Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

10/06

'#"V>-^

'

Aerial Attacks
QF THE Great
,

%^-^

White Shark
4t

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VOLUME

OCTOBER 2006

NUMBER

115

FEATURES
COVER STORY
42 SOCIABLE KILLERS

New studies

of the white shark (aka great u'hite)

show

social

that

its

life

and hunting

strategies

are surprisingly complex.

R.

AIDAN MARTIN AND ANNE MARTIN

50

BROKEN PIECES

OF YESTERDAY'S
Traces of lifestyles

ago are

still

retained in

SEAN

B.

LIFE

abandoned millions of years

decipherable in "fossil genes

modern

"

DNA.

CARROLL

56 LIFE
IN

AND DEATH

A PITCHER

Carnivorous plants that seem

to

employ a simple dunk-and-drown

tactic for

to

capturing prey turn out

have more up

their leaves.

JONATHAN MORAN

ir:~i

ON THE cover:
White shark launches
in pursuit

itself

skyward

of seal, False Bay, South Africa.

Photograph by Chris and Monique Fallows

DEPARTMENTS
4

THE NATURAL

MOMENT

Blast Off!

Photograph by Kevin A. Raskoff

6

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

PICTURE CREDITS: Page 67

I'isit

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

gene Kaplan offers readers

irresistibly irreverent voyage
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Morality Evolved

FRANS DE WAAL
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Wheaton College
288 pages. 150
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Frans de Waal

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Biodiversity,

GEORGE LEVINE

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The Altruism Equation

Why

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lOHN TYLER BONNER

Goodness

EEALAN DUGATKIN
If evolution involves a

"John Tyler Bonner approaches

HADORAM

the complex subject of size

BRETT lARRETT

in

competition for survival, then

biology with unabashed enthu-

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siasm.

explain altruism?

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,

Whales, Dolphins,
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Size Matters

Bacteria to Blue

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./

UP FRONT

THE NATURAL MOMENT

-< See preceding two

Looking

p(ii;cs

Cover Shot

poised

to rocket into

space, the gelati-

The

through the deep

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

hastily, you'll risk

apart.

drift

net to snag prey. If disturbed,

its cells

flash a bright blue

self-

generated bioluniinescence.

Kevin A. Raskoff worked with a

a team
of fellow marine scientists to bring
the siphonophore safely up from a
depth of nearly a mile. Back in the
laboratory Raskoff photographed
the fiery hfe-form inside a walk-in
remotely operated robot and

rejSrigerator.

NATURAL HISTORY

on our cover as well as in the Martins' article ("Sociable

page 42), was enough to convince them to return to False Bay,
off the coast of South Africa, during shark season each year to learn what
they could about these thrilling creatures.

Killers,"

earthly spacecraft, if you bring

this fragile

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.

To be sure, no one should doubt the fish's ferocity: enough unfortunate

swimmers already have the scars to prove that white sharks make poor
playmates in the water. But the Martins' observations have convinced
them that many, perhaps most, shark bites in people are the result of the
animal's curiosity (the shark's teeth and gums are remarkably sensitive and
agile),
tific

not of its appetite for

observations

and their hunting

Two of my

make

human

flesh.

Moreover, as the Martins' scienof white sharks are quite rich,

clear, the social lives

strategies are surprisingly sophisticated.

museums have

exhibitions that expand on stories

and Stephanie J. Sanchez describe the
near-demise of the Miami blue butterfly, and the eflorts of many lepidopterists (successful, so far) to snatch the little beauty from the precipice of
favorite

in this issue. Jaret C. Daniels

extinction (see "Blues' Revival," page 26). Visitors to the Florida

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

one would make

Spider Pavilion

tales

about their favorite animal in these

Natural History

at the

open from now through November

resident biomechanist

complement

timely

5.

Adam Summers

to a visit to the

Museum

of Los Angeles County,

In "Nice Threads" (page 24) our
recounts

how some

incredibly

dexterous investigators managed to unwrap five kinds of spider

test

the strength of each. In

Rebecca Rupp

wittily

tarantula turned into

tells
.

"Winning Miss

how

well,

her fear and loathing of her

fond respect.

and

son's pet

break for Neil deGrasse Tyson from his "Universe" column

makes room

silk

Muflet's Heart" (page 80),

this

month

by the M.I.T physicist Robert

L.Jaffe ("As Time Goes By," page 16).Jafre urges a "Copernican" view of
rime, to replace the temporal parochiahsm of the famihar second, day, and
year. The time Kne that accompanies his article, spread across pages 16 and
for a guest appearance

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

Charitable Gift Annuities

Recently they decided to each give a generous planned

charitable gift annuity, to the

gift, a

the exhibition for the Hall of Biodiversity at

gift

little

did she

Museum

know

that she would be applying her

decades of experience as

making thousands of

of Natural History,

is

for the gift,

make

New

also receive a tax deduction

and the gratitude of the Museum for helping

this the

York

They

City.

number one ranked family destination

*

*ZagatSurvey

U.S. Family Travel

in

Guide

a professional graphic artist to

replicas of tiny leaves to place

on

trees for the rainforest within the exhibit. Lenore and her

husband Joseph, who

this

they receive an annual percentage based on their age

at the time of the gift.

the American

Museum. With

its

Call:

have

E-mail:

treasures within

Write:

photographer and

traveled the world and love discovering

For more information:

writer,

Museum over and over again. As volunteers at the

Museum they have been involved in Mammalogy, Origami,
the Margaret Mead lectures and computer databases.
the

American Museum

(212)769-5119

plannedgiving@amnh.org
Office of Planned Giving,

American

Museum

Development Department

of Natural History

79th Street and Central Park West

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.

their relatives, provides

him

Peter Brown

Mary Beth

specialty, soft-bodied animals

with,

he puts

as

it,

such

Monterey Peninsula College

as jellyfish

Wowk

CaMornia.

AIDAN MARTIN and ANNE MARTIN

Ciara Curtin, Krystin N.

for Shark

Ititcriis

Conlriimting Editors

Robert Anderson,

Avis Lang. Charles Liu,

Laurence A. Marschall, Richard Milner,

Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Joe Rao, Stephan Reebs,

Adam Summers,

Neil deOrasse Tyson

("Socia-

Chmues

page 42) are a husband-and-wife

team of marine biologists based in Vancouver,
Canada. Aidan, who specializes in the behavioral ecology of sharks and rays, is director of

ReefQuest Centre

Mementowski,

Edyta Zielinska

ble Killers,"

the

Assistmit Art Director

Graciela Flores Editor-at-Largc

Judy A. Rice,
R.

Direaor

Erin Espelie, Rebecca Kessler,

Knight, Vittorio Maestro, Dolly Setton

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

(www.elasmo-research.org); a research associate in

For advertising information

call 646-356-6508

the zoology department of the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver;

and an adjunct professor at the Oceanographic Center of Nova Southeastern

Dania Beach, Florida. He is the author of Field Guide to the Great

WItite Shark (ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research, 2003) and is at work on
a book about shark behavior for Cambridge University Press. Anne, a salmon
biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, is also an underwater and topside
photographer and videographer. She assists Aidan in his field research, lends a
hand when he teaches field courses in shark biology and coral reef ecology,

Harris

E.

Edgar L. Harrison Adi'ertisiiig Director

Maria Volpe Promotion Director

Advertising Sales Representatives

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prepares graphics for his scientific and educational presentations, edits his writings, and permits him to dissect sharks in their kitchen.

Todd Happer

Vice President, Science Education

Educational Advisory Board

SEAN

B.

50)

an invesdgator with the

is

tute in

CARROLL ("Broken

Howard Hughes Medical InstiChevy Chase, Maryland, and a professor of molecular

at

being published

this

Stephanie Ratcliffe Natural Histoiy Museimi of the Adiroiidacks

Ronen Mir

the author of a popular

month by W.W. Norton.

search interests include the ecology of hummingbirds in North

and Central America. An independent researcher and natural-

Moran earned

NATURAL. HISTORY October 2006

in

his doctorate in

Scodand.

Miisenm

Inc.

Harris President, Chief Execntive

Judy Buller General Manager

Office

Cecile Washington General Manager

Charles Rodin

To contact

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us regaixiing youi' subscription, to order a

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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

Louis Science Center

E.

site

www.naturalhistofymag.com or WTite to us

He

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LETTERS

Pianka's article on the evolution of lizards ["The Scaly

Laurie J. Vitt and Eric

R. PlANKA reply: Our recent article focused on the
evolutionary history of

Ones," 7/06-8/06]

ecological

Snakes from the Sea?

Laurie J. Vitt and Eric R.

is

highly readable, but unfortunately,

largely ignores

it

the squamate paleontologi-

For example, the

cal record.

mosasaurs (from

five to

ruled

fifty-five feet long)

the seas for 30 million years

traits

among

modem squamate

reptiles,

lizards in particular;

were not asked

we

to review

rme) environments is supported by the similarity

between the snake eye
structure and that of

cUmate

change

com-

alters

those

munities irrevocably.

aquatic vertebrates, but

Michael A. Mares

that evidence

University of Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma

is

debatable,

and in any case sheds no

light on where snakes arose

the fascinating history of

within squamates. Most

the highly diverse marine

fossil data, as

well

as data

squamates (nor would

we

on jaw

be qualified to do

We

sensing systems, and overall

so).

merit special attention from

biologists as global

structure, cheinical

The Other Kinsey

Peter Del Tredici ["The

Other Kinsey Report,"

7/06-8/06] solves the
mystery of why Alfred C.

Perhaps

all

modern snakes descended from a

terrestrial

ancestor; perhaps not. Fossils will provide the ultimate

snake

Kinsey 's book Edible Wild

Plants of Eastern North
America was not pubHshed

test.

snakes (and mosasaurs)

he wrote it.
out
the contributions of
Kinsey s elder colleague

originated within autarcho-

Merritt

glossan lizards.

the

until

and

are

known from more

than thirty genera.

In the article this impres-

group of extinct marine

lizards is relegated to one
sive

which

sentence, in

mistakenly asserted

having evolved from mosa-

The

literature

acmally

snakes belong to a

states that

group that includes

with our conclusion that

extinct,

on

additional information

those creatures.

W Caldwell

has

ma-

record

Uneage of

aquatic lizards including

mosasaurs.

The

theory never

discovery.

It

posits that they arose

a large

group of

which

snakes,

among

other things.

On morphological
grounds, snakes appear

molecular analysis of snake

among herpetologists
all modern snakes are

that

they

de-

phiids as well

a terrestrial

snake ancestor
that

wiU prove

perhaps

correct, per-

The ultimate test

wiU come from evidence
haps not.

provided by

origins

would suggest

and

that

thus the pachyo-

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

Just as desert salt pans are

home

to remarkable

my

ecosystems,

as
I

trial

and arboreal squamate

group, and outside the evolutionary group to which

[see

mosasaurs belong.

Michael A. Mares, 9/03],

the high Andes include
more than 4,000 miles of

that

Michael W. Caldwell

marine

habitats,

they did so

col-

have found

"Desert Dreams," by

Peter Del Tredici writes

that the

two Kinsey books

"have been credited with

launching the sexual revolution of the 1960s." Credit

should also be extended to

Hefner, editor of

and to Frank B.
Colton of G.D. Searle &
Co., who developed
Playboy,

Enovid, the

first

modern

medical oral contraceptive.

Frank

M.

Stnrtevant

Sarasota, Florida

Out on

and verdant

salt flats,

The

in the sky, islands that have

Canada

aquatic (and probably

October 2006

Bloomin^ton, Indiana

Jennifer A. Clack's article

independently of mosasaurs.

NATURAL HISTORY

Institute

canoes, lava flows, lakes,

University of Alberta

ma-

Kinsey

isolated peaks, valleys, vol-

Edmonton, Alberta

idea that snakes arose in

Catherine Johnson-Roehr

Hugh

unexplored.

leagues and

On

contributions have not

been forgotten.

itable.

arose in the

snakes originated in

know

to

that his other scientific

Ttje

Iguania, a primarily terres-

basis, if

fossils.

Andes seem

good

Indiana University

own

from mosasaurs.
As for the consensus

highest

sex re-

as a

it is

treme environments harbor

ecosystems that are inim-

parts that

A recent

The

work

for his

devoid of Ufe, yet such ex-

marine group knov^^n

the pachyophiids.

illustrates

unique diver-

reaches of the

closely related to an extinct

as

9/06]

of species that await

sity

descended from mosasaurs.

proposed that snakes evolved

scended from

Life,"

does not claim that snakes

includes mosasaurs and

the

all

perfectly the

fossil

the Pythonomorpha,

is

names. Given

based on the

(adriosaurs, acteosaurs, ei-

est relative

their

searcher,

dolosaurs, pontosaurs,

Among all

Lyndon Fernald to
book that bears both

High

error in our article: the

autarchoglossan squamates,

doHchosaurs).

also sorts

rine (aquatic) hypothesis

more or

aquatic lizards

after

attention Kinsey received

within

less

long

Del Tredici

High Life Cornucopia

Kevin Krajick ["Living the

correctly pointed out an

long-necked, long-bodied,

squamates, the group's clos-

10

Lizards of the Sea," by

Richard ElUs (9/03), for

Michael

that, ac-

snakes were aquatic,

saurs."

ecology, are consistent

it is

cording to one theory, "the

first

refer readers to "Terrible

impelled speciation.

islands

They

"From

Limb

Fins to

Limbs"

[7/06-8/06] reminds

something

me

of

have long con-

wasn't that

Carnegie Mellon University

may not have

deep oceans. Ray-finned

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

eralization in print

paucity of missing Unks.

Hans

in print.

form

transitional

is less fit

(in the

Mal-

much going on

Jennifer Clack replies:

The reason Hans Berliner

sidered a basic truth of evolution, but have never seen

Berliner

among

seen his genis

that

did not

fishes, for instance,

the fitness of transitional

thusian-Darwinian sense)

vertebrates in the

reaUy master deep-sea con-

than the forms from which

In reading Jennifer Clack's

forms must be evaluated

ditions until late in the

(and into which)

story,

well

world, in which the outlines

by case. In fact, if one

were to generaHze from the
transition of fishes to fourlegged land animals, what
seems to change first are the

Mesozoic

terres-

was struck by the

map of the Late Devonian

it

Thus the would-be

trial

tetrapod

is

less

evolved.

adapted for water living

of our present continents

than the aquatic forms

and countries clustered

evolving from.

It is

it is

also less

well adapted for land Hving,

compared with
fiaUy

more

individuals sur-

vive the long and narrow

new

path to the

Hence

question

"less

is,

what

hving conditions.

role did

form.

Clack writes of estuaries,

well as lakes.

and

What

vive better than others.

words,

it

in other

Forrest

explains the

Letters should be sent via

nhmag@natural

lurked

conditions quite rapidly,

historymag.com or by fax

and

646-356-6511. All

Bogan,

Maryland

e-mail

their radiation into di-

To answer

Bogan

Neavitt,

Natural History welcomes

correspondence from readers.

new

deal of speciation.

form

environments.

appear to exploit their

verse niches leads to a great

tional

it

to

should include a daytime

telephone number,

Forrest

letters

seems there

and

may

and

clarity.

"Balanced yet provocative, witty but never flippant, clear without being

and far- but never over-reaching,

/ the

Beat of a Heart

achieves the rare trick of entertaining and illuminating at the same

In

our gene-fixated times,

it's

a breath of fresh air."

-Phillip Ba]], author of TVie Devil's Doctor. Paracelsus

the World of Renaissance Magic

"In the Beat of a Heart explores

and the inner

workings of the human body to global biodiversity and the

nature of ecosystems. Whitfield takes you on a strange

and wonderful

October

trip into

the scientific frontier of nature."

-J. Whitfield Gibbons, Professor of Ecology,

Biology/Ecology

University of Georgia, and author of Keeping AH the Pieces:

$27.95

280 pages

Perspectives on Natural Historg

rT^^Hls^irrs-Ta

Joseph Henry Press

Ji

888-624-7651

an imprint of The Notional Academies Press

www.jhpress.org

and the Environment

and

and Science

and explains the complexities

of the natural world, from microorganisms

all

be edited for length

READ INTHEBEATOFAHEARTAND FIND OUT!

simplistic,

to

letters

HOW MUCH LSD CAN AN ELEPHANT TAKE?

WHY DO LIZARDS LIVE CLOSER TOGETHER THAN BIRDS?
WHY AREN'T TREES SPHERICAL?
AND HOW MANY HEARTBEATS ARE THERE IN ONE LIFETIME?

time.

rep-

basins, as

tropical climate?

it is hard to
of any transi-

come from sediments

resenting fairly near-shore

And

fmd

fossils

in the early to

mid-Paleozoic era have

some

prising that

should not be sur-

Most of the

and sur-

beyond the clump of continents in that warm and sub-

it

era.

vertebrates that have

been found

once some initial barrier

has been overcome, animals

tetrapods arose? Ms.

river channels,

fossil

When

conditions change,
lineages can adapt

than ten million years"

when

almost miraculous

some

My

about the equator.

the oceans play during the

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

uted to a "thrifty" genotype, selected for by

frequent famines throughout those populations' prehistory.
thrifty

People

who

express the

genotype are presumably predis-

posed to accumulate reserves of fat

of plenty, for later use

in

today's constant plenty

goes

in

times

times of famine.

In

so the theory

people with that once-useful geno-

type are prone to such metabolic problems

as obesity
in

Neel

the late American geneticist James

first

he also argued that the

articulated the theory

in

1962,

gatherers than

some

Now a new

frightening detail

question.

How

computer

scientist at

gon

in

in

pologist at the University of

study adds

the University of Ore-

In particular,

at Las

They detected no

societies.
lifestyle

between

and frequency or duration

lifestyle

of food shortages. Feast-or-famine cycles

were probably common throughout human

prehistory,

and they may indeed favor

University Indianapolis, contend that Neel's

cycles

generalization

was too broad.

With an extensive database on

and food

nutrition

availability in preindustrial societies,

which was compiled

how much the images from the

right

left

lar

dinosaurs'

own heads had

to

move. Hence both genera were

eyes overlap.

amount

com-

overlap. To detect prey against a

probably ambush-predators,

thrifty

But the

seem to have been equally likely

among foraging and farming economies.
(American Journal of Physical Anthropology
1

31

:1

Stephan Reebs

20-6, 2006)

Before Appellation
Controlee
The wild Eurasian grape, Vitis
sylvestris, was first domesti-

ke modern crocodiles.

cated for winemaking

Tyrannosaurus, along with

Transcaucasia, the region

greatly assisted by a

Dasp/etosaurus, Nanotyrannus, Troodon,

of bin-

ocular overlap, which

and

possessed

Velociraptor,

much wider

long as 8,000 years ago.

conferring excellent

for large,

depth perception and

variety of colors,

enabling both a stealthy

learned to propagate the

approach and rapid

plant vegetatlvely.

positions of objects
view. For each

dinosaur reconstruc-

Stevens

mapped

pursuit.

the region visible to

and

each eye, then calculat-

bumps blocked

the view.

sharpest,

most detailed 3-D

has ever experienced, making

it

perfectly

hunting.

equipped

for active

And the answer

to the

question on every schoolkid's mind?

Stevens's analysis shows that

Allosaurus and Carcharodon-

tosaurus had only a narrow binocU'

NATURAL HISTORY

rex

view of the world any animal

the eyes faced forward or to

its

T.

may even have had the

The overlap was determined largely by whether

snout or

large, widely

separated eyes,

ed the regions' overlap

the side, and whether the

its

Thanks to that

October 2006

"Very scary!" {Journal of Vertebrate

Pa/eontology 26:321-30, 2006)

Nick W. Atl<inson

the Caspian, perhaps as

overlap,

between the Black Sea and

enables the brain to

relative

vinifera

In

judge the

tion,

say.

the 1950s, Benyshek

in

plex background, either the prey or the

other optical feats, are

in

between

link

and amount of available food, or

genotypes, the anthropologists

Depth perception and

motion detection, among

12

Nevada

Watson, a physical

how

he meas-

ured the extent of each species' binocular

large

T.

gatherer societies with sixty-six agriculturalist

Eugene analyzed reconstructed heads

well they could see.

and

lifestyle

and Watson compared twenty-eight hunter-

anthropologist at Indiana University-Purdue

answer to the

scary? Kent A. Stevens, a

of seven dinosaur species to discover

vision

farmers, because

the more prone to severe food shortages.

Vegas, and James

Every schoolkid knows that Tyrannosaurus

really scary.

hunter-

But Daniel C. Benyshek, a medical anthro-

My, What Keen

Eyes You Had
was

among

genotype

among

he assumed the hunter-gatherer

is

rex

thrifty

should be more prevalent

Americans, and Polynesians.

When

Richard Onyango, Drosie and Family, 1994 (detail)

common

groups such as Australian Aborigines, Na-

tive

V.

and diabetes, which are

Early viticulturists selected

sweet grapes

in

and they

The do-

mestic cultivars found their

way

south, and by 5,000

years ago large-scale vine-

yards and wineries were

well-established

in

Sumer and Egypt. From

there the practice spread west, reaching

the Iberian Peninsula by 2,800 years ago.

Does that

history,

which

is

based on archae-

ological evidence, imply that

cultivars

all

grapevine

around the Mediterranean today

are descendants of those wild Transcaucasian ancestors?

Jungle Smarts

Buzzing Off
There's less buzz

these days.

in

Survival in the jungle takes

the fields of Europe

A new study

confirms what

luck.

more than dumb

recent study of predators and their

many observers have suspected: that the

number of bee species in the United King-

prey shows that relatively small-brained

dom and the

tor's

markedly

in

species are

Netherlands has declined

reproduce.

A team

the University of Leeds

discoveries. For the

in

two

countries, the

studied records of change

tions,

made the

England

in

and compiled nearly

team

observa-

The species

extinct

is

the winged pollinators. Those of us outside

were made since the

tic

late nineteenth centu-

of the sites sur-

veyed, there were fewer species of bees

ter

af-

1980 than there were before.

Biesmeijer and

decline
tors',

Kunin can't tell

came first, the

is

other The biologists are also uncertain about

the cause; the

likely culprits

the United States are

in

And the

pollinators.

are habitat loss,

on wild

investigators think wild

S.R.

31 3:351-4, 2006)

Go

West,
Young Primate
known primate

55-million-year-old geological deposits rang-

is

particularly

worrisome to farmers

any number of crops that

rely

on

ing across Asia, Europe,

..

tional

team of

collabora-

how

did they sub-

sequently disperse? Shortly before those ear-

primate

ing.

were

fossils

laid

down, the Earth

a 100,000-year period of global

A new

study

warm-

now shows that the timing

may have been no coin-

of the primates' rise

^,

>

'^
I

perse fast enough to account for their rap-

ered molecular evidence

id

emergence on three

the ancient warming was

team analyzed the DNA

of more than 1,200 cultivars and wild plants from

caused by massive

around the Mediterra-

releases altered the ratios

nean. They discovered

of various carbon isotopes

cent of Portuguese and

Spanish cultivars are

related to local wild-grape populations

a hint that the wild grape

may have

sip a rich red

from Andalusia.
1

0.1

94X.2006.03049.X, 2006)

1 1 1/j.l

365-

SM.

catch. Bigger brains confer greater learn-

ing ability

and behavioral

using one's head

keep

it.

may

flexibility,

well enable

so

one to

{Biology Letters, doi:10.1098/

N.W.A.

rsbl.2006.0519, 2006)

before. With their

genus

re-

that period

air

now

The

Teilhardina,

and

The

entire journey took less

Teilhardina (artist's conception)

than 25,000 years. Smith

and

during
help paleontologists

cali-

that the

his

team theorize

warm temperatures enabled the

primates to cross the Atlantic at high

latitudes, over a land bridge

relative dip in carbon-13

enabled

then linking

the two continents via Greenland. Because

was

the investi-

Thierry Smith, a paleontologist at the Roya

Teilhardina

Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

gators think evergreen forest must have

Brussels,

primate

in

and two colleagues to date early

fossils

more

in

and then continued on

to North America.

decreasing the fraction of

carbon-13. Rock layers

a small, big-

Asia, spread to Europe,

the atmosphere, notably

that trapped

dates,

primates, originated

greenhouse gases. Those

in

new

possibly other early

leases of carbon-bearing

worldwide.

{Molecular Ecology, doi

making an

predator to

eyed tree-dweller of the

Now there's
you

in

difficult for a

mined that

brate the dating of geologic formations

a ripe fact to impress your

in select-

the investigators deter-

been domesticated more than once.

fellow wine connoisseurs with next time

animal easy or

continents.

grape population. Their

per-

the

is

same: predation may be a factor

Like today's global warming,

against a single ancestral

more than 70

better at outwitting their pursuers. Either

way, the evolutionary outcome

dis-

Martinez-Zapater discov-

that

whether

cidence: environmental changes caused by

the warming probably enabled them to

''-

can't say

behavior plays a large role

began

Madrid, Spain. With

Dunbar

ing for bigger brains. Ultimately, however,

plant geneticists at the National Center

in

monkeys, were underrepre-

the predators' diets.

long posed a riddle to paleontologists: where

ly

the help of an interna-

in

That almost simultaneous appearance has

and Jose Miguel Martinez-Zapater, both

of Biotechnology

in

and North America.

did primates originate, and

Probably not, say Rosa Arroyo-Garci'a

prey species with relatively large

brains, such as

species, or big-brained species are simply

occur

But whatever the reason, the loss of bee

who grow

trast,

Shultz and

The

species

whose brains are small relative

body size, were overrepresented in
the predators' diets compared with their
numbers in the local environment. By conantelopes,

predators avoid hunting big-brained prey

climate change, pesticide use, and pathogens.

fossils

forests across

tors found that prey species such as

sented

earliest

in five

and South America. The investiga-

to their

in

around the world may be declin-

ing, too. (Science

causing the

the sting: domes-

trouble, increasing farmers' reliance

pollinators

which

plants' or their pollina-

nor whether one decline

honey bees

feel

and puma)

ocelot,

the U.K.

in

Africa

Europe may also soon

more than 60 percent

species (golden cat, jaguar, leopard,

Eucera nigrescens bee forages on clover.

tions of pollinating bees and hoverflies that

ry. In

M. Dunbar,

I.

