The face of a vervet monkey illustrating the procedure
used to characterize facial color pattern complexity.
Illustration by Sharlene E. Santana.
Monkeys have the most colorful faces of all mammals, and new research suggests that’s not just a pretty face.
Burke Curator of Mammals Dr. Sharlene Santana recently led a team of researchers to investigate the colorful facial variation in 139 species of Catharrines—Old World monkeys and apes from Africa and Asia.
The team analyzed hundreds of monkey "head-shots," photos from online databases, to compare the facial coloring of all 139 species. Researchers looked for similarities and differences across species, habitat, and social groups.
They found an interesting connection between monkeys’ facial color patterns and pigmentation and the social structure and environment where they live.
When I was hired as the hippo zookeeper at Woodland Park Zoo in 1999, the hippos were the first animals I was assigned to care for, and I have been with them ever since.
Though I had worked as a zookeeper for 13 years at two previous zoological facilities, I had never worked with Common, or Nile, Hippos. I was instantly fascinated by 36-year-old Gertrude (Gertie) and 21-year-old Water Lily – and so were the zoo visitors.
The hippopotamus is one of Africa’s most iconic animals, and a favorite among zoo visitors. Their immense size and aquatic habits make them one of the most recognizable and popular animals, and one that people expect to see when they visit a zoo.
Since hippos commonly live only into their 40s, and hippos are highly social animals, it was not long after I became the hippo keeper that we began discussions about adding a third hippo to our group, as company for Lily when Gert eventually passed. In 2003, we welcomed 2-year-old Guadalupe as the newest member of our little herd.
Water Lily, Gertrude, and Guadalupe
Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo
Logan was live-captured for the first time on January 24, 2013
near Easy Pass. (Photo by U.S. Forest Service).
Wolverines are one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in North America. After being hunted to extinction in Washington state in the 1930s, they’re finally starting to return to the northern Cascade Range.
Keith Aubry, research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, has led a study to track wolverines found in Washington since 2006. Each winter, he and his team carefully live-capture wolverines, like “Logan,” the young male in the photograph to the right, to document their appearance, sex, age, and condition.
Sharlene Santana holds a Lophostoma silvicolum bat.
Sharlene Santana is an evolutionary biologist and the new curator of mammals here at the Burke Museum. She studies how behavior, diet, anatomy and function result in bursts of diversification in tropical bats – mostly from Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela.
Sharlene was born and spent most of her life in Venezuela. Growing up in the tropics fostered her love for animals and interest in their diversity.
Some of the tropical forests where Sharlene has worked no longer exist because they have been cut down. While Sharlene releases most of the bats she studies in the field, she collects some specimens to help preserve the biodiversity of these increasingly threatened habitats. In her research today and other studies in the future, these specimens in collections will help answer questions that haven’t even been asked.
I recently sat down with Sharlene to ask her why and how she studies bats.
Jeff Bradley, mammalogy collection manager at the Burke Museum, took time off from his recent Australian vacation to visit Isaac in his new home.
"Last year, I got a call from Mardi Newman, a local benefit auctioneer, asking if we'd have any use for a mounted African Lion called Isaac," Jeff said. "A friend of hers, Renee Mills, had recently died, and had left quite a collection of African artifacts and specimens, most of which were going to auction.”
Puget Sound Southern Resident orcas swim off the shore
of San Juan Island in August 2011. (Photo: Cathy Britt)
The return of the J, K and L Pod Southern Resident orcas to their home waters near the San Juan Islands this week came on the heels of another homecoming of sorts. The Burke returned the skeletal remains of Sooke (also known as Victoria), a former member of the L pod, to her new home at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor.
When three-year-old Sooke (L-112) washed ashore near Long Beach, WA in early February,researchers examined her remains to try and determine how she died. Shortly after, the Whale Museum began cleaning her skeleton to make it a permanent part of the museum.
Have you ever been to the Burke and wondered what's in the rest of the building? Behind the exhibits (actually, under them, around them, and above them!) are offices, the exhibit workshop, and enough cabinets full of wonder to make Indiana Jones jealous.
In this edition ofScience Behind-the-Scenes, meet the Burke's mammal collection and find out why we keep drawers full of flattened animals and their bones!
