154 posts tagged american museum of natural history
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Feeling crabby? Feast your eyes on today’s Exhibit of the Day, the Museum’s Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi). This species is the biggest living crab and the largest arthropod in the world, measuring up to 13 ft (4 m) from the tip of one outstretched leg to another! Its diet includes dead fish, invertebrates, and algae, but it occasionally snatches live prey with its strong claws. This scavenger can be found on the seafloor off Japan’s Pacific coast, inhabiting depths of more than 984 ft (300 m). You can spot a model of one in the Museum’s Hall of Ocean Life! Photo: The American Museum Journal, Volume IV 1904
The first Earth Day was in 1970. What’s one of the biggest changes our planet has seen since then? Earth’s population has grown by 4 billion people! We produce more than enough to feed everyone, but food is not distributed evenly. Shockingly, one-third of the food produced is lost or wasted. And that means so are the resources used to produce it, which add greenhouse gas emissions. Find out how you can be part of the solution.
Seahorses pop from their fathers’ pouches, emperor penguins carry eggs on their feet, catfish guard their young in their mouth, and killer whales stay with their pods for life. For many animals, the relationship between parent and child is one of the most vital and important factors for survival. Learn all about the youngest animals that live beneath the sea and the parenting strategies used to keep them safe at the Milstein Science Series on Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 11 AM – 4 PM. Interact with scientists, discover amazing critters, and celebrate science under the iconic blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History!
News flash! The Museum’s Instagram Story Quizzes were just nominated for the The Webby Awards—some would say this is the Internet’s highest honor. Have a few seconds? Please vote for AMNH! >> wbby.co/vote-soc32
It’s Manatee Appreciation Day! Did you know manatees (Trichechus) are natural lawn mowers? They help maintain healthy marine ecosystems by keeping aquatic vegetation in check. Sometimes called “sea cows,” they’re actually more closely related to elephants. It’s also thought that sailors once mistook these marine mammals for mermaids! Today, all three manatee species are vulnerable to extinction—and these graceful sea critters require additional protection from major threats like habitat destruction and collisions with boats and ships. Photo: Pixnio
Love dinosaurs? Join our Dino Detectives Facebook Group! We hear from Museum scientists each week about an exciting project that centers around famed paleontologist Barnum Brown, boxes of bones from 1934, a map from the Museum’s library…and more >> http://bit.ly/2xxqT57
Meet the Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber)! This vibrant bird is native to northern South America and parts of the Caribbean, where it prefers swamps, mangroves, and mud flats. It isn’t always colorful—it starts out life with a mix of brown and grey plumage. As it grows and consumes red crustaceans, it turn a bright pink: more specifically, a pigment known as carotene in its diet is what contributes to its brilliant color. Photo: Renato Augusto Martins
Meet the tyrant lizard king, along with the entire superfamily Tyrannosauroidea in the new exhibition T. rex: The Ultimate Predator. Now open! >> http://bit.ly/2EQQ7Ai
Become a Museum Member today, and save $20 on a year-long membership! You’ll also receive tons of special perks—like being the first to see our special exhibition T. rex: The Ultimate Predator during exclusive Member Preview Days. Offer expires March 7 >> https://bit.ly/2H3YH0b
Did you know today is National Hippo Day? Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibious) are the one of the largest living land animals in the world, weighing up to 3,200 kilograms (7,055 pounds). When born, calves can weigh nearly 100 pounds! These large herbivores are native to eastern and sub-saharan Africa where they inhabit rivers and lakes; they can hold their breath underwater for as long as five minutes. They also have one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom. Photo: Grant Peters
The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) may look red and green to you, but you’re only human. Under UV light, some of its plumage has a distinctly golden hue! Still, you can use color cues to tell males of the species apart from females: males’ heads are entirely red, while females’ are green. This bird hails from eastern Australia, where it lives in rainforests but is increasingly found in suburbs, too! Photo: Robyn Jay
Proconsul africanus, Zinjanthropus boisei, and Homo habilis—oh my. Happy birthday to Mary Leakey! Born on this day in 1913, the pioneering paleoanthropologist made several fossil discoveries, including 3.6-million-year-old footprints of early hominids at Laetoli, a site in what is now Tanzania. This 1970s find changed our understanding of human origins. She and her husband Louis Leakey were also known for conducting large archaeological digs, most notably in East Africa, that advanced our understanding of human evolution. Photo: Smithsonian Institution
Did you know the okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is a forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe? This shy ungulate remained unknown to science until the early 20th century, although it had long been hunted in Central Africa. It feeds mainly on the leaves and tender shoots of plants, using its long, flexible tongue to aid it in reaching and stripping vegetation. Not a herd animal, it’s either solitary or associates in pairs or small family groups. Photo: Derek Keats
At first glance you might think this critter is a worm, but it’s actually a snake! Known as the worm snake (Carphophis amoenus), it’s native to the eastern United States, where it grows to 23 centimeters (9 inches) in length, on average. Like its namesake, it prefers to live under rocks or in loose soil and leaf litter on the forest floor; and it’s brown on top and pink on the bottom. But the similarities end there. The worm snake is a vertebrate, and it has scales! Coincidentally, one of its favorite snacks is…the earthworm. Photo: M Hedin
Save the date: We’re filming a special Facebook Live with the narrator of our Dino Detectives Facebook Group, Emanuel Tschopp, on Jan. 18 at 1:20 pm EST! We’ll take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum’s Big Bone Room and look at a few fossils from Howe Quarry that were prepared in the 1930s. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask Emanuel questions. We hope to see you next week!
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