
at
aU ag-
by other
insects,
as
The
long
as
cockroaches, out
When
they
then seizes
it
as
it
It
may
casions
al-
On several oc-
make
their
own
eat
use
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY
61
N. mfflesiana pitcher,
was
Philauttis,
gloves
of N.
ceding page].
is
between N.
ainpiillaria
and
terrestrial crabs
of the
genus Geosesarma. Several observers, myself included, have seen the crabs foraging in
reasons
rajah
some
In
which
records of rats
unknown
indigestible.
is
drowning
There
for
even
are
rafflesiana
key cup."
"highest"
ance,
it
is
where
worked
inquiry,
work.
didn't
More
varies
as little
by
pitch-
rice-cookers.
stufled
hot ashes.
When
It
employ-
The
exact
you understand
method
young
applied to the
er,
is
It
is
rarely
conversion of deforested spaces to agricommercial use may have serious implications for the long-term prospects of some lowland species. In contrast, highland Nepenthes
typically grow in locales that are protected from extheless, the
cultural or
is still
A more
considered impractical.
immediate
from
illegal
harvest by
Whether
Of course,
animal
may
there
fall
is
on
be learned.
62
NATURAL HISTORY
How
October 2006
available
resurgence
(It
era.)
was
by mail
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October 2006
rhododendrons
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NATURAL HISTORY
stories give
a central place,
64
a valley
home
land.
Danvinism and
Its
Discontents
by Michael Ruse
Cambridge University
Press;
$30.00
from
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October 2006
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NATURAL HISTORY
65
Wherever books
are sold
Chardin had
it.
Rather,
a strong sci-
it is
entific
But
to
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usually
And that
is
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is
reconstruct plausible
one can do
scenarios from
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is
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a tune,
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tifacts.
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sciousness, then,
fessor
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instructive perspective
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NATURAL HISTORY
October 2006
mm.
Tlie Singing
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click
depicted
swarms of
as
You can
the Pacific
let go.
also
Ocean, two rrdles west of San Francisco, and raced outward in opposite directions: northwest 202 miles to Cape
Mendocino; southeast 93 miles to San
Program (w/ww/.seismo.ethz.ch/GSHAP)
to see where the danger Ues.
at least
To
San Francisco earthquake and to remind the pubHc ot future threats, the U.S. Geological Survey
has assembled an impressive collection
of material on the Internet (earth
recall the
quake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906). Start
with the "Virtual Tour" of that tumultuous 1906 event, which uses Google
Earth software (available at earth.
google.com) to explain its causes and ef-
The
fects.
on the
site, has video and animations worth
viewing; to download them quickly
you'll need high-speed Internet access.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center's "TeacherTECH" program (educa
as
tion.sdsc.edu/teachertech/videos.html) also
it
century
mologists
still
cannot pinpoint
when
literally
pent-up
new
has
views
of the problem, leading to refined assessments of hazards. Seismologists begin by measuring where the Earth's
how earth-
stresses in
the upper
whether
the
new
stress
shows
Chck on
works.
how
their
modeling
and
"Stress Triggering
how
quakes
Cahfornia," to find a
Chck on
last
when
the San
857
An-
geles
Robert Anderson
writer living in
is
a freelance science
Los Angeles.
The
Toughest
Glue On|
Los
ty.usc.edu/UselT/movies.html) has
some
faults,
Planet
der
downtown
ends hundreds
of materials
including
wood,
^-'^^nijr*
&
& 00%
waterproof!
lagTue.com
Engineering (w/ww.edcenter.sdsu.edu/
ssc/3d/ssc3dproject.html) has
that illustrate
Tile Toil
video chps
fault.
80,000 people.
box,
org/index.html), click
Stress
By Robert Anderson
on the
crust
is
waves of
all
and
amphtudes
tensive
of geology
list
why
kinds propagate
soft sediments.
seismic
higher
at
The
ex-
sites at serc.carle
ton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/structure04/inter
netresources.html includes
fer
many
that of-
sticks to things
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY
69
OUT THERE
pair
My Three
How many planets
By Charles
slave
itational fields.
Suns
What hope
is
there that
one
swallows
star
it
or the gravity
Liu
sUm
to none.