Mammals on display at Meet the Mammals
Mammalogy is the study of mammals (a mammal is an animal with a backbone that has hair and produces milk for its newborns). Over 5,400 species of mammals live on Earth today and many more species have lived and died since the time of the dinosaurs. That's right—running around the feet ofAllosaurusandStegosaurus werelittle furry mammals.
Fossil mammals can be found in the paleontology collection. Humans are mammals but anything to do with humans is usually found in the archaeology or ethnology collections. The mammalogy collection houses all the Burke's "recent" (non-fossilized) mammals—bones, skins, whole animals, flattened animals. Mammalogy has everything from exotic animal skins confiscated from smugglers to squirrel skeletons used by scientists to study local squirrel populations.
Squirrels – you probably see them every day in the Seattle area and may even overlook their presence, but these common creatures have an interesting history. The University of Washington Daily's "Double Shot" sought to find out more about the squirrels on UW's campus. They came to the Burke's mammalogy collection to speak with Collection Manager Jeff Bradley and talk about changes in the local squirrel populations over time. Watch the video to find out more!
You can see some of the Burke Museum's squirrel specimens and hundreds of other specimens for yourself at Meet the Mammals on Saturday, November 12, 10 am – 4 pm.
To enjoy the last bit of nice weather before the winter, you may be heading for the hills. While camping, hiking, or doing other nature activities, remember that other animals are around. Sightings of bears in particular go up during the warmer months.
There are two species of bear you could you see—brown and black bears—in Washington State. Black bears are much more common while brown bears (also called Grizzly bears) are rare. For the first time in 15 years, a brown bear was spotted in the North Cascades. So if you see a bear, it is most likely a black bear. To learn how to tell the difference between the two species, click here.
Black bear. Photo courtesy of Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan.
How far away you are from a bear can dictate how you react. If you spot a bear from a distance, do not proceed and be sure to leave a clear pathway for the bear to exit. If the bear sticks around, the most important thing is to distinguish whether you are dealing with a predatory or a defensive situation.
You are most likely to find yourself in a defensive situation when the bear is surprised by your arrival—by the time the bear knows you are there, you are already "too close.”
These situations seldom lead to an attack, but here are some general safety tips to diffuse the situation:
Talking, clapping hands, or wearing bells while hiking can help let bears know you’re approaching, giving them time to move away
Don’t run, remain calm and keep your eye on the bear at all times
Speak in a low voice so the bear can identify you as a human
If the bear does make contact, play dead. Leave your backpack on if wearing one, lay on your stomach, and clasp your hands over your neck
Stay quiet and don’t move until the bear is gone
Once a bear doesn’t view you as a threat, it will stop attacking. Although rare, predatory attacks do occur.
If a bear attacks you in a tent or approaches you in a campsite:
Look as big as you can; be intimidating
Be aggressive—throw rocks, sticks and yell. Be prepared to fight back if it makes contact
Use bear spray if you have it when the bear is at least 25 feet away from you so it has time to retreat when charging
If a bear is following you, place a pack and other items down to distract it
Climbing a tree may work if a bear is following you but is not guarantee of safety
Bear attacks from both black and brown bears are very rare, even though humans live and play in bear country. These animals disperse seeds from the fruits they eat and help control insect populations, making them important contributors to our ecosystems.
With the recent removal of the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list for part of Eastern Washington, it makes one wonder: exactly how many wolves are there in the state of Washington?
To confuse matters is the fact that the wolf remains protected as a state endangered species throughout Washington… and is still on the federal endangered list for all of the state west of Highway 97. East of this line, they are considered part of the healthy northern Rocky Mountain population.
So, how many are there?
Our state population of wolves is currently estimated at about two dozen, with a couple of successful breeding pairs documented.
Pups playing from Washington State's Lookout Pack. Photo courtesy of Conservation Northwest.
Though it is impossible to determine exactly how many wolves lived in the Northwest before European-Americans began commercial fur-trapping and settling in the greater Pacific Northwest in the 1800s, records from the Hudson Bay Company for the years between 1821 and 1859 indicate that nearly 16,000 wolf pelts were collected during that period.
Under intense pressure, wolf populations took a nosedive that ended in a crash. By the 1930s, the Gray wolf was absent from all of Washington and Oregon.