University of Liverpool in England, studied

plant popula-

a million

a preda-

the diets of chimpanzees and five cat

Kunin of

E.

become

both evolutionary biologists at the

by Ja-

of biologists led

to

likely

Susanne Shultz and Robin

recent decades. Strikingly, so

have plant species that depend on them to

cobus C. Biesmeijer and William

more

meal than bigger-brained ones.

precisely than ever

strictly arboreal,

covered a wide swath of the north. {PNAS

1

03:1

223-7)

October 2006

Oara Curtin
NATURAL HISTORY

13

SAMPLINGS

A
As

Rash of Consequences
there weren't enough ominous con-

if

sequences of global warming, here's

bitty

little

consequence

nasty: bigger,

is

plantation

Already

ivy.

of

responsible for more

ly in

the United States alone

and those

relatively little of
in

study

/Ancient frog: well preserved

for

its

10

ivy

bad news

From 1996

pumped CO2

Lucky Break
A trace

of

persists

life

Duke

prehistoric fossils.

in

Amphibian bone marrow, discovered

ders from a sulfurous lake

preserved that

quisitely

layers of tissue are

may

still

in

its

in

10-

and salaman-

million-year-old fossils of frogs

Spain,

so ex-

is

red and yellow

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?

colleagues report that

the

in

mention the part

[PNAS

S.R.

six

last five

College Dublin

in Ireland,

form when minerals replace

fossils

Uphill Battle
Rise too quickly from a prone position,

might see

stars,

and you

the twinkling signs of your heart's

struggle to send blood up to your suddenly ele-

vated brain. So pity the heart of the giraffe

rare In the fossil record. Rarer

still is

it

are

soft tis-

Its

job

is

to push blood up the carotid ar-

sue preserved organically, without decaying

tery to a brain towering six feet

way the amphibian bone

marrow was. In fact, there is only one other
example of organically preserved soft tissue:

above. That column of blood

or mineralizing, the

still-stretchy

ered

last

blood vessels that were discov-

year inside a 70-million-year-old

After the dead amphibians settled on the

muddy

consumed

muscle, but couldn't

pores

McNamara 's team

lake bottom,

tulates, bacteria

in

Instead,

seeped

fit

even smaller
in

their skin

pos-

and

through minute

bone to degrade the marrow.

their

sulfur

molecules

and chemically fixed the marrow

much the same way formaldehyde would.

Sulfur-rich

mud

fossil record,

so

fairly

is

why

is

common

in

the

organically preserved

soft tissue so extremely rare?

Most paleon-

tologists probably never bother to look for

McNamara

quite

literally

says.

Her own break came

when she was studying fos-

that had been cracked, revealing the

marrow
in

inside.

Many more

such finds

may

the offing. (Geology 34:641-4, 2006)

Edyta Zielinska
NATURAL HISTORY

heavy load. As a

result,

of the giraffe's carotid artery

the locus of

some

is

the base
is

of the high-

est blood pressures in the

world: twice the pressure

Tyrannosaurus rex femur.

be

trees outright by

103:9086-9,2006)

Jacqueline

Duke, and

a biologist at

kill

about more itching and

hard tissue, such as bone. Soft tissue decays

sils

when vines are on the

in many parts of the

and they even

Oh, and did

Durham, North

in

too rapidly to mineralize, so traces of

it,

for trees:

E.

Orr, paleobiolo-

and four colleagues made the discovery.

in

their extra ener-

shading or choking them.

into a pine plantation at

The idea was to simulate the

Mohan,

for support. Instead,

most of

yield biologically important molecules,

such as hemoglobin or even

14

2004 investigators

expected by midcentury from the con-

E.

the extra energy they gain

world, they often interfere with tree

until

University

Carolina.

in all

increase, as they are

trig-

gers the rashes.

years

rr\ilHon

substance that

toxicity

gy into making even more photosynthetic

greenery, a positive feedback loop that is

proliferates

urushiol, the

And the

up by some 33 percent.

wood

growing more

vines can channel

warm-

becomes more abundant, poison

and makes a more toxic

the

boosts photosynthesis

A new

ide (CO2, a major cause of global

form of

urushiol shot

CO2

In

nearly three times as fast

plants, but vines such as poison ivy invest

shows that as atmospheric carbon dioxing)

its

Extra

than 350,000 cases of dermatitis annual-

are just the reported cases.

grew

as the plants normally do.

that's just plain

badder poison

the irksome vine

years of the study the poison ivy

in

the

carotid arteries of people.

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

of the giraffe's neck

ing,

and

model

of the circulatory sys-

and head out of PVC pipes, rubber tub-

pump.

siphon mechanism could indeed assist the "heart," they

discovered, but only

PVC

made

of rigid

tubing

which,

when

pipe.

all

the "veins" and "arteries" were

When

the "veins" were

is

collapsible

impossible. (The carotid artery

is

naturally rigid

high blood pressure inside.) So

does

all

it's

the work of moving the

just

made

of rubber

siphoning was

like a real vein,

because of the

the good old heart that

giraffe's

blood along, after

all.

(Journa/ of Experimerital Biology 209:2515-24, 2006)

S.R.

Octofae; 2006

kf^f

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FACE YOUR FEARS hT OUR FASCINAriNG LIVE EXHIBIF

..

SEPTEMBER 24 - NOVEMBER

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2006

5,

we welcome

where you

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back the Spider Pavilion

see amazing

Orb Weavers

create beautiful webs. Then, see what happens

History

m useum
of Los Angeles
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For more information about the Spider Pavilion,

visit

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Duration of shortest
laser pulse

PERSPECTIVES

As Time Goes By
Comparing

the

human

experience of time

with the fundamental tempos of nature

yields a startling

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

to execute a single instruction

glass

propagates

-o

about one

few years ago a geologist friend

at M.I.T. gave me a small
chunk of gneiss from Canada's
Northwest Territories. It rests now,
backHt by the winter sun, on the windowsiU behind my desk. A duU, fine-

-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

gneiss has persist-

of

since the rock crystal-

lized

more than 4

when

the universe was only two-thirds

grained, gray-and-white rock, flecked

with tiny crystals of black mica and
hornblende, it looks like a stone she
might have picked up ahnost anywhere

10"

is

ed, largely undisturbed, at the core

TV

Formation,

on Earth. The Acasta

far

progenitor, the Acas-

its

present age.

billion years ago,

The ripples in the

gneiss

on my windowsUl have changed little in

the billions of years since they formed.

Meanwhile, great ranges of mountains

have risen up and worn away; the Hves
of all our ancestors have flashed by.

second
A year (Earth
Time to saute
chicken breasts
(20 minutes)

completes one
orbit

around

the Sun.)

Age of Earth: 4.6

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

-Planck time: shortest-possible

time interval

Arr-^
10

10,-*3

iround us, are made of quarks.

Quarks account for 99.9 percent of the
mass in the universe. Their or-

visible

bits inside

Quark completes
one orbit within
a lambda particle.

small,

protons are exceedingly

a millionth of a

no more than

millionth of a miUimeter (10~'^ meter)

across,

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

quark about 0.00000000000000

00000001 (10^-2) second, breathtak-

feeling

by any human measure. Just as

the period of the Earth's orbit around
the Sun defines the year, so the time it
takes a quark to complete one cycle of
its motion in a proton defines one tick
of the clock of fundamental physics.
Those ceaseless motions of quarks mark
the heartbeat of the universe.
One plain stone, two extraordinarily disparate landscapes of time: the cosmological, the billions of years over
which the drama of the universe plays
out; and the fundamental, the hectic
pace at which elementary particles
dance to the tune played by the laws of
physics. Those are the natural rhythms
of the world. Between the two ex-

ingly fast

My

fragment of gneiss holds other

of its outward
calm, a microworld hes deep within,

secrets as well. In spite

buzzing with incessant motion. Its

tempo is set by its smallest parts: not
the molecules of quartz and feldspar vibrating hke miniature tuning forks; not
the electrons whirling in orbits about
the nuclear cores of atoms; not even

the protons and neutrons churning

my

bit

of

the Acasta gneiss beats time to the

rhythm of quarks.
Whatever evanescent

particles

and

subde phenomena may await discovery,

there is no doubt that we, and all we see
Time

intervals

spanning eighty-six orders of magnitude are plotted on the

these two pages: from the Planck time, which

lasts

5.4x10^'' second and

spiral timeline
is

on

often considered

half-life of the proton, which has been experimentally

seconds. When time is measured in human-centered
3x
phenomena may be misclassified as fleeting. For example, in

the shortest-possible interval, to the

determined to be

at least

intervals, highly stable

W^

conventional units the lifetime of the lambda, a subatomic particle,

second, yet the lambda

is

of cosmology, but far longer than the

helter-skelter pace of fundamental
processes, lie our human measures of
time

They

the second, the day, the year.

are the times

of our lives, but they

rhythms of the world.

Where did they come from? Where do
are not the natural

we

fit

in?

takes a

of time.

within the nuclei. Rather,

tremes, far briefer than the grand sweep

a highly stable system.

is

extremely

The quarks that make

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

durations are "normalized" to the relevant physical

answers have emerged from

The
has
journey of discovery

cre-

that

ated a second Copernican revolution.

Five centuries ago, the

first

Coperni-

can revolution dislodged humankind

from our privileged position at the
center of the universe. Quietly and relatively recently, particularly in the past

half century, the

way physical scientists

think about time has undergone a similar

revolution.

Observed

for the briefest

moments,

nature's forces turn out to have their

own

rhythms, built into them just

integrally as the clock speed

croprocessor has been built into

computer

at

The smaller
tempo but all

the factory.

the part, the faster the

as

of a mi-

of them are hghtning quick compared

to ordinary measures of human time.
But if one suspends the attachment to

human

timescales, one can match the

cinematographic frame speed of the
mind's eye to nature's own rhythms,

speeding up to capture the finest detail

or slowing

broadest plan.

down to discern the

The Copernican shift

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

Sun, after which Sun

Duration of the

collapses, forming

Age

planetary nebula

of Dinosaurs

in perspective can

be

startling: the

mi-

measured time

in

human-size inter-

croworld, which seems so fleeting by

vals: in

human

in days, the apparent circling of the

measures, instead persists lan-

guorously.

The cosmos, which seems

to define the eternal, instead roils

with

seconds, the beat of our hearts;

and stars about

of the seasons.

Sun

us; in years, the cycles

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

and they express

of the same substance.

in direct proportion,

The more volume,

the

volve around us.

in their eclipses

speed with

ber of kilograms per cubic foot.

a particular force. Instead,

the duration of phenomena

seemed

Take celestial mechanics. Planets far

from the Sun take longer to orbit than

28,

ty,

By

to

vary according to the circumstances.

is

the constant of proportionalithe density of water, the

the

same token,

if

lost

our bearings

of the quanta in vibrations per second,

The

solar system.

as-

a huge galaxy, teeming

Uke our own. They found
the universe to be full of galaxies, ours
stars

force of gravity there

is

no constant that

fixes the

revolutionary upheavals in physics

led to the discovery that there are

ics

better to

know the truth than to be deceived.

Moreover, the drama of modern astronomy, though less personal, is far
grander than it was before Copernicus.
Stars form, then die, often in great
explosions, and leave behind corpses
of unimaginable density. Galaxies
whirl and coUide. Although our skies
are no longer inhabited by just the hkes
of Orion the hunter and the Great
Bear, the heavens are fuU of wonder for
all to see, the re^vards of surrendering
our place at the center of the universe.

it is

univer-

sal.

The same

ity

appHes for heat radiation, for hght,

and even for

constant of proportional-

X rays. That constant, usuknown

and so the fiiU statement of

the proportion is E=hxv. Standing
with Einstein's better-known E=mc~,
Planck's equation is one of the twin pillars of modern physics.
Because Planck's constant is so

physicists discovered that the

is

6. 6x 10"^'* joule-second

In Newton's law for calculating the

compensations.

it

roughly

ally

no more exceptional than the others.

Today we can no longer claim a special place in the universe. But there are
First,

energy,

larger the orbit, the longer the period.

ry,

hub of the

tronomers who followed Copernicus

moved our small planet out toward the

abbreviated

h, is

as Planck's

constant,

minute,
units,

when

even

expressed in everyday

modest energy equates

to

on an astonishingly short
One quantum ofgreen Hght,

oscillations

timescales intrinsic to the laws of

timescale.

physics themselves. Experimental

for instance, has only about 4x10"^^

mechan-

joule of energy, but that translates in-

of

Newton

is

inadequate for de-

scribing the world of atoms.

Newton-

mechanics was replaced by the

strange and counterintuitive world of
quantum mechanics, through which
ian

time entered physical law.

The German theoretical physicist

Max Planck made the first key discovery in 1900. His study of radiant heat

and

light led

him

to conclude that, like

to

about one oscillation every 2x1

second.

A little human perspective: the

"blink of an eye" takes about 50

Hon times

It

0~^
tril-

longer.

wasn't until twenty-seven years af-

ter Planck's original discovery

about

of his law for

other forms of energy and matter
and thus for nature's fundamental timelight that the implications

became

The

ordinary water waves, those two forms

scales

of radiation vibrate, but that the radiation comes in packets, or "quanta."

directly proportional to the vibrating

by the German
physicist Werner Heisenberg provided
the crucial link. The laws of quantum
mechanics, Heisenberg realized, do

the twentieth century we lost our

Inbearings
in time as

frequency of the light wave. Expressing

not allow things to

forebears in the Renaissance lost their

as relating

utterly as

special place in the universe.

From

our
the

beginnings of civilization people have

18

But the period of the

depends only on its size the

with

the

more

and, as Planck discovered,

periphery of

placing the Sun, not the Earth, at

states that the

are proportional: the

In this case the constant of proportion-

period of planetary orbits

from the outset. Human measures of
time may have seemed arbitrary, but
they also were as good as any other.
Then, early in the twentieth centu-

ter,

the ener-

the higher the fi-equency of vibration.

the ones close in.

orbit

E is

num-

gy of the radiation quanta in joules, and

V (the Greek letter km) is the frequency

two

place in the universe.

Then, late in the Renaissance, the

Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus rudely plucked us out of the cen-

mass. In

this case

our forebears in the Renaissance

We read our fortunes

and conjunctions.

more

and philosophers did not realize

that nature might associate a clock
tists

ality is

lost their special

M=28x V.
Mand Kvary

Thus, the two quantities

then Planck's equation

In the twentieth century

M the mass

in kilograms, then roughly

related properties

Before the twentieth century, scien-

ceaseless change.

volume

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

Moreover, the energy of the quanta

the relation mathematically

ter in

is

as

is

simple

the mass of a quantity of wa-

kilograms to the volume of the

same quantity

in cubic feet. If

Fis the

clear.

uncertain-

ty principle articulated

rest.

It is

come perfectly to
know exactly

impossible to

where a particle is and, at the same

time, where it is going. The more perfectly one tries to pinpoint the posi-

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regular, self-sustaining vibrations

FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE

FORCE

ACTS

ON

RELATIVE

MAJOR ROLE

zero-point motion

RANGE

STRENGTH

The atoms

Holds nucleus

and hadrons

together

Short

,1

(10"''^

to single atom, electromagnetic forces

meter)

hold sway. They are the forces responsible for

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

tum, and therefore

may have during the short time

it

orbit in a simple atom.

on the microscale

is

constantly in a kind of perpetual, rest-

movement, a quantum buzz known

zero-point motion.

And

Planck's

equation determines the clock speed of

zero-point motion: the smaller the sys-

tem, the more precisely confined its position in space; the higher

its

energy;

and, because E=lixv, the faster the

pulse of its zero-point motion.

Guided by quantum mechanics,

twentieth-century physicists pushed
deep into the microworld with ever

more powerful

instruments. Accelera-

of Manhattan have
"microscopes" that
ever simpler, more fun-

tors nearly the size

as

could look for

damental processes, "listen" to ever
faster tempos, and probe ever shorter

When

the physicists dis-

new fundamental

forces,

came

clock speed, the pitch of

quantum buzz

characteristic of the
of the system. All those clocks tick

at frantic rates that

20

such

the ones that hold electrons in atoms

or quarks in protons, each force

a natural

NATURAL HISTORY

such

seem

as

seconds, days, and years

eternally long.

electron takes

Here

at last is

of nature's fundamental clocks.

cHcks, the realm of electromagnetism begins to give way to

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

uncertainty principle requires

that everything

vals

oc-

cupies that position.

size

An

roughly IQ-'^ second to complete an

the

the

their electrical attraction to the

the beat of the electromagnetic force,

more momenthe more energy, it

vwth

by

positively charged nucleus. Electro-

galaxy

tion of a particle, the

as

rules: the

magnetism and quantum mechanics

dictate both the period and size of the

orbit
All particles

still

negatively charged electrons are held in

leptons

Gravity

covered

and individual

clicks

within. Electromagnetism
Quarks and

timescales.

few more

atoms fill the screen, with hazy clouds

of electrons orbiting atomic nuclei deep

particles

Weak

functioned

chemical binding and for the

elementary processes of biology.

Electromagnetic

as

vibrate ceaselessly back and

of about 10"^^ sec-

ond. Throughout that range, firom rock

Quarks, gluons

"6*'"

less

of

detectable.

forth with periods

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

until the patterns

begin to resolve into

at the scale of

individual atoms,

nanometers (10~^ meter), do the

faint,

forces. Five

more pow-

often in magnification are needed

to reach past the haze of electrons and
resolve the seething mass of protons
and neutrons in the atom's nucleus.
Only about 10"^'^ meter across, the
nucleus accounts for nearly all the mass
of the atom. Here another fundameners

tal

force, the strong force, emerges.

Although

100 times stronger than

electromagnetism, the strong
force is sequestered within atomic nuIt acts powerfully over distances
than 10"'^ meter, typical of the dis-

clei.

less

between nuclear particles, but it

becomes imperceptible as distances grow larger. At a range of lO"^-'
meter it is all but gone. The strong force
holds protons and neutrons together in
tances

rapidly

the nuclei of atoms.

fires that

vides
sible

all

on

It

fuels the nuclear

make stars shine, and also prothe energy that

makes Ufe pos-

Earth.

its rawest form the strong force

between quarks and confines them
within protons and neutrons. Quarks

In

acts

(as far as

can determine) are

of matter that carry

physicists

indivisible bits

"charges" somewhat like the electric

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A

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at the

minoi5

charge of the electron.

Quark

come

known whim-

in three varieties,

Color charge

sically as "colors."

source of the strong force,

way

electric charge

is

is

the

much

the

the source of the

more ac-

electromagnetic force. So the

name

curate

charges

for the strong force

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,

tempo as too fast.

It is

time to

ask:

What

does the world of quarks look like on

its

own

terms?
particles discov-

known by

ered in the early 1950s,

Greek

the

lambda (A) because

is a pair of tracks
forming an upside-down letter V. Like
the more familiar proton, the lambda is
made of three quarks. From time to
time one of the orbiting quarks in a
lambda gets too close to one of the others
and within range of the weak
force. When it does, the straying quark

on

spective

human

per-

time, high-energy physi-

usually ignore the fact that the

cists

Consider one of the

its

damental, rather than a

lambda decays at all, and call

just like our solar system.

"stable,"

it

capital letter

signature

telltale

After

journey deep into

this

my

fragment of the Acasta gneiss, the

word

"stable" has taken

on new

sig-

nificance. In the 4 billion years since

this rock has formed, the quarks in it
have orbited 10^^ times
now that's

what

my

call stable!

hand,

Hefting the stone in

find myself asking.

What

periodic zero-point motion of the

quarks that results

sets

the

tempo of the

strong force: a single vibration,

as

In "only" another 5

not-

ed earlier, lasts about 10~ second.

That interval, which seems inconceiv-

hillion years or so, the

expire and take humanity, or what

is left

Sun

will

of it, along.

ably short to us, beats the natural

rhythm of the strong

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

that distance another force

the

force

as

the elec-

^becomes

strong

as

tromagnetic force.

weak

The weak force

is

tive

force at work. Because

range

is

the

weak

its

effec-

limited to distances of one

one-thousandth the

size

of the proton,

force only rarely affects the

motions of quarks

and

it is

never the

agent that binds matter together. So the

beat of the weak force, even though it

thousand times more rapid than the

tempo of chromodynamics, is rarely
heard in the universe.

is

The

electromagnetic, strong, and

weak forces

dictate the structure

of the

microworld. Each has its own natural

rhythm. The beats are dizzying: roughly 10-1^ 10-22, ^jjj 10-25 second, respectively.

what?

But "dizr)dng" compared to

time to take another leap of

imagination, dme to put aside the prejIt is

udice of a

human

perspective that sees

the microworld as evanescent and

NATURAL HISTORY

has enabled the universe to persist so

long? If it were ruled by the tempos of

of the strong force that holds

Though

complete

weak

22

tive

cleus disintegrates,

usually the

October 2006

its

one

But is that really so short a time? Not

if you take the Copernican leap, escape
the human temporal perspective, and
examine the lambda from the perspectogether.

is

average, about

Honth of a second (IQ-^'-* second), a typical life span for a subatomic particle that
decays because of the weak interaction.

Uke the fungus of the physics world:

it does not build up very complex
structures, it is easy to overlook, and it
is often an agent of decay. When a nubit

it

Lamb-

ten-bil-

decays and the lambda flies apart.

force.

second

IQ-^*^

tive to the
It

is

imperceptible to

a long,

long time

it

us,

rela-

tempo of chromodynamics.

takes a quark about 10a single orbit

second to
within the

lambda. Before the lambda decays, the

quarks within

it

orbit

one another

about IQ-"^ second divided by IQ-^^

second per orbit, or one trillion (10 )

on average.
Nothing in our everyday experience

times,

lives so

ity's

long in

its

own terms. Human-

most enduring

institutions

churches, nations, universities

Hved

have

most hundreds of human HfeOur most ancient ruins have sur-

at

times.

vived only thousands of yearly cycles of

heat and

frost.

far less stable.

Even the
Since

its

solar

system

the fundamental forces, one

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?

The question suggests an-

this one across cosmic

and exceedingly long times.
But that's a journey for another day.

other journey,
distances

Robert

L.

Jaffe

M.I. T, where

lie

is

formation, the

Earth has circled the Sun about 5 bil-

That is roughly 1 /200th the

comparable number for the lambda. In

lion times.

"only" another 5 biUion years or so, the

Sun will expire and take humanity, or

what is left of it, along. Taking a fun-

would ex-

pect the universe to have blinked into

M.I.

T. facuhy

is

a professor of physics at

has also served as chair of the

and director of the Center for

oretical Physics.

His

research has focused

Tlie-

on the

properties of quarks, the ii/ay they bind together

to

form particles

and

sucli as

protons and neutrons,

the role of quarks in the structure of the uni-

verse.

In recent years he has been working on the

quantum
hiking,

structure of the

vacuum. Photography,

and writing'occupy what is

left

ofhis time.

Do you have

wings't

Common

Buckeye Buiierfly

Phvtc hyAUitt Chm-Lce

\
iG?.'

J\s'

.c^<

Oct. ii|-i5

FLORIDA

inGainetville,fioridal

RCGKTCRTODfly!

imeti\^^''^'''

Headquartered at the Florida Museum, the festival

\{ Lectures by world-renowned
featuring Gary Ross,

y^

naturalists

and butterfly specimen preparation

y{
Field Trips to Paynes Prairie,

Trail,

Activities for the

Whole Family

&

Florida Wildflower

Butterfly Garden

dedication- Don't miss this beautiful new

Morningside Nature Center, Gainesville-Hawthorne

State

gardening and many more

y{ Photography Contest

butterfly photography, gardening

y{ Nature Walks &

Art,

butterfly-related items for sale

Thomas Emmel, Jaret Daniels

and Charlie Covell

y{ Workshops on

will feature:

addition on the grounds of the Florida Museum!

Santa Fe Teaching Zoo and more

The Florida Museum of Natural History

is

home to the award-

winning Butterfly Rainforest exhibit which features hundreds of free

butterflies from around the world.

McGuire Center

for Lepldoptera

The

and

Florida

flying

Museum's newest wing, the

Biodiversity,

Is

now the world's

largest

research facility for butterflies and moths and houses over 4.2 million

specimens, the second largest collection in the world.

BIOMECHANICS
does the morbid work of netting insect prey.

The

Threads

IsTice

investigators tested the five silks

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

that span a huge range of stretchiness

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.

silk from the same

of spider. (Both dragline and
capture silk frorn a number of different

or prey-wrapping

by Laura Hartman Maestro

Illustrations

wispy that testing them

they're also so

of silks

species

All

of spider about
count extrude\

species

40,000

at last

called

from modified limbs,

spinnerets, on their abdomens.

