Natural History 1994 110 2
Content
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F_E^
U
R^
NUMBER
VOLUME 110
MARCH 2001
2
S
MUSHI
For youngsters in Japan, the
study of insects has been both a tad
and
a tradition.
BY ERIK
L.
LAURENT
THE SCAVENGING OF
"PEKING MAN"
What was
who
tiic
hunter and
the vicdni?
BY NOEL
T.
RUSSELL
L.
BOAZ AND
CIOCHON
A
WORLD
APART
The
ocean's
invertebrate
animals
may
THE AFTERSHOCKS THAT
assume myriad
fantastic
forms
before reaching
adulthood.
WEREN'T
A
1992 quake
upset
some
in the
Mojave Desert
settled seismological notions.
BY SUSAN ELIZABETH
HOUGH
BY GREGORY A.
WRAY
WITH
ELIZABETH
J.
AND WILLIAM
BALSER
B.
JAECKLE, STEVEN
MORGAN AND SKYLI
COVER
McAFEE, LARRY
beetle
is
Japan,
a
R.
McEDWARD, CRAIG M.
YOUNG, AND RICHARD
STRATHMANN
The seven-
spotted ladybird
found in
country
with an insectfriendly culture.
STORY BEGINS ON
PAGE 70
PHOTOGRAPH BY
HIROSHI OGAWA:
NATURE PRODUCTION
mm.
DEPARTMENTS
6
UP FRONT
In Defense
of Larvae
J
10
LETTERS
12
CONTRIBUTORS
14
IN
16
THIS LAND
Urban Country
ROBERT H. MOHLENBROCK
30
SUM
IN THE FIELD
Warm Welcome
PETER
32
36
J.
MARCHAND
THE EVOLUTIONARY FRONT
"After You, Eve"
CARL ZIMMER
CELESTIAL EVENTS
Lost in Space
RICHARD PANEK
43
THE SKY IN MARCH
JOE RAO
44
BIOMECHANICS
The Fine Art of Waddling
CARL ZIMMER
76
AT THE
The
MUSEUM
Helicoprion
Mystery
RICHARD ELLIS
80
81
MUSEUM EVENTS
REVIEW
Cosmic Chemists
MARTIN 3. REES
83
nature.net
Gems of the Universe
ROBERT ANDERSON
83
BOOKSHELF
84
UNIVERSE
Coming
to
Our
Senses
NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON
NATURAL MOMENT
Revue
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES WARWICI
88 THE
Pier
90
ENDPAPER
Informed Consent
SAMUEL
Visit
our
Web
M.
WILSON
site at
immi'. naturalhistory.com
i
T^^
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NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
UP FRONT
In Defense of Larvae
The magazine of the
American Museum of Natural History
Livva.
and
we
To
a lot ol people, the
likely to
devour food
glorify the butterfly
for tadpoles,
incUned to
word
stores,
signifies
something half-formed,
winter clothing, or green
and dismiss the
caterpillar.
As
leaves.
Ellen Goldensohn
ugly,
RebeccT
a rule,
Jenny Lawrence, Vittorio Maestro, Richard Mibier,
Judy Rice, Kay Zakariasen
Michel DeMatteis, Avis Lang
maturity without
Thomas
much
changing
Flora
more than our
bodUy proportions.
have
a
pick
we do
And
Director of Mannfacttmng
Harrison National Advertising Manager
L.
fictional
Jessica
Mackin
Ramon E.
Advertising Production
Manager
Alvarez Circulation Manager
Michael Shectman FulfUment Manager
Jermifer Stagnari Promotion Director
Fortunately for Natural History's readers,
some people
appreciate
Gladys Rivera Assistant
metamorphosis and have made the study of larvae an important part of their
One
is
evolutionary biologist Gregory A. Wray,
issue's special section,
"A World Apart"
who
common
lihes, corals, clams,
and barnacles
are
among
write about larvae
this
the
stars,
larval
or drifting near the surface of the world's oceans. For
who
is
the multitude
of marine invertebrate organisms that spend days or months in
the other seven scientists
Suzanne Kato
(page 52), provides a corrective to
developmental pathway in the animal kingdom. Sea
nudibranchs, sea
Monique Berkley
in this
direct-developers' chauvinism by pointing out that the larval Ufestyle
swimming
Publisher
Sonia W. Waites Senior Account Manager
Fly).
most
Editor
Judy Lee-Buller General Manager
Denise Clappi
humans undergo transformations in books and films, it's almost always bad
news (think Gregor Samsa in Kafka's "Metamorphosis" or Vincent Price in
work.
to the
Gale Page Consumer Marketing Director
Edgar
life's
Assistant
not truly
metamorphose.
The
Picture Coordinator
Mark A. Furlong
we
few secondary
when
Rodriguez
Merle Okada
sex characteristics,
but
Editors
Carol Barnette Editorial Coordinator
to
adulthood
up
Managing
Rosinski Assistant Designer
and along
giUs,
way
the
(Pictures)
Associate
Barbie Bischof Research Editor
embryos we
Yes, as
Designer
Board of Editors
this
reproductive
Managing Editor
Thomas Page
which at least, hke us, are vertebrates. Perhaps humans are
form of prejudice because we are direct developers, going
from babyhood to
Chief
Maire Crowe
Executive Editor
may be made
Exceptions
Erf/ior in
B. Finnell
form,
to the
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Photo CiMnes»oiK*s*.
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Refer'.o:3NH-GEI03
10
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
would I come up with a
number reasonably close
LETTERS
the 100,000 quoted by
Martin A. Nowak?
Word Count
number of
estimating the
to
words in an
Derivatives" {Journal of
Reading Behavior 25, 1993)
individual's
And
well
Nagy and R.
E.
Anderson,
readable discussion
as a
W
and
vocabulary. For references, as
C.
"How Many
would an ordinary
of how some of these
evolution of language,
seventeen-year-old really
variable figures are reached,
School Enghsh?" {Reading
"Homo
know
Nowak recommends
Research Quarterly 19, 1984).
In his article
on
the
Grainmatiais"
half of these?
(12/00-1/01), Martin A.
H.
Nowak
via e-mail
states that
"English
(Morrie)
Kuhlman
Pinker's
Instinct
has about 100,000 words."
But an
The editors
article in the
December 2000
issue
of
reply:
Psychologists, linguists,
and
Smithsonian notes that
dictionary publishers use
English has "a total
different
vocabulary of maybe two
their estimates
milHon words." There is a
wide disparity between the
two figures. Could you shed
some Hght on which is the
more
Don
accurate total?
New
York
I
counted every word in
the Oxford English Dictionary,
of the
number of words
conservative.
Language
Expedition of Two
(HarperCoUins,
The
"people can recognize vastly
Paricutin Expedition to
more words than they have
occasion to use in some
Mexico ("An Expedition
and he believes
roots
and
graduate
12/00-1/01 supplement)
brought back memories, for
that
I
would probably be
credited with around 60,000
Nowak
encourages interested readers
play
when
a language
all
come
into
totaUng words in
and
when
1944.
also
W. E. Nagy
"The Acquisition of
to look at
proper names,
acronyms, and the words for
to see that volcano
my
et
sister in
August
We went by bus from
Uruapan
words.
and
went
with
and compounds,
suffixes
note on the 1943-44
Notebook, 1900-2000,"
fixed period of time or
an average high-school
is
in Printed
1994). Pinker maintains that
space,"
in a
The
Tire
Steven
stems of words, derivatives
numbers can
If
to derive
language. Nowak's figure
prefixes,
Bessette
Wassaic,
methods
book
Words Are There
possible.
to get as close as
When
the bus
could go no farther,
al.,
we
Morphology: Learning the
mounted horses and made
our way down a steep
Contribution of Suffixes to
incline.
the
Everywhere there
—
Meanings of
was desolation
trees black
Ox^oc B<^^k^
"rti^
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1
and bare-limbed and the
ground covered with
gritty
stood there in the dark,
Hstening to the roar of the
sound hke
experiments to be well
assertions.
But
made.
urge them
to
I
loved the reference
volcano beyond,
desolation, yet, scattered
continuous thunder, and
the words
here and there, white
watched
have one that
mountain poppies managed
into the
to
push up through the
The
ash.
flow ended
lava
A short
wall.
rose the bell
church,
all
that
of the
visible
away
distance
remained
of San
village
My
Juan Parangaricutiro.
sister
and
I
climbed up the
ragged lava with great care.
From deep
could
lava
feel the
had not
from the
time
crevices
it
as
yet cooled
By
this
was getting dark, and
a misr\' rain
was
tailing.
We
made our way over
the lava
and walked into the
shelter
of the open
Some
fell
back
and went bouncing down
the sides of the volcano in a
bell tower.
We
"Obey
Gravity."
states
Fight Entropy?"
I
"Why
Of course,
sizzled in pockets
spit
refrite
(1)
her claims.
D.J. Meltzer
Monte
Jim Massa
of stUl-hot
et
First Fight
Taylor and C. V. Haynes,
and
In
"Who's on
(2)
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt
reviews my book Tlic
Verde. Chile:
Doris Hopper
I
read Neil de Grasse
Tyson's article
on the laws of
Settlement of the Americas:
64:3. 1999).
Dixon's book
Tom D.
and Bison: ArcheologY and
of
North America. Readers
and found
are
point about
the
Western
who
unacquainted with the
at
Monte
No Evidence
Eflect" {American Antiquity
Bones, Boats,
physics ("Universe," 11/00)
his
A
and E.James
Colonization
E.
for a Local Reservoir
New Prehistory
First
R.
"Radiocarbon Analysis of
First?"
Modern Organics
Nerd Humor
are
"On
Verde, Southern
("Reviews," 7/00-8/00),
Jacksoiii'illc, Illinois
al.,
Chile" {Americati Antiquity
lava.
Awesome memories.
Thank you.
that
They
via e-mail
62:4, 1997)
and
and
a scientific journal
the Pleistocene Antiquity' of
faUing apart.
it is
shower of sparks while
we
heat where
flow.
last
air.
behind us the rain
tower of a
shoot
fiery boulders
into the crater; others hit the
lip
abruptly in a jumbled high
a
I
at t\vo
pubHcations that appeared in
to his old T-shirt bearing
black ash. Such utter
in response,
look
T.
Dillehay
Marshall
Hahnjr
Professor
of Anthropology
University of Kentucky
Le.xington.
Kentucky
the universaht)- of laws
archaeology- of the
based on numerous
Americans may be
Natural History s e-mail
observations and
impressed by Roosevelt's
address
first
is
[email protected].
12
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
CONTRIBUTORS
The impending
birth of his
child inspired Carl
first
write about the genealogy of the whole
Eve,' "
You,
page 32). This
article
human
Zimmer
to
family (" 'After
marks the inauguration of Natural
new bimonthly column "The Evolutionary Front," in
which Zimmer explores the latest research and thinking about
History's,
two
evolution. For almost
Zimmer
years,
the magazine's "Biomechanics" column,
has been responsible for
which will be taken over
by other writers following the April 2001
»
issue.
A former senior
editor at Discover and a contributor to National Geographic, Science,
,
Zimmer
Audubon, and Nature,
^^
is
the author of At the Water's Edge:
Macroevolution and the Transformation of Life (Free Press, 1998)
Parasite
Rex:
pubHshed
Inside the Bizarre ll'brld of Native's
this fall
by HarperCoUins,
is
the
Most Dangerous Creatures (Free
companion
upcoming PBS
to an
Press, 2000).
television
and
His next book, to be
documentary on evolution.
To learn more about Homo erectus pekinensis, Noel T. Boaz and Russell L. Ciochon ("The Scavenging of 'Peking Man,'
site in China where the remains of this early human relative were discovered and also carefully
page 46) visited the
reviewed the
fossils, fossil casts,
paleontologists
Xu
concerning the
Qinqi
fate
and related materials stored
(center)
in
museum
and Liujinyi (not pictured), Boaz
collections. Collaborating
(right)
and Ciochon
(left)
with Chinese
uncovered
new
evidence
of these Ice Age people and their
relationship with the animals that shared their
territory.
Boaz and Ciochon
graduate school
at
first
Berkeley, and "cut their teeth"
serving
on the
met while attending
the University of Cahfornia,
on bone
research by
Omo Research Expedition to
southern Ethiopia. Boaz subsequently led expeditions
to the Libyan Sahara
and to the western Great Raft
Valley of Uganda and the
Democratic RepubHc of
Congo, while Ciochon has organized expeditions to
Myanmar, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia. Boaz is a
professor of anatomy at the
Medicine
in
Ross University School of
Dominica, West
Indies,
and Ciochon
is
a
professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa.
Raised in
cities
and towns
Weren't," page 64)
became
east
of the Mississippi PJver, seismologist Susan Elizabeth Hough ("The Aftershocks That
interested in earthquakes during her undergraduate years at the University of California,
Berkeley,
when
she discovered that she could put her mathematical
problems. She received
talents to use to help solve socially relevant
her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, spent four
years as a postdoc at
Columbia
University,
and has worked for the
U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, for the past nine
years.
Hough
(pictured here with her youngest son, Paul)
particularly enjoyed her research
quakes, in part because
it
on the 1811-12
her father, a professor of poUtical science
iielped
from
me
New Madrid
gave her an opportunity to
to understand the
at
Duke
work with
University.
"He
importance of seeing the information
a historical rather than purely scientific perspective," she says.
Hough
is
currently finishing Earth Shaking Science, aimed at the
general reader and scheduled for publication next year by
Princeton University
Press.
A
I.
of Atli,
ii.itiw
tvi.li.i:ti.ils
iK-ar
HiusslK, Erik
as a zooloi;ist .uid
.1
1.
Laurent ("Miishi," page 70)
L.
iiiiliiopologist.
uluiiil
l.mgiiage in Paris
and then pursued fieidwortc
mountain
of Nagano,
village
living in a seaside
went
such
life,
"You
in
lie
got to
can't escape insects
as locusts, are
know
itii
111
tiie loeal
silkworm breeders;
rice hirniers.
prominence ot
the
|.ip.iii.""
li.is dLi.ii
studied the Japanese
Japan. While working in the
in
Kayama. he worked with
he was impressed u
in |apan,
culture.
temple
He
Laurent
while
later,
Wherever Laurent
insects in the national
"Tiiey
says.
e.it
crops,
eaten by people. I'hey figure in poetry and novels
death, and change." H.iving spent a decade of fieldwork on
iititslii.
and some,
symbols of
as
now
Laurent
[iLms to stud\' luim.m sexuality in Japanese culture.
James Warwick ("The Natural Moment," page
was inspired by
and
India.
Wanvick
88) started taking photography seriously in
graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in materials science.
|y'J5, just after
a trip to
Most
Kenya and has
recently he visited the
strives tbr evocative
ways to capture
Brighton's West Pier, taken with
a
won two
competition, and his
work
his subject. In his
Nikon F90X and
speed that helped to give "an Impressionist
.jameswarwick.co.uk/)
He
made excursions to the Kalahari Desert. Namibia,
Wolong Nature Reserve in China to photograph pandas.
since
a
teel to the
awards in the 1998
image of a
2S-S()mm
starling flock over
he used
lens,
composition." Warwick
BG
a
slow shutter
(www
Wildhfe Photographer of the Year
has appeared in journals worldwide.