It was only after British Columbia halted its aggressive wolf-eradication practices in the 1960s that wolves again began to reclaim their range. In the 1980s wolves travelled from Canada and naturally reestablished themselves in northwestern Montana. Then, in the 1990s, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced wolves into Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The wolves we see in Washington today came here from these states and from Canada to the north.
Learn more about the Burke Museum’s upcoming exhibit, Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century, opening on June 4, 2011. Attend opening day events and hear about the return of wolves to Washington State, the historical relationship between wolves and the Quileute people, and even how wolves directly affect the lives of owls and woodpeckers!
The Burke Museum would like to thank David Moskowitz, author of Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, for his prepared information about Washington wolves.
The Burke Museum partners with the Seattle PI's Big Blog to answer commonly asked questions about the natural and cultural history of our region. This post originally appeared on the Big Blog on May 29.
I’m excited to announce that the Volunteer Spotlight will now be a regular feature on the Burke Blog! This month, I interviewed mammal collections volunteer Adrienne, who is also a member of the Burke Museum Student Advisory Board (BMSAB).
Jessica, volunteer coordinator:Hi Adrienne! Tell me a little bit about the volunteer work you do at the Burke.
Adrienne: In Mammalogy, I assist Jeff, the collections manager, with whatever needs to be done on a given day. Most of the time this involves either bone washing or bone numbering.
Also, as a member of the BMSAB, I work with a small group of UW students on improving the Burke Museum’s presence on campus by increasing student awareness of the Museum. We just hosted After Hours @ the Burke, an evening event exclusively for UW students.We spent several months planning the event and were responsible for obtaining donations, marketing and running the event.
Jessica: How did you end up volunteering at the Burke Museum?
Adrienne: I am currently in my second year as a student at UW, working on a major in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. I got involved with the BMSAB, and met Jeff [mammal collection manager] in mammalogy while on a behind the scenes tour. My personal interests and career goals lie within conservation biology, so it’s been a great opportunity to work at the Burke where so many fascinating organisms are being preserved, and I love getting the student community involved with the museum.
Adrienne preparing whale bones for the mammal collection.
Jessica: What do you like most about volunteering at the Burke?
Adrienne: I love volunteering here at the Burke because I finally feel involved with my school. It has been so much fun to work with both the students on BMSAB and the people in Mammalogy who are all outgoing, friendly, and as excited about natural history as I am.
Jessica: What is the funniest thing that has happened while volunteering?
Adrienne: It was during the winter After Hours event and I had signed up for ice cream scooping. We knew the ice cream would be popular, but we had no idea to what extent. For two hours straight, two others and I frantically scooped bowl after bowl of ice cream, going through the entire stock of 14 gallons! It was really funny to watch us trying to keep up with the never-ending waves of people wanting ice cream, and sneaking bowls for ourselves!
Jessica:What would surprise people about what you do?
Adrienne: Most people are really surprised by some of the gory things I do in mammalogy. I have gotten used to picking beetles out of squirrel skulls, scraping off the cartilage from not-quite-clean bones, and digging through a pile of elephant poop for composting hippo bones, but it never ceases to gross people out when I describe it to them for the first time!
Jessica: Briefly describe your most memorable project.
Adrienne: I went to the Woodland Park Zoo with Jeff to check on the status of the composting hippo bones. After looking at the bones, the hippo caretaker offered for us to come watch her as she fed the live hippos. I jumped on the opportunity since it is always fun to see the animals at the zoo, but I had no idea how up close I was about to get! I got to feed both Water Lily and Guadalupe, tossing whole apples and carrots into their gaping mouths. This is another reason why I love volunteering at the Burke: unexpected opportunities are always coming up, and I have gotten to interact with so many fascinating people and animals along the way.
I first met our freight elevator, who I'll call Frank, when I started my job as the Burke receptionist back in August. He helped me get to my first interview and ever since we've been very close. Since he's only a few feet from my desk, Frank and I work together daily, which is why it was such a treat to spend a bit of time with him to check in and find out what this elevator's walls had to say.
Sam the Receptionist: Thank you, Frank, for sitting down with us today to discuss what it's like to work at the Burke.
Frank the Freight Elevator: You're welcome, Sam. It's a pleasure to be here. Of course, I appreciate you coming to me as it's difficult for me to get away from my post at times.
That's me and the freight elevator, conducting our interview.
S: No problem. I can imagine that, as a freight elevator, it's easiest for me to come to you. Of course, we work closely during the day and you help me quite a bit.