Many

species, including the

silk

weavers, produce a
different kinds

Two

silks are

together create an

kinds of spiders had been measured for

valuable- insight into a' manufacturing

stiffness, strength, aiid

toughness.)

process and, a^pfbf ingredients that

new

measure forces

might be

making

ada)pted for the

new, high-pefformance

orb

o;

fibers.

are gooey,

fibrous

Todd A. Blackledge,
Akron

armamentarium

a behavioral

ecologi^t at the University of

and

in

Ohio, and Cheryl

Y.

that enables the orb weavers to per-

Hayashi, an evolutionary biologist at^

form weight-defying rope

the University of California, River-

For

tricks.

twenty years workers have been trying

to reproduce the showiest

brous

(for

of the

silk,

serves the spiders as rappel Knes

dropping in

Spiderman) or
web.

like

radial trusses for a

In laboratory testing, dragline

as

such

in stiffness

and

to get

tata) [see illustrations at right].

web

temporary

is

get a grooved fiber that

protects the developing

are also

worth imitating

five

of those

perhaps

boon not only

spiderhngs from thumps

to spin

would be

silken wares

all

to the building-minded,

but also to the planet. After

all,

silk is

and bumps. Fourth was

the silk from the acini-

form gland, used for

wrapping and restraining

synthesized in a spider's belly, an

prey. Finally,

ecofriendly environment, solely out of

lected the sticky

biodegradable ingredients.

stretchy capture sUk that

edible, at least to

eat their old

Looking

at

even

It's

an arachnid: spiders

webs

to get extra protein.

spider silks with such a

Five kinds of silk spur,

fay

(2)

forms a

silks:

spiral scaffold for

egg-sac

shown

to

silk (3)

the

silk (1)

web and is

they col-

and

forms th? more permanent, spiral interior of

the

an orb weaver spider

(clockwise from near r/ghtj; Drag/ine

-^^the

differ in

stuff that

breaking strength and elasticity

forms the radial spokes of the web; temporary

ultimately replaced with stronger

and more

protects the spider's developing offspring: prey-wrapping

be the toughest

silk

of

all

spiral

laid

raveled spider-egg sacs to

strength.

how

scafFold,-

down. Third,
the biomethanists confiscated and unof "capture" silk

that the four other fibrous silks

Learning

In addi-

together until a

showed

so.

binds prey: and capture

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

tion to dragline, they gathered the silk

Recently, though, two biomechanists

even more

five kinds

all

the silvet garden spider (Argiope argen-

that fiinctions as a

artificial

proof vests),

managed

holding the

silk

polymers as
nylon and Kevlar (the fiber of bulletrivals

side,

fibrous silk for their experiments from,^

fi-

the so-called dragline

silks,

which

captures prey, stretches far

stretch

NATURAL HISTORY

testing frame can

whopping seven

of silk.

but the other five

panoply oy properties cpuld give

October 2006

"

R
(major ainpuuate>
^^'^3

Sil

The

weight of the dried ink in the period

at

the end of this sentence.

To

a materials scientist, stiffness

much

the

sense,

though, "strength"

sprength:

is

same

how much

measure of how much a sample

stretches or deforms (as a percentage
of its length) when a^fbrce is applied.

can bear before

Dragline sUk^ for instance, stretches

of most

about

as

much

as

would

spider silk

fell

on

tion, strength

it.

is

it

By

nylon

technical

more than 50 percent of its

is

breaking

length, nearly twice as

a strand

dragline, before

weight

superlative; the breaking

is

about that

steels.

the third measure, toughness,

silk

it

of the capture

spiral

is still

the

champion, and dragline

reigns as the strongest silk; but temporary silk and prey-wrapping silk,
both stiffer than dragline, do nearly as
flexibility

well in strength

ing weight) befdi:e the material

fails.

intimate, long-term contact with an

and

insect struggling for

sill;c

The

standout. T\oughness

sometimes mearis

resting

much as
breaks. The sdcky

was thought to be the

is a kind of
combination of stiffness and strength,
a measure of'how much energy can
be absorbed (b^ stretching and bearcapture

In casual conversa-

its

breaks. Here, too,

strength of dragline silk

thread of comparable diameter, if a

spider

thing. In

^h toughness, both capture

dragline silk trump Kpvlar.

silk

ping

[see

big surprise

silk

is

a real

graphs below].
is

that

Kevlar

prey-wrap-

killer. It

can

absorb twice the energy of any other

silk

before

it

breaks. Presumably the

its

Hfe

demands

tougher material than do the

sin

impacts that dragline must sustain. If

When

they tested the slider's

fuU toolkit for the

first

timeT"

Blackledge and Hayashi confirmed

tk^ amazing properties of dragUne

/'and

silk. But they also discovsome of the highest-per-

capture

ered that

formance sUks had been overlooked.

The

other three fibrous sUks are

stiffer

th^iMifagUne,

loadsTand egg-sac

at least for

all

small

silk stretches to

prey-wrapping

silk

can be imitated,

tougher, lighter-weight bulletproof

faBrics^ould be in the offing.

,-Witn recent advances in understanding the biocheinical content of

and the genetics of the proteins

it up, there is real promise
that artificial spider silk can be made.
Understanding the material properties
of the various kinds of spider silk
might help fine-tune and vary the
basic manufacturing process for nonsupern\an-made fibers. Personally, I'd
hke little nozzles that shoot the various kinds of silk from my wrists. I
wouldn't just swing around; I'd fight
silk

that inake

crime.

proitjise.

Adam Summers
an

(asumnners@ua.edu)

assistant.p'rofessor

of bioengineering and

is

of ecology- and evolutionary biology at the

University of California, Irvine.

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.

with sunthe sandy

beaches of the Florida Keys
darkening afternoon

are vacant in the

Palm fronds

picks up. Bahia

acres

crackle as the

Honda

wind

State Park,

524

of limestone and beach in the

is bracing for one

of nature's most destructive forces: a
hurricane. Hunkered down under veg-

lower Florida Keys,

etation, small

Miami blue

each barely the

laboratory

help a Florida butterfly escape extinction?

crowded
Usually
loving tourists,

sky.

little

size

of

butterflies,

thumbnail,

Sancliez

subtropical ecosystems throughout the

Caribbean. But now, coupled with hu-

man

land-use practices that fragment

habitats

and disrupt natural biological

processes, even a single hurricane can

a devastating impact on wildhfe.
For rare organisms already at risk, such
as the Miami blue, a massive storm can
blow away an entire species forever.
Fifty years ago, the story was entire-

have

ly different. The

Miami

blue (Cyclargiis

endemic

thomasi bethunebakeri),

to

was common, its future seem-

hang on for dear Hfe. In the next twenty-four hours they wiU fight a critical
battle for survival, one that if lost,

Florida,

could lead to their extinction.

Florida, of course, is no stranger to
hurricanes. Storms have shaped the

city,

landscape of the peninsula for thou-

southwestern Gulf coast, and south

from the Florida Keys to the Dry Tortugas [see map on this page]. It was at

sands of years, just as they have acted

as a

major force in the evolution of

ami blue to vanish, virtually unnoticed,

from the scene. The butterfly was aU
but eliminated from the Florida mainland and the western barrier islands by
the late 1980s, when the last few reports of sightings trickled in from Sanibel Island and sites near the city of
Homestead. In the Keys, where the insect was once abundant, it was also losing ground. By the early 1990s, the
known populations of Miami blues
were isolated and scarce.
Then on August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into south
Florida with sustained winds of about
145 miles per hour. In the aftermath of

ingly secure. Originally described firom

specimens collected near

its

namesake

the butterfly once ranged along

coastal parts of southern

mainland

Florida, on several barrier islands off the

home

hammocks

in coastal

where tropical hardwoods

grew in dense, broad-leaved
forests,

along the sunlit mar-

gins of those forests, in pine

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

scrub.

^1
Miami
,

Key West^

Honda

Bahia

State Park

National Park

Key

Largo^

Homestead

endangered Miami blue is shaded

999 the butterfly population was
reduced to about fifty individuals, all living in Bahia
Honda State Park. A successful program of captive
Historic range of the
in

orange. By

breeding has led to the reintroduction of the species

in

26

Everglades and Biscayne national parks.

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

Now

amid beachside

aU those habitats

the storm's devastation, even

terfly, failed

to register a single verified

sighting of a

ther severely firagmented or lost

ists

of urbanismall fraction of

entirely as a result

Only

the original coastal vegetation

remains, primarily

as

remnant

Miami

and amateur

had died out. Seven years passed

without a sighting. Finally, on November 29, 1999, a small colony was
fly

discovered in Bahia
a

it

was

hurricane

up

call for

those

Miaini blue.

who

The

wake-

love the

gradual loss

of habitat was causing the Mi-

aUke began

to fear that the once-plentiful butter-

preserves.

Perhaps

blue. Lepidopter-

naturalists

pockets or discontinuous small

that finally served as a

Key Lar-

go, a historic stronghold for the but-

have become endangered, ei-

zation.

Biscaynsf

Dry Tortugas

rocklands, and

Honda

State Park,

popular tourist destination along the

Overseas Highway, about forty miles
east

of Key West.

In the years that followed,

leagues and

at

my

col-

the University of Flori-

da in Gainesville and others have tak-

for illegally collecting, harming, or

populations, while monitoring the

known colony

the south Florida ecosystem. Although

even disturbing what had become one

of the nation's rarest invertebrates. (The

the effort has had its share of false starts

and dark moments, a program to save

nent just before the fourth anniversary

en part in

concerted effort to find,

breed, and reintroduce

the

Miami

blue

is

Miami

now on

blues to

its

way

The

being a quahfied success.

may encourage others in similar

to

details
straits.

temporary protection became permaof the discovery of the Bahia

Honda

on November 19, 2003, when

FWC unanimously approved the
species-management plan for the
colony,

the dramatic rediscovery

Following

of the butterfly colony, preUminary

at Bahia Honda State

though the surveys were extensive, no new sites were identified.
Those disappointing results focused our
attention back on the single locale on
Bahia Honda Key now more important than ever. There we made detailed
observations and studied the population
by gently netting, numbering, releasing, and lat-

Park. Yet

er recapturing individual

estimates logged fewer than fifty indi-

and prompted a swift

immediate conservation action

technique
mark-recap-

viduals remaining

butterflies (a

call for

known

as

ture). In that

from an atypical source the general

Concerned amateur naturalists

way we

confirmed the existence

of more than a dozen
distinct breeding colonies, a hopeful result.
But we also estimated
that at any one time the
park typically supported
fewer than a hundred

public.

individuals.

Preliminary estimates

of adult longevity were

even more worrisome.

Female

butterflies typi-

cally lived less

than

five

days; males lasted barely

two. Moreover, both

Paper cups (opposite page) at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville each
house an egg-laying Miami-blue female. Sprigs of nicker bean provide substrate for the eggs,
and cotton swabs injected with artificial nectar feed the hungry mothers. Mature caterpillar
(above left) feeds in the wild while being tended by its ant companions. Female Miami blue
(above right) shows off the underside of two of her wings in their upright, resting position. An
array of spots are visible on her left hind wing, along with the penned marking (number 1 12)

sexes were remarkably

sedentary: individuals

seldom wandered more

than thirty feet from
their birthplace in the

of the naturalist.

Both traits posed

would have to
if we were going to manage and
habitat.

hurdles we

North American Butterfly As-

Miami

blue and

sociation petitioned the Florida Fish

da's list

of endangered

firom the

andWUdHfe Conservation Commission

(FWC) to list the Miami blue as an endangered species on an emergency ba-

The

sis.

on
its

petitioners based their request

laundry hst of potential threats to

continued

survival: the loss

mentation of

habitat;

and

frag-

mismanagement

of the existing habitat, particularly

through a failure to conduct regular
controlled fires that maintain it; and
the unethical collecting of specimens.
Fortunately for the butterfly,

FWC

temporarily granted the petitioners'

request. Listing the insect as

gered meant there would be

endan-

stiff fines

its

addition to Flori-

clear

restore the population

species.)

of these insects

effectively.

With

that success, conservation

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

common, neither professional biol-

ogists

nor amateur lepidopterists had

ever extensively examined the butterfly,

and

as a result,

many

details

of

its

biology and ecology remained poorly

understood.

We began with surveys, hoping to

uncover any other extant Miami-blue

Our most

intriguing preliminary

finding, though,
butterfly's
larval,

may have been

choice of food during

the
its

or caterpfllar, stage. EarHer pop-

ulations had dined exclusively on balloon vine (Cardiospermum corindmn),

whose distinctive, inflated pods caterpillars chewed through to get at the
"main course," the developing seeds
inside. But balloon vine does not occur
within the park, and it is scarce
throughout the lower Keys. The remaining Miami-blue caterpillars fed
instead on gray nicker bean (Caesalpinia

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY

27

bondtic),

To keep our fragile beasts

thorny, rambling shrub

doors without access to living flow-

sometitnes encroaches on other vege-

ers,

tation

much

other

is

not

weedy

like a

invasive.

uncommon among

we needed some kind of artifi-

cial nectar.

one host plant to an-

Shifting from

ing

them

We began by hand-feed-

several times a day.

for us

and

stressful for

seemed extreme. Balloon vine, their

food of choice, produces toxic

much

trial

and

compounds

But the

process proved both labor-intensive

in-

sects.But in the blues' case, the svwtch

way

for

them

error,

to feed

them. After

we
on

devised
their

own

that

schedule and without our touching

ward off most herbivores. The Miaini blue had evolved highly specific

them: In each paper cup we placed

a cotton swab soaked in Fierce Melonflavored Gatorade. By using this

cyanide-generating

metabolic pathways that enabled it to

tolerate those nasty chemicals.

The

we could periodthe"nectar"with an insulin syringe, without disturbing the

"artificial flower,"

adaptation presumably provided the

larvae

with

ically refresh

a competitive advantage:

they could feed

on

most

plants that

butterflies.

And

the Gatorade had

other animals find unpalatable. So in

the unexpected benefit of outper-

switching plant families (from Sapin-

forming

daceae to Caesalpiniaceae), the but-

ficial

terfly has apparently

abandoned

Moreover, the Miami blue completely altered

its lifestyle.

Now,

the other forms of arti-

we

tried, substantially

tinued to lay eggs

in-

for

more than

forty days!

stead of entering the protected con-

of a balloon- vine pod, the developing larvae feed on the terminal

growth of nicker bean. That leaves

attention of a female, such as the

them exposed and seemingly

half of the image, sucking nectar with her proboscis.

fines

butterfly) has

couple of days of

the wild to attract the

vul-

Male Miami blue (lower

life in

one

perhaps a
in

the upper

nerable to a range of potentially fatal threats,

all

nectar

enhancing the females' longevity.

Some of them survived and con-

its

original niche.

including inclement weath-

and predators.

As soon as our laboratory program

was breeding plenty of butterflies, we
scouted a variety of relatively inaccessible places in south Florida and
ranked them

nucleus of just a hundred eggs

Starter

wUd, we

first

as

potential release

our captive -bred

for

butterflies.

sites

Our

choices were in Everglades and

established a

Biscayne national parks, because they

Happily, the larvae receive a helping

captive colony in our laboratories. The

hand. They are regularly tended by sev-

population grew rapidly in the months

remote and protected from direct

impact. To maximize our
chances of establishing colonies, we
planned to release both adult butterflies
and fuUy grown caterpillars. The first
reintroductions began in the spring of
2004 and continued throughout the
year, ultimately ushering more than

er, pesticides,

eral species

many

of

collected in the

Like the larvae of

ant.

other species in the Lycaenidae

family,

Miami

blues secrete small

that followed;

under

artificial

Florida

"sun," hundreds of hungry caterpillars

busily devoured the cut nicker bean

we

amounts of sugar- and carbohydraterich droplets, which the ants feverishly

consume. In return for the plentiful

placed in rows of paper cups that served

food, the ants protect their herbivorous

adults

companions from roaming predators

and parasitoids by patrolling the surrounding plant and aggressively attack-

We maintained them naturally, in large

ing intruders. The larvae can also emit

mated,

an alarm,

controlled conditions of the laborato-

chemical signal that

nearby ants to

rally at

the

first

calls

sign of

Once the prehminary

was behind

as their

makeshift homes.

Accommodating

the short-lived

was somewhat more

outdoor

difficult.

and observed
As soon as a female

us,

field research

we were

ready to

plan the recovery. As part of a coordi-

her back into the

ry and placed her alongside a fresh leaf

counterparts do in the wild, thereby

increasing egg production and direct-

for the butterfly early in 2003. With a

ly

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

2,500

Miami

blues into the wild.

That

reproduced.

we brought

and federal agencies

effort, state

human

deposit a dozen or more eggs a day on

such tender leaves. Our hope was to
get our females to live longer than their

flight cages,

carefully.

agreed to launch a breeding program

nated

are

might have been the happy

ending to a simple story. But the
chaotic weather of south Florida has
posed a formidable challenge. In 2004
much of the state was in the midst of
a prolonged drought, and the wilted
landscape was less than ideal for the
blues' survival. StiU, at several of the release sites we monitored, we saw signs
that the butterflies had subsequently

them

of nicker bean in a mesh-covered paper cup. In the wild, individual females

trouble.

28

alive in-

native to the Florida coasts that

improving our conservation

efforts.

The

following year proved equally

(Continued on page 75)

I<sp ecial Advertising

Secti

2^}

ARIZONA
RIZONA
sweeping

and

IS

A LAND OF DRAMATIC RANGE,

variety,

and inspiring abundance,

forests, of towering saguaros

canyons

just short drives

autumn, the

state

of deserts

and awe-inspiring

from bustling

city

life.

infused with stunning color.

is

Come

With

dazzling range of choices, lovers of the Great Outdoors can personalize their Arizona experience. Start your day

on

a Scottsdale

golf course or bird-watch in Sierra Vista, then hit the slopes in

Flagstaff before dinner. Explore the rugged

jeep

and

visit the

in the afternoon.

ing

ancient

cliff

morning desert by

dwellings or art galleries of Jerome

Boat on the Colorado River or hike breathtak-

backwoods, then cap your day with

a poolside

massage or

elegant dinner under the stars.

This

fall, visit

the

Arboretum at Flagstaff to see the magnifisumac and bigtooth maple, and the gold-

cent auburn hues of the

en tones of the willows.

to see gold

Stroll

through the Mixed Conifer Habitat

quaking aspen and reddish orange currant bush, and don't miss

Herb Garden, which boasts a beautiful display of Virginia creeper in

brilliant reds. While in Flagstaff, stop by the Museum of Northern
Arizona, whose mission is to inspire a sense of love and responsibility for
the

the beauty and diversity of the Colorado Plateau through collecting,

^C^Special Advertising Sectional

studying, interpreting, and preserving the region's natural and cultural heritage.

Museum's four main disciplines: anthropology,

The Museum has permanent exhibits in five

Exhibits relate to the

biology, geology,
galleries

and

fine art.

and changing exhibits

in three additional galleries.

North of Sedona, a picturesque

city

area of red rock monoliths, you'll find

surrounded by a unique geological

Oak Creek Canyon,

chasm along Highway 89A. Whether you hike

of colors this

fall,

a breathtaking

or bike, you'll see a

rainbow

from the rusts and golds of

oak, sycamore, and aspen trees to the pinks of

sugar maples.

On your journey be sure to stop

and inspect ancient Anasazi petroglyphs. With

its

elevation of 4,500 feet, at the upper margin of

the Sonoran Desert, along with

change of seasons and rich

its

distinct

riparian areas,

Sedona

has a varied population of birds and so

more. Additional information

Distria Ranger Station.
color,

is

year. For

worth

your

free

long

visit

Arizona

much

available at

the|

a vibrant variety of

experiences.

cultures,

Arizona

With

is

.and choices,""

any time of the

travel packet, call

1-877-636-2783 toll-free or visit arizonaguide.com.

Grab
More

to

life.

Clockwise from left: The

Arboretum at Flagstaff in
the fall; Havasu Falls;
Anasazi petroglyphs

Immerse yourself

in a

day

full of

adventure and a night

discover and definitely more than you expect,

all

full of fun.

waiting here for you. For

your free travel packet, call 1-877-636-2783 toll-free or visit arizonaguide.com.

<;;ecial Advertising Secti 7n^^

TUCSON
Kitt

WITH

Peak National Observatot7

SOME OF THE CLEAREST SKIES

and many

not surprising that southern Arizona

Astronomy Capital

IN

THE

U.S.,

most respected observatories,

of the world's

of the World.

is

Kitt

known

as

it's

the

Peak National

Observatory, only a ninety-minute, scenic drive from

Tucson,

is

perched high above the Sonoran Desert.

largest collection of optical telescopes

It

boasts the world's

and two radio telescopes. For an

unforgettable experience, reserve a nighttime tour

(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

35 miles from Tucson.

The Whipple

base of

at the

Mount Hopkins,

features displays

and exhibits on

astronomy and astrophysics, including the history of optical telescopes from

the time of Galileo to today. Guided, reserved-seat bus tours for the gener-

Tucson

and

is

world renownedlo.

clear night skies: stargazers

can count on 350 nights of

viewing a year

al

public are conducted Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from mid-

March through November from 9:30

to about 3:00 p.m.; ride to the

views

at

One

8,550 feet elevation along the

of the country's

way

(tel.

520-670-5707).

newest observatory complexes, Mt. Graham

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.

|c^Special Advertising SectionS^

(tel. 928-428-2739). Don't leave

Southern Arizona without spending several nights observing the skies on

including the world's most powerful

your own. Enjoy open country stargazing

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

Benson with an observatory and planetarium.

Southern Arizona also
species

especially

throughout the year.

is

a birders' paradise,

with a wide variety of

hummingbirds, which are

It's

plentiful

viewable

located along the migratory path between

Canada and Mexico, guaranteeing some world-class birding. More

at Madera Canyon, an outstanding

than 200 birds have been recorded

cross-section of Southwestern bird habitats from desert grassland to

mountain

forest.

Miles of grassland, riparian woodland, and cienegas

("marshes") attract a host of species to Las Cienegas National

Conservation Area, the

site of a historic cattle

ranch near Sonoita.

And

including the rare gray hawk have been spotted in the

275 species
groves of cottonwoods and willows at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek
Preserve.

Between bird-watching and

stargazing, take time out to visit the

wealth of Spanish colonial missions and churches and surround yourself

with Old West history. Start planning

now call 1-888-2-Tucson

or go to visitTucson.org.

The Heart & Soul

lou'll he amazedfrom the

momentjou get here.

of the Desert.
Captivating sights are everywhere. Lush desert plants and wildlife,

fascinating Southwestern architecture, awe-inspiring mountains,

spectacular sunsets. The sunshine brightensj/our spirit as a clear

fresh breeze coolsjour soul. Why, even the colors are different here.

Tucson

is

the authentic desert paradise.

TUc&oni
Metropolitan Tucson Convention

&

Visitors

Bureau

|C^Special Advertising SectionS^

QUEBEC CITY

Snow geese

Follow the Geese:

It's

Migration

at

Cap Tourmente

N 2008, QUEBEC WILL CELEBRATE ITS 400TH ANNIVERSARY.

Much has happened since Samuel de Champlain founded this beauti-

Time Around QuebecXify

North

ful city,

marking the beginning of the French presence

America.

Many of Quebec's ancestral families originated from the area

in

which from the end of September to mid-October

of C6te-de-Beaupre,

bursting with spectacular shades of red and gold. Enjoy the autum-

is

nal glory along footpaths

and scenic spots dotting the

never-ending source of inspiration for

Beaupre coast

is

artists

coastal landscape, a

from near and

afar.

The

the cradle of French civilization in North America, but

the spring and

You may
species

Atlantic

fall,

also observe these magnificent birds

at the

Cap Tourmente

Flyway and one

protected natural area

where

is

along with 305 other

Quebec. This

of the best bird-watching spots in

located

in

National Wildlife Area, at the heart of the

on the north shore

great coastal marshes, plains,

of the St.

Lawrence

River,

and mountains meet. The best way to see

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

more than a million greater snow geese

spectacle unique to Quebec City.

also part of the migration path for

is

to

of trails

trails,

including a 180-foot-high suspension bridge. Don't miss October's

Geese

cultural activities, an arts

and crafts fair,

more information,

related to the migration. For

Whatever the time

Anne

Snow

which features family and

and shows and entertainment

Festival (Festival de I'oie des neiges),

call

418-827-4591.

of year, take a gondola ride to the top of Mont-Sainte-

to experience the breathtaking landscape below.

stunning panorama unfolds

itself in

all

directions,

From

the summit, a

from Quebec City to

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

for local arts

and

crafts.

be great fun with family and

Come

friends.

rain or shine,

l<sFecial

Advertising Secti

2^^

ICELAND
WATERFALLS, GEYSERS, GLACIERS,
VOLCANOES,
and
geothermal
ancient lava

pools,

fields:

Iceland

is

paradise. Devotees of the great outdoors might ski in Akureyri,

Iceland's second largest city, located
Circle; take a

snowmobile

60 miles south

time golf underneath the midnight sun.

in the

land of

fire

and

ice.

of the Arctic

safari to a glacier; explore a lava field

friendly, sure-footed Icelandic horse; or play a

Spend part of your autumn

a naturalist's

on

round of night-

Swimming

popular

is

throughout the country, and most towns and villages have out-

door or indoor swimming pools

filled

hot springs (temperatures average

at

with water from natural

84 degrees).