He
resides
on the
of the
coast
English Channel, not far from the West Pier.
An
associate professor
of biology
Apart," page 52) wrote
on
at
sea stars
Duke
University,
Gregory A. Wray ("A World
and other echinoderms
1998-January 1999 issue of Natiinil Histoiy. That
in the
December
article ("Body Builders of the Sea"),
coauthored with Rudolf A. Raff, prompted our editors to put together the present
of articles on marine invertebrates. Wray,
right,
developmental mechanisms in echinoderms
marine larvae was what
the
way an animal
first
(as
set
continues to study the evolution of
well as in ants)
sparked his interest in asking
The
.
how
peculiar
anatomy of
natural selection shapes
develops, a question that led in turn to his current research
on
the
cxolution of gene net\\-orks in embn'os and larvae. "Wife and husband Elizabeth J.
Balser and William B. Jaeckle ("And
professors in the
Illinois.
department of biology
They welcome
hope soon
to identify
Then There Were Two," page
at Illinois
54) are assistant
Wesleyan University in Bloomington,
the chance afforded by ocean plankton to explore the diversity of larval
down
form and tunction and
to the species level, the cloning larvae they are studying. Balser provided the \ideos ot
marine
on Niniinil Histoiy\ Web site (w^vw.namralhisto^s'.com) this month. Steven Morgan and Skyli
McAfee ("Getting to the Point." page 57), another husband-and-wife team, are researchers at Bodega Marine Laboratory
in C'alifornia. Morgan is also an associate professor in the department of environmental science and poHcy at the
Uni\-ersitv' of Calitbrnia, Davis; McAfee is currently studying white sharks otlthe California coast. Most of Morgans
a focus he teels is essential it we
research has centered on the complex dynamics of populations at the land-sea margin
Larry R. McEdward
human
population."
are to "fully understand, and conserve, marine life in the face of a burgeoning
invertebrate larvae viewable
—
("The Long and the Short of It," page 58)
Florida.
He
is
an associate professor in the department of zoolog\-
at
the
Unnersm
conducts research on echinoderm larvae in the Florida Keys and the San Juan Islands ot Washington
recent research has involved about equal parts diving, lab studies, computer modeling, and mountain biking.
scientist at
Harbor Branch Oceanographic
larvd ecolog\-, Craig M.
Institution in Fort Pierce, Florida,
Young ("Out of the Frying
deep-sea research cruises and has visited the seafloor more than
Invertebrate
is
beautifril
a
hundred
times.
He
is
Method
of zoologN' and associate director of the Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan
marine embryos and larvae very simply and in
and
I
want
institution's
to understand their form." Inspired
Garstang, Strathmann encourages his students to write
a
way
that
is
surely true for
His
A senior
department of
more than
SLXt\-
senior editor ot Tlic Athis of Marine
Uuvae, forthcoming in July from Academic Press. Richard Strathmann ("A
a professor
interest in
and head of the
Pan, Into the Freezer." page 61) has participated in
ot
State.
all
for the Masses."
Island.
He
his colleagues:
page 62)
explains his
"Because they are
by early-twentieth-centun- English embr\-ologist and poet Wdter
poems of their
o\\"n
about
lan'ae.
NATURAL HISTORY
14
3/0
1
SUM
IN
DADDY'S NO BOOB
According to some
evolutionary biologists, males will act to favor
questionable paternity
them could be
the reproduction of their own genes at the ex-
Eggs
pense of their
Ecology 12:1, 2000)
rivals'
genes. Male blue-footed
When
— even though
some
of
their own. ("Mate Boobies Expel
Paternity Is in Doubt," Behavioral
BALLISTIC TONGUE
well
known
Chameleons are
being able to change color but
also for their spectacular ability to capture
prey
boobies provide extensive parental care, in-
for
by
shooting
out their
sticky
long,
tongues. While many other kinds of lizards
cluding defending the nest, incubating the
SMART SLIME
Sdentists at the Bio-Mimetic
can extend their tongues to seize small prey,
eggs, and helping to feed the chicks.
Control Research Center in Nagoya, Japan, placed
only chameleons have evolved a powerful suc-
blobs of the single-celled amoeba-like organism
tion device: a
Physarum polycephalum inside a miniature maze
pouch enables them to grab birds and
How
can males prevent their prodigious
labors in the seabird colony from
other males that
may
try to cuckold
profiting
them while
in
which four
they are off gathering food? According to
ferent routes led
Marcela Osorio-Beristain and Hugh Drummond,
to food
of the Universidad Nacional
ico,
when an
Autonoma de Mex-
egg's paternity
male boobies push
it
doubt, some
is in
out of the nest.
series
of
elucidated
consistently
Classified
mals.
Maze-solving slime
as fungi,
Like other fungi, they reproduce with
shape and extend pseudopodia
with which they reach out to
When
change
— tubelike
move and
the
mechanism
in
various
knew that chame-
leons had a pair of pouch-retractor muscles in
their tongues,
but
it
was thought that the
pouch splayed open on contact with
prey, cre-
ating suction. Herrel, Meyers, and colleagues
legs
have shown that these muscles actually open
to ab-
the pouch just before contact and that two
modified muscles then pull the tongue pad in-
were placed in the maze, they spread and coa-
ward. (When the researchers cut the special
lesced to form a single organism spanning the
nerves that extend into the pouch-retractor
pieces of a
P.
shortest route from start to end. Then the mold
muscles, the chameleons were unable to hold
pseudopodia to connect the two
onto their targeted meal.) These intricate, co-
extended
its
food sources, reaching for a double helping.
The research team, led by Toshiyuki Nakagaki,
concluded that the organism changes
twelve hours and then returned them to their
shape to maximize foraging
mates. One group of males was removed a few
ally
days before their females' fertile period (about
est distance between food
efficiency, eventu-
forming one thick tube covering the short-
sources— a
computation" demonstrating
group had been temporarily isolated several
telligence."
weeks
Organism," Nature 407, 2000)
a
"cellular
"primitive in-
("Maze-Solving by an Amoeboid
ordinated movements, including the
full retrac-
tion of the tongue with its captive, are
com-
pleted in less than half a second. The suction
adaptation, the team believes, arose
lizards
would
when the
took to the trees, where targeted prey
fall if
not instantly well secured. ("The
Mechanics of Prey Prehension in Chameleons,"
Journal of Experimental Biology 203, 2000)
—Richard Milner
not suddenly become promiscuous while
their mates were away.
Some copulated
with
other males, but the rate of these pairings was
low. Yet of the males sequestered just before
the females' fertile period, 43 percent expelled
the
Antwerp, and Jay
polycephalum
sorb food.
did
his
chameleon species.
Herpetologists already
prize.
slime molds seem to
spores, yet like amoebas, they can
The scientists found that females
22-pound weight with
Meyers, of Northern Arizona University, has
trials,
share characteristics with both plants and ani-
earlier.
150-
feat comparable to a
Herrel, of the University of
chose the shortest path to reach the
males from their nesting territory for ten to
lay their eggs); a control
a
electromyography, a team led by Anthony
a
ism
week before females
—
lifting a
and
at the start
the researchers (working on Isla Isabel, off
a
lizards
15 percent of the chameleons'
tongue. Using high-speed video, X rays, and
the slime organ-
number of
pound man
tip. This
oat flakes) placed
that may have been fertilized in their absence,
Mexico's Pacific coast) removed a
body weight
(ground
end points. In
To test the male birds' reactions to eggs
as heavy as
dif-
pouch on the lingual
first-laid
egg from the nest, although none
of the control males did so.
The researchers concluded that
a large pro-
portion of male boobies will eliminate any possibility of lavishing their efforts
on
a "dead-
beat dad's" offspring by destroying eggs of
X ray of a chameleon extending
its
tongue
i
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16
NATURAL HISTORY 3/0 1
1916 John Holliday,
who
Infounded the Indianapolis News and
the Indiana National Bank,
donated
his
country estate to
Indianapolis for family recreation and
managed by the
Department of Parks and
nature study. Today,
Indianapolis
Recreation (IndyParks),
it
provides
circuitous route through Indianapolis
an enclave within the city limits
where
local residents
and
visitors to
the state capital can sample an array
of natural
habitats.
Covering eighty-
originates near the state's
emptying into the
"Wabash River.
park
is
The
crisscrossed
heavily
by
wooded
trails,
some
negotiate the wetter zones.
When
eastern
edge and snakes southwest, taking
finally
with boardwalks that help the hiker
HoUiday Park borders
White River, which
three acres,
Indiana's
and
a
normal
the
stage,
White River
it is
is
at
bordered by
a
Because
I
its
ot tlie
unique stiuctuie
ot
wildflower of the upland
Icptostacliya), a
woods, has
a
own. Most
botanists believe
family classification
pink blooms and, tor
often
than
less
large leaves.
somewhat
foot
a
The
seed capsules, shaped
down.
on the hill
slopes yield clear, cool water that
toward the
trickles in rivulets
mesic (moist)
smaD
And
hills.
known
an extensive wetland
more
a boglike habitat
found
of the
convergence of the
plants
in either habitat, but others are
are usually
blue
aster,
confined to fens are
its
swamp
visitors
a historic residential
huge homes,
this
Street.
With
narrow, tree-Hned
corridor between 38th Street and 57th
Street
is
an elegant reminder of
Victorian-era IndianapoHs.
Robert H. Molileiibrock, professor emeritus
of plant biology at
Soiitlierii Uliiiois
University, Carboiidale, explores the
biological
narrow,
grow
muddy
in shallow
beach.
is
covered with
can tolerate periodic
flooding. Farther
home
plants
and geological
ihitioiial forests
and
highlights of U.S.
other parklands.
water nearby, while
the inland floodplain
tree species that
Wedand
oft",
low
hills
are
to a drier, upland forest
For
visitor information, contact:
Holliday Park Nature Center
6363 Spring Mill Road
IndianapoHs,
IN 46260
containing a wide varieU' of trees,
(317)
shrubs, and wildflowers.
w^v^v.indygov.org/indyparks
327-7180
is
thick with green
American elm, sycamore,
Cottonwood, and
silver
maple, with
cress
water's edge. In
and waxy yellow swamp
buttercup provide bright splashes on
By mid-May,
the forest floor.
herbs begin to
in
sunmier
fill
the understory, and
their junglelike
make hiking
coarse
diftlcult.
A
growth can
further
the prevalence of wood
netde and stinging netde, which have
Stepping out of HoUiday Park and
encounter
Floodplain forest
ash,
deterrent
speckled joe-pye weed, and
zone that hnes Meridian
incidentally, are unrelated to cultivated
more
rather rare species of pink turriehead.
will
plants related to wild petunias (which,
do well
Holliday Park that
heading south just one mile,
member of a
early spring, white-flowering bulbous
Michigan, and Canada.
Whereas bogs are acidic, the water
in a fen is basic, owing to the presence
of bedrock composed of Umestone or
restricted. Plants at
actually a
group of colorful flowering
box elder near the
frequently
Some wetland
is
leaves
trees,
as a fen,
Illinois,
dolomite.
small
of willow
rivulets
northern Indiana, northern
in
water willow
water willow.
petunias).
in spring, covers a
area near the foot
at the
as
somewhat narrow
A
where wildflowers
forest,
bloom abundantly
river.
known
its
are similar to those
like parrots, lie flat against
Several natural springs
bulrush, hardstem bulrush, river
wildflower
relatively
tall,
Shoreline plants include soft-stem
Although
is
the stem and point straight
a
A B ITAJS
bulrush, and an aquatic, purple-petaled
has
It
plant that
a
all its
it is
distantly related to verbenas.
is
H
seed capsules, lopseed (Phryina
is
acid-tipped hairs on their stems and
leaves.
Another
golden glow,
is
nettle,
known
a robust plant
as
whose
late-summer flower heads resemble
those of its cousin, black-eyed Susan,
except that those of golden glow have
a yellow rather than a
brown
center.
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
18
The White River viewed from HoUiday Park
Mesic forest
is
dominated by Ohio
leaved blue
buckeye, green ash, tuHp poplar, and
sugar maple.
ash,
unusual
Here and there
among
is
a blue
trees creates a rich habitat for
wildflowers. Spicebush, with
pleasantly scented leaves,
bladdernut, with
its
the chief shrubs.
One
growing here
a
is
boneset
provide a second wave of blossoms
in
autumn.
is
deepest, while
cabbage, with
its
huge
perimeter of the fen.
skunk
leaves,
Hues the
A typical
obedient plant
named
wildflower
is
because
flowers can be turned in
its
(so
any direction and, once released, will
oak, bitternut hickory, and pignut
its
and
hickory are
inflated fruits, are
bladdernut
certainly
the water
cherry. Black oak, red oak, chinquapin
among
the
The
many of which bloom
trunk diameter of six inches.
in
May, include waterleaf, wild ginger,
common
near
hill
summits, where the driest conditions
prevail.
of its kind in the world, having
wildflowers,
late
Upland woods contain red mulberry,
shppery elm, white ash, and wild black
moisture-loving shrubs and
largest
and
ashes because
of its square twigs. The dense shade
of the
aster,
Spring-blooming wildflowers
are the broad-leaved spiderwort,
downy yellow violet, and hairy phlox.
Few plants flower in the upland woods
during the summer, although lopseed
is
fairly
common.
red trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit,
smooth and woolly blue
Solomon's
seal, false
Fen plants include watercress and wild
violet,
Solomon's
seal,
forget-me-not, which grow in
clear,
and enchanter's nightshade. Missouri
flowing water. Watercress, whose
ironweed, zigzag goldenrod, arrow-
leaves are a delicacy in salads, has
flowers with
four white
petals;
wild
forget-me-not
Solomon's seal
has five-
remain there for some time). Others
petaled blue
are
flowers with a
(CJieloiie obliqiia),
yellow center.
weed, great lobeUa, Pennsylvania
Broad-leaved
buttercup, and several kinds of sedges.
arrowhead and
Black ash
lizard's-tail are
that
found where
common
swamp
is
blue
is
aster, a
pink turtlehead
speckled joe-pye
—one
the only tree species
rare in central Indiana but
in the
more
northern counties.
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©VIREO
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1
m
was born thousands of years ago,
and soon
I
tniicjlit
the world to
count the days by the sun, the
months by
the
moon, and the
I
am
affectionately called Mexico,
and
years by the stars.
I
Today
am full of intrigue and wonder.
r
/AM dHMH{,
I
am outAvavdly bcautitnl and tiuite
cultured, yet part of
remains a mysteii'.
versed in
tlie arts,
stories to
I
have many states of mind.
My adventurous side leads
attitude, with crystalline waters that are clearly invigorating.
works of art, and hundreds of museums
my
nights dance until dawn.