Titles
But
paper
"Two
Suns
a recent
in the Astrophyskal
Joiinml
in the
Sky"
summer movie
Has
title.
new
star
"Two
Suns,"
13,
question:
tems
with
at least
The
ly to scientists;
star?
is
it's
question
Out
namics place
on what
2002]. Moreover,
bodies
is
far
And because
Raghavan and
Generally,
in a three-body prob-
his collaborators conducted a detailed search for stellar companions among almost all known exo-
2005. Their
to look for
were
sible,
walker looks across the vast desert landscape of his home planet, Tatooine, as
of the objects
become
objects
moment
most
in
cases, the
and
are unstable,
two
with
list
a total
as of July
included 131 systems,
whether each
near the host
star that
star
appears to be
of an exoplanet
October 2006
of the objects
three
flies
With
in a
mind, picture
system with two or more
that in
a planet
stars
is,
in
ry titled "Nightfall," in
NATURAL HISTORY
rise
light,
some
stars, all
actly
Or maybe you've
their
two
sky?
dy-
stellar
strict constraints
Remember the
cy of nonscientists, too.
70
itants,
set.
2003
fact, a
may merely
far apart to
lie
sight,
be gravita-
tionaUy bound.
Here's the heart of the issue.
A typ-
ical
astronomical image
is
with
filled
to
can
Stars
widely in brightness:
also vary
dwarf star can emit less than a milUonth the energy of our Sun, wherefaint
as a typical
orbits
holding hands
as
ond
move
will also
together
and
stars
in the stands.
They
some kind of
light
are
all
car-
flickering
everything in between
as
they
move
nearby
lights,
them
carrying
key Hes
measuring the apThe
parent motions of
the
in
stars across
some of them
at
always moving,
speeds of millions of
an hour. But they're so many trilof miles from Earth that, from our
vantage point, they look to the unaided eye as if they're standing stock-still.
In fact, to an astronomer, a star is moving at a breakneck pace if it takes less
than a millennium to travel one degree
of arc about the width of your fingernail when you hold your hand at
host
star,
special attention
four planets,
all
The second
200 times
that distance
The
miles away!
tainly a
configuration
home
to
at
100 biUion
cer-
is
planets are
star.
system orbits
star in the
if
the
any inhabitants,
Of the
studied,
Raghavan and
his colleagues
too
far away.
what
ognized
double- or
If that
triple-star systerns.
sounds Uke
high fraction of
it is
and
most
stars in
rule.
known
Our Sun,
anyone knows,
not the
it isn't.
is
a solitary star so
the exception,
puzzle:
survived for so
lions,
of years
It's
own Sun
far as
let's
given
visible
such systems.
So
as a
ble stars.
lions
arm's length.
for neighbors
same path
rrules
made
as
carefully pre-
stars,
the same
Sun's energy.
well
at
one of the
star orbits
it
for
it is.
In
its
distant
secondary
star
close
enough
cosmic
et
eco-
his
team oc-
Ch.'Irles Liu
Is
Museum
October 2006
of Natural Histoiy.
NATURAL HISTORY
71
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NATURALISTS AT LARGE
THE SKY
OCTOBER
IN
By Joe Rao
month
In the
sisted.
storms,
it
one reason
its
local revival
for optimism.
The
old,
it
shining,
magnitude
is
now some
thirty generations
has produced
numerous
the
of October. To see
it,
first
half
though, you'll
of luck. Although
est
it
attains
great-
its
from the Sun, on October 17th, it remains south of the celestial equator,
in the constellation Libra, the scales,
it
at aU.
Venus
is
it
J.
met
hued Procyon,
in the constellation
dog, shines
little
Ringed
Planet.
closest to the
also
Mars, Uke Mercury and Venus, is hidden deep in the Sun's glow throughout the month. The Red Planet is in
conjunction with the Sun on the 23rd.
on
is
fuD
Because
this
on the 6th
fuU
autumnal equinox,
its
quarters after
October, but
set
fifty
minutes
after
sun-
is
do locate Jupiter
too
My
evening
last
this
month.
If
you
the occultation
is
Uluminated
be
difficult. It
to see
them
may
may be particularly hard
disappear, because the
Moon
first. It
Our
the
da
Museum
sity
McGuire Cen-
of Florida in Gainesville.
Miami-blue conservation
efforts.
He
heads the
Sanchez
is
an
McGuire
15,
2006.
and
albeit
to the left
Shining
at
passes in
should be easi-
et's left,
ofits disk
es to first
it is
early
22nd
terfor
11:13
at
is
The
They
butterfly.