For birdwatching, head to Latrabjarg

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

population; breeding ducks at Lake

the great skua colony

Myvatn

on the sands

in

in the north;

South Iceland

and

the

largest in the world.

Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, with

nities,

its

neighboring

commu-

has a population of around 180,000 and offers an inter-

esting

mix

Best of

all,

of cosmopolitan culture
you'll

and

local village roots.

never be more than a 15-minute cab ride

from the great outdoors.

ICGlSnCl. A

pristine

wonderland abundant with natural

virgin glacial lagoons, breathtaking waterfalls

geysers.

and active volcanoes and

From these protected environs comes some of the freshest

lamb and water known

fish,

to Earth. Energetic Reykjavik's great nightlife

hot restaurants are pure

Visit

Inot springs,

bliss.

Come

and

icelandnatur ally. com

get a taste for yourself.

lcelandNaturally.com to learn more about Iceland and Icelandic products. Also, register online to win an exciting adventure

trip.

Ic^Special Advertising Sectionp3|

MARYLAND
famed Eastern Shore or

Whether on

its

Maryland

the ideal state to experience autumn outdoors

is

in the Capital

Region,

DORCHESTER COUNTY

WITH

20

MILES OF LAND-TO-LAND BOUNDARY,

Dorchester County

is

surrounded by the Choptank River,

Chesapeake Bay and Nanticoke River. Acres

of marshes,

wetlands and coves makes this a natural place to explore the

great outdoors. Dotted with fishing villages
restaurants, Dorchester
life.

This

fall,

County

offers a

and waterfront

glimpse into the waterman's way of

pack your binoculars, bicycles or kayaks and head to

Dorchester to experience some of the best bird-watching on the Eastern

Shore, including the largest concentrations of breeding bald eagles on the

East Coast, north of Florida. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, founded

in 1933, attracts flocks of

wintering waterfowl including thousands of ducks

(twenty different kinds have been documented here), geese, and tundra

swans

as they

head south on the Atlantic Flyway. Bike or drive along

Wildlife Drive, which offers plenty of lookouts, or hike along

just off the drive,

through pines and hardwoods. South and

trails,

west of the

iovatcm
Yours to explore...
legends of

the Underground Railroad story,

watermen, walking tours

in

Quaint

communities and meandering along Dorchester's

pristine waterwaj/s.

Seek our natural beauty,

classi|

architecture, maritime traditions, authentic

skipjack cruises and exQiiisite Bay cuisine...

^^

y^*^*^^

2"

'"

^^

Heart of

Chesapeake Country.
Chesapeake
*"

Country/

FREDERICK COUNTY,
Sliop, dine, hike,

taste

and

spires"

MARYLAND

bil<e, fish, golf, learn,

enjoy...

from the "clustered

of Historic Downtown Frederick

to great sites county-wide like the

MonocacyAqueducton theC&O ma^

Canal. Free info 1-800-800-9699 |^

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.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, you'll find 25,000 acres of

and wetlands

in Fishing

tidal

Bay Wildlife Management Area. Excellent oppor-

tunities are available in this relatively

untouched area

to drive or paddle in search of bald eagles, rails

KENT COUNTY

marsh

for nature enthusiasts

and assorted waterfowl.

FREDERICK COUNTY

HISTORIC KENT COUNTY, ON MARYLAND'S

Eastern Shore,

travel to Frederick

County

to revel in the area's

parks and recreational amenities. Highlighted by

the Catoctin
the county's
ipal

Mountains and the Potomac River,

90 national,

state,

activities

such as swimming, boating, camping,

skating, horseback riding,

in

county, and munic-

parks offer a wide variety of recreational

and nature programs

environments ranging from urban

ences are to be enjoyed in every season.

fly

fishermen. Big Hunting Creek was

first in

Maryland

to

be designated

Chesapeake Bay, scenic rivers, art

and specialty shops,

museums

& more.

Visitor Paclcet,

and

with

its

life

nature lovers. Explore the reeds and rushes of

ers,

home to

ducks, geese, kingfish-

herons, and ospreys. These estuarine habi-

tats also offer

nearly ideal spawning and nurs-

ery conditions for

many

including

fish species,

alewife, shad, blue fish, perch, oysters,

blue crab. Striped bass,

known

and the

locally as rock-

perhaps the most prized

fish

found

in

these surrounding waters. Don't miss Eastern

Neck

National Wildlife Refuge, an unspoiled

island with

habitats

characteristic

of the

as a fly fishing only stream, then later

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,

the tidal shore,

fish, is

Long popular with

towns and

broken only

immense variety of plant and animal

city parks to

wilderness reserves. Wonderful outdoor experi-

of waterfront

by the tidewater tributaries of the Chesapeake

Bay. Kent is a haven for fishing and boating
enthusiasts,

EVERY YEAR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE

is full

stretches of low, rolling farmlands

..

please contact:

www.kentcounty.com
410-778-0416
Kent County Office of Tourism Development

Chesapeake region, from pine

meadows

to tidal wetlands.

forests

to


Ic^Special Advertising SectionS|

QtmnAnn

f*ll\

T\-

QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY

Coimty
::(^cdAAAdaM to

tk&

QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, FORMED

was named

IN 1706 WHEN MARYLAND

Great Britain and

Today the county is the gateway to the Eastern Shore of the
Chesapeake Bay. Whether you want to try your hand at crabbing, fish-

was

a royal colony,

after the then-ruler of

Ireland.

ing, boating, or water-skiing,

fun on the water.

L-/pend

the day or just a

few hours touring the open

farmlands and small historic
towns on September 2,
October 7, and November 4
from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. when
the County's 18 historic sites
open their doors to visitors.
Take in the pastoral landscapes from the Cross Island
and Kent Island South Trails
while pedaling throughout
our scenic Chesapeake Bay
countryside.

Grab a

The

county's parks and

through woods ablaze with

one-mile wood-chipped

fall

trail,

tion for spotting wildlife

trails

colors, fields,

beckon the weary

traveler to stroll

and marshland. Metapeake Park,

species.

The

wanders through canopied

trail

Chesapeake Bay, where park patrons can

observe breathtaking sunsets. Golfers will enjoy sweeping views of the Chester
River at the Queenstown Harbor Golf Course. This 36-hole championship course
boasts immaculately manicured bentgrass tees, greens, and fairways perfectly suited
for a

to the

superb golfing experience.

WORCESTER COUNTY
IS

A PERFECT TIME FOR NATURE

buffs to

experience Worcester County, on

FALL

Maryland's Eastem Shore. Maryland's only sea-

bite at a

county has the

side

flat

waterside restaurant; rest

that cyclists treasure.

yourself at a charming BScB.

bike

trail

that

land and wide shoulders

The

scenic Viewtrail 100, a

meanders through small roads

in

Worcester's unspoiled countryside, leads cyclists

through

and

farmlands

Pocomoke River and

forests,

along

cypress swamps, and

is

the

only

short distance from the Assateague National

Seashore. You'll run across

more than

charming bed-and-breakfasts along the

and don't

forget to stop for a meal of our

crab cakes.

With

its

few
trail,

famous

variety of environments

including primeval forest and barrier island

it's

not surprising that Worcester also has the

best birding in Maryland.

have been sighted. In the

Free Travel Planner

call

888.400.7787 or log on
www.discoverqueenannes.com.

nestled deep in a pine forest, provides an ideal loca-

and plant

woods and proceeds down

hard not to find an opportunity to have

it's

fall,

Assateague

is

home

to

Almost 300 species

such migratory species as

peregrine falcons, merlins, and flocks of tree swallows; you'll see clusters of northern

gannets as they pass just offshore.

^ [^Special

Advertising SectionVf

TdWu
Explore historic ^^JtW
Easton, one of -i

America 's top

one hundred
small towns

jC>.,*,<C''

i^Li

NORTH OF DORCHESTER, YOU'LL

>

Tjgjw.

and

^j.

of shoreline. Don't miss the

art communities.

^^A

Discover 300

SKf^' wi^vll''*^'

';"c'-r~~-^

Bay Maritime Museum

W^

history, the

'

Strait

Lighthouse, and the largest collec-

Chesapeake Bay
and the waterfront

tion of

of St. Michaels,
Tilghman Island and Oxford.

for a

guide and calendar of events.

www/.tourtalbot.org

St.,

Easton,

traditional boats

8- to 27-day

the museum's Apprentice

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-

builders. Visit www.tourtalbot.org for a

Talbot County Office of Tourism

Harrison

With

Day program (every Saturday and

Sunday from 10:00 to 4:00), visitors can
build a wooden skiff, or you can make

Cain-888-BAY-STAYforyourfree

1 1 S.

Chesapeake Bay

in the country.

villages

visitors

in St. Michaels,

with ten exhibit buildings, a 1879 Hooper

dA

years of maritime

6oo miles
Chesapeake

find Talbot County, with over

^^^M^f%

Orient Lines offers you the wonders of

South America, from Rio to Santiago. Voyoge

to the world's

events.

southernmost town. See

glacier-studded fjords. Shop for the perfect lapis

Experience the majesty of Tierro Del Fuego.

lazuli.

Discover for yourself

ORIENT LINES
the philosophy of Orient Lines, the

Destination Cruise Specialists.

service

and extraordinary

the hidden

gems
famed

conquistadors. Plus, our award-winning

'THE WORLD IS YOURS TO DISCOVER"

is

oil

of this exotic country that attracted

With

its

superb

CruiseTours give you the added bonus of hotel

stoys and city sightseeing before or after your
cruise. Join us

known

and discover why Orient Lines

is

as "The Destination Cruise Specialists."

cruises. Orient Lines

guarantees a journey of luxury and learning in

the four corners of the world. Its flagship,

Marco

Polo, travels to a series of

European ports

in October, ranging from Italy and the Riviera

to

an Adriatic and Aegean adventure.

In winter. Orient Lines explores the cultural

and natural splendor of South America

and Antarctica on dazzling CruiseTours and

diversity

Orient LINES

Cruise Expeditions. You'll view the majestic

'

THE DESTINATION CRUISE SPECIALISTS

Chilean
visit the

fjords,

Patagonia's wilderness, and

Montevideo, and Santiago. You may even venture to the magnificent Iguazu
the

2007 schedule

at

Falls.

for brochures, call 1-800-333-7300.

all

and shore excursions, including spectacular

Wherever you

transatlantic crossings that revive the golden age of luxury cruising.

for reservations, see your travel agent,

See

http://www.orientlines.com/Galendar/calendar07.htm for

of Orient Lines' exciting sailings

orientlmK.com

passionate cities of Buenos Aires,

"Fare

shown

for i

in

U.S. dollars for CniiseTour onlj; per person,

minimum

aicgoi)' iniddc statowim. applicable

additional 10 CruistTour
apply. All offcs art based

choose to go, you're

likely to find the destination

with Orient Lines.

liiit,

on

a\'ailablc

a\^ilabilii)-,

occuponci-,
Airfere

is

may

apadt^ concroUol not combinahlc with otha

offes, subjn [0 (Jiai^ without noricc and

may be viithdrami

tans, service chaigcs and fcB air addinoniL Orient

mors

bisd on double

on selca aitia? only.

from sdea U.S. dtits and dcpamirc tans

Lino

or omJssioni Ships Rejjsny- Bahamas.

is

at

any rime. GovTmrocnr

not nsponsible

2006

far t\-pogtapbcal

NQ Ccrporaotin, Ld.

Ic^Special Advertising SectionS|>

ALA

k^ivirr, ;'v

t:;m"

lown for

its

Maya

sf
heritage

and

quickly varying topography^

colonial cities^

making

it

Guatemala

//

also

is

a biologically

rich country with

the perfect place to take a Great Outdoors adventure.

Take A GLANCE
AT AN EXOTIC

Ihoose from ten ecosystems,

ranging from cloud forests tucked

LAND.

away

in the

mountains to lush jun-

mangroves on the coasts. In

minutes you can travel from fog-covered
forest to desert. There are 700 species of
Igles to

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

villages with markets

you can pick up Maya

where

weavings and

other indigenous items.

From

here,

determined birders can

begin the climb to the top of Toliman vol-

cano

in

guan.

search of the elusive horned

With

distinctive, coral-colored

horn emerging from

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.

FOR MORE INFORMATtON

CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL AGENT
www.vi5itguatemala.com
Toll free 1-800-464-8281

tial

is

its

forehead, the

in danger of extinction.

It's

par-

to trees rather than the ground. Far

easier to see at the foot of the volcanoes

are

two other

natives, the

pink-headed

warbler and the azure-rumped tanager.

The

national bird, the quetzal,

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

of Large (19'54), starring the

George Barrows and Anne

Bancroft.

Photo from the Scavnr Canter for Western History Research,

.

Natural History

Museum

Jane Jewell Barrows.

of Los Angeles County. Couiie-sy

'
.

Jmo tn^ loot

or

wafK t()e

.,,

:p(cmR!

A ghost ship has been spotted at the Natural

History

Museum with a ghastly o^lfgg!^ apparition at

the helm.

Rumor has it, Peg-Leg Pete and

his scurvy

Xfyi Ctirse of ;j&g-Xg:)Me

dog$ are searching for their lost treasure.

Naturalist
for a

members

($275)

MM

and higher will be invited to join us on dclBBlTz^, 2006

piratejhemed adventure at the third annual Haunted Museum. Fellows ($1,500)

areinvit^^^roiHl'additional.quests. Upgrade todayand join us on this pirate

advehtuilBf^flmg 213-763-3512.

^;^

r^^^^:;

*sss;.

'

kngeles Counly

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Polishing a

Civic

^%
iV^^I

ewe

Dear Friend,
This

fall

we

prepare for the restoration and seismic strengthening of our 1913 Building.

Originally a freestanding structure, the Los Angeles

and Art was the

first

museum in the city to open its

celebration that took place also

the groundbreaking for the Armory. To

Aqueduct the day

County

Museum

saw the debut of Exposition Park's

commemorate

of History, Science,

doors on November

6, 1913.

The

civic

State Exposition Building

and

the completion of William Mulholland's Los Angeles

before, a fountain of water shot into the air

from the center of what

is

now

the rose garden.

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,

arcaded formal entrance.

Its focal

and an

point was, and remains, a rotunda surrounded by scaghola columns, fitted

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.

Our Museum began with

Tar

The

Pits. Its

1913 Building

- or "Rotunda"

Register of Historic Places. By

time in Los Angeles'

history,

as

it is

also

known -

is still

preserving this civic jewel,

when the

city's cultural

we

remarkable and

is

included in the National

also preserve our connection to a formative

landscape was beginning to take shape. The

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

inspire wonder, discovery

iui

our natural and cultural worlo

#po and Goo

-Fomjly Overnight Adventure

Friday,

October 27

at

7 pm through Saturday, October 28

Surrounded by mammoths, mastodons, and saber-toothed

Page Museum

sleeping bag, air mattress, and flashlight.

La BreaTarPits

by an

adult.

cats.

Wear

at

^9

am

your costume and bring your

Snack and breakfast provided. Ages 5 and up accompanied

Reservotions required, col/ f2I3j 763-ED4U.

Members $40; Nonmembers $45.

Our

Masters or Di sguise
he natural world

T!

filled

is

with things that look like

of actor and disguise impresario Lon

On

Chaney.

Chaney is
Phantom of

the back page,

in his

other things, and

example, kelpfish like seaweed fronds,

and shrimpfish

like the spines

of a

sea urchin.

Opera (1925)

sometimes, things

the

that look like

costume, holding a

Below

makeup

of normally unrelated organisms that

nothing

^- '^

at all.

Humankind

also

has a penchant for

illusion,

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

our specimens incorporate the

science, of disguise.

art,

and

collection includes the rare

from the Mexican

made

copper

state

tigre

of

in the early

20th century. Our History Department

offers a

group

share a color pattern for defensive

is

and D are
worm. At least

nudibranchs; E

is

a flat

and D have very toxic chemical

defenses, and it's likely that A and

Our
dioramas also show
in.

E mimic the toxic species so predators

confuse them and don't attack.

And

you thought two Wonder Womans

the same Halloween party was a
curious phenomenon.

at

animals blending into their backgrounds. The North American

Mammal

Hall's artic fox, for example,

one of several species that alternates

between a white winter coat and a

Department boasts costume elements

from all over the world. Its mask

Guerrero, probably

is

The Museum's Anthropology

(above)

"mimicry complex,"

B, C,

resemble the
branches and leaves

it

purposes. The animal in figure

though of

are different.

is

shell-bearing sea slug; B, C,

course our goals

we use

"^j

1^^

kit that

glimpse inside another world of

brown summer coat to blend

snow and dirt, respectively.

But perhaps the most diverse theater of

disguise

is

the world's oceans. Carrier

crabs devote hind legs to toting

anemones

or carved out sponges on

their backs. Decorator crabs

- the entertainment industry.

The Museum's early Hollywood
collection is one of the world's most
significant, with artifacts such as George
Barrows' self-made gorilla suit (seen on
the Naturalist cover), which appeared in
several films and television shows.

Velcro-like hairs that allow

Other highlights include the belongings

at

illusion

in with

attach shells

and

bits

their exoskeletons,

have

them

to

of seaweed to

maldng them

indistinguishable from the ocean floor.

shown with

(The decorator above

is

and without

and sea

costume.)
all:

its

algae

Many don't use

squirt

Whatever a disguise's motivation from survival to a littie trick-or-treat

candy - there has always been power

in

appearing as something "other."

accessories

Stonefish look like rocks, for

Kristin Friedrich

museum

do

things to

exhibitions

muse

at the

Pleistocene

GARDEN
Super Spiders
[5j NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Saturday, October 14,

am

10

Visit

Uj NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Through November

5,

all

2006

am

II

our fabulous Spider Pavilion and leam

about awesome arachnids! We'U watch

craft,

take over our south lawn habitat.

Curb

and hear spider

Events are available

basis.

amazing Orb Weavers spin their webs,

and then stick around to see what

stories! All

programs

FREE with paid Museum admission.

are

your arachnophobia as you watch

at

2006

spiders eat their lunch, create a creeping

After the butterflies have gone, spiders

happens

No

on a first-come, first-served
more

reservations are required. For

information about the Critter Club, please

contact the Discovery Center at (21J) 'j6y}2}0.

feeding time! Adults $3;

Students and Seniors $2; Children (yi2)

$1.

Tickets are sold in half-hour time slots

throughout the day. Members receive

admission and the first available

'

---.
~^

FREE
/

'

^i.-'-'i

.-^i

".-

".'

r""^
I'.i
''

^^H

i^tf

I^Ht^"^

9:30 am

Hunting

in

fossils

Manager of Malacology,

provided

by the Brotman Foundation of California

Support for Cntter Club

the

is

provided by

Gary Saltz Foundation and

Transamerica. Support for family and

children's

programs

is

provided by

Dinosoles (www.dinosoles.com/nhmla).

Saul,

how the land

has

changed, and admire the reintroduced

native species of coastal sage scrub

chaparral plants

tlrat

and

once thrived here.

former Collection

Museum Research Associate.

rich fossQ site

years ago. Learn about

with Ijndsey

Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology and

cun-ent

Ice

2006

pm

Groves, Collection

Age garden that was

planted to resemble what Hancock Park
might have looked like 10,000 to 40,000
blooming

^B

Search for marine

toothed cat and ancient ground sloth in

this

...inMEilfll

Canyon

12:00

and LouEUa
footsteps of the great saber-

'V

l|HH^r^^^'Tx'

Saturday, October 21,

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

Support for family programs

....

AL'' r

dirt

is

under your

a great place to get

This

some

nails right along with

Museum scientists.

Bring a bag for your

best finds. Participants provide their

transportation. Grades 2

accompanied by an

adult.

General Admission $39.

and

own

up,

Members $2q;

coming soon!

Group Overnight

CrAUENfiERX

Adventures

SAI-AKi

[Jj

Vn

FOR PATRON FAMILY MEMBERS!

Squids Will Be Squids
MUSEUM
[Jj NATURAL HISTORY

PAGE MUSEUM

Through May, 2007

Ever wonder what goes on in the

Museum at night.^ Come

2006

Saturday, October 21,

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

at either

spend the night

the Natural History

Museum or

11

am: Kids and Family tour

the Page

Museum at the

12

pm: Adidts only tour

and find

out!

activities

with your group and wake up

On this

special safari,

we'U go behind

the scenes with Curator of Malacology

Dr.

Angel Valdes.

highlights of the

He will show us the

Museum's mollusk
naked
giant squid - which

collections, including sea shells,

moUusks, and even

is

the biggest

moUusk and the world's

largest invertebrate! Following our

tour, we'll take a

through the

guided scavenger hunt

galleries

on a moUusk-themed

adventure. Safaris are

FREE with

Patron

Family membership ($16^ per year). Reserve

your space early by calling

(213 j

y6y}426.

Boo and Goo Family

Overnight Adventure
PAGE MUSEUM
Friday, October 27 at 7 pm through
Saturday, October 28 at 9 am

Tour the Tar

Pits at night,

morning surrounded by

in the

of 10 participants per group.

Advanced reservations required. Child to
adult ratio

is 6:1.

Saturday, October 21,

7:30

Cold Weather Quest

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
[Jj

accompanied by an adult. Reservations

required, call (213 j y6}-ED4U. Members

Saturday,

Nonmembers $4^

Birds

fly

turtles

[museum

November

south for the winter, but what do

do? Help us find winter habitats for

2006

by pianist Steven Schneider and

marauded by

An

artists

reception will follow. Members

friends. Critter

fiin! Ml
Museum admission.

programs are

Qub is hands-

FREE with paid

Events are available

on a first-come, first-served

basis.

For more

information about the Critter Club, please

contact the Discovery Center at (21}) y6y}220.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

The Museum has been

Schumann, Shostakovich,
and other famous classical composers.

2006

Sunday, October 29,

Boccherini,

11,

y^,.:^/e^'f.--y/ jaij.T:4

Cozy up with us inside WiUiam S. Hart's

living room for a special performance
Jerome Kessler Enjoy the music of Bach,

club

critter

Uj

cellist

www.nhm.org.

your costume and bring your sleeping

bag, air mattress, and flashlight. Snack
and breakfast provided. Ages 5 and up

2006

pm - 9:30 pm

visit

surrounded

Bunt
Mansion
WILLIAMS. HART MUSEUM

Please call (21}) 76]-}^]^

for more information or

on

the

pirates

and we

need your help making things shipshape

again. Naturahst level members and

Tourmaline Dreams
OFF SITE FIELD TRIP
Sunday, November 19,

2006

Explore a San Diego County tourmaline

higher ($275 annually) are invited to join

us on this swashbuckling adventure, and

mine with Dr Anthony Kampf Curator of

Mineralogy. Upgi'ade your membership to
and receive an

Fellows are invited to bring additional

the Fellows level

under $10. Reserve your space early by

guests. To upgrade or join, call (21^)

to this exciting event. Call {21})

calling (661) 2^4-4^84.

'j6y}426 or visit nhm.org/membership.

visit

$20;

Nonmembers

$2y, Children 12

and

fossils.

Minimum

our animal

in

Enjoy fun and educational

by mammoths and mastodons. Wear

$40;

Music

La Brea Tar Pits

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

Boo and Goo Family

Overnight Adventure

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

Gallery Adventure Tour

Dueling Dinosaurs

of Los Angeles County

Live

Animal Presentations

Discovery Center

Learning Adventures

Dueling Dinosaurs

pm

Hancock Park and

pm

Gallery Adventure Tour

*7hese

activities

Pit

Page Museum

5801 Wiishire
Los Angeles,

Page Museum
La BreaTar Pits

and Sundays

323.934.pAGE

only

24151 San Fernando

Blvd.

CA 90036

www, tarpits.org

www.nhm.org

Page Museum

91 Tour

take place on Saturdays

CA 90007

213-763-DINO
21 3-763-3569 (nV hsorlng impaired]

Discovery Center

Story Time with Crafts

:00

Dinosaur Hall

pm

2:15

Exposition Blvd.

Los Angeles,

Cleaning Demonstration

Animal Presentation

Discovery Center

Afternoons

jS^atural

Live

Story Time with Crafts

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.

|c^Special Advertising SectionS^

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"^^1

OCTOBER 2006

Sociable Killers
New studies

of the white shark (a k a great white) show that

social Ufe and hunting strategies are surprisingly complex.

its

By

Aldan Martin and Anne Martin

R.

twenty past seven on

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-

research vessel drifts ofFSeal Island, South Africa.

cializing

A lone Cape fur seal pup porpoises through

the gendy rolling swells toward the island. Suddenly,

of white shark launches from the water like a

clamped between its
Framed against purple clouds washed with the

a ton

Polaris missile, the Utde seal

teeth.

orange Hght of breaking dawn, the shark

surface

by an astonishing

clears the

six feet. It hangs, silhouet-

what seems an impossibly long

back into the sea, splashing thunderous spray beneath a gathering mob of seabirds.
We and our crew of five student volunteers watch
ted in the chill air for

time before

it falls

breathlessly as the

drama unfolds.