/
filled
1
I
and
will entice
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you with tantalizing cuisine, and when excitement
am Mexico.
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am
to lush rain forests. Spectacular beaches beckon
am also sophisticated,
with exquisite treasures.
1
my
or log onto
www.visitmexico.com.
stirs,
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G THE TREASURES OF WALES
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THE LAND OF LEGEND, MYSTERY, AND BEAUTIFUL
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Friendly people, castles, dramatic
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The heritage and culture of Wales reach back over thousands of
years and offer something for every birder's perfect vacation.
If
you're going to
of Skokholm.
visit
Here you
at
its
one place
ferry ride
Nature Reserve
will
finest.
is
and
from Martins Haven, near Haverfordwest,
one of the most important
get a true flavor of
The
razorbill,
make your acquaintance on
West
in
Britain's binding
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guillemot,
fulmar,
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all
this magical
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Guided walking tours take you
around the
his
Wales, you must go to the island
chough and short-eared owl
kittiwake,
island.
in
Lying just off the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast
reached by a 20-minute
this National
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1
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and legend mountains and music — is just down the tracks from London.
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THE SPRING MIGRATION BRINGS A FANTASTIC SYMPHONY
OF SIGHT AND SOUND TO TINY SKOKHOLM ISLAND.
Skokholm
and
Britain's oldest bird observatory,
is
lighthouse, built
its
1916, has been
in
especially adapted to protect the
of
manx shearwaters
migration
fall
periods can be spectacular, with "fallouts" of
birds
such as
thrushes,
larks,
warblers, flycatchers, pipits, and finches,
depending on the season and the weather.
that return to the island
The spring and
after dark.
thousands
common
For
more information on
contact the
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in
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BELIZE THE BIRDER^S PARADISE
ITH
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Much
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species.
the village of Crooked Tree's 750 residents,
many
\
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is
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One
In a single
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devotes 260,000
This special editorial /advertising
and did not
go to www.travelbelize.org.
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supplement was created by the Natural History Special Sections Department
involve the magazine's editorial staff.
WRITER: Stephanie
Fekety
DESIGN: Mindy
Phelps Stanton
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30
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
IN THE FIELD
water
level
dropped below the
rather than attempting to repair the
Northern winters can be long
for a beaver
—longer than
for
most nonhibernating
mammals. Though equipped to gnaw
through the hardest wood, beavers
show
little
their
my
students and
pond
the frozen
ponds freeze
o\'er
I
A month
ventured onto
We
entrances.
couldn't
resist
single
why
the beavers in lodges I'd
previously attempted to study had
so quick to chew ofl" the ends of
some temperature probes I'd inserted).
A small chamber branched to the side
been
to investigate the
lodge and found the exposed
temptation. Shedding
inclination to chisel
through ice and thus are seldom seen
from the time
dam, vacated the premises.
later,
were trimmed evenly; not a
nub protruded to discomfort a
huddhng animal (which explained
ceilings
entrances to their lodge, the beavers,
the
some of our
of one entrance tunnel, apparently
bulky clothing, two of us wiggled and
having served
squirmed (with an occasional push
just
as a
feeding platform
above the water
single scrap
quillwort,
main
level. It
held a
of food: a frozen aquatic
still
whole and green. The
nest chamber,
permit us to
roomy enough
to
our heads and pass a
raise
camera back and forth between
opposite tunnels, was devoid of any
detritus
—not
a trace
of food,
fecal
material, or odor.
Beaver lodge, Minnesota
The lodge had been empty for
some time, but my initial sensation
upon entering it was one of subtle
warmth. Heat, conducted upward
from the unfrozen water beneath the
floor,
maintained the temperature near
—
Warm Welcome
warmer than
A beaver's lodge
family of beavers crowded into a small
is its
when
particularly
castle,
ice covers the
pond.
the freezing point
It
considerably
snowy world
the
was easy to imagine the
unusual for
Htters
until spring melt, often
snow
has
rarely die
stress
left
long
from behind by
after
the land. Yet beavers
tunnels until
during the winter from cold
or a shortage of food.
their success in the
The key
North seems
to
to He,
a
lodge did
I
understand the fuU
implications of this structure for a
beaver's Hfe
under
ice.
My
opportunity
came early one winter in northern
Vermont as a result of an unusual
circumstance. Just before freeze-up, a
local
highway maintenance crew had
rifted a colony's
dam
flooding of a road.
to prevent the
When
had ever provided. Outwardly,
beaver lodge appears to be nothing
more than
actually crawled inside a
the pond's
I
once recorded
lodge temperature of 60°
a beaver's
F,
On
woody
a
mud-plastered pile of
debris
—an unkempt heap of
well within
thermoneutral zone (the
without raising
warm enough
snow
at
But
its
metabolic
the top of the lodge.
Beavers face an energy
this picture.
dilemma every time they sHp
more
feet
out of the
into the
icy water for an excursion to their food
water. In this case, the interior turned
cache. (In the
out to be a marvel of neatness and
tree
The earthen floor of the
worn smooth by the
and
there's another, colder side to
odd-sized sticks that occasionally
four or
rate)
to melt a hole in the
reaches twenty feet in diameter and
rises
fall,
beavers stockpile
branches underwater.)
The
cleanhness.
compression of their fur in the water
lodge was
and the
countless comings
feet
on
silky clay.
and goings of wet
The
walls
and
a
a
temperature range within which an
studies
I
zero-degree day,
animal can remain comfortable
communal
until
me
of adults and two
of kits to winter together).
beavers that none of my previous
with their lodge
Not
in the middle.
a pair
not
(it is
an insight into the winter Hves of
the most massive
constructed by any animal.
we met
That firsthand inspection gave
in large measure,
nest
others) into opposite
A
and grooming, can
space, huddling
Marchand
J.
relative
comfort of an occupied chamber.
generate significant heat
By Peter
outside.
resultant displacement
of air
from the otherwise superbly insulated
pelt,
coupled with water's high
I
capacii
{o
conduct
hc.it,
greatly accclcnitc licit
from the beaver's body and can
loss
render the animal hypothermic within
The need to
become a repeated
about thirty minutes.
[Mociire food can
which
tr.umi.i tor the kits,
ni.iy
enter
the water daily in feeding forays lasting
members
trips,
to stagger their foraging
ensuring that the lodge
—
To
in.ixiiiiize effectiveness in
fiinctions such as feeding
northern United
on
a
and mating,
over time, in their daily schedules.
than
may make fewer
biological rhythms that are precisely
probably carries
cued to day length and seasonal
ice,
trips,
with
subsidizing their energy needs
fat stores in
the
tail.)
A
foraging
beaver benefits by being able to return
to a
warm
lodge,
where
its
bociy
Having
animals maintain
Scientists aren't sure
why
cycles.
or how, but
beavers' biological clocks (and thus
their activity patterns) drift
out of
temperature can be quickly restored to
phase with the day/night cycle in
the requisite 98°
winter.
But herein
F.
lies a
Four hundred cubic
potential problem.
feet
of earthen
lodge, if allowed to cool, can quickly
turn into
a
massive heat sink instead of
this
isolation in the
lodge without external light cues
would promote such
attest to the
interior),
drift
(and
I
a
free-running internal clock
little risk
under the
where predators are not a threat,
but what is the advantage? One
possibility
is
that in winter, staggered
foraging times
may maintain an
equable indoor temperature,
guaranteeing
whenever
a
warm welcome
a beaver returns to
its
lodge.
can
darkness of a lodge
even infrequent excursions
PclcrJ. Marclhvid
scientist at the
is
CHnciiily a visiting;
Carnegie
to
underwater should recalibrate internal
IWatiiml History's
might be for family
clocks, since light easily penetrates ice
Sttitioii iictir Rector.
a life-saving refuge.
prevent
One way
Although long
States, beavers
twenty-six- to twenty-nine-hour
virtually
(Adults
all
the
cycle, resulting in a considerable shift,
minutes to more
forty.
pond. Yet
display winter activity patterns based
troni less than five
all
a
Canada and
across southern
is
at all times
and this is
where an unusual aspect of beaver
behavior comes into play.
occupied
and snow cover on
Museum
PowdermiU
of
Bioio_^ical
Peiiiisyh'diiiti.
32
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
THE EVOLUTIONARY FRONT
You, Eve"
"After
Y chromosome only
Research on the
of the
human genealogical
By
Zimmer
Carl
all
hints at the complexity
tree.
humans descend from an African
59,000 years ago. Even
man who Hved
My
wife, Grace,
our
first
on
and
my mind
a lot
has
it
What's the
stuff:
route from our apartment to the
hospital?
a
had
Most of
recently.
been pretty mundane
fastest
are expecting
I
child in July, so I've
How
do you swaddle
exactly
baby? But sometimes
invade.
I
loftier
thoughts
think about our child
My
union of two heritages.
as
the
wife's
County Kerry
flows back to Ireland, to
and County Derry in the
in the south
north.
My own
flung,
encompassing Wales, England,
heritage
is
more
far-
Germany, and Hungary, as well as
countries in eastern Europe that no
longer exist, having been bisected and
by countless wars.
Both our family trees extend back
only a few generations, at which point
trisected
written records and the memories of
But we, Hke
relatives fail.
mans,
our species.
decode
that if you
my
other hu-
also carry a genetic genealogy.
Encrypted in our
to
all
is
a history
far
enough
and
of
how
and they fmd
that history,
go back
wife's heritage
tually fuse,
DNA
Scientists are learning
in time,
my own
even-
along with that of the
rest
of humanity.
There's an apparent paradox in our
molecular genealogy, however:
ent genes
search
that
all
tell
diflfer-
different stories.
Re-
on one set of genes indicates
humans on earth descend from
an African
woman who
lived 170,000
years ago. Scientists studying a difierent
group of genes recendy concluded
that
allowing for a healthy margin of error
in these estimates,
it
would seem
Eve Hved more than 100,000
Adam.
You inight think
that
years be-
involved need to
fmd
produced two such
sions.
sults
But
may
as
the mistake that
difierent conclu-
contradictory
as
the re-
appear, they are perfectly
compatible. Genealogy
is
much stranger
than most of us reaUze.
fore
that the scientists
The
quest for humanity's genetic
gciicaloi^' bci^.in
when
shaped
ot
its
were
researchers
deciplier
the
iii
just startiiit; to
ing blocks called bases.
all
When
scientists
through
first
genes they
pecuHar
a
sort.
of our 30,000 genes are
lo-
But 37
nucleus.
cell
genes reside outside the nucleus, in
known
sausage-shaped structures
mitochondria, which act
houses of the
as
as
the power-
Our chromosomes go
lack.
complex
a
shuffle in every
generation, but mitochondrial genes
unmuddled
create a clean,
The onlv way
mitochondrial genes of
her child can arise
some
is
mother and
a
they mutate. In
if
mutation will cause
cases, a
a
ge-
symptoms such
netic disorder with
weakness,
pedigree.
problems,
respiratory
way they
usual because of the
The genes
are also
human
are in-
moves the most harmful
ot these
lated to have lived
or
ago,
surname can take over an
pairs ot
chromosomes. At the time an
egg or
a
though
cell division, the
in
cell is
mu-
On
searchers
which
harm
entire village.
(and, in very rare cases,
chromosomes
quires a harmless mutation in her
one important excep-
tochondrial
set ot twentv'-three pairs
some of
Thanks
to the
later).
is
established.
swapping episode,
it's
a
unique combination of genes.
Mitochondria
are different.
Mito-
benefit). If a
DNA,
it
on
she will pass
to their
own
mark her descendants
—
other people
it
and her daughters
to her children,
pass
get to
I'll
may even
woman
bestow some
Each egg
or sperm then receives only one from
each pair ot rearranged chromosomes.
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, it contributes its chromosomes, and a new
tion,
children.
distinct
descendants of her
Wilson and
own
his
on
will
my
wife's
mito-
—
As
it
weren't
DNA
as
from
cember
tire
different
suggesting that these groups had
pairs.
fifty-three
re-
—
the en-
the sequences of
found
these
re-
that their genes
had come from an African woman.
But instead of living 200.000 years
while
ago. they estimated, she lived 170,000
markers that no one
did,
1987
other markers that Africans lacked.
basis
Xattiie,
scientists
shared
all
grouping people on the
ot
De-
from examining
individuals,
searchers, too,
years ago.
In the mid-1980s Allan Wilson, a
results
Comparing
own. Wilson's team also found that
Asians and Europeans shared certain
thousands of generations of women.
issue
in the
sequence of about 16,(X^0 base
Asians had unique markers ot their
and so on, back through
genome:
2000,
frag-
about 9 percent of
the mitochondrial genes
wife inherited her
mother,
to
same conclu-
ancestor.
For example, Europeans
else
7,
ported on the
all
common
statistics
he had believed,
as
Swedish and German
mitochondrial genes only from her
chondrial genes,
sound
but later studies on mitochondria hav'e
ing specific stretches from each indithat
—
turned out, Wilson's
the mitochondrial
descended from
my
now Wilson's
when ancestors of
that time;
sister.
students studied
It
record
Europe
relatnes lived in
ments adding up
genes to a child, because mitochondria
child inherited only
at
fossil
work suggested that
living humans migrated out of Africa,
these other humans
with their own,
different mitochondria
went extinct.
people around the world and compar-
a
human
that
and Asia
from the
clear
to essentially the
ers,
My
was already
Wilson worked only with
groups of people shared certain mark-
cell.
of
estimate
come
ther cannot contribute mitochondrial
egg
in dif-
sions.
sexual reproduction. Moreover, a fa-
can't enter the
up
from
vidual.
sperm
taken tor
ha\'e
to build
Their
lineages.
even from the
samples of mitochondrial
and then calcu-
must
many mutations
mi-
these markers by gathering
They found
DNA
the re-
variations in
will
It
as distinct
ac-
chondria themselves do not engage in
in
compared the
200,000 years was shockingly recent.
way one
the
To come
their age estimate,
it
postu-
they an-
Africa,"
in
long
DNAs
is
about 200,000 years
in Nature in 1987.
how
ferent
being formed
each pair swap parts of their genetic
material (with
probably
mitochondrial
much
living
African
an
woman who
stem firom one
lated
species
humans
mitochondrial
gins. "All these
the other hand, mutations can alter
dominate our
all
from
but also the time, of human ori-
as
to
all
Wilsons team named not only the
place,
mitochondrial genes without causing
Mitochondrial Eve ^s genes came
were
tree
woman.
nu-
cell
in
descended
today
so
sperm
DNA
chondrial
nounced
up with
from the human gene pool.
tations
that sprouted
of the
African lineages, suggesting that mito-
on twentv-three
in a
cleus are arranged
un-
The branches
manity.
closest to the base
between the
a difl'erence
deafness. Natural selection steadily re-
cell.