F: No worries, it's my pleasure. I am more than happy to help keep the museum working.
S: Well, let's get to it. How long have you been here at the Burke?
F: I came to the Burke in 1962 and was lucky enough to start in this position. I didn't have to work my way up, so to speak. I work my way up every day! Ha! That one will never get old.
S: Haha, thank you for that. Is there a remarkable experience that you've had since you've been at the Burke?
F: There are so many amazing things that happen here. Of course, I enjoy the annual whale skull move for Meet the Mammals. It's nice to get to see such an incredible specimen up close like that. It's also really amazing how much work goes into getting them from the mezzanine to the second floor. Two years ago, someone caught me on video while our mammalogy team was moving the whale skulls...check it out:
S: What about the day to day? What does a regular work day look like for you?
F: Well, the back side of the museum usually opens around 7:30 am or so and people start going to the different floors around 8 am. First the collections managers, curators, and staff show up and a few volunteers. I really love everyone who works here, but the volunteers are who make my day. Some of these people are here so long, I forget that they don't get paid! Like this guy Don, he's a volunteer in Geology and I swear sometimes he's here more than I am!
S: Aside from the people, what kinds of things do you see on a regular work day? What do you carry other than people? F: WELL! That's very exciting. People from around the area here and a few different organizations bring us dead stuff. Yes. Dead stuff. My absolute favorite! People will bring in gorgeous birds that have flown into windows or were knocked out of a tree in the storm. Some of the most stunning specimens are brought in by the public. They find these unfortunate creatures outside and they wrap them up in plastic, stick them in their freezer and call the Burke to find out what to do next. Also, the Woodland Park Zoo and the Burke have a great relationship. A lot of the animals that pass away at the Zoo come to the Burke to be cleaned up and cared for and then become educational tools for teaching people about the amazing diversity of life on Earth!
S: It sounds like you have quite the job here at the museum.
F: Yes, it really is. I get to take people to where they need to go with the cool stuff that they work with here. There are so many fascinating things here at the Burke that even the freight elevator can get in on the action!
S: Well, thank you for your time, Frank. Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet with you again at some point to hear about your latest exploits!
As the winter season creeps its way into Washington State, you may feel the urge to eat comfort food and wrap up in warm blankets. While we den up, a backyard animal is hard at work—the squirrel.
As food sources for squirrels become harder to find during the winter months, the Eastern Gray Squirrel and many other squirrel species can be seen burying, or storing, food. Constantly busy during this time of year, these squirrels collect seeds from trees and other plants as well as fungi and insects. Eastern Gray Squirrels bury these items in winter caches and can find these locations in the future by using memory and smell.
Sometimes squirrels can forget where caches are located, and the result is good for the environment. When winter caches go uneaten, these buried seeds may aid in tree dispersal and contribute to the growth of forest ecosystems. As I watch these creatures investigate my gorgeous Japanese Maple, I can only hope that someday they can plant another one for me in my backyard!
Come see squirrels and touch other mammals this Saturday, Nov. 20, 10 am – 4 pm at the Burke Museum’s Meet the Mammals family day event.
Although we have had some blustery weather over the last few days in the Seattle area, there is no doubt that spring is arriving. Not only are flowers and leaves peeking their way back into the landscape, but Washington state animals are starting some interesting activities as well. Here are a few things to look for around your neighborhood and around the Puget Sound.
Wood Peckers: You may have noticed already this spring that woodpeckers are pecking your house, trees and other parts of your neighborhood. There are a couple of different reasons why woodpeckers “drum” on houses. Searching for food is one reason, but did you know they may also be trying to attract a mate?
That’s right, drumming is used to communicate with other woodpeckers, and they tend to be at their loudest during their breeding season in early spring. In order to get the point across and make the drumming even louder, woodpeckers have been known to drum on flashing around chimneys (thus the rooftop noise), siding and even metal street lamps!
Hairy Woodpecker, photo by Stuart MacKay
Once a woodpecker has found a mate, your house will likely go unnoticed by the neighborhood woodpeckers.
Male American Robins: Is a robin attacking your windows every morning? It may be startling, but the bird is not injuring itself. Instead, this noisy and disruptive behavior is due to a male robin seeing his reflection in the window pane. Male robins get particularly territorial during their mating season in early spring, and will come back repeatedly to your windows to check up on this “invader.”