Now

cendy making

mortally

wounded and lying on its side at the surface,

the seal

head and weakly wags its left foreflipper.

an eleven-and-a-half-foot male we call
Sneaky, circles back unhurriedly and seizes the hapless pup again. He carries it underwater, shaking his
head violently from side to side, an action that maximizes the cutting efficiency of his saw-edged teeth.
An ominous blush stains the water and the oily, cop-

assaults

raises its

The

The

wounded

seal prickles

seal carcass floats to the surface

our

way

to shore.

ferocious predatory

and intense socializing

is

shark biOTDgist's dream. In fact,

shark,

pery smell of the

its

'^^tchingi-'^fffPFi

despite the white shark's

reputation as the an-

imal kingdom's

nostrils.

while guUs and

other seabirds compete vigorously for

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.

vyhite shark, or great white,

emergesjrom the depths

off

the port town of Gansbaai, southeast of Cape Town, South

Africa.

The white shark's eclectic diet includes crabs, snails,

and other sharks. But its preferred repast is

squid, fish,

seal arid sea lion, particularly the young,

whose

thick blub-

ber rnakes for a calorie-rich meal. Each year white sharks

returri to seal hotspots,

Bay, to prey

on

seal

such as Seal Island

pups

in

nearby False

just learning to fish at sea.

%r

iiberpredator, surprisingly lit^

basics

of its foraging behavior:

feeding cycle,

its

is

its

knovviTaD^j^he

hunting tacti^

preferences in prey.

Its

and foraging behavior arc more complex

and sophisticated than anyone had imagined.
teractions

migration

routes and favorite hunting grounds, aside from the

Nowhere
more

waters around Seal Island and several other places,

remain largely unknown. And even

about its social behavior. Most people
the

movie Jaws

assume

stupid, antisocial brutes.

white sharks

five-acre islet in False Bay,

of Cape Town. The island

the creatures are solitary,

But

after

observing the

at Seal Island for eight seasons,

umenting more than 2,500 predatory

have arrived

known

at least since

less is

at

sharks are intelligent, curious,

oddly

skittish creatures,

whose

social in-

and doc-

attacks,

quite a different opinion.

research demonstrates that white

that social

is

Our

we

Cape

and foraging behavior on

vivid display than at Seal Island, a rocky,

twenty-two miles south

home to some 64,000
plus thousands of cormorants, gulls,

fur seals,

is

penguins, and other seabirds. Mother fur

cember.

seals give

end of De-

birth here in the spring, around the

By early May the pups are joining their oldon

er siblings

fishing trips into False

yond. That's
ing up

when

from

Bay and beshowto hunt the

the white sharks start

parts

unknown

young-of-the-year pups.
Chris Fallows and

Rob

Lawrence, South

African naturalists based in Simon's

False Bay, discovered the

when

1995,

site's

Town on

attractions in

they observed the sharks' vig-

orous seasonal predatory activity and their

remarkable

aerial

hunting

style.

(Both be-

haviors can be observed elsewhere, but far

frequently than at Seal Island.)

less

lows and Lawrence's invitation,

Seal Island in

then

we

ter to

we

At

Fal-

visited

2000 to see for ourselves. Since

have returned each southern win-

continue studying the remarkable be-

havior of the white shark.

In the popular imagination, Carcharodon
carcharias

largest

is

of

the quintessential predator.

all

predatory sharks,

it

The

reaches a

length of more than twenty feet and a weight

of 4,500 pounds. The white shark possesses

acute color vision, the largest scent-

detecting organs of any shark, and sensitive

electroreceptors that give

it

access to envi-

ronmental cues beyond human experience.

As for habitat, the white shark prefers cool

and temperate seas worldwide. Its brain,

swimining muscles, and gut maintain a temperature

degrees

much

as

twenty-five Fahrenheit

warmer than

the water. That enables

as

white sharks to exploit cold, prey-rich waters,

but

it

also exacts a price:

they must eat a great

URAL HISTbUY 43
.

"

other sharks,

snails, squid,

mammals may be
are big,

its

dirt

when

means

to catch

right,

them

more than twice

as

many

but

hit caloric

mam-

when

whale

when

does a white shark decide what to eat?

fers a

it

optimal foraging theory of-

mathematical explanation of

how

predators

High Society
White sharks engage
eight are
largely

in

at least

shown below. The

twenty

it.

Ac-

basic strategies: they seek to

maximize

either ener-

but so

more moderately.

as

and handhng

fat

carcass)

How
model known

it

By

for

the opportunity arises (such as

of searching for

cording to the theory, predators employ one of two

pound,

Pound

and hve off its hoard for

extended periods. Usually, though, white sharks eat
encounters

calorie content of food against the ener-

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

gy or numbers. Energy maximizers selectively eat

only high-calorie prey. Their search costs are high,

they sink their teeth into the

mals' thick layer of blubber.

has

own

powerful animals in their

predators with the

pay

and turdes, but marine

Many of them

favorite meal.

distinct social behaviors;

significance oi the behaviors remains

unknown, but many help the sharks establish

is

the energy payoff per meal.

imizers,

by

contrast, eat

which

the

more

Numbers max-

whatever kind of prey is

most abundant, regardless of its energy content,
thereby keeping per-meal search costs low.
Based on optimal foraging theory, A. Peter KHmley a marine biologist at the University of California,
Davis, has proposed an intriguing theory about the
feeding behavior of the white shark. According to
Kdimley's theory, white sharks are energy maximizers,
so they reject low-fat foods. That neatly explains
why they often feed on seals and sea Uons but rarely
on penguins and sea otters, which are notably less fatty. As we mentioned earlier, however, white sharks
eat many other kinds of prey. Although those prey
may be low-cal, compared with sea mammals, they
may also be easier to find and catch, and thus sometimes energetically more attractive. It seems likely that
white sharks follow both strategies, depending on
is

profitable in a given circumstance.

Of all

marine mammals, newly weaned seals and

sea hons may offer the best energy bargain for white

social

rank and avoid physical conflict.

Way

Give

Two white sharks

glide slowly past each

Two white sharks swim slowly,

by side, several feet apart,
perhaps to compare size and

other

establish rank, or to determine

determine which

ownership of a disputed

identifying each other.

side

The submissive shark

and swims away.

kill.

apart.

in

Two white sharks swim toward one another. The first

opposite directions, several feet

They may be comparing

is

sizes to

to swerve cedes domi-

a white-shark ver-

dominant, or simply

nance

Two or three white sharks

follow one another

flinches

in

sion of "chicken.

perhaps to identify
one another or to detercircle,

mine

rank.

Splash Fight

white shark arches

White shark

in

foreground

its

its

back

pectoral

fins for

Two sharks

splash each other with their

tails,

a rare behavior, ap-

The shark that makes

stretches out perpendicular to

several seconds

another shark for a few sec-

to a threat, often from a

the most or biggest splashes wins, and the other accepts a sub-

dominant shark, before

missive rank.

fleeing or attacking.

dominance or contest a

onds, perhaps to
size

44

and lowers

and

show off its

establish dominance.

NATURAL HISTORY October 2006

in

response

parently to contest the ownership of a

kill.

A single shark may also splash another to establish

kill.

sharks.

They have

nile seals into the water.

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

Anderson, both wildlife

Point Reyes Bird
has

attacks take place during

draws white

tide,

near where the

mammals

enter and exit

high

Seal Island,

waves

fur sea/s surf the

at Sea/ /s/and. Seals maintain

nearly
for white sharks
' constant viqilance
^

and watch each

the water.

other carefully for signs of alarm.

Similarly, at Seal Island,

Cape

fur seals leave for their foraging expeditions

from far and wide.

Each winter, white sharks drop by Seal Island for between a few hours and a few \veeks, to feast on

firom a small rocky outcrop

young-of-the-year Cape fur

seals usually leave together,

AustraUa

visit either Seal Island

back year

after year,

sharks

seals.

White

sharks that

or the Farallon Islands

making those

islands the

come

marine

equivalent of truck stops.

from being the indiscriminate killers the

movies have portrayed, white sharks are quite

Far

selective in targeting their prey.

But on what

basis

does a shark select one individual from a group ot

No one knows for sure.

Many investigators think

superficially similar animals?

predators that rely

schools of fish or pods of

firom foraging at sea,

tect a stalking

making them

less

Ukely to de-

white shark.

'

he white shark rehes on

t:when hunting

stealth

and ambush

prey from the

seals. It stalks its

obscurity of the depths, then attacks in a rush from

keen sense for subtle indi-

below.

vidual differences that indi-

two hours of sunrise, when the

An

indi-

vidual that lags behind, turns

a Uttle slower,

or ventures just

a bit farther from the group

Gaping

but they scatter while at

and return alone or in small groups of two or
three. White sharks attack almost any seal at Seal Isbut they
land -juvenile or adult, male or female
particularly target lone, incoming, young-of-theyear seals close to the Launch Pad. The incoming
seal pups have fewer compatriots with which to share
predator-spotting duties than they do in the larger
outgoing groups. Furthermore, they're fuU and tired
sea

dolphins, have developed a

cate vukierabihcy.

Repetitive

nicknamed the Launch

Pad. Coordinated groups of between five and fifteen

on single-

species prey groups, such as

Aerial

shown that at the Far-

aUons, most white-shark

J u
the
San Francisco, and
Neptune Islands ott South
T-

Ob-

servatory in California^

the Farallon Islands off Cape

c-

with

biologists then at the

at certain off-

shore islands

along

Peter Pyle and Scot D.

may catch the predator's eye.

Such cues may be at work
when a white shark picks a
young, vulnerable Cape fur
seal

out of the larger

population

seal

at Seal Island.

Most

attacks at Seal Island take place within

light

is

low.

Then,

the silhouette of a seal against the water's surface

much

easier to see

from below than

is

is

the dark back

of the shark against the watery gloom from above.

The shark thus maximizes its visual advantage over
its prey. The numbers confirm it: at dawn, white
sharks at Seal Island enjoy a 55 percent predatory
success rate. As the sun rises higher in the sky, hght
penetrates farther down into the water, and by late
morning their success rate falls to about 40 percent.
After that the sharks cease hunting actively, though

The location and timing

of predatory attacks are al-

some of them return to the hunt near sunset.

But Cape fur seals are hardly helpless victims. They

from indiscriminate.
At high tide on the Farallon

are big, powerful predators in their

surface, repeatedly

Islands, for instance, there

gaping

is

and strong claws. They also exhibit a remarkable

range of antipredator tactics. Swimming quickly in
small groups to or from the Launch Pad minimizes
their time in that high-risk zone, and they remain in
the relative safety of the open sea for extended pe-

White shark holds

its

head above the

its

jaws,

often after failing

to capture a decoy.

The behavior may

be a

socially

provocative

non-

way to

vent frustration.

so far

heavy competition for

space where northern ele-

phant
selves

the

can haul themonto the rocks, and

seals

competition forces

many low-ranking juve-

own

right,

and

take defensive advantage of their large canine teeth

riods.

do

When

they detect a white shark,

a headstand, vigilantly

seals

often

scanning underwater with

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY 45

their rear flippers in the

air.

They also watch one an-

other closely for signs of alarm. AJone, in

in threes,

Cape

fur seals occasionally

white shark, swirUng around

know

be predator

To avoid

its

it

pairs,

or

even foUow

as if to let

the

would-

cover has been blown.

a shark attack, seals

may

leap in a zigzag

pattern or even ride the pressure wave along a shark's

away from

flank, safely

ing shark does not

initial strike,

kill

its

lethal jaws. If

or incapacitate

now

superior agility

The longer an

an attack-

a seal in

the

favors the seal.

attack continues, the less hkely

it

will

end in the shark's favor. Cape fur seals never give up

without a fight. Even when grasped between a white
shark's teeth, a Cape fur seal bites and claws its attacker.
a

One

has to admire their pluck against such

established rank,

When members
lish social

and each clan has an alpha leader.

of diSerent clans meet, they estab-

rank nonviolently through any of a fasci-

nating variety of interactions.

For example, as was the case with Sneaky and

Couz, two white sharks often swim side by side, possibly to compare their relative sizes; they may also
parade past each other in opposite directions or fol-

low each other

One

in a circle.

splashes at another

by thrashing

shark

its tail,

out of the water in the other's presence and crash to

the surface.

Once rank

established, the subordi-

is

nate shark acts submissively toward the dominant

giving way

shark

ing altogether.

if they

meet, or avoiding a meet-

And rank has its perks, which can in-

clude rights to a lower-ranking shark's

formidable predator.

may direct
may leap

or it

kill.

Another form ofnonviolent, tension-diffusing be-

After the morning flush of predatory activity at

Seal Island, white sharks turn to socializing.

We

have discovered, by observing both from the

surface and with underwater cameras, that the social

behavior of these sharks

plex.

During the

twenty

is

astonishingly

past five years,

we have

distinct social behaviors in

com-

cataloged

white sharks

at

havior often takes place after a shark repeatedly

decoy: the shark holds

its

head above the surface

while rhythmically opening and closing

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

Even lichen grasped between a white shark's

a Cape fur seal bites and claws it attacker.

fails

to catch bait (typically a tuna head) or a rubber seal

way

to vent frustration

the

equivalent of a person punching a wall.

teeth,

White
ings that

sharks have a

may

number of markThe

serve a social purpose.

pectoral fms, for instance, feature black

on the undersurface and white patchBoth markings are all but

concealed when the sharks swim normally, but are
tips

Seal Island, half of

are just

but

which

are

new

to science.

We

beginning to understand their significance,

are related to establishing social rank [see

many

illustrations

Rank appears

to be based mainly on size, though

and sex also play a role. Large sharks

dominate over smaller ones, established residents

over newer arrivals, and females over males. Why
such a focus on rank? The main reason is to avoid
combat. As many as twenty-eight white sharks gather at Seal Island each day during the winter sealhunting season, and competition among them for
hunting sites and prey is intense. But since white
sharks are such powerful, heavily

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.

flashed during certain social interactions.

the shark's two-pronged

make

the sharks

tions

to that

of

fact,

wolf pack: each member has

NATURAL HISTORY October 2006

the social

a clearly

more

among white

may be important when

visible to their prey.

And if so,

sharks.

Complex social behaviors

sharks,

and predatory

strate-

imply intelligence. White sharks can cer-

gies

es its seal

probably most aptly compared

tail

ing demonstrates the importance of social interac-

tainly learn.

is

the trade-ofli" between camouflage and social signal-

strained

structure of a clan

And

one shark follows another. But if those markings help

white sharks signal to one another, they may also

physical

they get along peacefully enough. In

46

on the

white patch that covers the base of the lower lobe of

on preceding two pages].

squatter's rights

es

The

average shark

on 47 percent of its

at Seal Island

catch-

attempts. Older white

however, hunt farther from the Launch Pad

and enjoy

much higher success rates

than youngsters

Female white shark, about eleven feet long, attacks a seal

decoy off Simon's Town, near Seal Island. Spectacular aerial
attacks on seals are more common in False Bay than anywhere else. White sharks rush their quarry from directly
below; the power of the attack often
and prey out of the water

hurtles both predator

^.
'fl%'

TM

do. Certain white sharks at Seal Island that

predatory
ly

own

tactics all their

employ

catch their seals near-

80 percent of the time. For example, most white

sharks give
call

up

if a seal escapes, bvit a large

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,

she can precisely anticipate a

seal's

ly

is

Fortuusual-

For

all

the fear white sharks inspire,

it is

ironic that

people probably pose the single greatest threat to

white sharks. People kill them for sport and trophies,

and hunt them to reduce their populations near

swimming and surfing beaches. In addition, there's
a

flourishing and lucrative black market in white-

shark jaws, teeth, and

fins,

even though such trade is illegal under international law.

are also learning that

white sharks are highly curious creatures that systematically escalate their explo-

White

between

sharks take

nine and sixteen years to reach

from the

visual to the

maturity, and females give

tactile. Typically,

they nip and

birth to just

rations

nibble to investigate with

two

to ten

pups

every two or three years. Such

and gums, which

and
more sensitive than

slow lane makes

their teeth

a life in the

are remarkably dexterous

the white shark extremely

much

vulnerable to even moderate

their skin. Intriguingly, high-

levels

of fishing.

ly scarred individuals are al-

In recent studies, electronic

when they make

tags attached to individual

white sharks and monitored
by satellites have shown that

ways

fearless

of our

"tactile explorations"

vessel, lines,

and cages. By

swim thou-

contrast, unscarred sharks are

the animals can

uniformly timid in their in-

sands of miles a year.

vestigations.

Some white

dividual

and veer away when

discussion of white sharks must acknowltheir occasional,

though much-publi-

on people. The vast majority of

them, however, bear no resemblance to shark attacks on prey. The attacks on people are slow and
deliberate, and the resulting wounds are relatively
minor compared with the wounds inflicted on prey.
About 85 percent of the victims survive. Deaths do
cized, "attacks"

occur from blood

loss,

which

but there are very few veri-

Ex-

mouth, Western Australia, and

back a round trip of 12,420
miles
in just nine months.

Young seat that survived a white-shark

attack makes its way on Seal Island.

they notice the smallest

change in their environment.
When such sharks resume their investigations, they
do so from a greater distance. In fact, over the years
we have observed remarkable consistency in the personalities of individual sharks. In addition to hunting style and degree of timidity, sharks are also consistent in such traits as their angle and direction of
approach to an object of interest.

Any
edge

One inswam from Mossel

Bay, South Africa, to

sharks are so skittish that they

flinch

Such long-distance swimming may take white

through the

territorial waters

sharks

of several nations, mak-

ing the sharks hard to protect (not to mention hard

to study). Yet a better understanding

needs, their

movement patterns,

rine ecosystem,

and

of their habitat

their role in the

their social lives

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

turn next May.

survived this long have

become experienced in the

They are

deadly dance between predator and prey.

bigger, stronger, wiser
catch.

and

The handful of white

thus

much

harder to

sharks that remain in

False

Bay year-round probably

fishes

such

feeding

shift to

as yellowtail tuna, bull rays,

on

and smaller

consumed
on their menu.
compared with blubbery

sharks. In effect, they seasonally switch feeding

marine mammals, people are simply too muscular to

constitute a worthwhile meal. Our view is diflierent:
we believe that white sharks probably bite people

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

interrupted by the victim's brave companions.

trial-and-error learning.

We

satisfy their curiosity.

nately, the shark's investigation

we

Rasta (for her extremely mellow disposition to-

ward people and

not to eat them but to

a white shark actually

we

are not

suggests that,

NATURAL HISTORY October 2006

strategies

from energy maxiiTuzation

to

numbers

maximization.

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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

magnificent early Christmas pre-

er,

was

message: the Nerine, a local trawl-

fish

might have some

nay-Latimer, the

fish for

first

her collection. Courte-

full-time curator of the East

London Natural History Museum, on

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

Coetacanths have lived

in

the oceans for hundreds of millions

of years and provide a vi/indow into the

lives

of other crea-

became extinct long ago. They and many other lifeforms also carry gene fragments that offer similar windows
tures that

into the past represented here by the base pairs A, C, G,

and T that make up the genetic code. Those gene fragments
dubbed "fossil genes " no longer code for proteins, but
they can be "excavated" from living genomes and studied for

clues to the evolutionary past.

50

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

brain kept teUing

one morning in December 1938, when Marjorie

Courtenay-Latimer received a

sent arrived

him was impossible

a coelacanth, a

that this fish

member of a group of fishes with

paired fms thought to be closely related to the

first

four-legged vertebrates. Paleontologists thought the

had been extinct for more than 65 milhon years.

But it was a coelacanth. Ultimately, the new species was named Latimeria chalunmae, in honor of

And in the decades since the

many more coelacanths have been

Courtenay-Latimer.
discovery,

dredged up from their deep-sea habitats, including

second species discovered near Indonesia in 1998.

swam

ferent.

break apart and erode away over time,

been dubbed

it

a "living fossU."

finds are so rare that only the

living a golden

moment,

as

they

come

face to face

with an altogether different kind of Hving fossil.

In Hving creatures, including the coelacanth, there
are sequences

of

DNA

blueprints for

as

"fossil genes." Fossil

"junk"

them
and

as

DNA,

that once, but no longer,

making functional proteins:

genes were

initially

but geneticists are

now

dismissed

as

recognizing

extraordinary records of genetic history

thus,

ways of Hfe

that date

back millions of

The fossilized sequences are embedded in a

genome made up of thousands of ordinary, coding

years.

genes that contribute to the organism's survival. Be-

cripple or even

coding gene, natural selection tends to weed

out mutations in them, and so coding genes, as a
rule, are rigorously conserved. Fossil genes are dif-

ing link to an ancient tribe of fishes that

the oceans 360 niilHon years ago. For that,

served

random mutations can quickly

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

They show the

effects

of wear and tear as they

much the same

way ordinary fossils do in sedimentary rock.

The reason fossil genes are not conserved is that,
because of some past change in Lifestyle of the organism that carried them, the genes no longer matter to survival.

No longer are they subject to the dis-

cipHne of natural selection. Instead, the genes can

"relax";

random mutations no longer

affect the or-

ganism positively or negatively. The very existence

of fossil genes proclaims one of the cardinal rules of
genetic evolution: use

it

cause such fragments of

or lose

it.

DNA

are

they can provide hnks to former,

Yet precisely be-

no longer used,

now vanished ways

of hfe.

When

coding

DNA sequences had at one time been func-

geneticists realized that certain

knew that they had discovnew window on the past.

tional genes, they

ered a valuable

Excavating yesterday's decaying

non-

DNA from living, working genomes gives biologists

insights into the Uves
lection,

of ancestral

species, natural se-

and evolution.

made what was clearly,

have

he coelacanth

carries

own

its

extinct

which offer good examples of

why and how genes become fossilized.
genes,

Undersea explorers seeking

its

to observe the coela-

native habitat discovered that

it

retreats

by day into underwater caves, 300 feet deep or more,

off the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean near
Mozambique, and in waters around South Africa;
by night it cruises slowly over the ocean floor to feed.

Yet even during the day, only dim, blue Ught penetrates to

those depths, and so biologists and geneti-

have taken a special interest in the coelacanth's

cists

visual system.

All species that can detect visible hght produce

pigments in their retinas. The pigments are made up
of proteins called opsins and a small molecule called
a

chromophore, which

in people

is

chemical

derivative of vitamin A. In particular, both

a visual

pigment

which enable them

to see in

people and coelacanths possess

called rhodopsin,

dim Light. Curiously, though, the coelacanth

no genes for opsins sensitive to hght at ei-

has

ther medium (green) or long (red) wavelengths.

Because most vertebrates have at least one kind
of green or red opsin, the ancestors of the coelacanth must also have had at least one "green-red"
opsm gene. Sometime during coelacanth evolution, the green-red opsin gene was lost.
Another gene, which codes for an opsin that is
sensitive to light at short wavelengths (violet),
gives further insight into gene loss. In people, "violet" opsin detects the corresponding color, and

because

it is

became a
it wUl

not functional,

continue to accumulate additional mutations and

it further, untU eventually
from the coelacanth's DNA forever, just
as its green-red opsin gene was erased.
The loss of a gene raises several general questions:
How and why is a gene so useful to some species
lost in others? Why is a good gene ever allowed to
decay? Are fossil genes a rare kind of mistake that

deletions that will erode

they erase

it

occurs only in weird animals such

as

coelacanths?

The answer to the last question is, Certainly not.

The violet opsin gene in dolphins and whales has also become nonfunctional, though it is stUl identifiable from its fragments, and so it, too, has become a
fossil. Is

there anything

common

to animals as dis-

similar as coelacanths, dolphins,

could explain

The

why

and whales

that

their violet opsins are fossiUzed?

best explanation

comes from considering

Dolphins and whales belong to the

only order of mammals that is fully aquatic and lacks
the potential for any form of color vision. The coelacanth also lives deep in the oceans
where, as I noted earlier, only dim blue Ught can reach. With all
of the other wavelengths filtered out, the three
groups of animals apparently have no use for color
vision
their survival no longer depends on it. Ecologically, the violet opsin was lost because it became
their ecology.

dispensable to their evolutionary ancestors.

he capacity for color vision has evolved

many ways among many animals. Hu-

in

mans, great apes, and Old World

mon-

more

other species have the three bases

CGA in

DNA

letters

TGA,

of the sequence

of bases in the gene for making the violet opsin.

stop code, as well as

October 2006

many

keys have three opsins,

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.

ing the opsin protein comes to the

NATURAL HISTORY

And

mals

it simply stops, ignoring the rest

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

canth, however, only fragments of the

enables various other species to see

For example, where the mouse and

The

one time,

in the ultraviolet range. In the coela-

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

''

the coelacanth the once-functional gene

fossil

canth in

gene into

violet opsin

other disruptions.

and, consequently, fabulous color vi-

compared with most other

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

^^

Loss of base pairs

gene sequence

Fossilized

BB

gene

Fossilization of the opsin

years ago the

PB

liB
cow and

for v/o/et-sensitiVe vision

the dolphin shared a

common

is

Bl

depicted

g EB9
in

the diagram. Millions of

ancestor that carried an intact gene, or

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

species evolved, with

The

ov/l

monkey,

turnal species

enough,

its

for instance,

among
it

And sure
accumulated mu-

gene has

nonfunctional. Moreover,

the relatives of the owl

monkey

dayhght have an intact violet

observations are pretty

all

by
opsin gene. Those two
that are active

good evidence

Thus

lifestyles.

the only noc-

the higher primates.

violet opsin

tations that render

is

that the shift

to the nocturnal lifestyle led to relaxed selection

on

in

all

the species

have mentioned

coelacanth, the whale, the dolphin, the owl

in the

mon-

and the blind mole rat the fossilization of the

violet opsin gene is correlated with habitat. The mutations that disable the gene in the various species
are not the same, and the species themselves belong
key,

to quite different branches of the evolutionary tree.