These outlying genes
herited.
construct an evolutionary tree for hu-
mitochondria were loaded
in
genes
some of the
cated within the
markers, Wilson's team was able to
the
of build-
chose to decode were
Nearly
genes
("alifor-
th.it
pair
began to read the sequence of these
base pairs,
recognized
Ik'ikeley,
ni.i,
with historical information that other
made of a
is
is
of
geneticist at the University
and each
like a twisted ladder,
rungs
DNA
code.
ti;enetic
tlie
I'WOs.
i.Mrly
By
of their
Newspaper
woman
paper
reports
dubbed
on Wilson's
this
African
"mitochondrial Eve." But de-
spite the biblical overtones, she
was not
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
34
the sole female progenitor of
living
all
humans. She was simply the most
recent female ancestor to
can
whom we
trace this particular genealogical
all
connection. Mitochondrial Eve existed
thousands of other
alongside
women in Africa,
Many
of those other
women
had children
inherited their genes, and
some
son
—
drial
DNA.
The
making
over the course of thousands of years,
human
the other mitochondrial lineages grad-
1
ing
it
has been
it
easy to sequence, and every
contains an average of
cell
,700 mitochondria, offering plenty of
would
targets for genetic probes.
the
women
carry-
each of a man's
contrast,
contains a single
cells
chromosome, and
By
it is
60 million base
ent mitochondrial genes were drop-
for markers
ping out. Eve's were becoming more
like
widespread.
volume encyclopedia. By 1994,
everyone
alive
share just one.
in the village
doesn't
ever,
now
enitor.
could conceivably
their sole
alive at the
drial Eve.
same time
We
as
mitochon-
just don't carry their
Just as mitochondrial genes contain
record of female lineages,
set
of genes that can
tell a
men
have a
story about
Of
the other half of our species.
the
twenty-three pairs of chromosomes
carried by
cells,
men
of their
in the nucleus
twenty-two consist of partners
identical in length,
shape,
and
quence of genes. The remaining
se-
pair
is
From his father, a boy inherchromosome called Y, and from
mother, a chromosome called X.
different.
its
his
a
During the formation of sperm,
other
chromosomes
the motherland of us
Y
chromosome
is
scien-
all.
Africans spread out to the other
continents, a journey that the
mosome
Y
chro-
records in exquisite detail.
from Asia
It
waves of migration
to Europe,
from Asia
from Asia
Polynesia, and
to
New
to the
World.
But
there's
one important
disparity
between the findings based on the
chromosome and
colleagues established a clock for the
chromosome, and
2000
Y
November
in the
of Nature Genetics they
issue
Y
on mitoUnderbill and his
those based
DNA.
chondrial
esti-
mated that Y-chromosome Adam, the
man from whom all living men descend, lived only 59,000 years ago.
How
looking for a few typos in a thirty-
can
who
people
we
all
descend from two
of genera-
lived thousands
was common 59 000 years
ago for just a few men in each hand to
it
,
earn the privilege offathering children.
tists
had managed
grand
to find a
The
Y
chromosome
been tamed by
sjiuffle
as
the
their
genes, only a small section of the
Y
total
Y
of only two markers on the
has finally
investigators at the lab-
oratory of Stanford University geneticist L.
Luca Cavalli-Sforza. In 1995
Stanford researchers Peter Underbill
and Peter Oefner found
mitochondrial genes.
a
pairs long. Searching
the
Perhaps
male prog-
we descend from
of other women who were
Similarly,
thousands
Some
is
to
The fact that everyone
is named Chen, howmean that one man
named Chen was
on
Y
measuring
big,
gave birth only to sons. As these differ-
dominate our species is similar to the way in
which a patrilineal surname can take
over an entire community. In a village
where many different family names
were in use thousands of years ago,
that Africa
is
only 16,000 base pairs long,
lineage
The way her genes came
Y
harder to
genome
mitochondrial
A
died without having children or
the
in
much
than that of mitochondrial
extract
DNA. The
mitochondrial Eve's descendants. But
if
embedded
story
confirming
exclusively African,
are
reveals individual
chromosome
small,
ually disappeared.
father to
male counterpart to mitochon-
a
of their descendants had children with
have vanished
down from
pedigree passed
of whom had mi-
all
tochondrial genes ot their own.
who
chromosome exchanges bits of material with its partner. Most of it remains
aloof, providing a clean, unmuddled
a
way
to
speed-read through the Y-chromo-
some encyclopedia. Soon they and
their colleagues
were discovering
them
to study
chromosomes from various
world to see
lar
if they
parts
mark them
mon
as
Y
of the
shared any particu-
would
descendants of a com-
mutation. If they did,
it
ancestor.
their markers to
evolutionary tree of the
and they find
draw an
human
race,
that the oldest branches
we
genes
scientists are calcu-
not attempting to re-
share,
construct the complete family tree of
the people
who
carry them.
Only our
mitochondrial genes descend from
common
female ancestor
who
a
lived
170,000 years ago, and only our Y
chromosomes descend from a single Y
chromosome dating back 59,000 years.
The men who were
alive in
chondrial Eve's day carried a
of different versions of the
Y
mito-
number
chromo-
some. They passed their chromosomes
down
own
Y
ups and downs. Finally, about
59,000 years ago,
a
newly mutated
would
species.
ally
and over time,
went through its
to their sons,
each version of
a
Like Wilson's group, the Stanford
team has used
These
antiquity of the various
a
new mutation every month or so
(they're now up to 167). It was then
relatively easy for
tions apart?
lating the
man was born with
Y
chromosome
that
eventually dominate our entire
Other versions of the
disappeared
as
men
Y gradu-
died without
children or had only daughters.
that
iiungiiiiii!;
It's
Y-cliiomosomc
much
Adani appears to have lived so
Y
than luitochondrial Eve. His
later
(.hromosome apparently needed
less
tune to ovenviielni the luinian gene
One
pool.
speed
Adam's
one of the genes on
that
is
explanation for this
pi>ssible
Y chromosome had
that gave
mutation
a
an evolutionary edge, and
it
natural selection then drove
But natural selection of
spread.
its
gene
a
is
not
the only force capable of making
more widespread
—
been responsible. Perhaps
mon
men
a
few
each band to earn the privilege
of fithering children.
case.
was com-
it
59,UUU years ago for only
in
it
culture might have
Y-chromosome
If that
was the
might
lineages
have gone extinct quickly, because
most men would have been unable to
on their genes. The Stanford team
pass
is
now
exploring these two possible
explanations.
The
from research on the
findings
Y chromosome
and mitochondrial
DNA are only a taste of the genealogical feast that will be served up m the
next few years. Last year, government
and private-sector
joint
scientists
announcement
quenced the
that they
made
had
a
se-
human genome.
now be able to find
entire
Researchers will
—
more quickly and not
just on the Y chromosome or on mitochondrial DNA but on any gene
markers
fir
they want to study.
Some of
these
genes will turn out to be hundreds ot
thousands of years old. Others will
turn out to be
much
younger, having
evolved in response to recent epi-
insured for up to $100,000 per depositor.
demics or similar challenges.
research makes
me
think ditTerendy about our child.
We
new
All this
are not simply giving
nose or
my
him
wife's eyes.
or her
We
my
For each
CD opened,
the American
a contribution
Museum
is
made
to
of Natural History.
are gi\'ing
our child tens ot thousands ot histories
combined
into a single
genome. And
she or he will carry this record of
human
existence another generation
into the hjture.
ies
bis;
Somehow,
the myster-
of swaddling don't seem
deal an\'more.
like
such
a
D
MBNA and MBNA America are federally registered service marks of
MBNA America Bank. N. A.
© 2000 MBNA America Bank. N. A. Member FDIC.
AMERICAN
IWuseums
Natural
HISTORY
36
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
CELESTIAL EVENTS
sky watcher knows that
Every
what's "up" in our nighttime
skies isn't
objects
up
may look
as
there" to observers
Earth, but
we
at
all.
If all goes according to plan (never
a safe
though
"down
they're
when
bet
missions),
Celestial
"up
here" on
Earth's
it
comes
issue
thinking and accepted that they're
bodies, bits and pieces of payloads that
to space
Mir should be reentering
atmosphere between February
26 and 28, or about
long ago adjusted our
a
week
after this
of Natural History comes off the
presses.
Much
roadside trash: hatch covers, rocket
of Mfr should
have disintegrated or
about
six a year)
exploded, even
a
(at
the rate of
unexpectedly
glove that a Gemini
astronaut lost back in the 1960s.
then
And
there's the celestial equivalent
of a
Lost in
Space
What goes up
must come down.
Or not.
By Richard Panek
roadside attraction: a one-third-sized
working model of the Sputnik 1
satellite, released by Mir cosmonauts
in
1997 on the fortieth anniversary of the
launch that initiated the space age.
on
reentry; any remaining
anybody keeping track of all
simply moving across the vast reaches
disintegrate
of empty space, where directions
pieces should land in the Pacific
stuff? Fortunately, yes:
Ocean, off the coast of Austraha. That
Command's Space Control Center
like
up and down have no meaning. And
for the
The
most
part, that's true.
exception
have sent up
is
—
what we ourselves
International Space Station (ISS),
under construction in
artificial satellites
stay
up there
such
forever,
reminder of this basic
.
orbit.
as
now
But
the ISS won't
and one
fact
(SCC) near Colorado
number of man-made
Colorado.
objects in the
^rapending return of the Mir
is
total will
still
this
the U.S. Space
Springs,
The SCC continuously
monitors the location of each object,
be nearly 8,000, and growing almost
not only to distinguish between friend
daily.
and
About 2,500 of those
genuine
'
of physics
spacecraft to our blue planet.
crash-and-burn will reduce the
heavens by one, but the
for example, the
Is
satellites
specifically
—
objects are
but to
in the way.
spacecraft
designed to orbit Earth. As
for the other 5,000 or so out there,
they're the celestial equivalent
foe,
deteriTiining
of
satellite
LLC
facilitate
what could
When
navigation by
potentially
be
the bankrupt global
telephone company Iridium
needed
to think about
dumping
(Please turn to
page 43)
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along the banks of the
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first
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City boasts a stunning 800-acre outdoor history
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used
now
There
you'll find a
BRITISH
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Jasper Burns
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The National Road, the
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offer scenic cruises or
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introduction to this diverse and unique environment.
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to the island's history
Not too
away, on Piney Point you can take a
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on
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The
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first
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Park.
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the only remaining accessible
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tells
Southern
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In
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Celebrate the Culture of the Chesapeake
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catches served at Solomon's excellent restaurants.
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closed due to landslide
the
Enjoy a leisurely one-hour cruise around Solomons
minute walk one-way (two miles) to the beach.
is
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exhibits include a boat basin,
The area under the
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come
Museum. Here
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life
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E L
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seafood into one unforgettable weekend. Explore
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their
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of
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Two
Chapel Cemetery
through
have
army landed here
the war
D.C. during
history,
in
Hughesville.
you can take
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following the
Wilkes Booth. Your tour picks up
home
the
in
troops
of the troops are buried at Old
For a bit of exercise,
ride
of the
Benedict, the only spot
on
Fields
wetlands
be intrigued by the
like history, you'll
town of
small
and
forests
Natural Environment Area.
of John
trail
his trail at
the
who
set
of Samuel Mudd, the doctor
Booth's leg before he continued his escape into
Virginia.
The route follows
through
rolling
Stop at the
where
1848,
around the
Q.C'.mIi4' C?<«i*«A^4
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St.
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After taking a vacation
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So many
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This special editorial/advertising supplement
was
created by the Natural History Special Sections
Department and did not involve the magazine's
editorial staff WRITER: Stephanie Fekety
DESIGN:
Mindy Phelps Stanton
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Maryland Tourism
SESTlKATiSN
MARY'S
COUNTY
Maryland Began Here!
MARYLAND
-••-•-Trhy not start your next trip
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St. MARY'S
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so MANY THINGS TO DO,
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1;
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things
So close together. For more information
to do.
ST.
in
Mudd is buried. You will peddle
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definitely
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Dr.
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a
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Explore the Chesapeake
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Experience the Chesapeake
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BAREBOAT or CAPTAINED
MOTORYACHTS
TRAWLERS • SAILBOATS
NATURAL HISTORY
3/01
piobabK
(iloniiiHhd jfoin pd'^c .U))
its
sixty-six satellites last
the
sec
for
year, u asked
guidance in steering
Only
its
.suddenly useless inventory safely to
oblivion. (The Pentagon later decided
to
keep the
two more
Many
outside
who
were ahve
in the
of Telstar or some other primitive
satellite as
most powerful backyard telescopes, but
mir.shtml.
backdrop of the so-called fixed
Whatever romantic
visions
now
magnitude
stars.
of space
star if
Sun just
it
find out precisely
part
.gov/realdata/sightings/,
some kind of existential
get
As
locating celestial objects that, unlike
the
Moon,
and
planets,
yet.
it
may be going
And
until
it is,
can't see
it,
the beeping Sputnik
but surely
Web
but
it's
you can
model. That
1
that at
any time, and despite
—
horizon before dawn in early March.
a
comes
from the Sun (27.5°
elongation on the
view only
into
1
1th),
it
tor those willing
to search diligently with binoculars.
chance to see Venus
the blazing evening "star"
is
shining in the west
On
the month.
so high that
hours
the
it
after
dusk for most of
1st,
Venus stands
both dusk and
the evening and the
morning "star" is
on the 27th
after sunset
and then just before sunrise the next
morning;
look for
it
very low on the
exceed our
Richard Panck
Our
grasp.
author o/'Seeing and
is
How
sets
By
the 27th,
only about halt an
sundown. During March,
rises
within an hour of midnight
local
time
in
March. As
approach Earth,
its
it
continues to
1999).
noticeably increases, from magnitude
+0.5 on the
is
binoculars,
eye.
full
Moon. Venus
But the crescent
Its
one percent by March 27.
Apparitions of Venus go through an
appearance in
2001 closely duplicates that in 1993.
At only one point
in the cycle
Aldebaran
magnitude
star Antares, the "rival
deepening dark-blue
the planet will appear
Use your
sky.
binoculars for observing the Taurus
get-together: even the
pair will
most ordinary
show dozens of the
stars
and
Pleiades'
at least
one of
four bright moons. As
evening progresses, the whole
assemblage wheels lower in the west,
by midnight.
at
on
at first c]uarter
is
9:03 p.m.
on March 9
of
star
Taurus) soon
(also in
emerge, flanking Jupiter in the
2
it
to
to a hairline
its
the night of March 2-3,
of Venus. Yellow Saturn
left
and the red first-magnitude
The Moon
-0.2 by month's
about 30° to 40° above
The
at
full
on March
Moon
12:23 P.M.,
last
comes
quarter
the 16th at 3:45 P.M., and the
Moon
on
new
the 24th at 8:21 p.m.
to shine nearly twice as bright.
its
illuminated fraction narrows
eight-year cycle, so
On
Mars," though
also thins
magnitude tades from -4.6
end.
1st to
passes about 5° north ot the tirst-
and maybe with the naked
throughout the month, so
-3.8.