Regulus,
closes
thirty degrees
ly
"star"
guess
a husband-and-wije team,
Of all
also in Leo.
P.M.
and
The Moon
C.
six
planet returns
Sanchez,
month
far side
that the
Jaret
on the
er Nature, there
2 A.M. and
cap-
at
fully recover.
just
at
1:14 A.M.
quarter
satellite
on the 29th
at
wax4:25
on the 29th,
Sunday of the month. People
in most of Canada and the U.S.
should set their clocks back one
hour. On this date the "clock hour"
from 1 until 2 A.M. officially repeats.
Daylight saving time ends
last
em
all
daylight time.
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY
75
ological
602-716-2000
www.azscience.org
and environmental
and abuse.
(J)
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles
Natural History Museum
OF Los Angeles County
Through November 5:
aerial
lo-
silk species.
4,
Exposition Park
Fossils,
Presenting an up-to-date
213-763-DINO
look
www.nhm.org
(J)
New Discoveries."
what
at
scientists cur-
Redlands
this
on cutting-edge
los."
early to
detailed walk-through
diorama of a Mesozoic-era
mid-20th-century pieces
to
and
extinct.
Photographer Adriel
415-321-8000
from an
U.S.
ultralight airplane,
ancient and
have
left
modern
on the
cultures
land.
center of
its
480-644-2230
Anasazi,
www.mesasouthwestmuseum.org
(J)
COLORADO
of the
Hohokam, and
Denver
Denver Museum of Nature
and Science Ongoing:
909-307-2669
"Ancient Denvers."
www.sbcountymuseum.org
(J)
When we
we
envi-
Phoenix
San Diego
San Diego Natural
History Museum Through
www.calacademy.org
colors
research,
includes an impressive,
cations.
January
1,
2007: "Dinosaurs:
& Robotic."
Rare movie
research
Reel
new exhibi-
tations,
what science
and animatronic
dinosaurs
tell
the story of
sedi-
re-
how Hollywood
seum
years,
study
and adapts
changes
in response to bi-
RAYMOND
BURR
1956
film
has por-
response to advances in
sci-
you're a
center,
cartoon that
giant mUlipedes,
ITS
REWARDS
at
If
or science
first
featured
October 2006
rainforests, seas,
palm trees,
and other
seem so foreign
features that
to today's Denver.
tled dinosaurs;
modern
and
lifelike
dinosaur models
800-925-2250
www.dmns.org
paleontologists.
FLORIDA
Balboa Park
1
788
El
Gainesville
Prado
Florida
619-232-3821
www.sdnhm.org
NATURAL HISTORY
marked with
participate in
Passport program run by the Association
free
then re-cre-
saurs: Reel
Institutions
scientists,
Godzilla,
MEMBERSHIP HAS
the
artists,
entific
76
San Francisco
California Academy of
which include
habitants,
(S)
Museum
of
January
7,
the Past:
2007: "Hatching
and science
ativity
wings
down on
figure out
safe
skeleton of a dinosaur
em-
species.
nests
gentina
models of
as well as
"bed of
how
fly around
and its moons, look
inside an ant, or buzz
around the Wright brothers'
beating heart,
skills.
wind tunnel,
in a
lie
nails,"
to crack a
Jupiter
first
with a mathematical
airplane.
630-859-3434
scitech.mus.il. us (J)
on
twenty-foot-square
much more. A
board, and
Chicago
The
Field
Museum Through
January
life
help
tific
new scienhow
explain
discoveries about
on gross and
skills,
motor
fine
balance, coordina-
1,
2007: "Tutankh-
tion,
and movement.
tion, this
show
than 130
artifacts
University of Florida
813-987-6100
boy
Cultural Plaza
www.mosi.org
royal burial
Hull
352-846-2000
www.flmnh.ufl.edu
(J)
Road
king's
more
features
from the
tomb and other
jects, jewels,
sites.