Furthermore, close

of the species do have

Those facts demonstrate that

relatives

functional violet opsins.

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

independent, unrelated mutations have repeatedly

mammal. Yet

the violet opsin gene. Possessing the gene

the

record suggests that rodents

fossil

evolved from an aboveground ancestor that could

see.

The mole

skin,

eyes are small, buried under the

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

through the subcua dim-light rho-

taneous eye; the second encodes

dopsin.

Hence

despite the

mole

rat's

atrophied vi-

sion, selection continues to control mutations in the

two opsin genes, apparently

biological clock.

Its

decay. Furthermore, in

is

on

those

nd what about people? What might we

have lost along the evolutionary way?
Well, consider the sense of smell, which

to maintain the animal's

violet opsin gene, however, car-

is

vital to

animal behavior and survival.

the park with a

dog

is

usually

enough

One walk in
to persuade

anyone that the dog's "view" of the world is shaped

by its acute sense of smell. A dog's nose can find food,
identify mates and offspring, and detect danger.
But for a long time it was a mystery how animals
detect and discriminate odors. Then in 1991, working

at

Columbia

University, the molecular biologists

Linda B. Buck and Richard Axel discovered

fami-

of genes that encoded odorant receptors. In

gene

the largest family of genes in

a fossil.

all

highly selective.

ly

is

for

of opsins are intact and functhat the decay of genes

numerous mutations that disrupt the code for

making the violet opsin protein; in other words, the

ries

various times in

which demonstrates

the eyes help

tuned, or shifted,

red, to detect the light received

its

species, other kinds

circadian clock and regulate

intact opsin genes: the

green-red opsin that

at

and so the blind

who examined the bhnd mole rat found

two

gene

overwhelming support

the fundamental prediction that relaxed selection

daily biorhythms.

Biologists
it

of fur.

intensity,

the time of day.

the animal maintain

its

a layer

can detect light

fossilized the violet opsin

fact,

they found, the so-called olfactory receptor genes are

mammal genomes. Mice

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY 53

compared

great detail, and

mouse they

to those of the

nothing to brag about.

are

About

half of

silized.

The

them

are fos-

contrast be-

tween people and other

mammals is most striking
of receptors encoded by the so-called Vh
genes. People have only
four functional VI r genes,
whereas the mouse has
more than 180 in good
working order. Yet the
for a class

human genome

includes

nearly 200 fossilized VI

genes.

No

question: our

repertoire of olfactory re-

ceptor genes has gone to pot.

The extraordinary proportion of fossilized

olfactory receptor genes suggests

longer rely

on our

gree our ancestors once did.

spring to mind.

we no

sense of smell to the de-

Two

questions

Why have we abandoned the

use of such a large fraction of our odor receptors?

And when

did the loss take place?

Clues to the answers emerge from studying the fraction of fossilized odor receptors
in other primates
lad,

now

at

and mammals. Yoav Gi-

the University of Chicago, and

his fellow geneticists at the

stitute for

among

Color perception varies greatly

Germany, surveyed the olfactory

New World monkeys,
and Old World monkeys, and compared
them with the olfactory genes of the mouse.
In inice, lemurs, and Ne'w World monkeys
almost all of which lack full color vision
genes of apes, lemurs.

for input colors from violet at the left of the

mammals such
colors.

right.

Almost

other land

The color bar above the cat

the colors

it

sees for the

same

Both the blind mole

rat

owl monkey (above

right),

eyes of the blind mole

their

left),

which

rat are

is

is

the investigators noted that

two

a speculative reconstruction of

violet-to-red

(above

mal can distinguish external

above

all

as the domestic cat see in

which

range of input

lives

photographs show how

fur,

but the

The gray tones

efficiently their

in

of fossiUzed olfactory
29 percent. In nonthe chimpanzee, the go-

vision, the proportion

receptor genes

ani-

rises to

human apes such as

the bars

monochromatic

rilla,

sensors respond to input colors across the range visible to humans.

and the orangutan, which

genes.

Buck and Axel also

specificity

genome of 20,000

discovered the basis for the

of olfaction: Each sensory neuron in

one of

the olfactory system generally produces just

the

many

olfactory receptor proteins.

airborne chemical

is

perceived

as a

How

The human

54

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

given

scent depends

the combinarion of receptors that detect

olfactory genes have

also

have fuU

color vision, the proportion reaches 33 percent. Finally, in people,

have about 1,400 of them in a

8 percent of ol-

But in
Old World monkeys, which have fUl color

colors.

monochromats. The

covered with skin and

factory receptor genes are fossilized.

underground, and the

nocturnal, are

light intensity.

Planck In-

Leipzig,

animals

and often correlates with environment. People

and other Old World primates have trichromatic vision: the color bar above the photograph at top left shows roughly what they see
bar to red at the

Max

Evolutionary Anthropology in

on

In short, the fraction of fossil olfactory receptor

genes

is

in

all species with full

seems that the evolution of trichro-

significantly higher in

color vision.

It

matic vision in primates

which

enables

them

to

find food, identify mates, and detect danger with

visual cues

it.

been studied

some 50 percent of

the genes were fossilized.

reduced

laxed selection

their reliance

on the

on

smell.

Re-

olfactory receptor genes in

trichromatic species has allowed the genes' codes to

on

decay. Conversely, in animals that rely heavily

their sense of smell, the fraction

genes

much

is

of intact olfactory

Keep in mind that biolomore than 99 percent of all species

or extinction of species.
think that

gists

that ever existed are

now

extinct.

higher.

he process of gene

n organism
flinctional

that has lost great swaths

DNA

is

cohacterium leprae, the

of

the bacterium Mypathogen that causes

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

genes than that of any other

leprae

is

closely related to

sponsible for
tuberculosis

is

fossilization

of "design" or intent
species.

The

and

loss

powerful argument against the idea

in the origin

leprosy bacterium, for instance,

of
a

is

stripped-down version of its former self, carrying

around more than a thousand useless, broken genes
that are vestiges of its ancestry. Such a history of trial and error is hardly evidence of design. Similarly,
people carry around the genetic vestiges of an ol-

has about 4,000 intact, flinctional

genes and only about six

fossil

genes.

Compar-

ing the genomes of the two species shows that

M.

leprae has fossilized

in the course of

its

or lost some 2,000 genes

evolution.

What

explains

two bacteria?
the answer comes down to

the vast disparity between the

Once

again,

M.

lifestyle:

leprae's is

very different firom that

of its cousin. The leprosy bacterium can Uve

only within cells of its host; in fact, despite
decades of effort, it has never been grown on

own

its

in the laboratory.

It is

also the

known

est-growing bacterium of all

slow-

bacterial

it takes about two weeks to divide.

(Compare that with the E. coli in the human
gut, which can divide every twenty minutes.)

species:

M.

leprae's

abled

it

specialized

to rely

on

its

Leprosy-causing bacteria (shown above

lot

of fossil genes

contrast, only

mode of Hving has enmany functions

about 40 percent of

about

/eft in false color)

all

lug

around a

the genes they carry. By

percent of the genes are fossilized

in

the closely

related bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (above right, also

host for

color).

Many of the genes

in false

of the leprosy bacterium are thought to have

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

the genes in an organism's

when

pensable

The

genome can become

dis-

bfestyle shifts.

its

fossilization

sets of genes
even larger groups

of individual genes,

that build metabolic pathways, or

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,

ferent groups of animals

genes accumulate multiple defects, their inactivation

when

cannot readily be reversed. So the

tions

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

striking evidence that,

on

a particular trait, the

will repeat themselves in

disciplines

DNA. The

of genetic archaeology and paleon-

tology will keep hauling up unexpected things fi-om

functions will not return.

"Use

fliture.

the recurrence of gene fossUization in entirely dif-

of genes has important consequences for the evolution of an organism's descendants. Because decaying

an absolute rule imposed by

the fact that surveillance by natural selection acts

the depths of the past, providing answers about which

directions

life

has taken, and why.

only in the present, without planning for the future.

The downside

is

very slowly, the

that if circumstances change,

lost

even

genes will not be available to

new circumstances. The one-way loss

may be an important factor in the success

This

article

was adapted from Sean Carroll's forthcoming book,

The Making of the

adapt to the

sic

of genes

by

Fittest:

Record of Evolution,

DNA and the Ultimate Foren-

which

WW Norton & Company,

is

beingpublishcd

this

month

Inc.

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY 55

Life and Death

in a Pitcher
Carnivorous plants that seem

to

employ

a simple dunk- and- drown tactic for capturing

Prey's-eye view from inside an N.

rafflesiana pitcher in

prey turn out

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-

expedition to southeast Asia

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.

looked about for

exceedingly

it

thirsty.

he wrote,

in vain,"

At

we turned

last

to the

pitcher-plants, but the water contained in the pitchers

(about half a pint in each) was fuU of insects and other-

wise uninviting.

On

tasting

it,

thirst

The parched Welshman was

lace,

who

we found

however,

though rather warm, and we

from these natural jugs.

palatable,

it

very

quenched our

all

Alfred Russel Wal-

four years later would formulate his

own

theory of evolution by natural selection, almost

multaneous with, yet independent

win's theory.

|Hn^^B

'^HHPH'

V^^^H

thirst that

Of course,

day on

of,

si-

Charles Dar-

the pitchers that slaked his

Mount Ophir were

not there for

They were the insect

traps of a remarkable carnivore, an Old World pitchthe benefit of passing hikers.

er plant

of the genus Nepenthes.

Capturing and kilhng animals is a role-reversal that

might seem unusual for members of the plant kingdom. Carnivorous plants often grow in impoverished

^^^HHteii^Bt'fPP^'^^^^^^^^l^^

^^^^^^O

terrain,

though, and digesting prey augments the nu-

trients the roots obtain

from the

soil.

By one means

or another, roughly 600 plant species capture ani-

mals for food. Some, such

ural

as sundews [see "Tlie NatMoment," September 2006] and butterworts, en-

trap their prey in sticky "flypaper"

Others, such

as

the Venus flytrap

on

their leaves.

"Snap!" by

[see

Adam Summers,June 2005 and the waterwheel plant,

have traps that spring shut. The bladderworts, which
]

Insect-trapping pitcher of Nepenthes bicalcarata, about

six

inches from base to top, awaits a meal

in

Borneo. Ants

of the species Camponotus schmitzi (not shown) nest only

inside the enlarged tendrils that support N. bicalcarata

and feed at nectar glands in the two fanglike thorns

overhanging each pitcher's opening.

pitchers

56

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

are

predominantly aquatic, suck their victims from

the water with bladder-shaped

traps are

"fired"

vacuum

traps;

the

"primed" by pumping water out, and

when

prey inadvertendy brush trigger

hairs.

Pitcher plants take a

more minimalist approach: they

pitfall traps, from which

capture their prey in deep

there

is

usually

no

escape.

Many North Americans

World pitcher

plants,

all

are familiar

members of the

with

New

family Sar-

raceniaceae. Their traps are elongate, tubular leaves

from the soil. The Nepenthaceae of

Old World are unrelated. More than eighty species are known, all members of the genus Nepenthes,
that rise directly

the

and

a couple

cade or

of new species are discovered every de-

They grow throughout

so.

the Asian tropics,

from Madagascar in the west to northern Australia

and New Caledonia in the east [see range map at top
of next page]. But the center of their diversity is the
island of Borneo, home to thirty-one species of Nepenthes, of which more than twenty occur there alone.
Nepenthes are chmbers that need adjacent plants
for support. Their pitchers are jug-shaped, with an
opening typically shaded by an overhanging lid.
Each pitcher forms at the end of a tendril that grows
from the tip of a leaf The traps of the various species

of Nepenthes exhibit a striking

diversity.

They

vary from an inch to a foot in height and range in

Uquid capacity from a teaspoon to more than a pint.

In color, they vary from pale green to bright red to
almost black.

The

reasons for

all

now coming

that diversity are

to light. Aficionados of the genus once assumed that

all

Nepenthes were passive generalists that rely only

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

Nepenthes species, has confirmed that their diets ex-

tend beyond the animal kingdom

material. And when they do deal with animals. Nepenthes species have a broader repertoire than most
to include plant

carnivorous plants: not only do they

consume

ani-

mals, but they also engage in a range of nonfatal relationships

with them, symbiotic and otherwise.

Nepenthes pitcher plants all develop

the
ates a

same

according to

basic pattern. First, a seedling gener-

number of pitchers

that rest

on

the ground.

Those terrestrial traps are generally urn-shaped, with

two conspicuous, parallel, leafy "wings" running the
full length of the pitcher, from the tendril to the pitcher mouth. As the plant continues growing, its uppermost leaves bear a second kind of pitcher, the aerial form. Aerial pitchers tend to be more elongated

Vine of the pitcher plant N. gracilis grows on a Cicada tree

(Ploiarium alternifolium) in Brunei.

The pitchers are about

four inches long.

than

terrestrial ones,

The

plant's

prey

and they do not have wings.

usually small invertebrates

by the color of the pitchers and, at least

in one species, by their fragrance. Once the unsuspecting animals arrive, they feed at nectar glands on
the outside of the pitcher. The largest such glands,
however, are concentrated around the peristome, or
mouth of the pitcher, and lure the visitors into ever
more dangerous territory. Depending on the Neare attracted

may or may not proThe unwitting visitor that loses

its grip may become prey if it faOs into the pitcher,
landing in a pool of Hquid secreted by the plant. Or
the visitor may venture over the peristome and on-

penthes species, the peristome

vide firm footing.

of the pitcher. That, too, is usualmost Nepenthes species, the

upper portion of the inner wall is covered with
to the inner wall

ly a fatal mistake. In

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY

57

leases

from the prey

absorbed by glands

carcass are

in the pitcher wall.

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

They range from

strategies for capturing nutrients.

iddnfesian archipelago

the relatively simple to the outright bizarre.

Operating

Sulawesi

at

the simple end of the spectrum are

species such as N.

>*

gracilis,

which

is

common in open,

Australia

sunny, lowland scrub from Thailand across the In-

New Caledonia

donesian archipelago to the island of Sulawesi. N.

.^

gracilis traps

and only two to

are narrow, pale green,

They work by

four inches long.

ofiering their prey

the most basic enticement: sugary nectar. Ants are

Range of Nepenthes pitcher plants

is

depicted

in

orange.

the

most common prey;

them
microscopic waxy

scales,

slide into the liquid

making

terlogged,

flight

The only chance of escape

observer watching ants forage

down proteins

slowly digests the

Nitrogen-rich compounds that digestion re-

i^
LlJ^1^
^^m^mi^
mm^ls^^y-^

twice the size of those

form from Brunei pro-

a rare

gracilis (in fact,

duces pitchers a foot in length), and they are boldly

tographs on this page].

N.

rafflesiana is a

phisticated carnivore than

my

its

smaller relative;

several years studying

it is

its

also

spent

biology.

The peristome of N. rafflesiana is

much broader than that of gracilis,

and

its

coloration makes a strong con-

trast to

adjacent parts of the pitcher.

reflects

green and blue, and absorbs ul-

number of insects

It

which a large

are visually sensi-

In addition, the aerial pitchers of

tive.

^'''^^-

rafflesiana

give ofFa sweet fragrance

many

insects.

Both kinds

gent evolution: Hke flowers, pitchers

lure insects via color, fragrance,

V
V,.,

trial"

pitchers that

N. rafflesiana, far

ft

left,

level.

features a color patattract pollinating

the

same

has leafy "wings " running up

exterior, as

October 2006

left,

A terrestrial pitcher from

>

plant,

li|v

from "terres-

grow at ground

and fragrance that

insects.

differ

aerial pitcher of a rare, giant variety of

tern

&',-'

and

grow from Nepenthes'

"Aerial" pitchers that

upper leaves usually

An

NATURAL HISTORY

pho-

of lures, the visual and the olfactory,

are compeUing examples of conver-

Ri^

'mm

{see

much more so-

personal favorite, because

attractive to

^C 'i^m^-

gracilis

flesiana. Its pitchers are at least

traviolet wavelengths, to

iPKr^/^'i
t^.-'

58

N.

patterned in colors from yellow to scarlet

"'

itl

at

Borneo could hardly fail to notice

another Nepenthes species growing there, N. raf-

with enough power to do so before they drown.

The liquid about as acidic as Pepsi and full of enthat break

are

pitchers in coastal

of N.

prey.

"

to bite through

and small wasps

the pitcher wall, but few species have mouthparts

zymes

is

flies,

also frequent victims.

An

becomes waor even crawUng impossi-

the prey quickly

to

below.

Once in the liquid,

ble.

which cause the prey

their affinity for nectar makes

easy targets. Beetles,

all

terrestrial pitchers do.

its

It

lacks the aerial pitchers' distinctive pattern

and fragrance, and, accordingly, captures

ants but few pollinators.

nectar, but the

pendently

[see

two

structures evolved quite inde-

"Origins of Floral Diversity," by

Amy Litt,

June 2006].

As one might expect, the

flesiana trap

beetles,
trial

aerial pitchers

many pollinating insects,

and moths. Both the

pitchers trap ants.

aerial

of N.

raf-

including bees,

and the

terres-

The two forms of pitcher,

with their differing collections of attractants, enable

N. rafflcsiana to catch a broader spectrum of prey
than

its

neighbor, N.

gracilis.

third species occasionally

gracilis

and N.

rafflesiana in

neo. N. alhomarginata

may be

grows alongside N.
the lowlands of Bor-

the most specialized

insect predator in the family Nepenthaceae. In the

late 1980s,

Charles

M.

Clarke, an ecologist

now

Terrestrial pitcher

of N. rajah

is

the largest of

all

Nepenthes

The species grows only on two mountains

pitchers.

in

Borneo.

at

James Cook University in Queensland, Australia,

and I noted that N. alhomarginata preys predominantly on termites of the genus Hospitalitermes.
A decade later, Dennis J. and Marlis A. Merbach,
a husband-and-wife team of botanists at the University of Frankfurt in Germany, explained how the
plant attracts the termites and traps them. Both the

and terrestrial pitchers of N. albomarginata have

cream-colored band of hairy-looking tissue on
their outside surface, immediately under the peristome [see lower photograph on this page]. Nectar glands
on the peristome make little or no nectar. They have
aerial
a

no need
tissue.

to

The

the attractant

is

the distinctive band of

termites normally feed

N. albomarginata mimics with

its

tracted to the pitchers, perhaps

foraging termites feed

on

this

on Uchens, which
hirsute band. At-

by chemical cues, the

band. Large numbers

of them inevitably tumble into the pitchers, where

they are digested.
Marlis Merbach, Clarke, and

I,

along with two oth-

er colleagues, later confirmed the association between

N. albomarginata and Hospitalitermes termites via a

process

known

Nitrogen
topes,

as

exists as

known

as

stable-nitrogen-isotope analysis.

two

stable,

or nonradioactive, iso-

nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15. Both

isotopes are fixed firom the atmosphere

by

soil

micro-

organisms, then absorbed through the roots of plants,

which incorporate the nitrogen in their tissues. Planteating animals subsequently accumulate the nitrogen
in their bodies.

Each time the nitrogen

is

consumed

by another organism fiirther up the food chain, the

ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14 that collects in
the tissues increases. Because Hospitalitermes termites
are vegetarians, the nitrogen in their tissues

is

good

deal less rich in nitrogen-15 than the nitrogen in the

tissues

of ants, whose diet includes animal matter.

comparing the nitrogen-isotope

of

By

ratios in the leaves

N albomarginata with the ratios in the leaves of the

ant-eating pitcher plant N.

that N. albomarginata does

rafflesiana,

indeed get

we confirmed
much of its ni-

trogen from termites.

swarm on a pitcher of
N. albomarginata. The cream-colored band just below and
Termites of the genus Hospitalitermes

outside the pitcher's rim attracts the termites by mimicldng

the lichen they eat; inevitably,

pitcher

and feed the

many

plant, instead.

termites tumble into the

open,
grow
Most lowland Nepenthes small number
tend
species

live

in

sunny habitats, but a

beneath the forest canopy. The most

to

common

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY 59

forest species

is

N. ampullaria, which ranges from

New

Guinea [see photograph below].

Even the casual observer would not fail to notice
that the species is unusual. It almost never grows
aerial pitchers, and the terrestrial pitchers often
form conspicuous mats several feet wide on the forThailand to

Their structure is odd, too. The nectar

glands are small and unproductive, and the slippery,
waxy layer on the inner wall of each pitcher
is abcrucial part of the trap, one would think
sent. The pitcher lid is vestigial and bends away
est floor.

above

and

excised leaves, flowers, and the hke. Clarke

along with Barbara J. Hawkins, a biologist

I,

at

the University of Victoria in British Columbia, susits mats of pitchof material even before it

pected that N. ampullaria deploys

ers to intercept that rain

reaches the forest floor.

To confirm our

suspicions,

we compared

the ra-

of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14 in leaves of plants

growing in forests with that of plants from open
areas. Sure enough, the forest plants, which enjoyed
plenty of manna from above, had lower nitrogentio

15 levels than did the plants

from open areas, as well as

a higher overall nitrogen
concentration in their
sues.

tis-

Thus, N. ampullaria not

only traps, but also consumes

vegetable matter. (The Nepenthes

growing in open

ar-

eas get all their nitrogen

from whatever

managed

insects they

to trap.)

highlighting

worth

It is

how

forest-

dwelling N. ampullaria has

evolved to fill its nutritional
needs. A structure that developed to obtain nutrients

from animal prey has

now

evolved further to get the

nutrients from vegetable
matter.

Another Nepenthes with

strange dietary habits
lowii, a

is

highland species that

inhabits several mountains

in

Borneo.

It

bears distinctive

pitchers, eight to ten inches

high, each with a flaring, ftin-

nel-shaped mouth, a narrow

waist,
N. ampullaria pitchers, spread

in

mat about

and other debris that fall

unique among Nepenthes in deriving some of its nitrogen from plant

to catch leaves

and

a large lid that

secretes copious quantities

gape open
from the canopy. The species appears to be
a foot wide over the forest floor,

of

a crystalline, sugary substance.

material.

Clarke noticed that the pitch-

from the pitcher mouth. In overall effect, the mat

of pitchers looks like a crowd of gaping mouths
waiting for food from above. What's going on here?
N. ampullaria grows primarily in tropical heath

them, however, he often discovered a large amount

of another bountifril source of nitrogen: feces.

ers rarely trap insects. Inside

forests, so called

and poor in

because their soUs are sandy, acidic,

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

thick root mats just beneath

from the
slow but steady rain of organic material from
the

60

NATURAL HISTORY

soil

surface to capture the nutrients

October 2006

What
most
like

animal uses pitcher plants

animals that feed

fruits.

as toilets?

The

likely suspects are tree shrews, small squirrel-

on

invertebrates

and sweet

Several observers have seen tree shrews scur-

rying on and around the pitchers of N.

lowii,

per-

haps drawn there by the plant's sugary offering. Such

observations are purely circumstantial evidence, but

Clarke and

hope

to solidify

nitrogen-isotope analyses.

them with

What

is

clear

is

stable-

that the

a sheltered spot under the

overhanging peristome, they
dismember the carcass and con-

reach

various species of Nepenthes have

diverse appetites:

meat, one
an,

and

is

primarily vegetari-

at least

to prefer

its

most prefer

sume it, dropping small pieces

back into the fluid as they eat.

one other seems

nitrogen predigested.

Clarke hypothesizes that the re-

One

moval of overly large prey mat-

might think that the inNepenthes pitch-

ter prevents bacterial overload,

which evolved primarily to

trap and kill animal prey, would
be a hostile environment in
which to Hve. In fact, nothing
could be fiirther from the truth:
many animal species rely on Ne-

putrefaction of the pitcher con-

penthes pitchers for at least part of

the ants actively hunting live

and despite the

punishing acidity and enzymes,
some of them live there and
nowhere else.

mosquito larvae

side

of

er,

tents,

and consequent

pitcher function

loss

of

common

enough occurrence. But C.

more than merely

schmitzi does

scavenge. Clarke has observed

their Hfecycles,

fluid,

suming
Crab spider (Misumenops nepenthicola) lives
only in Nepenthes pitchers and makes its

Thirty-three species of inver-

and the living by intercepting

larvae of hoverflies, midges, and
mosquitoes, have been discovered inside the pitchers of N. hicalcarata, a Borneo endemic. Even more
remarkably, N. hicalcarata appears to have a symbiotic relationship with an ant, Camponotus schmitzi.
The tendrils connecting the base of its pitchers to
the leaf are swoUen and hoUow [see lower photograph
on page 55]. The ants hve inside them. Furthermore, the plant provides the ants with sustenance.
Beneath the Hd of each pitcher are two inch-long,
fanglike thorns that project over the mouth.
Botanists once speculated that those thorns might
prevent animals such as primates from stealing prey
tebrates, including mites

in the pitcher

then hauling out and contheir catch.

Swimming

face.

ants are not the

only danger the pitcherdwelling mosquito larvae must
The crab spider Misumenops nepenthicola, which

lives

only in Nepenthes pitchers,

the plants' prey.

It

intercepts

and devours prey

is

a kleptoparasite:

that the pitcher at-

tracts [see photograph at top of this page]

silken safety Hnes, the spider takes

Dangling from

up

station

on the

inner wall of the pitcher, waits for prey to enter, and

from the pitchers. The thorns are now known to

house giant nectar glands, at which C. schmitzi
worker ants feed.