's
visible in telescopes,
It lies
and to the
setting
brightness
the planet swings closer to Earth and
1/30 that of a
twilight.
Jupiter's
Mars
grows to an apparent diameter nearly
crescent
Opened
the Telescope
Eyes and Minds to the Heavens
(Pcu'iuiu.
and Hyades'
eastern horizon.
remains visible for three
after sunset.
however,
hour
it
at
at
dawn within twenty-four hours, and
March brings us this rare opportunitN'.
The best chance to see Venus as both
immediately
Venus
our
all
B y Joe Rao
those in the Northern Hemisphere get
at greatest
site to
to the
Believing:
Mercury hugs the southeastern
far
too,
a
is
THE SKY IN MARCH
Despite being
it,
more touching monument
space age
a humble reminder
glove
still
which links
opportunities for more
for Mir,
not gone
stars, will
then there's the Gemini glove.
technological wizardry, our reach can
than 200 locations worldwide.
from
thrill
to sighting
visit
is
spacetiight.nasa
have long ago receded into collective
still
what
in
of the sky the space station
you can
site
inform us of its whereabouts. Forget
station itself
when and
Web
& Telescope magazine
Sky
deserves a dedicated
grows, that radiance will also grow. To
visible,
But sky watchers can
can
catches the light of
exploration were inspired by that sight
nostalgia.
And
first-
As the
right.
It
a
www.skypub.com/sights/satellites/
No, you
gives naked-eye
observers something to see.
the
slowly traveled across the
it
established by
at
reach the brightness of a
memories of standing
night, straining for a glimpse
at
small proportion of orbiting
a
spacecraft's availability
by checking
visibility
objects are visible through even the
night sky
years.)
of us
and
the recent addition of the ISS to the
satellites aloft for at least
196()s have
determine the
v.misli Imiii ilic universe
before they do.
do
Jupiter and Saturn continue to be
prominent in the evening
into
view high
Jupiter (in
Coming
Southern Hemisphere.
in the southwest,
the constellation Taurus)
next to Venus, by
"star"
sky.
far the brightest
of the night. During early
The vernal equinox occurs at 8:31
A.M. on March 20. Spring begins in
the Northern Hemisphere, tall in the
is,
Unless otheni'ise noted,
in
all
Eastern Standard Time.
times are given
43
44
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
BIOMECHANICS
As
rocks from side to
it
side, a
force was acting and
walking penguin
how
fast
the
the line in
clumsy, but
movements
its
are actually
set
Griffin
we
move. Planting
your body
out to study
and Rodger
how
Rram
penguins walk,
they didn't expect to be impressed.
Compared with long-legged ostriches
waddHng
penguins come up short. Underwater
they may be able to race like
torpedoes in tuxedos, but on land
they are more apt to evoke laughter
striding across a plain,
than to inspire respect.
hard numbers.
Pound
for
pound,
penguin on land uses twice
energy
walk
a
as
as
a
much
other animals of its size to
given distance. Scientists laid
the blame for this expense
on
is
occurs
when
energy
it
side
and then
Griffin
to
to the other as
it
and Rram, both
at
test
is
Hke
to
a
saves lots
this
way
of energy. Experiments have
muscles need to supply only 35
perform
manage
work they would have
if there
were no inverted
involved.
with each
As the walker
step, the
muscles
to recover 65 percent
energy they put into
Griffin
and
of the
a stride.
Rram were amazed
to
discover that in this respect the
penguins were actually superior to
waddHng. So they filmed emperor
humans, recovering up to 80 percent
penguins walking over a force-sensitive
of the energy they put into each step
among
the highest rates ever recorded
How
calculate not just the force of each step
for
but also the direction in which the
Penguins not only
Story by Carl
Zimmer
~
sway to make the next one.
shown, for example, that a person's
walks.
Their data enabled them to
not wasteful. The emperor
the
measuring the work involved in
plate.
is
penguin reuses some energy from one
is
derives firom moving side
moving upward against
Taking advantage of gravity
"falls"
the assumption by
Waddling
kinetic
The same process
pendulum converts
A walking person
one
the
additional energy for fighting gravity.
pendulum turned upside down.
University of CaHfornia, Berkeley,
decided to
a
percent of the
first
side-to-side waddling provides
then transformed into moving
forward again.
to
body
much of the
energy of your forward movement
pendulum
its
their bodies
turned into gravitational energy, which
energetically costly business of the
throwing
swing
as
this process,
waddUng, the (presumably)
bird's
do); they also
of
slightly.
gravity.
back up the laughter with
to
a foot in firont
you walk forward, you
Once your body is
positioned directly above the foot, you
start to fall forward and downward. In
up
side into
Previous research on penguins
seemed
(as
firom side to side like pendulums. This
rise
When Tim
walking
on humans and
other land animals have shown that
walking is a surprisingly efficient way
to
quite efficient.
are
penguins were moving.
Similar studies
may look
which they
any animal.
Iliustratfon by Sally J.
is
rise
this possible?
and
fall
w'^j.
along
Bensusen
The
Fine Art
I
Energ)- from this sideways
movement
opposite side,
helps the penguin reach an
upright position
when
only one leg
is
— or
rather, tails
—
to the
uses gravitational
move
sideways and to
step forward.
on the ground. As the bird swings
back
it
energv' both to
Biologists have given waddling a
bad
rap, suggest Griflin
and Kram.
Penguins do pay
walk, but
tiie
waddling
is
a steep price to
researchers claim that
not to blame. Instead,
they propose, the trouble comes
from having such short
legs.
Long-
legged animals with longer strides
maintain contact with the ground
for
more time during each
step than
do short-legged creatures. This
aUow s a long-legged creature to use
more
slower-w^orking,
muscle
is
weighing about forty
a hefty bird,
pounds
—
efficient
An emperor penguin
fibers.
in the
same range
as
the
flighdess
South American rhea,
which
similar to an ostrich.
the
is
emperors
legs are
But
only one-third
the length of the rhea's, or onlv
about
long
as
fbw^l, a
as
those of the guinea
bird weighing only three
pounds.
Moxnng
around on
a
a rhea's
body
guinea fowl's
legs, a
penguin has no choice but
lot
to use a
of energy.
Like
many
caught in
With
a
animals, penguins are
biomechanical bind.
their fiipperlike wings, they are
well adapted for
their short legs
swimming, and
may
help reduce drag
underwater. But because they're
birds
and not
fish,
penguins cannot
completely give up Hfe on land,
where they find mates, la\' their
eggs, and raise their chicks.
Emperors are. in fact, champion
w,ilkers, tra\ersing
of frozen
up
to
1
50 imles
sea ice to reach their
winter rookeries. Far from wasting
energ\; waddling
penguin
may
help keep
ali\"e.
of Waddlin
a
D
46
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
Scavenging of
7776
jj
ff
Man
'Peking
New
evidence shows that
a venerable cove was neither
hearth nor home.
By Noel
Boaz and Russell
T.
is
China
but few
filled
can
L.
Ciochon
with archaeological wonders,
rival the
Man
Peking
Site at
Zhoukoudian, which has been inscribed on
UNESCO's World
about
thirty miles
Zhoukoudian
Heritage
List.
Located
southwest of Beijing, the town of
boasts several attractions, including
ruins of Buddhist monasteries dating from the
Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). But the town's main
claim to fame
Longgushan, or Dragon Bone HUl,
the
site
of the cave that yielded the
cache of
Franz
largest)
Weidenreich,
historically
who
tive
in the
is
who
known
as
(and
first
the
still
Homo erectus pekinensis,
Peking man a human rela-
fossils
of
—
walked upright and whose thick skuU
1930s studied
bones and beethng brow housed
the fossils of
quarters the size of H. sapiens
Homo
unearthed in
The remains of about forty-five individuals
more than half of them women and children
erectus
a
brain three-
s.
from
China, is
along with thousands of stone
caricatured along
tool manufacturing,
with Ralph von
were contained within the hundred-foot-thick de-
Koenigswald
posits that
(wielding the
The
shovel),
who
task
stools, debris
and thousands of animal bones,
once completely fiUed the original
cave.
of excavation, initiated in 1921, was not
completed
until 1982.
Some
evidence unearthed
who
at
found fossils of
the
H. erectus in
from about 600,000 to 300,000 years ago, had mas-
Java. The
tered the use of fire and practiced cannibaHsm.
fandful setting
despite years of excavation
site
suggested that these creatures,
tain
two
years
place where the
the
fossils,
dead are
sort
disturbed."
analysis, little
is
But
cer-
about what occurred here long ago. In the past
according to
the artist, "any
is,
and
lived
we
out the
site,
reexamined
tests in
an effort to
have visited the cave
and carried out new
facts.
To most of the
early
excavators,
such
as
existing parts on
the opposite
side of the skull.
i^/
,
48
NATURAL HISTORY 3/0 1
blunt and sharp instruments, such
Most convincing
tools.
to
as
clubs and stone
him and
others was the
systematic destruction of the skulls, apparently at
humans who had decapitated the vicopen the skuU bases to re-
The early
the hands of
investigations at
tims and then broken
Zhoukoudian
trieve the brains.
were coordinated
large longitudinal sphts seen, for example, in
by the Cenozoic
of the thighbones could only have been caused by
Research
humans and were probably made
Laboratory in
tract the
Weidenreich
also believed that the
some
in an effort to ex-
marrow.
Others held dissenting views. Chinese paleoan-
Beijing. Staff
members there
Wenzhong, who codirected the
Zhoukoudian excavations, disagreed with
thropologist Pei
included (left
early
to right in
Breuil and suggested in 1929 that the skulls had
foreground)
been chewed by hyenas. Some Western
Teilhard de
also
Chardin, Franz
Helmuth Zapfe published
Weidenreich,
hyenas
Yang Zhongjian,
ing
Pei
Wenzhong,
at
Pel's
on the way
on cow bones. Echoof which he was aware,
his findings
the Vienna zoo fed
earHer observations,
Zapfe convincingly argued that
found
and Bian Meinian.
scientists
had doubts. In 1939 German paleontologist
many of the bones
Uke Longgushan closely resembled
at sites
modern bones broken up by
hyenas. In fact, a
new
anatomist Davidson Black, paleontologist Pierre
term, taphonomy, was coined shortly thereafter for
Chardin, and archaeologist Henri
the field Zapfe pioneered: the study of how, after
Teilhard de
Breuil, the Hkely scenario
early
humans
and stone
was
that these particular
lived in the cave
tools
where
were found and
their
bones
that the animal
death, animal and plant remains
moved, buried, and
soon revised
become modified,
Franz Weidenreich
fossilized.
of several H.
his prior interpretation
bones were the remains of meals, proof of their
erectus
hunting expertise. Excavation exposed ash in hori-
human
zontal patches within the deposits or in vertical
argue that the long-bone splinters and broken skull
patches along the cave's walls; these looked very
bases
much hke
A
the residue of hearths built up over time.
more
sensational view,
first
advanced by
bones whose condition he had attributed to
cannibalistic activity, but
he continued to
must have resulted from human
Following disruptions in fieldwork during
World War
II
(including the loss of aU the H.
Longgushan up
Breuil in 1929, was that the cave contained evi-
fossils
dence of cannibaHsm.
leaving only the casts that had been
were
why
he argued,
ays,
And
skulls
If the
animal bones
at
the
site
from the cave dwellers' hunting for-
leftovers
not the
human bones
as
well?
were conspicuous among the remains,
suggesting to
him
that these
might be the trophies
collected
of the
site.
gist Jia
final twist,
a
but the cannibalism hypothesis received
considerable support.
German
paleoanthropologist
working
at
Peking Union Medical CoUege, described the H.
erectus
remains
in
scientific
detail.
A
trained
made of them),
rejecting the idea of cannibalism,
upon
the cave
fire, as
reflected in the
Lanpo's
book
77ie
as a shelter
of paleoanthropolo-
title
Cave
Home
of Peking
Man,
published in 1975.
About
preciate
this time,
Western
and develop the
scientists
field
ford,
began to ap-
of taphonomy.
scholars, notably U.S. archaeologist
In the late 1930s Franz Weidenreich, an emi-
nent
erectus
to that time,
used by early humans equipped with stone tools
and
had been prey to
While
they continued to look
contemporary, advanced cousin, some ancestral form of
H. sapiens. Most paleoanthropologists rejected this
erectus
at
Chinese paleoanthropologists resumed investigation
of headhunters. Perhaps, Breuil even proposed, the
duU-witted H.
action.
A few
Lewis R. Bin-
then reexamined the Longgushan evidence,
but only from a distance, concluding that the burning of accumulated bat or bird guano
counted for the ash in the
cave.
With
may
have ac-
the founding
1993 of the Zhoukoudian International Paleoan-
anatomist and medical doctor, he concluded that
in
some of the
of trauma, includ-
thropological Research Center at Beijing's Institute
ing scars and fresh injuries from attacks with both
of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,
skulls
showed
signs
a
now
era ofiiuiltidiscipliiiary
search
at
and
iiitcriiatioiial re-
Loiig^uslian began. At the institute,
we
the ones to have inhabited the area in
likely
Standing in the Beijing
institute
have been able to collaborate with paleontologists
of museum cases
Xii Qinqi and Lin Jinyi and with other scholars in a
cave,
reassessment ot the excavations.
longed to H.
cnrtiis
One ot taphononiy's nia.\in)s
that the most
common animals at a fossil site and/or the animals
suggests that
most of the time,
whose remains
skeletons
is
there are the
most complete
are
most
filled
with
we were immediately
mammal
—perhaps only
from the
how
few be-
5 percent. This
did not
this species
none of the H.
complete. There
is
(J.
is
life.
row
after
fossils
struck by
the cave. Furthermore,
live in
amid row
crectiis
of limb
a dearth
bones, especially of forearms, hands, lower leg bones,
and
—
feet
indicating to us that these individuals died
somewhere
and that
else
their partial remains
subsequently brought to the cave. But
The answer was
most
common
were
how?
iiitii
m
hrevirostris.
and complete animal skeletons
Had H.
erecttis,
in
instead of being the
mighty hunters of anthropological
the same ignominious fate
as
prey species in the cave? This
been
much
raised
simply met
lore,
the deer and other
possibility,
the hundredfoot-thick
deposits that
contained the
remains of
"Peking man."
which had The
by Pei and Zapfe, drew
earlier
1930s,
excavators dug
down through
suggested by the remains of the
the cave deposit: those of the giant hyena, Pacliycw-
V
During the
backing from subsequent studies by others. In 1970,
deposits,
which also
yielded animal
Anthony J. Sut- bones, stone
cliffe reported finding a modern hyena den in
tools, and layers
Kenya that contained a number of human bones, of ash, had
including skuUs, which the animals had apparently completely filled
for example, British paleontologist
^''
obtained from
i-s'ii
same
year.
a
nearby hospital cemetery'. In the
an ancient cave.