Male American Robin, photo by Stuart MacKay
Just like the wood pecker, this behavior only lasts for a short period of time. However, for your sanity, click here to find out ways to reduce reflections on your windows.
Orcas: The three pods that inhabit Puget Sound, known as the southern resident killer whale population, return to the area in May to follow salmon runs until October. Popular routes for the Puget Sound’s three orca pods in the spring are generally around the San Juan Islands. If whale watching boats aren’t your style, people often see orcas from the state parks on the islands.
Eastern Cottontails: If there are rabbits that hang out in your backyard or neighborhood park, you may see some interesting mating displays. Eastern cottontails, common in the Seattle area, have a mating season of February-September. The males fight each other and do dance-like courtship displays. These displays include group chases and lots of jumping, including females jumping over males.
Eastern Cottontail
Keep an eye out for these interesting creatures and enjoy your spring!
Over the weekend, the Seattle Times'Pacific Northwest Magazine published an article examining the long-standing mystery and controversy surrounding Bobo the beloved gorilla, who lived at the Woodland Park Zoo from 1951 to 1968. The Burke has an ongoing arrangement with the Woodland Park Zoo to provide a home for zoo animals that have died, so following Bobo’s death in 1968, his skeletal remains were donated to the UW and became part of the mammal collection at the Burke.
For many years, Bobo’s skull was inexplicably missing from the rest of his skeleton. In 2007, Bobo’s skull was finally returned to the Burke Museum after being gone for decades. Read Fred Moody’s thoroughly-researched and well-crafted report about what happened here and then come pay your respects to Bobo the beloved gorilla, whose skull is on display at the Burke Museum now through April 25.
Bobo's skeletal remains are of value to the Burke, as a natural history museum, for many reasons. Bobo's bones hold a valuable record of the genetic signature of wild gorillas in 1951. His DNA could be compared with gorillas of today to answer questions about changes in gorilla populations or genetics. Also, UW students have used Bobo's skeleton for decades while studying human fossils, evolution, and paleontology.
While I have interacted with visitors to the collection before, this was the first time that it was my responsibility to make sure they had what they needed, knew where to find the specimens they were looking for, and ensure that all the proper paperwork was filled out. Interacting with these researchers and hearing about their work (not to mention watching them take the data they needed) was definitely one of the most interesting parts of my job.
A budding young researcher uses a special tool to measure the size of a rodent during a behind-the-scenes tours of the mammalogy collection.
The first visitor was Jonathan Calede, a graduate student at the University of Oregon. Jonathan is studying the diet of burrowing rodents that lived during the Miocene. This doesn’t sound difficult until you find out that the only specimens he has to study are tiny fossilized rodent teeth! Luckily, the Burke’s mammal collection provides modern rodents for researchers like Jonathan to study. Since we know what modern mammals eat, their teeth serve as great comparisons.
Jonathan has taken some specimens back to Oregon with him, but most of his work was done in the mammal collection itself. First he chose which specimens to study and cleaned the teeth with ethanol. He then made molds of the teeth using the same blue molding compound that dentists use. When the mold is dry it can be peeled off and later filled with epoxy to make a cast of the teeth.
The second researcher was Casey Self, a University of Washington biology graduate student. Casey is also studying teeth and their relationship to diet, but in modern bats rather than rodents. She uses the Small Animal Tomographic Analysis facility (SANTA) in the Department of Pediatrics to micro-CT scan the bat skulls and measure the volume and surface area of the tooth roots. Because Casey cannot remove the teeth from the skulls (as that could compromise the specimens in the collection), this is a non-destructive, highly accurate alternative. Casey has used the collection many times before and will definitely be back to complete more research in the future.
The final visitor was Jacob Fisher, an archaeology PhD candidate at the University of Washington. Jacob uses the mammal collection to identify prehistoric faunal skeleton remains from Five Finger Ridge, an archaeological site occupied during the Fremont-period (AD 450-1350) in central Utah.
During his most recent visit to the mammal collection Jacob focused on identifying rodents, which provide important data on the past environmental conditions at the site. There are larger questions that Jacob is trying to answer with his research. In his words: “the goal of my research is to understand how people impacted the environment, and in particular how underlying motivations for hunting by men may result in resource depletion of some game animals.”