What

does N.

and board

it

hicalcarata

get in return for the

One might

provides to the ants?

that the ants protect the plant, perhaps

room

expect

by aggressively

repeUing plant-eating animals. That's just what hap-

pens in the well-known association between certain

species of acacia trees and ants of the genus
Pseudomyrmex. But C. schmitzi ants are not
gressive.

at

aU ag-

And a moment's thought suggests that a sym-

biotic partner that discouraged visits to the pitcher,

would be bad for business.

hicalcarata and its ant partners in their native habitat, and his observations of
the ants' remarkable behavior gives the most probable account of their contributions. Unlike most
at least

by other

Frog/ets of the genus Philautus prepare to hatch from their

eggs in the fluid of an N. bicalcarata pitcher. Whether they
can escape from the pitcher once they hatch is not l(nov/n.

insects,

Clarke has studied N.

other ants, C. schmitzi can swim.

ly enter the pitcher fluid for

as

onds, and haul large prey, such

The

long
as

ants regularas thirty sec-

cockroaches, out

of the fluid and up the pitcher wall.

When

they

then seizes

it

as

it

feeds at the nectar glands. If dis-

turbed, the spider drops into the pitcher's fluid and

remains there until the threat has passed.

It

may

I have watched M. nepenthicola seize and

mosquito larvae in N. rafflesiana pitchers.

casions

Occasionally, larger animals

al-

On several oc-

so enter the fluid for another reason.

make

their

own

eat

use

of Ne/;fn?/)C5 pitchers. Once, while examining a large

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY

61

N. mfflesiana pitcher,

was

startled to discover a hairy

brown mass suspended above the fluid. It turned out

to be two small bats roosting there for the day. I have
also

encountered tree frogs of the genus

Philauttis,

gloves

of N.

ceding page].
is

One of the most intriguing associations

between N.

ainpiillaria

and

terrestrial crabs

of the

genus Geosesarma. Several observers, myself included, have seen the crabs foraging in

and around the

reasons

rajah

some

In

which

the skin of their hands and feet,

records of rats

or rather their eggs, containing tadpoles or froglets,

floating in pitcher fluid [see lower photogmpit on pre-

unknown

indigestible.

is

drowning

There

for

even

are

in the foot-deep pitchers

on Borneo's Mount Kjnabalu.

seasonally dry areas, Nepenthes pitchers

of water for large

are the only perennial source

mammals. I missed witnessing Wallace's encounter,

but

have seen wild pigs tear apart N.

rafflesiana

quench their thirst. Various species of

primate sip from pitchers in a manner decidedly more civilized than the pigs'. In fact, the Malay
term for the genus, periok kera, translates to "monpitchers to

key cup."

But what of Nepenthes'

mammals? Given

associations with the

their unusual appear-

"highest"
ance,

it

is

perhaps not surprising that Nepenthes

have spawned their share of folklore. In Brunei, for

instance,

where

worked

for several years, local

people maintain that the fluid from

tive properties.
tific

inquiry,

work.

didn't

More

varies

as little

by

pitch-

tested the idea.

practical uses include

rice-cookers.

stufled

hot ashes.

When

It

employ-

The

exact

locale. Typically a pitcher

washed out and

left in

you understand

ing the pitchers

method

young

human head, has hair-restoraOnce strictly in a spirit of scien-

applied to the

er,

is

with rice, then steamed or

done, the rice is eaten, and

the pitcher discarded.

probably fortunate that Nepenthes species

grow in the lowland rainforests now being
cleared for timber throughout their range. Never-

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

ploitation or are so hard to access that timber extraction

is still

A more

considered impractical.

immediate

threat, particularly to certain

highland species, stems

from

illegal

harvest by

scrupulous collectors. Since the 1970s,

penthes

Whether

Of course,
animal

may

there

fall

is

ing the Victorian

on

be learned.

always a danger that a visiting

prey to a pitcher. Lizards, perhaps

sometimes drowned and dido biologists know that? The Hzards

leave behind two pairs of miniature translucent
in search of a drink, are
gested.

62

NATURAL HISTORY

How

October 2006

available

resurgence
(It

era.)

was

by mail

order, the

as a collector's

item in
dur-

also highly prized

The demand

has fueled a

and beautiful species, such as N. rajah,

which are often smuggled from their home countries, in violation of international law.
Happily, though, many species of Nepenthes continue to thrive in the wild. Should you decide to
follow in Wallace's footsteps and ascend Mount
Ophir (or Gunung Ledang, as it is now known), you
will still fmd Nepenthes there. Just don't forget your
trade in rare

the crabs are feeding

detritus or wetting their gills remains to

the West and in Japan.

plant with an unusual nitrogen source.

plants' pitchers.

became widely

genus has had

beneath the lid of an N. lowii pitcher secrete a

sugary substance that attracts tree shrews. Some of the
shrews' feces drop into the pitchers, perhaps feeding the
Bristles

un-

when Ne-

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BOOKSHELF

By Laurence A. Marschall
hsh

soil in

the mid-1800s, collected by

Joseph Hooker during a year of travels

in India and Sikkim. Still other rhodo-

dendrons came from remote regions of

Tibet, thanks to the derring-do of

George Forrest, a late Victorian who

hunted flora with the panache of Indiana Jones. While dodging an urban uprising in China he bagged the seeds of
R. sinogrande for the tame potting sheds
ofJ.C. Williams of Cornwall.

With such gardeners

exotic foreigners as

cultivars,

new

create

worked

to

variations through hy-

bridization. Part

of the challenge, of

course, was to produce plants that felt

at

Rhododendrons

in

bloom, Exbury Gardens, Hampshire, England

Tsangpo Gorges, Frank Kingdon Ward,

Tales of the Rose Tree:
Ravishing Rhododendrotts

and

Around the World

by Jane Brown
David R. Godine; $35. 00

Tiieir Travels

noted botanical

collector, recalled his

China

in the early 1900s,

travels to

where he saw
roofed by grey

To

Jane Brown,

who

florid enthusiasm, the

writes with

world looks

above,

skies,

best through rhododendron-colored

curtains hangfrom every rock; "Carmelita"

Brown's rhododendrocentrism
is understandable. Members of the
genus Rhododendron inhabit territories

forming pools of incandescent lava. "Yellow Peril" heaving up against the floor of
the cliff in choppy sulphur seas breaking
from a long low surf of pink lacteum, whose
bronzed leaves glimmer faintly like sea-tar-

glasses.

Borneo, Japan, Switzerand the Himalayas. Notable for

dense, thick greenery and boun-

as diverse as

land,
their

tiful flowers,

they are hardy, showy

plants that readily adapt to cultivation

and hybridization. Even nongardeners

know them members of the genus
include the gaudy azaleas and the waxy,
large-leafed bushes that shade front
porches and jostle for space in the corners of backyards.

In the wild, the plants are impressive,

growing

in vast, dark thickets that

nished metal.

Brown's

opment of gardening, but in mainLong before

globalization became everybody's
rhododendrons were estab-

business,

beachheads of diversity in the

gardens of Europe. In 1736 a botanizing Pennsylvania farmer named John

in soil far

But the

from

their

home-

real aficionados also

strove for new tints, purer hues, and

blossoms that appeared on various
dates, so that, whatever the month, a
garden would display a full spectrum
of blooms, tailored to the aesthetic designs of the landscapes
Before the advent of commercial
garden centers, such obsessions were
only for the private rhododendron gardens of the wealthy. Pundits labelled
them "stockbroker" flowers, even into
the mid- 1900s. Lionel de Rothschild,
a founder of the British Rhododendron Association, was a typical rhododendrophile, as was Queen Mother
Elizabeth, her husband. King George
VI, and her brother-in-law the Duke
of Windsor.
But you don't have to be royalty to
enjoy those lovely blooms today. And
a quick dash through Jane Brown's
chatty book will make you feel like
royalty,

anyway.

lishing

to England some of the

American rhododendrons, gath-

Bartram sent

with rhododendrons that, on a sunny

day in late May, the passage is a dark
tunnel decorated with bright bouquets
of white. In his book Riddle of the

gardens

October 2006

rhododendrons

not only in the devel-

stream cultural history.

first

NATURAL HISTORY

stories give

a central place,

with brilhant color if you

catch the plants in bloom. One of my
favorite parts of the Appalachian Trail
takes me along a stream so crowded
are splotched

64

a valley

with the white snowand everywhere the rocks

swamped under a tidal wave of tense
colours which gleam and glow in leagues
of breaking light. "Pimpernel" whose fiery
fields

home

land.

Danvinism and

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ered along the Schuylkill River not far

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The

plants did well in

stretch

and

of Appalachian

Trail.

many Enghsh

their descendants

still

Windsor and other places.

Another forty-three species from the
Himalayan foothiDs took root in Engsurvive in

Readers

of this magazine scarcely

need to be persuaded of the

power of Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution. But few, I dare say, have
thought deeply about why Darwinism
has been so successful. One of those

New from

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few is Michael Ruse, a professor ofphilosophy at Florida State University,
who has written eloquently for
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Ufe sciences. His latest book ties that
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century and a

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In making his spirited defense of evo-

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much

basically, that speciation arises

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herited

Ruse does not de-

space to creationism or

its

pubHc school curriculum.

Perhaps his reason is that, though the
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the most visible one in the media, it is
also the least substantial. The main concession Ruse makes about engaging the
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traits

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evolution? What insights does

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the disciplines (biology, geol-

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Faustin Betbeder, Prof, Darwin (caricature

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from The London Sketch Book), 1874

tion of God's plan for the universe, as

October 2006

is it

NATURAL HISTORY

65

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poraries,

a tune,

mammoth? Did he never hum

pound a drum, or join in a

comniunal dance? "Without music,"

Mithen writes, "the prehistoric past is

Evidence of primitive conby its very nature, is

fragmentary, circumstantial, and open
to a wide range of interpretation.
Faced with difficulties of such

just too quiet to

daunting scope, Steven Mithen, pro-

studies, for instance, suggest the brain

of archaeology at the University

of Reading in England, remains un-

less

daunted. In his 1996 book, The Pre-

speech. Lesions and strokes can lead to

tifacts.

And so we're

sciousness, then,

fessor

Tlie Origins of Music, Language,

a tasty

Mind, he argued that both

the origins of thought and the origins
history of the

of

human

language are natural out-

comes of evolution. But according to

the first chapter of Mithen's latest
work. The Singing Neanderthals, that
story was incomplete.
What it neglected was the central role
of music in the psychosocial makeup of
our species. Is it possible to imagine Zog
the caveman with a tin ear, not feeling
the rhythm in the chipping of a stone

Did Zog never feel the urge to

move his feet when he wasn't stalking
axe?

on a journey

instructive perspective

on the

human music-making.
is

somehow wired

Need

origins of

Neurological

for music,

independently of

amusia, the inability to

its

more or

circuitry for

comprehend or

produce music. The medical literature

has documented cases of stroke patients
who could speak and write, but could
no longer sing or play an instrument.
Developmental psychologists have
estabhshed that even babies respond to
music. The rhythm and modulation of
a

mother's voice holds her baby's at-

tention before the child can distinguish

the meanings of individual words.

why parents sing lullabies, and

why adults naturally adopt a
high-pitched singsong delivery when
That's

perhaps

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(7/06)

NATURAL HISTORY

October 2006

mm.
Tlie Singing

they speak to children.

of speech

may even

Zogs" were

The

the third contestcvits to be sent heme.

musicality

help in learning

language: the melody,

it

seems, pre-

nym coined by Mithen: "Hmmmmm."

In other words, he explains, the earliest
language was Holistic (not expressed so

cedes the message.

much

Thus, Mithen speculates, humanity

might have developed much as the

havior of others); /nulti-ZHodal (ex-

words as by overall feeling);

(manipulative (aimed at affecting the bein

sure the well-being of the individual,

rhythm, melody, and so

forth); musical; and mimetic (imitative).
"May have" and "might have" are the
most common qualifiers in Mithens
book, and by the time he has woven to-

but also the cohesiveness of the group.

gether

Calling on primate studies, Mithen

the reader

individual does: music

From an

guage.

point, music

likens

first,

then lan-

evolutionary stand-

would not only help en-

group music-making to groom-

ing, an activity that evokes feelings of

contentment and belonging. When

Zog's family beat out the rhythm of a
dance, their music-making may have
helped them work together, thus enhancing their success in the hunt and
giving them an evolutionary advantage
over other families with
ability.

less

musical

Perhaps they also musically

mimicked the motions and behaviors of

the animals they hunted. Music could
have served as an early form of communication, characterized by an acro-

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nature.net

Ripping Earth

is being puUed apart and where it

being squeezed. Go to the World

"Historic Earthquakes in Southern

Map Project (world-stress-map.org)

and, after you've entered the

"WSM poster"

on the

Early

on the morning of April

18,

1906, a section of the San Andreas

the

stress

data

site,

click

to get a feel for

depicted

swarms of

as

vector arrows indicating where the

You can

Fault that was "locked," or stuck in

rocks are Hkely to

place by friction, suddenly gave way.

look at the maps generated by the

Global Seismic Hazard Assessment

The break began under

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.

Juan Bautista. The resulting earthquake

was the most destructive in U.S. history, and it left the thriving city of San
Francisco a smoldering ruin. In the past
year, as if to mark the hundredth anniversary of the disaster, the Earth has
continued to wreak havoc: most notably, as of this writing, with a devastating quake in western Iran and several major quakes in Indonesia following
the disastrous temblor of October 8,

quakes change the

2005, in Pakistan, which killed

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.

section devoted to the tour,

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

well as other linked sections

tion.sdsc.edu/teachertech/videos.html) also

has simulations of that infamous quake

as

it

rippled outward from the

century

mologists

still

cannot pinpoint

when

literally

pent-up

Computing power, however,

provided what are

have begun to model

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

part of the crust, to determine

the

new

pattern makes temblors

stress

more or less hkely on adjacent faults.

The site posted by the USGS Earthquake and Volcano Deformation and
Stress Triggering Group (quake. wr.
usgs.gov/research/deformation/modeling/
index.html)

shows

Chck on

works.

how

their

modeling
and

"Stress Triggering

Earthquake Probabilities" to get a brief

explanation, then check out the ani-

how

quakes

Cahfornia," to find a

Chck on

last

map ofpast events.

the large red dot at the up-

per left, and you'll learn about the

when

Fort Tejon event,

the San

857

An-

dreas Fault slipped along a 220-mile

Los AnRiver was reportedly "flung out

of its bed." Cracks in the ground appeared near San Bernadino and in the
San Gabriel Valley.
Return to the San Diego Supercomputer Center's site, which I mentioned earlier, and select "Animation of
a 7.7 Quake on the San /Vndreas Fault"
to see the prolonged ground shaking
that is hkely in the L.A. basin if the San
Andreas ruptures near Palm Springs.
The simulation took four days to compute. I hope the people at FEMA
under orders from Congress to develop
a detailed plan to reduce earthquake
hazards
get a chance to see it.
stretch. Far to the south, the

geles

Robert Anderson
writer living in

is

a freelance science

Los Angeles.

propagate over time along fault Hues in

several active regions.

The

Angelenos like me should be

concerned by the complex network of faults beneath us. The University of Southern California (veloci-

Toughest
Glue On|

Los

ty.usc.edu/UselT/movies.html) has

some

remarkable movies showing the

faults,

which look Uke

Planet

der

downtown

ends hundreds

brightly colored rib-

of materials

bons dissecting the crust. The Puente

HOls Fault, which extends directly un-

including

wood,

stone, mecal, ceramic

^-'^^nijr*

&

more! Incredibly strong

L.A., looks particularly

& 00%

ominous. San Diego State's Education

Center on Computational Science and

waterproof!

lagTue.com

Engineering (w/ww.edcenter.sdsu.edu/
ssc/3d/ssc3dproject.html) has

that illustrate

Tile Toil

video chps

why Rayleigh waves

(which move the ground up and down)

are so destructive

fault.

after the calamity, seis-

fault will finally release its

stress.

In the past couple of decades, geologists

mations page showing

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-

animations of fault motions.

Extra Thick. Extra Stick.

At the Southern Cahfornia Earthquake Data Center's site (vi/vw/.data.scec.

New Gorilla Tape

sticks to things

ordinary tapes simply can't

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY

69

OUT THERE
pair

My Three
How many planets
By Charles

slave

of giants buffeting a puny, hapless

with their far more powerful grav-

itational fields.

Suns

What hope

is

there that

the planet can avoid annihilation? Either

one

swallows

star

it

or the gravity

of the two stars shngshots it out of the

system altogether. At first blush, the
chances of finding a planet in a multi-

survive in multiple-star systems?

ple-star system seein

Liu

sUm

to none.

As the eighteenth-century mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange and

of scientific research articles are usually drier and more

enigmatic than Martian dust.

Titles
But

paper
"Two
Suns

a recent

in the Astrophyskal

Joiinml

in the

Sky"

bucks the trend with the blunt force of

a

summer movie

Has

title.

new

star

joined our own, unleashing cosmic destruction on our solar system?

HappOy, the paper is not about us. In

"Two

Suns,"

Deepak Raghavan and his

Jim Unger, Herman, July

13,

Atlanta examine a long-standing

question:

tems

with

How many exoplanetary sys-

those outside our solar system

at least

one confirmed planet

have more than one

The

ly to scientists;

star?

is

of interest not mere-

it's

long caught the fan-

question

mad, burning their civilization to the

ground in a desperate effort to bring
back the light.
When you write stories about planetary systems with multiple stars, you
don't have to worry about the physics.

Out

there in the real universe, though,

the laws of planetary and

namics place

on what

One planet and

to stable orbits [see

Lagrange," by Neil deGrasse Tyson, April

if one of the three
from the other two, the
gravity of the distant body becomes too
weak to have much effect, so the two

2002]. Moreover,

bodies

is

far

closer bodies orbit as a fairly stable,

essentially binary, system.

And because

such systems are mathematically pos-

which the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov envisions a humanlike civilization on a

other astronomers in the past decade,

Raghavan and

Generally,

in a three-body prob-

his collaborators conducted a detailed search for stellar companions among almost all known exo-

planetary systems reported

2005. Their

the past (or future). In

orbits

to look for

lem, no equation can teU you ex(or will be) at every

read a short sto-

you can count on us astronomers

famous puzzles in the history of science.

were

he watches two suns setting in the dusky

sible,

three-body problem, one of the most

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,

increasingly chaotic with the

two

with

list

a total

as of July
included 131 systems,

of 155 exoplanets. The

astronomers' goal was to determine

whether each
near the host

star that

star

appears to be

of an exoplanet

passage of time. Eventually, either

planet tucked into a six-star system.

collide, or one of the

out of the system, after
which the two remaining objects usu-

along roughly the same line of

ally settle into a stable orbit.

but remain too

Every 2049 years the planet's soHtary

moon, unseen in the perennial dayechpses the sixth sun after the

October 2006

of the objects
three

flies

With
in a

mind, picture
system with two or more
that in

a planet
stars

is,

in

companion of the host. After all,

even if two stars appear close to each

ry titled "Nightfall," in

NATURAL HISTORY

rise

"The Five Points of

them even if the chances

of finding one are slight.
Building on the work of several

interacting solely through

where the three orbiting

light,

some

three-body configurations do give

mutual gravitational forces, present a vivid example of the so-called

stars, all

actly

Or maybe you've

others have pointed out, though,

their

two

scene in Star Wars in which Luke Sky-

sky?

dy-

stellar

strict constraints

can and cannot happen.

Remember the

cy of nonscientists, too.

70

itants,

set.

2003

collaborators at Georgia State University in

The planet's inhabhaving never known night, go

other five have

fact, a

other in the sky, they

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

Even if all ot them lie within our

own Milky Way, their distance from
Earth can range from a few light-years
stars.

to

many thousands of light-years.

can

Stars

widely in brightness:

also vary

dwarf star can emit less than a milUonth the energy of our Sun, wherefaint

as a typical

blue or red supergiant can

emit more than

million times the

photographs. If two of the people are

orbits

holding hands

as

ond

will not only

look close together but

move

will also

they walk, their lights

together

team took advantage of

and

stars

their apparent stellar neigh-

The team looked

that followed the

in the stands.

They

some kind of

light

are

all

car-

flickering

candles, halogen searchlights, and

everything in between

as

they

move

around the stadium. Now, move many

rrdles away from the stadium and take
a photograph of it. From the two-dimensional "star field" in your photo,
how can you tell, for any given pair of

nearby

lights,

whether the two people

them

carrying

are holding hands?

key Hes
measuring the apThe
parent motions of
the
in

stars across

sky. All the stars are

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,

modify the stadium analogy a

little. Imagine that the people holding
lights are walking around at slightly differing speeds while you take a series of

special attention

near the constella-

four planets,

all

orbiting within about

half a billion miles of a primary

The second
200 times

that distance

The

miles away!
tainly a

configuration

home

to

at

100 biUion

cer-

is

multiple-body one, but

planets are

star.

system orbits

star in the

if

the

any inhabitants,

they would hardly notice the gravity of

the secondary

douThen, to verify that both stars

in a pair were approximately the same
distance from Earth, they measured the
distance from our planet to each star in
each stellar pair: independent evidence
that the stars could be close together.

Of the

131 exoplanetary systems they

studied,

Raghavan and

his colleagues

star. It's just

too

far away.

That brings to mind another of science

fiction's fanciful ideas.

might be part of a binary-star system,

with a small, faint companion so far
away that astronomers haven't yet rec-

what

ognized

double- or

would occasionally wander

If that

triple-star systerns.

sounds Uke

high fraction of

multistat systems, well,

it is

and

For centuries astronomers have

that

most

stars in

rule.

known

our galaxy are part of

Our Sun,

anyone knows,

not the

it isn't.

is

a solitary star so

the exception,

Yet given the stringent lim-

on orbital stability in multibody

systems, you might think that long-Hved
itations

planets near multiple stars should be a

rarity.

So Raghavan's study presents

puzzle:

survived for so
lions,

how could so many planets have

of years

many millions, even bilin multiple-star systems?

It's

own Sun

long been imagined that our

found that between thirty and thirtysix of them

about one in four are

far as

let's

given

visible

tion Cancer, the crab, includes at least

to systems previously identified as

such systems.

So

as a

while the sec-

ble stars.

lions

arm's length.

for neighbors

same path

and they paid

rrules

made

decades apart, of the exoplanets' host

bors.

as

carefully pre-

pared photographic sky surveys,

stars,

both the planet and the

primary star at a much greater distance.

For example, the exoplanetary system
55 Cancri,

Following the same logic, Raghavan's

Imagine a baseball stadium on a dark

night packed with tans, on the field as
rying

the same

speed and in the same direction.

Sun's energy.

well

at

one of the

star orbits

it

for

it is.

orbit, that secretive

In

its

distant

secondary

star

close

enough

to disrupt the orbits of distant

comets and other small solar system
objects, flinging them toward the Sun
as well as toward Earth. Could such a
star,

over the eons, have gravitationally

slung deadly stones toward our plan-

cosmic

et

missiles that caused

eco-

mass extinctions, and altered the course of

life? If the binary configurations of
logical destruction, triggered

exoplanetary systems are an indica-

chance that such "fiction"

could be fact might be a tiny bit less
farfetched than we all once thought.
tion, the

Here's a clue. All the binary stars con-

firmed by Raghavan and

his

team oc-

Ch.'Irles Liu

Is

a professor of astrophysics at the

cur in the same general three-body

City University of New York and an associate

configuration: the exoplanet closely

with the American

Museum

October 2006

of Natural Histoiy.

NATURAL HISTORY

71

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NATURALISTS AT LARGE

THE SKY

OCTOBER

IN

By Joe Rao

(Comifiiicd from page 28)

month

Mercury begins the

unkind. Although productive rains

returned, an unprecedented hurricane
season unfortunately accompanied

them. All the earlier reintroduction

sites were ravaged. Even more alarming was the damage to Bahia Honda
State Park. In just a few months, the
small island absorbed glancing blows
from four major tropical cyclones. The
salt spray and storm surges from the
storms severely damaged some 90
percent of the habitat occupied by
Miami blues, transforming robust
green plants into brown, leafless twigs.
The shortage of nectar and host resources raised concerns that the butterfly population would not soon
or
ever

Yet despite the seemingly continu-

months following the

made a steady comeback in

In the

sisted.

storms,

it

the park, and today

one reason

its

local revival

for optimism.

The

old,

it

shining,

magnitude

-0.1, in the constellation Bootes, the

is

now some

thirty generations

has produced

more than 20,000

and

individuals. Field reintroductions

numerous

is good reason for hope

Miami blue will again soon

utes after sunset during the

the

of October. To see

it,

first

half

though, you'll

probably need optical aid and a ton

of luck. Although
est

it

attains

great-

its

elongation, twenty-five degrees

from the Sun, on October 17th, it remains south of the celestial equator,
in the constellation Libra, the scales,

and so lies low in the sky for observers

in the Northern Hemisphere. By the
end of the month. Mercury is so low
and faint that few viewers north of
the equator can see

it

at aU.

Venus

is

out of sight in October;

reaches superior conjunction,

it

of the Sun, on the 27th. The

as a bright evening
by early to mid-December.