GEORGIA
wood
Atlanta
Fernbank Museum of
Natural History Through
King Tut's
the afterUfe.
items in the
show tell
religion
and
its
emphasis on
The
exhibition
1950 North Clinton Street
260-424-2400
CT scans
ble statues,
life
Roman Empire
with Marcus
display
in
312-922-9410
www.fieldmuseum.org
Louisville
Museum
of Science and
404-929-6300
"Swap Shop."
www.fernbank.edu/museum
of natural-history objects
available for
spection
Aurora
range
hands-on
is
in-
trading!
own
items,
cultural history
in this in-
teractive exhibition.
your friends
Ongoing: "Virtual
or somewhere
Reality."
An
between
nose plugged.
innovative
far away, or
too dangerous to
see.
square
some
gallery lets
Put on
more
exotic,
Watch
when
Museum
A wide
and
Bring in your
On
you explore
things that might otherwise
feet
Wayne
SciTech Hands
Tampa
Museum
INDIANA
Fort
of Natural History
2007:
1,
(J)
ILLINOIS
KENTUCKY
Through January
now on
(J)
of the
www.sciencecentral.org
of his
about his
hands-on
sarcophagi, bronze
section includes
some of
mummified internal
cies.
and
flavor
by
800-591-2203
www.louisvillescience.org
77
MISSOURI
Saint Louis
and toss
major
try your hand (and
a pitch to a virtual
leaguer,
feet) at
at
camp on the surface of IVlars, part of the "SPACE" exhibition, opening October 7
Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh
Tupper Lake
The Wild Center, Natural
History Museum of the
Adirondacks Ongoing:
716-896-5200
800-456-SLSC
www.buffalomuseum
spectacular
www.slsc.org
ofscience.org (J)
surfaces of Mars
to the
experience gravitational
force
on
vertical
life
a bicycle-powered
much more.
ground, and
(f)
portant ways,
is
to our
im-
yet, in
how simOar it
new museum
in
NEW MEXICO
New York
Albuquerque
New Mexico Museum of
Natural History and
American Museum of
Natural History Through
of a river from
its
the mountains
down
Snakes: Alive!"
Super Giants."
focuses
on
A new gaUery
January
7,
2007: "Lizards
with
More than
squamates (rep-
sixty living
tiles
&
scales) are
on
dis-
ponds
(100
feet),
and a Sauropha-
ranging from
fifteen-foot
and
a
stations
where
listen to
recorded squamate
NW
visitors
can
505-841-2800
www.nmnaturalhistory.org
workings of a rattlesnake,
NEW YORK
Buffalo
Buffalo
Museum of
Science Ongoing:
"Whem
in
it
god
scientific
appH-
rare
West
79th Street
"SPACE:
7:
and the
and future
space exploration.
1 1
877-4NATSCI
www.naturalsciences.org
(f)
www.wildcenter.org
PENNSYLVANIA
NORTH CAROLINA
Durham
Museum
Philadelphia
of Life and
and Sprockets."
press create
8,
Visitors
drill
candy canes,
reindeer,
automatons wash
new holiday-themed
at
ing October
518-359-7800
this
venom.
past, present,
animals
Central Park
how different
live
ster
fertility
tems, including
sils,
forest,
Raleigh
the Egyptian
visitors
source in
Burmese python.
78
Simulated base
in
equal parts
art,
engineering,
largest
annual
shell
show
in
SpongeBob SquarePants
from the animated Nick-
and whimsy.
elodeon television
212-769-5100
919-220-5429
www.amnh.org
www.ncmls.org
215-299-1000
(J)
www.acnatsci.org
(J)
series.
Houston
Houston Museum of
Center
Through January 7, 2007:
Franklin: In Search of a
original scrolls
Better World."
Pittsburgh
Carnegie
Museum
of
7,
2007:
"Amazon
250
Pacific Science
artifacts
More than
from the
scien-
artifacts
sity
tist-statesman's
the
Amazon
the
tion explores
tion
Touch the
River region.
teeth of the
eel,
help
life
settlement of
includ-
birth. Visitors
can climb
Dead
Qumran
near
one of the
greatest archaeological
celebrate the
and three
known
the
river.
method of
to recreate his
412-622-3131
www.carnegiemu5eums.org/
and
cmnh
overview of dinosaur
him at a time
when science as we know it
today was known as "natural
Fort
Worth Museum
philosophy."
One Hermann
713-639-4629
Dinosaurs." This
manent
new per-
Martinsville
Virginia
map
extract fossOs
rock,
a dig
from
ture that
findings.
The show
tures five
new dinosaur
also fea-
Houston
ten mostly
on parchment
in
of Natural Science
Jurassic,
life
in
Triassic,
and Cretaceous
ryphal
texts.