South African zoologist C. K. Brain
published the findings ot his extensive feeding ex-
It looked asi'fH. erectus
had smashed open the
skulls
to cannibalize the brains,
r*
\
periments with captive carnivores, akin to those of
One
of Brain's conclu-
sions was that carnivores tend to
chew up and de-
Zapfe three decades
'
stroy the ends
of the extremities, leaving,
of primates, very
To
aO the
ttis
test
earlier.
little
of the hands and
the giant hyena hypothesis,
fossil casts
and the few actual
trom Longgushan.
We
in the case
teet.
we examined
fossils
of H.
crct-
looked for both carnivore
marks and the shallow, V-shaped straight cuts
would be left by stone tools (although we realized that cut marks would probably not be debite
that
tectable
on the
casts).
ple's fracture patterns.
t
.1
damage long
or
'
We
also analyzed
Breaks
after death,
at right
when
fossilizing; tractures in fresh
un-
regular,
due
foUowdng natural
to crusliing
bone is
bone tend
the
structural Unes.
bv cave rocks
is
each sam-
angles indicate
tbssiUzed
to
be
ir-
Breakage
usuall\- massive,
and
50
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
Franz
Hkely have discovered
Weidenreich at
eredus.
his laboratory at
the American
Museum
this
vulnerable region in H.
no such facial bones, whose
structure is known to us from discoveries at other
sites, have been found in the Longgushan cave.
Practically
The
of
of the skuU
rest
is
a pretty
tough nut to
Natural History
crack, however, even for Pachycroaita, since
in the 1940s,
sists
with ape and
ern human, with massive
human
the eyes and
skulls
of bones half again
as
mounds
con-
it
thick as those of a
mod-
called tori above
and around the back of the skuU.
ears
Puncture marks and elongated bite marks around
gnawed
the skuUs reveal that the hyenas
at
and grap-
pled with them, probably in an effort to crack open
the cranium and
We
concluded
best
consume the
lipid-rich brain.
tasty,
that the hyenas probably
by chewing through the
succeeded
face, gaining a
pur-
on the bone surrounding the foramen magnum (the opening in the cranium where the spinal
cord enters), and then gnawing away until the skuU
vault cracked apart or the opening was large
chase
the fracture marks characteristically match rock
fragments pushed into the bone.
We
were surprised by our
of Longgushan's H. eredus
findings. Two-thirds
fossils
display
what we
are convinced are one or more of the following
kinds of damage: puncture marks from a carnivore's
large,
a
pointed front teeth, most likely the canines of
hyena; long, scraping bite marks, typified by U-
shaped grooves along the bone; and fracture patterns comparable to those created by
nas
when
they
modern hye-
chew bone. Moreover, we
feel that
enough
to expose the brain. This
of cannibaHstic H.
We know
been washed
activity
—can
also
be attributed to
a
—
a feature
human
hyena, espe-
one the
largest
tiis
bones, part of a femur, even reveals
face etchings
from stomach
telltale sur-
acid, indicating
it
was
swallowed and then disgorged.
The
pattern of
damage on some of the skuUs
on how hyenas may have handled them.
Bite marks on the brow ridge above the eyes indicate that this protrusion had been grasped and bitten by an animal in the course of chewing off the
sheds hght
Most animals' facial bones are quite thin, and
modern hyenas frequently attack or bite the face
first; similarly, their ancient predecessors would
face.
are
—
by
streams:
found
are ei-
indicating gradual deposi-
—or they con-
sharp-edged shards that would not
a
stream or flood.
Some of
the
Other bones were probably brought in
and chewed on by hyenas and other carnivores.
Cut marks we observed on several mammal
size of the extinct Pachycroaita, the
hyena known, whose preferred prey was
giant elk and woolly rhinoceros. One of the H. ereccially
rains or carried in
which the bones
bones may have belonged to animals that died inside the cave during the course of Hving in it or fire-
by carnivores.
that Weidenreich considered evidence of
studies of the cave
wind or slow-moving water
quenting
the longitudinal spUtting of large bones
by
have survived in
Two-thirds of the fossils
show bite marks or fractures
inflicted
in
ther very fine-grained
tain angular,
the actions
bones found there could not have
the sediments in
tion by
how we believe
eredus.
from geological
that the animal
is
—not by
the skull bases were destroyed
it.
bones firom the cave suggest that early humans did
sometimes make use of Longgushan, even if they
most of the
were not responsible
for accumulating
bones. Stone tools
near the cave entrance also at-
test to their
may have
left
presence. Given
have been configured
Another
shelters.
its
long
history, the cave
served a variety of occupants or at times
as
several separate, smaller
possibility
time-sharing, early
is
that,
form of
in a
humans ventured partway into
on what the
the cave during the day to scavenge
hyenas had not eaten and to find temporary
shelter.
They may not have reaUzed that the animals, which
roamed at twilight and at night, were sleeping in the
dark recesses a couple of hundred feet away.
What
taken
as
about the ash in the cave, which has been
evidence that H.
erectus
used
fire?
Recently
pubHshed work by geochemist Steve Weiner and
his
team
.it
the Weizni.mii histitiite of Science in Is-
were not from hearths.
In
detailed studies of the ash levels, they discovered
no
rael suggests tJKit the fires
silica-rich layers,
ing of wood.
tains silica
which would be
Wood
(as
particles
by the burn-
A composite
well as grass and leaves) con-
image of the
known
resistant residues that are
cal
hearth
sites.
The
left
phytoliths
as
—heat-
ubiquitous in archaeologi-
results indicate that fire
present in the cave but that
its
was
controlled use in
cated
111
human hand may somehow be implithese fires. One possibility we are explora
ing in the next phase of our research
is
that
Long-
where Pachyaoaita and H. erectus
confronted each other as the early humans sought
to snatch some of the meat brought back to the
cave by the large hyenas. Pachycroaita would have
gushan was a place
had the
home
haps using
court advantage, but H.
fire to
hold the carnivore
have quickly sliced off
slivers
erectus,
at bay,
per-
could
of meat. Although
we might turn up our noses at such carrion,
may have been a dependable and highly prized
today
it
source of food during the Ice Age.
H. erectus, left,
shows how the
giant hyena
hearths was not part ot the story.
Still,
skulls of
Pachycrocuta and
D
may
have attacked
the face.
Beneath
is a
disgorged piece
of an H. erectus
thighbone.
Below: An
artist's
depiction
of the cave
shows hyenas
consuming the
remains of an
H. erectus.
52
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
WOR
A
7776 larval lifestyle
may seem
alien to
us terrestrial bipeds, but it comes quite
naturally to most creatures
especially
inhabitants of the world's oceans.
—
By Gregory A. Wray
tiny larva, not
A
dust,
larger than a speck of
plankton in the cool waters of Puget
Rows
Sound.
of
sides
much
swims through the swirHng soup of
body
its
of minute
pulsate continuously, pulling sin-
gle-celled algae near before flicking
mouth.
along the
cilia
Fifty feet
below the
same species creeps
them
into
its
an adult of the
larva,
across the rocky seafloor in
Looking nothing like the larva and
by comparison (weighing about a million
search of a meal.
colossal
times more), this animal
star,
or starfish
—
is
—
a Pisaster ochraceus sea
an active predator, searching out
clams and mussels to pry open with
arms.
The
larva
and the adult lead Uves
its
powerful
that differ in
almost every conceivable way: what they
eat,
how
they move, what predators they must avoid, and the
physical world they
must negotiate.
From a human perspective, this may seem an
odd arrangement. Even as embryos, we possess
many anatomical features of our future adult bodies,
albeit often in
rudimentary form. Furthermore,
only a few temporary structures appear during
human development, most notably the transient giU
shts that close when we are stiU early embryos, the
placenta that feeds us in the womb, and the baby
A spiny
lobster
larva hitches a
ride
teeth that erupt soon after birth.
ment
is
Not
so for
being at sea for
gin Hfe
two years, the
responding
«/ill
develop-
gression toward adult form.
on a
jellyfish. After
larva
Human
quite direct, involving a fairly steady pro-
swim
val
most animals. The
vast majority
as larvae that difler drastically
adults.
Many
be-
from the cor-
famiUar animals have a
lar-
form: caterpillars turn into butterflies, and
But
among
against the
tadpoles into frogs.
current back to
rine invertebrates that the larval lifestyle
coastal wafers
dramatically displayed.
and undergo
170,000 species of marine invertebrates
metamorphosis.
worldwide, including not only sea
it is
By one
the ocean's
is
estimate,
stars
mamost
about
exist
but also sea
ART
To see larvae in
action,
ry
5^.
go to
54
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
And Then
Cbm'ng
By Elizabeth
1989
In
in
Sea Star Larvae
Balser and Wiliiam
reported an astonishing discovery
scientists
cloning by
sea star larvae. Isidro
of Newr York College
versity
J.
There Were Two
at
ofispring.
B.
Jaeckie
From
the larva's perspective, cloning
Bosch, of the State Uni-
one "individual"
(the
Geneseo, and several
identical larvae
produces) to extend the
col-
it
primary larva and
leagues observed larvae with
growths,
small
place of one or
or
buds,
more of
it
in
their
from the primary, or "parent,"
(or,
in this case, places) to set-
and metamorphose into
into fully
may
larvae.
populate
adult form, let alone sexual
maturity, these
were
amount of time
A longer period of
tends
wider dispersal
formed swimming
Long before reaching
mean
to
a
which
as well,
eventually help a species
nignly,
immature Ufe-
way for
tle
dispersal
buds developed
these
larva,
a
has to find a suitable place
adult form.
larval "arms." After separating
is
the genetically
all
new
Less be-
areas.
of course,
a
longer dis-
persal also increases the period
in essence giving
of vulnerabihty to predators.
birth to other, genetically iden-
Presumably, however, in order
tical individuals.
for
fornis
In the years since Bosch's
found
discovery, we, too, have
instances
larvae
as
sea star species
among
as
at least
three
collected
stars
have
to
some of the time and
some circumstances,
under
Two clones (white globes) develop from the rear
"arms" of a sea star
larva.
of
species of britde stars. Larvae
sea
least
of cloning among the
of several
well
cloning
larval
evolved, the benefits must, at
outweigh the
when
stance,
for the adult are
from the
(for in-
costs
suitable habitats
few and
far
between).
Once
western Atlantic Ocean exhibit
cloned, a larva de-
clones de-
no differently than an
embryo arising from a fertil-
velop from the posterior arms
ized egg. This suggests that
three distinct cloning methods.
Most commonly,
velops
of the parent larva (which, un-
cloning
Uke the
mental process
adult,
is
symmetrical
radially
bilaterally synunetrical,
and
tively,
restarts
the developalterna-
or,
some
begins
as-yet-
back end). In
undiscovered parallel develop-
the second method, aU ten lar-
mental pathway. Understand-
with
a front
a
buds that de-
ing the patterns of gene ex-
velop into independent larvae.
pression during cloning could
In the third, the preoral lobe
have
val
arms
release
(a
—
ticularly since
hving larvae
preoral lobe, while the released
lobe forms
From
its
own
larval
the mother sea
no
cloning by free-
may
turn out to
words of the renowned
is
more investment on her part,
she winds up with many more
^par-
other invertebrate phyla. In the
star's
a repi-oductive bonus: with
in
and
be a characteristic typical of
body.
point of view, larval cloning
value
control of development
from the primary
which then regenerates its
separates
larva,
far-reaching
studies of the evolution
region in front of the mouth)
The preoral lobe (see box) of this larva will soon
break free and form a new, independent larva, while
the "parent" left behind will regenerate the lost lobe.
Gunnar Thorson,
knows? Nobody has
ecologist
"Who
larval
ever looked for
it!"
urchins, sea cucumbers, sea slugs,
and sea
lilies,
Equipped with
as
well as corals, clams, barnacles, and teather-duster
long spines that
worms. These animals typically spend days, weeks,
or even months in larval form, mosdy swimming in
it
creatures.
water might contain the larvae of a
cies
of marine
val stage, the
invertebrates.)
animals drop
metamorphose
down
into adults.
to the seafloor
There they
live,
lar-
bears
and
resemblance to
late-stage scale
worm
invertebrate larvae are so small that
tion not
corrected until the i<S2(ls.
when
Irish sur-
came only in the late 170()s, with
good microscopes. Samples ot
seawater examined through these new instruments
John Vaughn Thompson observed them metamorphosing into immatun.-
revealed a world teeming with unfamiliar organ-
barnacles. Zoologists initially responded to his find-
isms. Early observers believed that these tiny crea-
ings with disbelief; for centuries,
the development of
tures
must be the
species,
unknown
and they named them according to the an-
imals' often bizarre shapes
the
of previously
adults
Greek word
—such
as
pilidium (from
for "hat") or auricularia (from the
Barnacle larvae found crawling on
stance,
were thought
geon and amateur
believed that
to
be
parasites
adults, for in-
—
a
misconcep-
naturalist
zoologists
common
this
new
fintastic claim.
decades after the publication of
findings.
real
name), and
were understandably war\- of
and seemingly equally
sons
many people had
goose barnacles were the young ot
geese (hence the barnacle's
Two
Latin for "ear").
it will
become. The
into the water and beginning the cycle again.
their discovery
little
the adult
grow,
and eventually reproduce, releasing sperm and eggs
The marine
marine
larva of a
worm, above,
dozen or so spe-
At the end of the
open
attacked,
an early-stage
company
(One bucketkil ot sea-
the top ten to twentv* feet of water in the
of myriad other
flares
when
German
Thomp-
physiologist Johannes
Miiller accidentally discovered a second
example
is
larva, left,
beginning to
look like
its
adult self.
56
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
while studying a microscopic creature to which he
had
earlier
doxus, or "strange easel"
ture
whose
gave
it
name Pluteus
an apt name for a
given the scientific
—
triangular profile
MiiUer was surprised to observe
brittle star (a slender relative
crea-
side the
and projecting "legs"
the general appearance of an
beit a nearly transparent
spots.
para-
artist's easel, al-
one flecked with bright red
body of this minute
of sea
stars)
fact
inside the
miniature
animal. His continuing
two
patient observations revealed that the
were in
a
growing increatures
one and the same: the adult develops
larva, whose body is cast away
swimming
when the adult takes up residence on the seabed.
One by one, nearly all the creatures in the pecuUar microscopic bestiary of ocean water were found
By the
to be the larval stages of familiar animals.
ginning of the twentieth century,
confidently assert that a complex
extended
larval
mon method
"detour"
is
scientists
cycle with an
life
in fact the
of development
most com-
in the animal king-
dom. This newly discovered complexity
eral
questions:
Why
is
be-
could
raised sev-
the larval stage such a
widespread feature of animal
Hfe,
and
if
it is
advan-
animals go through one?
And
why do larvae look so bizarre?
One key insight into these questions came
dur-
why
tageous,
don't
all
ing the 1920s from Walter Garstang, an Enghsh
embryologist and amateur poet.
among
the
first
Garstang was
to argue that larvae are intricately
adapted to their planktonic world, a world so differ-
Right: The
nudibranch, or
sea slug, larva
starts out with a
shell
and four
ciliated feeding
lobes. (The
larva's
eyes are
visible as
two
black dots.)