All of the Burke Museum’s collections, not just mammalogy, support interesting research. I am glad I had the opportunity to help a few of those researchers in my time filling in for our regular mammalogy collections manager.
What happens when the Burke’s Mammalogy collections manager leaves town for six weeks? He asks an able graduate student to look after the place! Before taking his leave, collection manager Jeff Bradley asked me to fill his large shoes while he was gone. I am a graduate student in the Museology Program here at the University of Washington and I have been training with Jeff for over a year, learning how to prepare mammal specimens and care for the collection.
Before Jeff left, he ran me through a crash course on all the things I might need to know in his absence. My weekly duties included checking the insect traps for any intruders, emptying the dehumidifier in the cold storage room, relabeling storage cases, and preparing a collection of small mammals from the Olympic Peninsula. Preparing a specimen involves skinning and stuffing the animal, taking tissue samples and measurements and preparing bones for their short stay in the dermestid beetle colony where muscle matter is removed. If prepared properly and stored in ideal conditions (like the ones in our collection), these specimens will endure for many years to come. I also made sure that volunteer Chandler Coles had bones to wash and prepare for numbering and that fellow museology graduate student and intern Crystal Welliver had mammals thawed out and ready to prepare.
Photo: Justine Walker working with the Burke's Mammology collections
During this time my inbox slowly filled with email requests, as mammalogy collection emails were forwarded to me. Many of these emails contained straightforward questions, asking if a group of students could tour the collection and on what date, for example. Some, however, were more appropriate for Jeff to answer, such as:
-Does the Burke want a couple of dead skunks? -Can the paper archives of a collection be viewed? -My personal favorite, where does someone go to obtain a steady supply of “road kill?”
I did my best to provide temporary answers and to politely inform the inquirers that they would have to wait for a formal response from collection manager Jeff once he returns. And I thank every one of them for their patience and understanding!
Check back soon for more stories from my time filling in as mammal collection manager.
It's fall again, and during this time of the year at the Burke, mammals are on our minds. That's because this Saturday is the annual family day, Meet the Mammals. Bring the family and get face-to-face with mammal skulls, touch the fur of big cats and assemble whale vertebrae while talking to Burke mammalogy experts. One Washington State mammal that I personally can't wait to meet is the caribou.
Woodland Caribou, or Rangifer tarandus, are even-toed hoofed mammals (or ungulates) that inhabit North America, Northern Europe and Asia. The Selkirk Herd, found in the north-eastern corner of Washington State, is a herd of roughly 30 members. Caribou are social herding animals that live in groups of no less than 10 and sometimes as large as tens of thousands when congregating at summer feeding grounds.
Caribou are migratory animals that travel over 3,100 miles per year. During these migrations, caribou traverse over all kinds of terrain, and have many adaptations to handle extreme weather conditions. During the winter, caribou have 18,000 hairs per square inch on their bodies that are hollow in order to help insulate the animals in subzero temperatures. The hairs are also hollow, making caribou more buoyant while crossing bodies of water. They are the fastest swimmers of all ungulates, with broad, paddle-like hooves, and can reach speeds of up to 6 mph in the water.
Photo of Woodland Caribou, Rangifer tarandus
Caribou are also the only members of the deer family in which both males and females have antlers; males have larger antlers that can weigh up to 33 pounds! Rutting season is from late August - October. During this time, males will compete for females by sparing, bashing their antlers together and head-butting over mates. Once rutting season is over, males will lose their antlers in the winter and will begin re-growing their antlers once again.
Every mammal has its own story and the Burke’s mammalogy experts are eager to share these stories at Meet the Mammals this weekend. It’s an exciting event with the chance to get up close and personal with mammals of all shapes and sizes—hoofed or not!
Burke visitors touch and examine porpoise skulls at last year's Meet the Mammals
Saturday, November 22, is our third annual Meet the Mammals event. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the rich diversity of the world’s mammals by examining over one hundred skulls, skins and skeletons. This is your chance to get answers to the questions you’ve been dying to ask about mammals. Some of the questions I’ve come up with are:
Is it true that the Pacific Northwest is home to both the largest (beaver) and smallest (little pocket mouse) rodents in North America?
What do wolverines, wolves, and walrus’ share?
Are blesboks, grysboks or blackbucks found in Washington state?