The show
been
dis-
periods.
276-666-8600
dus, Ezekiel,
www.vmnh.net
Rule
as well as a variety
VIRGINIA
Visitors can
3 at the
www.hmns.org
by providing opportunities
site,
Circle Drive
ses.
Museum
that intrigued
TEXAS
Fort Worth
ing October
Museum
of
WASHINGTON
Seattle
tion,
Day of the
and interpretation of
the scrolls.
tion of Souls:
www.pacsci.org
Huge
exhibition
documents some
of the traditions with which
people honor the dead in
WISCONSIN
many making
China
first trip
to the U.S.
light similarities
their
high-
between
Dead
in
Southern Mexico."
Milwaukee
Ongoing: "Nunnemacher
Oaxaca
Arms
preparing centuries-old
development of firearms
unique
their fossils.
home,
Lufengosaurus, with
spe-
cies
1501
Montgomery Street
817-255-9300
www.fwmuseum.org
illustrate several
characteristics.
From
Mmiolophosaurus, with
its
its
fj)
state.
Large-format
spirits
offering chocolate at
by Seattle
Hernandez Ruiz.
in this
tury to World
War
II.
U.S.
War (one
of the
first
rapid-
Confederate
firing rifles),
artist Isaac
University of Washington
17th Avenue
NE 45th
NE and
Street
and a
series
of Colt semi-
.^terf*.y*^
206-543-5590
www.washington.edu/
414-278-2702
of Natural Sciences
burkemuseum
www.mpm.edu
one
of thousands on display
and
for sale
October 2006
NATURAL HISTORY 79
ENDPAPER
Winning Miss
Muffet s Heart
By Rebecca Rupp
crickets.
the trick,
like
My
who
eldest son,
He
tarantula.
is
not
keeps
it
where
burrowing
it
amuses
and eating
"handsome" and
to the redknee as
it's
of a hockey puck
with an aggressive
near-sighted
little
glint in
flings
noyed,
To be
fensive
to, say,
of a
ing
them
fair,
you;
if
reaUy an-
and
raa;in!2;
may
relatively
mild compared
buU.The barbed,
embedded
urticat-
in the provoker's
potency that
it
poses
little
rat.
No
risk to
any-
person, to
my
me
80
pump
it
proceeds
et here, especially
NATURAL HISTORY
some might
on
if,
late-night
firight.
October 2006
which
positively glamorous.
viewed
flick
a fighter
habit of lurk-
dispassionately, looks
much
Tarantulas,
ing
Queen Victoria
though
unlike
undemand-
tarantula,
blinders of prejudice,
is
a spider
proud
to share a tuffet.
of napalm.
In real
life,
ingly fragile.
it
fantasies
on
my
ii'iitten fifteen
some diaboHcal
part.
An
adroit flip
Rebecca Rupp
breaks
my
is
The aforementioned
the thorax,
up the
Tarantula!, in
dissolved nutrients.
It's
to paralyze
which
grow on you.
tarantula's
hairs,
skin,
at
it
bites.
it
abdomen
is
to
eight
annoyed,
eyes. If
and
its
daily,
visitor;
tive.
and
not so
crawling nightmare:
close
ing,
is
a safe cricket.)
nophobe,
tailcoat
Once
itself by lurking,
in vermiculite,
live crickets.
and had
such a formidable command of ethics.
Around here, a cricket dropped
into the tarantula's cage lasts about as
long as a steak dropped into a pack
in a plastic
who wore
up
nor-
Mexican redknee
come
little
one
No
sang opera
Normal
people don't
and asynchronous
who
about crickets
commemora-
thought, followed by a
would do
is
national magazines.
is
Four Elements
iiatiiral
lives
sons,
two
ill
cats,
many
Her most
articles for
recent
(Profile Books,
history of water,
She
who has
a cell biologist
books and
air, fire,
six fish,
book
2005), a
and
eartli.
husband, three
and a spider
New
first-ever
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EXTRAORDINARY THINGS.
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7^^
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On May 29, 1 953, at 1 1 :30 a.m., Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first,
men to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. But the top of the mountain was just the beginning
rl-:
of Sir
half a
century
He may have
left his
fy
have resulted
in
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on the world.
,,"
1
'V
i^
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t?
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