Above: At
metamorphosis,
nudibranchs
crawl out of
their shells, with
many spedes
trading armor for
toxicity,
which
they advertise
with bold
markings.
Getting to the Point
Self-Defense in Crab Larvae
By Steven Morgan and
Ot
tlic
that crab
iiLiny predators
eating fishes (such
larvae face, plankfim-
anchovies and
as
silversides)
pose
groves,
and
sea grass beds
—
of estuaries and bays
where such
ductive but perilous habitats
—brood
abundant
their
The
released.
release
is
larvae
are ready to
down
its
the spines. After the
it
darkness,
when
A similar set of defenses has arisen in other lineages of
marine invertebrates. The larvae of polychaetes (segmented marine worms), for example, are also largely
be
timed
transparent
and
like
tides
of the month, when the vul-
and play dead.
chance of being swept out to the
their
leased them.
continental shelf.
Their conspicuousness already
cies invest
The long spine of this porcelain crab larva may
boost their chances of survival by
deter predatory fish.
at
and spines
transforming the
by
with
a fish,
its
size
of antennal spines
lai-\^a
many
flare
upon
To avoid such
may
it,
spitting
it
tures
of anatomy could serve
purpose
both locations. Take, for example, cone
cone
shells, as
adults crawl
they are
known
in
about the seabed, while the larvae are
swept along by currents near the ocean's surface;
the adults are active predators,
crabs
armed with potent
nc)'.
trasts are
puses, while small jeU-s^ishes
and
larger,
for a
long-spined
lar\"ae
upon by octo-
a great variety' ot
larger
and
vers"
development time of about rwo
the time
must return
are
common
in species
among
comes to metamorphose into adult
more precisely. posdar%-ae) of coastal
to shore, regardless
a
flood tide
enough of them make
it
at
of how
night
on
The con-
of
spines
of
the plankton drove the evolution of nu-
of the hfe cycle: the
cilia
higlily
in the
convoluted
on the lai"S'ae of clams and acorn
swimming and feeding; the long
for
on some annelid worm
hir
they
tliis last
may
jour-
past the predaton- fish to start
merous and seemingly bizarre adaptations
early part
whose
and back during development.
part of the adult, Garstang argued that the rigors
hfe
moth-
them
Poinring to transient larval organs that form no
tracts
adults are preyed
—
enormous.
worms, used
and the
re-
young
energ\' per off-
the cycle anew.
capture single-celled algae with the aid of microcilia;
is
and short spines
have drifted. Riding
neurotoxins, while the larvae are herbivores that
scopic
their
producing fewer, but
other tiny predators feed on the larvae.
snails (or
to collectors): the
result
form, the larvae (or
young
out each time in an attempt
a useful
size,
When
attack,
attack a lan'a repeatedly
ent from the seafloor habitat of adults that few fea-
The
relatively short
larvae migrate offshore
larvae catch in their throats.
a fate, a fish
before swallowing
a
body
times over.
into a prickly ball, difficult for sniiiU-
when
mothers
weeks. Conversely, short brood times, small eggs, small
armored exoskeleton
planktivorous fishes to swallow. Indeed,
sometimes die
fish
heavily
a
that effectively increase
In addition, a pair
mouthed
on
ers
longer time.
night to feed in
surface waters. If approached
reUes
it
more
eggs and brooding
a crab larva generally does not attempt to avoid or escape
attack. Instead
To help
spring than do other crab
waters
during the daytime and ascending only
more productive
in the estuaries
their
survive, the females in these spe-
partial transparency,
the larvae of many species fiuther
the
crab larvae complete
development
and bays where
of the open
Lit
safer
crab larvae, flare their bristles
Some
nerable crabs-to-be have the best
descending into dimly
to
tacked, they roll into a ball and,
fish are least ac-
and during the strongest ebb
reduced by
sink
depths during the daytime. At-
tive,
relatively safer waters
the larva
sinks quietly
it
generating broken spines during the next molt or two.
occurs under cover ot
carefully:
initial strike,
antennal spines collapse, and
away. Remarkably, larvae can survive multiple strikes, re-
the pro-
their bodies until
and
McAfee
plays dead:
tlie
fishes are especially
embiyos beneath
embryos have developed into
the
to break
man-
greatest threat. Feni;ile crabs living in the marshes,
Skyli
larvae that flare in re-
sponse to the slightest touch: and the specialized.
581 NATURAL HISTORY
3/01
The Long and the Short of It
Development
"Arm''
By Larry
Like sea
most
star larvae,
sea urchin larvae have
R.
suspended in the water. Remarkably,
scarce, a sea urchin
more
cilia
when food
McEdward
ture, fiinction,
is
If
One
with which the animal
is
—arm
fact,
when
that
how much
length
is
that
short-armed larvae
These larvae
thus,
graduate students and
are
I
ies
Many sea urchin
larvae can modify their
currendy investigating
body forms under
is
different
long arms are
termine
because
may now seem
almost obvious, they went
against the then-prevaOing view. Just halt a century
it
German comparative
among
anatomist Ernst
disruptions fr-om
who
of evolutionary his-
interpreted larvae as vestiges of
remained
influential well into the
twentieth century. In arguing that
specifically
adapts
a
larva
for
its
anatomy
planktonic
life,
Garstang challenged Haeckel's paradigm and, in-
as a
times.
satirizes
Haeckel and other
—
inevitably suffer periodic
deposition, unusually violent
silt
storms, disease outbreaks, and the
numbers of offspring
the chance that at least
like.
adrift in the
some
Setting great
ocean increases
will survive
and be de-
hvered to suitable locations, a strategy that contemporary ecologists
call
bet hedging.
eventual
Larvae's abiHty to drift long distances also
general principle. (Garstang's poetry re-
mbdng. Many
deed, played an important role in
demise
numerous
biologists today, in large part
of sandy sea bottom
bit
retraces the course
ancestral adults,
long-term hope of
that understanding the
But why would young need a body plan and
habitat different from those of adults? In Garstang's
view, the answer was dispersal. Local habitats
whether a suitable rock, a chunk of coral reef, or a
velopment
Haeckel,
bod-
once, early in the evolu-
venomously
Haeckel had forcefiiUy argued that embryonic de-
tory.
more
intellectual opponents.)
Although Garstang's observations and conclu-
the
One
is
if larval plasticity arose
mains popular
metamorphosis.
their
in response to environmental
tionary history of sea urchins, or
to adhere to rocks or shells during
modify
mechanisms by which short and
generated in different species wiU help us de-
and sea
stars
inight think, benefit
ability to
our team
suckerlike organs used by the larvae of sea squirts
earlier,
to exhibit plasticity, even
conditions.
"arms" in response to food supply.
plasticity in sea urchins. (Plasticity
the ability to produce different
we
from an
meta-
period of time.
sions
their early develop-
food from the plankton and would
will also
of larval
material.
devel-
long-armed brethren and thus
My
modify
ment and
is
are vulnerable to planktonic preda-
several aspects
For example, not aU
and Upid-rich eggs have a greater capacity to
into adults sooner than
tors for a shorter
how
urchins
start
sea
to learn
related to other lar-
Larvae that develop from protein-
sooner than do long-anned individ-
their
arm
though larvae from poorly provisioned eggs are more dependent on
of its gut. Another advantage
morphose
larvae
alter
same amount of nutritional
irrelevant.
may allow a
more energy and
oping into juvenile
uals.
dif-
species pack their eggs with the
a larva
materials to increasing the size or activity
is
val attributes.
smaller arms
larva to devote
some
and
want
also
this plasticity
abundant, nutritional intake
limited only by
In
is
We
to feed.
larvae ever have short ones?
can digest
have learned that
able to detect cues
why
long arms are beneficial,
is
yet iso-
length even before they have begun
possible advantage
food
we
or development,
ferent species respond to different cues, with
can capture food.
would
Though we have not
lated the specific cues that trigger modifications in struc-
arms grow longer, thus providing
larva's
Sea Urchin Larvae
enviromrrental conditions.)
little
"arms" lined with rows of cilia that gather nutritious particles
in
its
vides a
mechanism
for genetic
pro-Bj
adult
invertebrates
iiuiriiic
move, and
mow
not
ttires
tli.it
Widespre.id
larvae
do
potential mates
Although
the cost
Inbreeding
.ill.
,it
is
lunited ability to
and barnacles, do
will
danger for
some
dispers.il
cre.i-
cases) stuck in
lielps
settle din\ii, tluir
—
ensure that
neighbors
—and
Among
the plankton are
numerous
diminutive but voracious carnivores, including
small jellytishes and
creatures called
comb
jellies,
simil.ir to
and
.1
those invented by
saber-toothed
arrowworms or chaetognaths, and
1
hoinpson
a
century
half earlier, began a systematic sampling of
plankton
in the
middle of oceans. These plankton
hauls often included the larvae of clams, sea
and other
invertebr.ites
relatively sii.illnw
now know
be unrelated.
dispersal provides tangible benefits,
high.
is
.1
a real
,uv (quiie literally, in
t)ne place.
when
tmly
li.ive
sonic, siidi as corals
larvae out
Atlantic,
don
whose
water of
that the Ciulf
stars,
adults live only in the
coiitiiiein.il slieKvs.
We
Stream sweeps countless
of the Caribbean Sea and into the North
where most perish and perhaps a tiny fracenough to ride the entire gyre to
survive long
Europe and back
across to the ("aribbean.
a
host of crustaceans and small fishes. Larvae that are
not eaten are
prey to the cicean currents, which
still
can sweep them away from suitable habitats.
when
Pacific
"suitable habitat"
Ocean
—
means
a coral
separated from the next reef by
perhaps a thousand niiles of open ocean
any current
safely than
is
And
reef in the
likelier to
toward
move
a larva
—almost
away from
it.
Yet the broad geographical distribution of many
species ot
marine invertebrates across the South Pa-
proof that larvae do sometimes successfiiUy
cific
is
drift
from reef to
that adults
its
reef, crossing
birthplace a larva
I97()s,
over abyssal depths
could never negotiate. Just
when
may
drift
how
became
far
from
clear in the
oceanographers, using fine-mesh nets
Left:
Sea squirts
have
a short
larval life,
swimming with
the aid of a
tadpolelike tail
for just a
few
minutes before
settling on the
seafloor, to
which they
attach
themselves with
little
"suckers"
(visible at the
front end). There
they will
transform into
filter-feeding
adults, above.
60
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
urchin larvae also develop long projections lined
with hundreds of cilia, which help the larvae pull in
even more food. SpeciaUzations for feeding abound
among immature marine invertebrates. The cilia on
the larvae of acorn worms capture algae; strings of
mucus
vae;
serve as "fishing" Hnes for
some sponge
lar-
and the larvae of lobsters and shrimp use pow-
erful claws to
grab unwary prey.
Well-fed or not, larvae face the problem of predation.
The
many
larvae of
groups defend themwhich can be impres-
selves
with spines and
spikes,
sive.
Some shrimp
larvae
extending more than
Other defensive
sea squirt larvae)
hide in their
sport
sharp
spines
body
length.
five times their
(some
strategies include toxicity
and concealment
shells).
And
nearly
(larval snails that
all
marine inverte-
brate larvae enjoy the advantage of transparency.
To study how
predators, Steve
larvae defend themselves
Tim
Rumrill and
graduate students
from
Pennington, then
University of Alberta, set up
at the
aquariums with different combinations of predators
and juvenile
(adult jellyfish
example) and
fish, for
prey (sea urchin embryos and larvae in various
stages).
larvae
They found
were
that the
embryos and younger
had
especially vulnerable because they
not yet developed their feeding projections, inside of
which
are spiny spicules capable
of deterring some
But nothing stopped the
whose mouths opened wide enough to swal-
predators, such as jellyfish.
All these hazards take a heavy toU. Estimates of
As a sea star
larva prepares to
settle
death rates range from 10 to 20 percent per
larval
Even
grows brood wiU
on the
the lower rate, barely one-fifth of a
fish,
low even late-stage urchin larvae whole.
Even if a larva manages to get enough
to eat
day.
at
an attachment
and only
two weeks among the plankton,
few percent will last a month. (Most lar-
organ with sticky
vae must feed for weeks or months before they
metamorphosis. Those fortunate enough to
"arms" and a
near the right habitat
central adhesive
grow large enough to undergo metamorphosis.)
Such heavy mortaHty suggests that natural selection
disk (see
will favor the evolution
seafloor, it
a
survive
grow
of well-defended larvae that
to escape being eaten,
finding an appropriate place to
snail
ton community in short order, and soon undergo
to starvation.
(yellowish sac)
metamorphosis
proaches, most larvae
forms from the
gested nearly a hundred years ago.
lower part of the
only recently been tested in
Garstang and others sug-
-just as
detail,
The
idea has
however.
Eventually the
evolutionary biologist
rest of the larval
observed echinoderm larvae capturing food par-
at
and then quantified
Dalhousie University, has
body, except for
ticles
the stomach
paring the rates of sea urchin and sea
(orange),
found
is
that those
their feeding rates.
he
of sea urchins were higher and that
absorbed into
these larvae reached metamorphosis sooner.
the developing
tomically the
juvenile.
and both use the
to
Com-
star larvae,
two kinds of larvae
cilia
Ana-
are quite similar,
along the sides of their bodies
sweep algae toward
their
mouths, but the sea
drift
still
se-
Setthng near a hungry
doom
a sea urchin
for
metamorphosis ap-
become
acutely sensitive to
As the time
chemical cues that signal the presence of food, conspecific adults,
Using time-lapse microscopy, Michael Hart, an
larval body.
and undergo
the right time must
landing too far from kelp would
eat efficiently,
—
settle
could be disastrous for a peanut worm, and
bracket). The
of the plank-
at
lect exactly the right site.
adult-to-be
quickly, drop out
it
and
confronts the challenge of
and potential hazards. The impor-
tance of finding a
by the
final:
glue
good
place to land
fact that the decision,
many larvae bear specialized
them to their chosen spot.
Metamorphosis
ment on
itself
is
underscored
once made,
is
often
structures that
must coincide with
settle-
the seafloor, an environment so different
no larva would long survive
no adult could handle life in a
planktonic world. Metamorphosis can be dramatic
from the surface
unchanged
and
that
—
just as
hterally gut-wrenching.