J.

met

while working^ on the recovery of the federally

hued Procyon,

in the constellation

Canis Minor, the

dog, shines

little

Ringed

brighter than the

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,

the night of the 9th and into the

its

morning hours of the 10th, in

waning gibbous phase, the Moon

occults, or passes in front of, the

Pleiades star cluster. Because the

hour and threethe Sun at the start of

Jupiter sets about an

quarters after

October, but
set

fifty

minutes

after

sun-

by month's end. Unfortunately,

is

is

that, realistically, the

of the 24th is the

servers can see it

do locate Jupiter

too

My

evening

last

time most ob-

this

month.

If

you

that evening, try to

Moon is so bright at the beginning of

percent
87

the occultation
is

Uluminated

be

difficult. It

to see

them

may
may be particularly hard
disappear, because the

bright edge of the

front of them

Moon

first. It

er to catch them as they pop out from

behind the dark edge. The Moon further wanes to last quarter on the 13th
at 8:26 p.m., and to new Moon on the

Our

somewhat lo^ver in the

sky. You might also spot dim Mercury, about four degrees below and

RM. eastern standard time.

of Jupiter. Binoculars can

also trackjupiter as it puUs away from
the star Zubenelgenubi, in the constellation Libra, early in the month.

the

da

Museum

sity

McGuire Cen-

of Natural History at the Univer-

of Florida in Gainesville.

Miami-blue conservation

efforts.

He

heads the

Sanchez

endangered-species researcher at the

is

an

McGuire

Center Visitors to the Florida Museum of

Natural History can observe the Miami-blue
breeding program firsthand during the inaugural

Florida Butterfly Festival, October

15,

2006.

and

albeit

to the left

Shining

at

magnitude +0.5, Saturn

October skies, the on-

reigns over the

ly bright planet well

placed for vie'w-

passes in

should be easi-

an assistant professor of entomology and as-

et's left,

ofits disk

^viewing the stars

es to first

Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Flori-

it is

early

22nd

terfor

11:13

known as the Harvest Moon. Late

Moon about ten degrees to the plan-

sistant directorfor research at the

at

Moon is the one

spot the exceedingly thin crescent

is

The

edge of the rings continues tilting

slowly toward our line of sight; a telescope shows the rings' southern side
tilted 13.7 degrees toward us at the
start of the month and 12.7 degrees
by month's end. On the morning of
the 16th Saturn lies below and slightly to the right of a fat crescent Moon.

They

butterfly.

Regulus,

the stars within

have collaborated on research ever since. Daniels

endangered Schaus swallowtail

closes

of Saturn, only similar-

thirty degrees
ly

"star"

guess

a husband-and-wije team,

Of all

also in Leo.

P.M.

ing, but binoculars help a lot.

Daniels and Stephanie

and

degrees west of the

bluish, first-magnitude star

The Moon

the solar system's largest planet

C.

six

planet returns

low at dusk for good telescopic view-

Sanchez,

month

far side

that the

Jaret

constellation Leo, the lion,

on the

er Nature, there

flourish in south Florida.

2 A.M. and

creeps 2.5 degrees eastward in the

additional research projects

continue, boosting the butterfly's

chances for a fuU recovery. With the
ongoing support from countless organizations and a little help from Moth-

At midmonth it rises soon after

is a good distance above
the eastern horizon at dawn. Saturn
ing.

herdsman. Look for the planet low in

the west-southwest about thirty min-

cap-

tive-breeding program continues to

thrive:

at

fully recover.

ous misfortunes, the Miami blue per-

just

with an orange hue,

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

Unless othenvise noted,

em

all

times are east-

daylight time.

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY

75

EXPLORING SCIENCE AND NATURE

iors of the exhibition's in-

Around the Country

ARIZONA
Mesa
Mesa Southwest Museum

ological

Through October 29: "From

600 East Washington Street

Above: Images of a Storied

602-716-2000

Land." Imagine you are an

www.azscience.org

and environmental

conditions, including substance use

and abuse.

(J)

desert Southwest in this exhi-

CALIFORNIA

bition of sixty large-scale

Ruins National Monument,

Los Angeles
Natural History Museum
OF Los Angeles County
Through November 5:

Casas Grandes, Chaco

views of the Aztec

aerial

Canyon, and many other

lo-

banded garden and golden

Sciences Through February

2007: "Dinosaurs: Ancient

silk species.

4,

Exposition Park

Fossils,

900 Exposition Boulevard

Presenting an up-to-date

213-763-DINO

look

www.nhm.org

rently think about dinosaur

(J)

New Discoveries."
what

at

scientists cur-

new exhibition builds

Redlands

this

San Bernardino County

Museum Through November
5: "Pottery from the Pueb-

on cutting-edge

los."

More than 200

early to

detailed walk-through

diorama of a Mesozoic-era

mid-20th-century pieces

environment, and explores

from the museum's anthro-

the newest research related

"Spider Pavilion." See spiders

pology collection explore

to

spinning webs, interacting

the range of history

and

why dinosaurs became

extinct.

Photographer Adriel

with their environment, and

craftsmanship in the pueblo

875 Howard Street

feeding on their prey in the

cultures of the southwestern

415-321-8000

from an

only public spider-viewing

U.S.

ultralight airplane,

revealing the imprints that

ancient and

have

left

modern

on the

cultures

land.

center of

its

kind in the U.S.

480-644-2230

Unique designs and

from fifteen pueblos

reflect the heritage

on tours through the

museum's greenhouse, explaining habitats and behav-

Anasazi,

www.mesasouthwestmuseum.org

(J)

COLORADO

of the

Hohokam, and

2024 Orange Tree Lane

Denver
Denver Museum of Nature
and Science Ongoing:

909-307-2669

"Ancient Denvers."

www.sbcountymuseum.org

think of the Rockies,

other ancestral cultures.

(J)

When we
we

envi-

sion massive mountains and

Phoenix

San Diego
San Diego Natural
History Museum Through

Arizona Science Center

Ongoing: "Wired for
Thought: The Developing
Brain."

www.calacademy.org

colors

Gallery interpreters lead visitors

53 North Macdonald Street

research,

includes an impressive,

Heisey captured these images

cations.

What does current

tell us about how

January

1,

2007: "Dinosaurs:

& Robotic."

Rare movie

research

Reel

the brain grows and changes

memorabilia, video presen-

over time? This

tion explains

new exhibi-

tations,

what science

and animatronic

dinosaurs

tell

the story of

jagged peaks, but this land

was once dramatically different. In 1999 a museum team

drilled a well nearly half a

mile deep to extract a core

sample of rocks and

sedi-

ments representing the

re-

gion's geologic history. Local

working with mu-

has discovered about the

how Hollywood

brain in early childhood, teen

trayed dinosaurs during the

seum

and adulthood. Visitors

can perform activities based
on scientific experiments that

past ninety years, often in

ated several "ancient Denver"

years,

study

how the brain

and adapts

changes

in response to bi-

RAYMOND

BURR

Original poster for the

1956

film

has por-

response to advances in

sci-

knowledge. The show

you're a

center,

crocodiles, deserts, dinosaurs,

cartoon that

giant mUlipedes,

ITS

REWARDS

of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC).

member of a participating museum

admission

at

If

or science

more than 250

other institutions around the world.

See www.astc.org/passport for more information.

first

featured

October 2006

rainforests, seas,

palm trees,
and other

seem so foreign

posters for the original King

features that

Kong, in which the ape bat-

to today's Denver.

tled dinosaurs;

modern

and

lifelike

dinosaur models

created in consultation with

2001 Colorado Boulevard

800-925-2250

www.dmns.org

paleontologists.

FLORIDA

Balboa Park
1

788

El

Gainesville

Prado

Florida

619-232-3821

www.sdnhm.org

NATURAL HISTORY

landscape paintings complete

with such startling features as

includes Gertie, the 1914

now on display in "Dino& Robotic"at the San

Diego Natural History Museum

marked with
participate in
Passport program run by the Association

free

then re-cre-

saurs: Reel

Institutions

you may receive

scientists,

Godzilla,

MEMBERSHIP HAS
the

artists,

entific

the animal; promotional

76

San Francisco
California Academy of

which include

physiology and behavior,

eagle soaring above the

photographs that include

habitants,

(S)

Museum

of

Natural History Through

January

7,

the Past:

2007: "Hatching

The Great Di-

teractive exhibits designed

to

encourage children's cre-

and science

nosaur Egg Hunt." See the

ativity

bowling ball-size egg of a

Try out differently shaped

Titanosaur, touch authentic

wings

dinosaur bones, dig for dino-

down on

saur eggs, and meet "Baby

figure out

Louie," the nearly complete

safe

skeleton of a dinosaur

em-

bryo from a newly discovered

Dinosaur eggs and

species.

nests

from China and Ar-

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

front of the large computer-

graphics screen, and watch a

lie

nails,"

to crack a

Jupiter

first

with a mathematical

airplane.

8 West Benton Street

code, discover facts about

630-859-3434

an animal's history from

scitech.mus.il. us (J)

single tooth, play checkers

on

twenty-foot-square

much more. A

board, and

Chicago

The

Field

Museum Through

embryos and hatchlings and

separate area for toddlers

January

paintings of dinosaur family

features activities that focus

amun and the Golden Age

life

help

tific

new scienhow

explain

discoveries about

on gross and
skills,

motor

fine

balance, coordina-

1,

2007: "Tutankh-

of the Pharaohs." Twice the

size

of the 1977 Tut exhibi-

dinosaurs reproduced and

tion,

and movement.

tion, this

show

raised their young.

4801 East Fowler Avenue

than 130

artifacts

University of Florida

813-987-6100

boy

Cultural Plaza

www.mosi.org

royal burial

SW 34th Street and

Hull

352-846-2000
www.flmnh.ufl.edu

(J)

Road

king's

more

features

from the
tomb and other

jects, jewels,

Gold oband gilded-

sites.

GEORGIA

wood

Atlanta

the story of Egypt at the

Coffinette that held

Fernbank Museum of
Natural History Through

height of its imperial power,

King Tut's

January 3, 2007: "Imperial

cluding the pervasive role of

Rome." More than 450 artifacts portray how emperors

the afterUfe.

and commoners lived in the

Roman Empire more than
1,700 years ago. The show
features architectural models,

ceramics, coins, glass, jewelry,

and marurns, and other

items in the

show tell

during the 18th dynasty, in-

religion

and

its

emphasis on

The

exhibition
1950 North Clinton Street

covery of Tut's undisturbed

260-424-2400

tomb, and includes

CT scans

mummified body, revealing new information

and death.

ble statues,

1400 South Lake Shore Drive

life

Bust of Lucius Verus, co-emperor

Roman Empire

with Marcus

Aurelius, A.D. 161-169,

display

in

312-922-9410

glimpse of an ancient time.

www.fieldmuseum.org

Louisville

exhibition at Atlanta's Fernbank

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,

whether from the backyard

cultural history

in this in-

teractive exhibition.

the facial reactions

your friends

bite into super-

out which culture considers

silkworm pupae to be deUca-

Ongoing: "Virtual

or somewhere

Reality."

An

and get pointers about how

you can acquire such new

between

natural treasures as spectac-

nose plugged.

ular pinecones, unusual

727 West Main Street

innovative

be too small, too

far away, or

too dangerous to

see.

square

some

gallery lets

Put on

special goggles, sit in

more

exotic,

mineral samples, ancient

fossils,

and much more.

Watch

when

sour pieces of candy. Find

Museum

opened facility features more than 20,000

of colorful, in-

A wide

and

Bring in your

On

you explore
things that might otherwise

feet

physiology, psycholog)', and

Science Central Ongoing:

Industry (MOST) Ongoing:

"Kids in Charge!" This recently

their biology, chemistry,

Wayne

767 Clifton Road NE

SciTech Hands

Tampa
Museum

plore the science of sweets

INDIANA
Fort

of Natural History

2007:

1,

"Candy Unwrapped." Ex-

(J)

activities for children.

ILLINOIS

KENTUCKY

Through January

objects that give visitors a

now on

the "Imperial Rome"

(J)

Louisville Science Center

The show's "Education Alley"

of the

www.sciencecentral.org

of his

about his

hands-on

now on view in the

"Tutankhamun and the Golden
Age of the Pharaohs" exhibition
at The Field Museum in Chicago
organs,

also describes the 1922 dis-

sarcophagi, bronze

section includes

some of
mummified internal

cies.

Discover the difference

taste

and

flavor

by

eating a jelly bean with your

800-591-2203
www.louisvillescience.org

October 2006 NAT VR.M HISTORY

77

MISSOURI
Saint Louis

Saint Louis Science Center

Ongoing: "SportsWorks."

mind and your

body in one of the largest
sports and science exhibitions in the world, and discover what athletes know
about biology, health, and
Test your

training. Step into a regula-

and toss
major
try your hand (and

tion batting cage

a pitch to a virtual

leaguer,
feet) at

climbing a rock wall,

at

camp on the surface of IVlars, part of the "SPACE" exhibition, opening October 7
Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh

the North Carolina

1020 Humboldt Parkway

Tupper Lake
The Wild Center, Natural
History Museum of the
Adirondacks Ongoing:

5050 Oakland Avenue

716-896-5200

"Living River Trail." At this

800-456-SLSC

www.buffalomuseum

spectacular

www.slsc.org

ofscience.org (J)

the heart of New York's

surfaces of Mars

Adirondack Park region, the

to the

Moon, "ride" a re-creation

of the first manned spacecraft to land on the Moon,
or walk through a model of

marshlands. Along the way,

the International Space Sta-

experience gravitational
force

on

vertical

life

a bicycle-powered

loop high above the

much more.

ground, and

(f)

was then and,

portant ways,
is

to our

im-

yet, in

how simOar it

own lives today.

new museum

in

NEW MEXICO

New York

exhibition traces the course

Albuquerque
New Mexico Museum of
Natural History and

American Museum of
Natural History Through

of a river from

its

the mountains

down

Science Ongoing: "Jurassic

Snakes: Alive!"

Super Giants."
focuses

on

A new gaUery

the Jurassic, fea-

January

7,

2007: "Lizards

with

More than

squamates (rep-

sixty living
tiles

&

scales) are

on

dis-

turing a dramatic display

play in re-created habitats,

with two huge dinosaurs

complete with rock ledges,

fighting each other: a Seis-

tree limbs, live plants,

mosaurus, one of the longest

ponds

land animals that ever lived

four-inch tropical lizard to a

(100

feet),

and a Sauropha-

ranging from

fifteen-foot

and
a

There are several interactive

ing dinosaur of the time.

stations

where

listen to

recorded squamate

NW

visitors

can

505-841-2800

sounds, explore the inner

www.nmnaturalhistory.org

workings of a rattlesnake,

NEW YORK
Buffalo

Buffalo

Museum of

Science Ongoing:

"Whem

Ankh: The Cycle of Life

in

Ancient Egypt." Learn about

daily Ufe as

it

was Uved on the

banks of the lower Nile River

and more. The exhibition

also features a wide range of
squamate fossOs and casts, as
well as information on current research and breakthroughs in

god

NATURAL HISTORY October 2006

scientific

such as river otters and

brook trout species.
45 Museum Drive

appH-

rare

West

79th Street

"SPACE:

7:

and the

and future

space exploration.
1 1

West Jones Street

877-4NATSCI
www.naturalsciences.org

(f)

www.wildcenter.org

PENNSYLVANIA

NORTH CAROLINA

The Academy of Natural

Durham
Museum

Sciences October 7-8:

Philadelphia

of Life and

"Shell Show." Dive into the

Science Through January

2007: "Holiday Springs

and Sprockets."
press create

8,

Visitors

can watch a vertical

drill

candy canes,

exercise bicycles propel

reindeer,

automatons wash

dirty cookie-baking uten-

new holiday-themed

at

ing October

Journey to Our Future."

Touch actual rocks from the

518-359-7800

this

venom.

OF Natural Sciences Open-

past, present,

animals

made possible by studying Gila mondiabetes research

Central Park

how different

live

and much more

ster

fertility

and stream ecosys-

tems, including

sils,

mummies of Nes-hor and

Nes-min, who were priests of
Min. Find out

forest,

Raleigh

North Carolina Museum

tion in this exhibition about

can discover bog,

cations, such as advances in

2,200 years ago. Meet the

the Egyptian

visitors

source in

Burmese python.

ganax, the largest meat-eat-

1801 Mountain Road

78

Simulated base

in

exhibition that combines

equal parts

art,

engineering,

largest

annual

shell

show

in

the Northeast, featuring

thousand of seashells from

all

over the world, behind-

the-scenes tours of the

museum's renowned malacological collection, and

free shells and
for the kids
an opportunity to meet an-

other ocean denizen:

SpongeBob SquarePants
from the animated Nick-

and whimsy.

elodeon television

433 West Murray Avenue

1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway

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:

Natural Science Opening

October 13: "Benjamin

Scrolls." Featuring ten

Voyage: Vicious Fishes and

Franklin: In Search of a

original scrolls

Other Riches." This exhibi-

Better World."

Pittsburgh

Carnegie

Museum

of

Natural History Through

January

7,

2007:

"Amazon

250

tion explores the biodiver-

Pacific Science

artifacts

"Discovering the Dead Sea

More than

from the

scien-

artifacts

from the ancient

sity

and native people of

tist-statesman's

the

Amazon

ing his original printing

the

equipment and personal

copy of the U.S. Constitu-

tion explores

world's largest piranha, test

the zap of an electric

tion

Touch the

River region.

teeth of the

eel,

or discover BrazOian folklore's

help

life

Encante world beneath

settlement of

includ-

birth. Visitors

can climb

Dead

Qumran

near

Sea, this exhibi-

one of the

greatest archaeological

discoveries of the 20th cen-

celebrate the

300th anniversary of his

and three

facsimiles, along with other

Top portion of lightning rod designed by Benjamin Franklin, part

tury, the oldest

known

Biblical manuscripts. Writ-

of the exhibition examining his

the

aboard a 25-foot ship model

river.

method of

wide-ranging achievements, open-

4400 Forbes Avenue

to recreate his

412-622-3131

charting the Gulf Stream

www.carnegiemu5eums.org/

and

cmnh

other scientific questions

overview of dinosaur

him at a time
when science as we know it
today was known as "natural

China during the

Fort

Worth Museum

philosophy."

OF Science and History

One Hermann

Ongoing: "Lone Star

713-639-4629

Dinosaurs." This

manent

new per-

Martinsville

Virginia

map

extract fossOs

rock,

a dig

from

and create a digital picsummarizes their

ture that

findings.

The show

tures five

new dinosaur

also fea-

Houston

ten mostly

on parchment

in

Hebrew, Aramaic, and

Greek, the scrolls also

of Natural Science

include sectarian and apoc-

Jurassic,

life

in

Triassic,

and Cretaceous

ryphal

texts.

The show

will include four artifacts

that have never

been

dis-

periods.

played in public before

1001 Douglas Avenue

fragments of Genesis, Exo-

276-666-8600

dus, Ezekiel,

www.vmnh.net

Rule

and the War

as well as a variety

of hands-on exhibits that

VIRGINIA

them to experience fieldwork and subsequent laboratory and imaging procesfor

Visitors can

3 at the

www.hmns.org

by providing opportunities

site,

Circle Drive

exhibition puts visi-

tors in paleontologists' shoes

ses.

Museum

investigate several of the

that intrigued

TEXAS
Fort Worth

ing October

Museum

of

WASHINGTON

explain the science behind

Seattle

the excavation, conserva-

Burke Museum Through

December 31: "A Celebra-

tion,

Day of the

and interpretation of

the scrolls.

Natural History Opening

October 28: "Chinasaurs: The

tion of Souls:

Great Dinosaurs of China."

This colorful photographic

www.pacsci.org

Huge

exhibition

documents some
of the traditions with which
people honor the dead in

WISCONSIN

the rural areas of Mexico's

Milwaukee Public Museum

skeleton casts from

many making

China

first trip

to the U.S.

light similarities

their

high-

between

Dead

in

Southern Mexico."

200 Second Avenue North

206-443-2001
(J)

Milwaukee
Ongoing: "Nunnemacher

dinosaurs from Asia and

Oaxaca

found in Texas, including two that are not yet

those from North America,

images capture people

Arms

but they also

preparing centuries-old

development of firearms

named, and describes what

scientists are learning from

unique

recipes, scattering trails of

around the world

marigolds for guiding

collection of 3,500 historic

their fossils.

unusual cui'ved headcrest, to

home,

Lufengosaurus, with

community gatherings, and

much more. The exhibition
will be anchored by a Day of
the Dead ofrendu (ceremo-

spe-

cies

1501

Montgomery Street

817-255-9300

www.fwmuseum.org

illustrate several

characteristics.

From

Mmiolophosaurus, with

its

its

widely spaced teeth, the exhibition presents a fascinating

fj)

state.

Large-format

spirits

offering chocolate at

by Seattle
Hernandez Ruiz.

Collection." Trace the

in this

firearms from the 17th cen-

tury to World

War

II.

U.S.

objects include a Ferguson

rifle

from the Revolutionary

War (one

of the

first

rapid-

Confederate

nial altar) created

firing rifles),

artist Isaac

firearms from the Civil War,

University of Washington

17th Avenue

NE 45th

NE and

Street

and a

series

of Colt semi-

automatic pistols from the

early 1900s.

.^terf*.y*^

206-543-5590

800 West Wells Street

October 7-8 during the annual"5hell Show"at Philadelphia's Academy

www.washington.edu/

414-278-2702

of Natural Sciences

burkemuseum

www.mpm.edu

Bengaler)sii cone-snail shell,

one

of thousands on display

and

for sale

October 2006

NATURAL HISTORY 79

ENDPAPER

Winning Miss
Muffet s Heart
By Rebecca Rupp

Then there's the cricket thing.

Uke

crickets.

the trick,

like

spiders. All those scrabbly

little

legs set off

red alerts in the primitive parts of

our brains, anxiety attacks egged on

by awful ancestral memories from
the early age of mammals. Little Miss
Muffet, fleeing with a shriek from
her arachnid-infested tuffet, was uttering a primal scream.

My

who

eldest son,

mal person, owns

He

tarantula.

is

not

keeps

it

where
burrowing

it

amuses

and eating

Spider aficionados refer

"handsome" and

to the redknee as

it's

a spider the size

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

those behaviors are de-

relatively

mild compared

buU.The barbed,

embedded

urticat-

in the provoker's

cause an allergic reaction;

the bite injects a

potency that

it

venom of such puny

poses

thing larger than a

little

rat.

No

risk to

any-

person, to

my

knowledge, has ever dropped dead

from a tarantula bite, though it seems
to

me

not unlikely that

succumb from pure

80

pump

it

proceeds

fuU of digestive juices. The

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

contemplaby and large, are shy

creatures, retiring homebodies, desirHke Virginia Woolf of rooms
ous
of their own.
sinister as

Tarantulas,

ing

Queen Victoria

though

unlike

undemand-

low- mainteshun extraneous

entertainment and small talk. Beside

tarantulas, crickets begin to seem
fidgety and annoying.

a spider the size

young CUnt Eastwood with

tarantula,

viewed without the

blinders of prejudice,

is

a spider

with substance; a spider, in fact, with

which anyone anywhere should be

proud

to share a tuffet.

of napalm.

In real

tarantulas are surpris-

life,

ingly fragile.

Drop one and

it

son's pet, led to

fantasies

on

my

ii'iitten fifteen

some diaboHcal

part.

An

adroit flip

off the table with a spatula

Rebecca Rupp

breaks

hke an egg a sad fact that, in the

early days of my acquaintance with

my

is

The aforementioned

nance creatures that

of a small skyscraper attacks horses,

sheep, scientists, townspeople, and
policemen, before being downed by
jet full

the thorax,

ing. They're peaceful,

up the

hard not to side with the crick-

Tarantula!, in

ankles and a jaunty red ring around

the queen, tarantulas are

dissolved nutrients.
It's

and the redknee, which not

only has red knees, but also reddish

In truth, there's a restful dignity

to paralyze

which

grow on you.

about them, a trait common to all

things powerful and large, like the ag-

tarantula's

TV, you've seen the 1955 horror

the spit of a cobra or the charge

hairs,

skin,

at

it

bites.

it

human fingernail. The

feeble venom is enough

spider then feeds by slurping

abdomen

is

knee pounces with hghtning speed,

chomping down with fangs said to
be strong enough to bite through

to

eight

annoyed,

eyes. If

scrapes barbed hairs off its

and

its

the position of dinner

daily,

visitor;

tive.

identified, the ordinarily sluggish red-

and

"They're quite attractive really," I

found myself saying recently, with
astonishing sincerity to a cringing

not so

the hapless cricket,

crawling nightmare:

around. Tarantulas, observed

close

ing,

is

a safe cricket.)

"amiable," but to the average arach-

nophobe,

tailcoat

of timber wolves. The spider senses

the cricket's whereabouts with specialized leg hairs that detect motion.
(Crickets bring it on themselves with

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

enclosure of whoUy inadequate security,

who wore

up

their idiotic hopping; a stiU cricket

nor-

Mexican redknee

come

little

one

Since then, though, I've slowly

or-jiminy Cricket in Piiwcchio

a

No

would ever know.

sang opera

or communicated via Morse code

Normal
people don't
and asynchronous

who

about crickets

commemora-

tive little cairn in the garden.

hood memories of them: bedtime

stories

thought, followed by a

dramatic apology and a

have happy child-

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,

eriiiont with her

six fish,

book

2005), a

and

eartli.

husband, three

and a spider

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