Almost immediately,
I
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Freezer
Larvae at Deep-Sea Vents
Craig M.
fly
A
quarter
(.•ciui.u-y
wlicn
Aiz,o.
scientists
discovered lush
colonies ot\)rganisins surrounding hot-water vents, sueii
black smokers, on the ocean Floor, tiiey began
how
these animals maintained their populations.
as
wondering
The
giant
tbund around \ents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge have been
captured more than
tjiaii
live
tiny snails, crabs, shrimps,
and odier worms
that
nourished by bacteria,
tmn
in
larvae
do indeed
Because vent animals
ecolog)' have
recently, after years
such great depths and
live at
been
of their develop-
details
determine. Only
difficult to
of work, have we reared tubeworm
vae in our laboratory.
obtain
long distances.
tra\'el
under tremendous pressure, the
ment and
around the vents are
which
half" a mile above the bottom and more
000 miles from the nearest vent, suggesting that free-
swimming
tubewornis, specialized clams and mussels, and wide assort-
ment of
Young
The
we
ones
first
succeeded
lar-
in rais-
h"om hydro-
^
ing came not from vents but
the hot
g
from
shallower,
water emanating trom
§
deep
communities
their energs'
gen sulfide
in
deep within the
crust.
Completely decannot
species
cold
at
methane seeps on the Louisiana
earth's
continental slope.
pendent on vent water,
these
2,000-foot-
Now, with
colleagues from the University
of Southern
survive
California,
we
Be-
have also cultured the larvae of
cause the hot-water plumbing
giant tubewornis from deep Pa-
of the seatloor
cific vents,
even
a short distance away.
controlled by
is
unpredictable volcanic
in the earth's interior,
may remain open and
only limited periods
ally
activity'
a
vent
dispersal
—
bryos are richly
years or
of active venting may
hundreds of miles
apart.
all
because
if
em-
eggs and
endowed with
and
lipids
for
ment and
Re-
searchers suspected that many,
the
needed
lie
gradu-
are
mechanism.
Tubeworm
active for
sometimes decades. Moreover,
areas
and they
yielding the details of their
protein
embryonic developlarval dispersal.
lipids
are
less
And
dense
not most, of the vent animals
than seawater, they also aid dis-
must produce
persal
larvae capable of
dispersing through cold ocean
new
sites.
Searching
for
water to
searchers
rise
drifting for several weeks, the
larvae,
embryos develop into cihated
re-
larxae and
from the Woods Hole
ing
plankton nets near vents on the
relatively
few
They captured
—except
in the
buoyant plumes that rose directly
above hot smokers. Here
may begin
vae
by
worms were
their
warmer
lai-vae
and
trans-
vents in the Pacific Ocean. Inset: An electron
worms. 'We don't yet know
what precipitates the larval mi-
micrograph of the larva of
cold
methane seeps
a related species
from
grations of giant tubewornis or
in the Gulf of Mexico.
other vent animals back to the
voyage trom one vent
drifting in the slighdy
a suitable habitat
Above: Adult giant tube worms at hydrothermal
abundant, suggesting that some
other side of the world,
actively for
forming themselves into small
the larvae of various snails and
polychaete
swim
about two weeks before locat-
Oceanographic Insrimtion towed
East Pacific Rise.
by causing the larvae to
toward the surface. After
field to
waters near vents.
lar-
ocean
floor,
We
another
habitats.
On
unique to
the
of the abundant shrimp
nor do
we know how
suspect that they cue in
\-ents:
thev locate suitable
on
certain attributes
the presence of sulfide, hot water, or per-
haps other vent organisms.
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
A Method for the Masses
Oxygen Delivery for Stay-at-Home Embryos
By Richard Strathmann
Most marine
invertebrates set their
young
tom of the
sea,
sules,
by
these
embryos
life
layers
where they may be protected by tough capare safe
embryo mass
Perhaps the most
in an
Not very
oxygen.
fuses
in
gen
not without
is
vital
its
challenge
predators,
getting
snails, sea slugs,
the
enough
form of thin
Some
water.
in gel, often in
strings or beautiful coiled ribbons that
Even within
however, embryos will die
if packed
too
The
tightly.
thicker
more of
the mass, the
it
gel,
lowering the de-
thus
mand
For
un-
a thin ribbon,
must be devoted to
dif-
air.
moving
and worms embed embryos
dulate gracefiilly in the current.
challenges.
is
capsule to a rock or to seaweed in
oxy-
rate
diffuses in
from the many planktonic
snails, secrete strong, flex-
thin-walled capsules around their eggs and attach each
about
at
it
1/10,000 the
Though
ible,
solu-
oxygen
ble in water,
bot-
at the
of gel, or by the body of a parent.
Other species, including many
Some,
adrift.
however, produce masses of embryos that remain
for
a given
oxygen within
volume.
Sometimes these em-
free-swimming larvae,
this presents no prob-
bryo masses are thick
lem. But for embryos
and globose and
packed together in
chored in the sand by a
—
mass
^with
no
buried
circula-
way
tory system and no
to force
a
of
strand
from
a quarter inch to
water rapidly through
several inches in
the tiny spaces between
ter
—
the problem
is
A nudibranch
to
laying its gelatinous, ribbonlike egg
mass
which mothers brood
their bodies tend to
their
embryos on or
be the smaller species of sea
in
stars, sea
cucumbers, clams, and feather-duster worms. Larger
marine invertebrates
that
brood
their
have evolved special ventilation mechanisms.
may
young
A
large
more than 100,000 emheld loosely on a separate strand.
incubate
one is
Oxygenated water is forced through the mass of embryos
by the mother's movements; to increase circulation
around her brood, a mother crab waves her abdomen up
and down.
-«?
^
bryos, but each
diame-
high pro-
Embryos
of the mass
oxygen than
those at the periphery
thus the need for oxygen relatively low. Accordingly,
crab or lobster
gel.
receive less
keep the mass small and
species of
a
in the center
solution
species in
and have
portion of
can be severe.
One
gel.
Masses of this type range
oxygen-bearing
small eggs
are an-
and,
as
a result, develop
more
slowly. In
some
masses, the
central embryos die; in others, as the peripheral embryos
hatch and leave, those in the center
oxygen and
are able to
start
receiving
more
complete their development.
Some of these protective measures have their costs, of
The capsule walls of cone snails and the gel around
course.
nudibranch eggs constitute between one-quarter and onehalf of the organic material in the mass. If the
eggs,
spacing
she could produce up to twice
gel,
mother pro-
and not the additional protective coats or
duced only
makes the trade-off worthwhile
is
as
many.
What
the increased survival of
her young.
-
after attaching to a
stance, the larva
of
rock or
a
a blade
of kelp, for in-
bryozoan begins
a violent re-
and muscles quickly fold the former larval body
newly forming adult, where it is re-
wall inside the
many ribbon worms and echinoderms,
arrangement of its internal organs and external ap-
sorbed. In
pearance. Pockets of sticky
metamorphosis
animal in place; other
side
of the
adult;
still
cells
cells evert,
evert to
securing the
form the out-
others secrete a tough shell;
changes from
is
remarkably rapid, with the major
larval to adult
than half an hour.
body form taking
lessj
And
feed at
tlicii
all
sea stars,
there aiv larwic
ch.it
\u\v no
— including those of some
iicct-l
to
clams, snails,
and annelid worms. Nonfceding larvae are
much
perior.
ance
Each has
shifts
costs
among
and benefits, and the bal-
groups of animals and across the
myriad habitats of the marine realm. Species with
simpler anatomically than the feed-
feeding larvae, for example, produce small eggs
ing larvae of related species, having jettisoned use-
and consequently can afford to have much larger
feeding structures and significantly accelerated
broods, whereas species with nonfceding larvae or
generally
less
the events leading to metamorphosis. In these spe-
direct
enough protein and
fat to fuel development all the way through metamorphosis. This shift to dependence on maternally
provided food reserves has evolved within most
to
cies,
eggs are provisioned with
groups of animals and
at
many junctures
in the his-
tory of life. In the most extreme cases, a distinct larval stage
rectly
is
lost altogether,
into
evolutionary
groups
miniature
shift, too,
and embryos develop di-
\'ersions
of
has occurred
as diverse as sc]uids,
adults.
many
This
times
roundworms, and most
vertebrates develop without the benefit of larvae.
Why
don't
all
species adopt this trick
mizing or even bypassing the
neither having nor lacking
larval stage?
a larva
is
development tend
to
produce larger eggs or
have placentas and therefore
brood
sizes.
Predators
may
much
smaller
also affect the dur.ition
ot larval development: species heavily preyed
small juveniles
time
among
ter to settle
may be
the plankton, but others
on the
on
as
better off prolonging their
may do
bet-
seafloor as quickly as possible
invertebrateslike
these young
octopuses
and thus avoid planktonic predators. Understand-
peering out of
ing the particular ecological contexts that
their egg
fa\-or
the evolutionary retention, reduction, or loss of
larvae represents
one of the outstanding challenges
facing biologists today. For now, however,
we
can
of mini-
say that although larvae don't offer the only road
Because
to adulthood,
inherently su-
Some marine
gooci
way
for
most animals they provide
to get there.
a
D
cases—
skip the freeh'ving larval
stage and
develop directly
from embryo
to adult.
?-£
..r^*i^^
*\^\rP
3/01
NATURAL
HISTt)KY
By Susan Elizabeth Hough
dawn on June
Before
of southern
from
28, 1992, residents
California were jolted
by
their sleep
a
magnitude 7.3
The temblor
earthquake.
started be-
neath the tiny Mojave desert town of
Landers, but
its
effects
were
Angeles, ninety miles to the west,
as
felt in
Los
well as in
northern California, southern Nevada, and
at
the
Me.xican border.
Earthquakes are not unusual for California, of
The
course.
small faults
state
is
riddled with both large and
boundary between two tectonic
the
North American
and the
Pacific
These two enormous pieces of the
earth's
the
plates:
Plate.
at
Plate
crust are constantly sliding past
and grinding against
southeast across
boundary zone. Sections of
the Mojave
its
faults often
reputation
as
rupture
earthquake
country. So the powerful Landers temblor w-as not
unusual in
itself.
ever, revealed
a
tar-reaching aftereffects,
how-
Desert shows a
rupture (running
from the lower
left
surprises.
century ago, seismologist Charles
the photo)
earthquake of consequence
created by the
is
never an isolated
was referring to the aftershocks that mvariably foOow a large temblor, or main shock. As
California,
earthquakes go, aftershocks are remarkably well be-
earthquake.
He
1992 Landers,
.-1*?'
haved. In time, space, and magnitude, they follow
^
predictable patterns that have been recognized by
^^«
small,
**!J
;V*i^|
seismologists for decades. As a general rule, they are
more firequent in the immediate aftermath of
main
shock, and usually clustered no farther from
a
the site of the main shock than the length of the
rupture
it
created.
New evidence from
:
4M
Sft
S^/-^
^
#®
Iv^
^:^^-^^^^^^^^^^:
vv^' \
&l^ ^
*
/^
V ^^?^
V
:r:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
toward the
upper right of
Richter, of Richter scale fame, observed that "an
event."
.
Its
some
Nearly half
:--
aerial view
looking
each other, creating an active and complicated
here, earning California
^-^^^:-J
.:«
An
California
—and
old reports from the
Midwest— indicate that some
earthquakes can trigger others
hundreds of miles away.
65
66
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
The Landers
temblor, however, permanently
changed the established view of earthquake sequences. In the minutes and days that followed the
quake,
—
zone
number of
substantial
a
occurred
events
as far
away
as
smaller seismic
beyond
well
its
aftershock
the Lassen Peak area and
at
the
—changes
marily fi^om local, mechanical factors
But
block.
ers
have shown, the outlying earthquakes of 1992
The
is,
distant events,
with
a
magni-
tude of 5.4, struck in western Nevada twenty-two
hours
after the
Landers event. Quickly dubbed re-
motely triggered earthquakes, these outlying
mic events seemed
to
seis-
be different beasts from any-
Because the Landers quake was one of the
magnitude 7.0 events
first
be recorded by state-of-
to
it
by waves, or shaking,
seems, were capable of engendering
—new quakes
triggering
—
that
700 miles away.
as far as
Using data not only from Landers but
from
also
Greece and Mexico, seismologists attempted
to
characterize the geology of vulnerable areas and to
define a threshold level of shaking needed to trigger
remote
thing seismologists had previously encountered.
set off solely
emanating from the Landers main shock. Such
waves,
of these
as
were apparently
Geysers, about sixty miles north of San Francisco.
largest
in
movement of a crustal
seismologist Joan Gomberg and oth-
caused by large-scale
stress
The
events.
models impUcated some-
first
Most of
thing curious: bubbles.
the
triggered
quakes identified in the immediate aftermath of
Landers had taken place in regions with active vol-
Landers and Triggered Earthquakes
Lassen
Peak area
June 28-July
4,
If
1992 i
canoes or geothermal features such
bubbles within fluid reservoirs can indeed
stress
NEVADA
•The
Geysers
A
as geysers.
couple of models showed that disruption of the
then
on
faults,
raise
which, the researchers argued, could
set off earthquakes.
According to
this scenario,
triggered earthquakes were rather exotic events oc•
curring only in highly unusual geological zones.
San Francisco
^.
Long Valley
Little Skull
Caldera
Mountain
The powerful
computer studies
of triggered quakes
The
Landers
earthquake of
CALIFORNIA
hundreds of
PACIFIC
distant events,
many
implicated the disruption of
gas bubbles in subterranean
Landers and
aftershock zone
1992 triggered
OCEAN
reservoirs of fluid.
clustered
in four areas in
Los Angeles
Last year, however,
California and
Nevada, and
far
first
Saltan
all
new look
a
place,
at evi-
my
and
in-
vestigation has revealed that the triggered earth-
Mil
MEXICO
quakes of 1992 were not
aftershock zone.
the-art seismic stations throughout California,
yielded the
first
solid evidence
it
of distant earth-
quake triggering. The authors of one research
paper
took
dence from an urJikely time and
Sea
beyond the
I
commented
would have
"no previous experience
that
led us to anticipate the observations of
remotely triggered [earthquakes]." Earth
began to
realize that large
crust in
complex ways
scientists
quakes could perturb the
that earlier theories could
exotic
—
as
they
ports that (had they
have helped
Almost immediately
after Landers,
researchers
as
—or
unprecedented
Ohio River
been
wrote re-
fully appreciated)
scientists interpret
U.S. inidcontinent was rocked by an earthquake so
large that
it
caused damage
as far
away
as coastal
Now estimated to have had a mag-
nitude upwards of 7.3, the temblor was the
southeast corner of Missouri
classified as aftershocks,
associated with the
be
they also couldn't even be
same physical mechanisms. As
the
16, 1811, the usually stable
were they located too
to
after
wee hours of
event in an extraordinary sequence. Centered
from the main shock
might
what happened
the Landers earthquake. In the
morning on December
valley
began to focus on these puzzling quakes. Not only
far
as
seemed. Nearly two centuries
ago, settlers along the
South Carolina.
not explain.
first
—
at
first
the
the Bootheel re-
gion, adjoining the Tennessee-Kentucky border
named New Madrid, after a town
The area experienced two more
December 1811: events of comparable
the sequence was
the Landers earthquake helped seismologists under-
close to the event.
stand, conventional aftershocks appear to result pri-
quakes after
magnitude
on February
1H12, and again
23,
l.iiuiaiv
region on die luornings ot
jolti'd tlio
Historual aeeounts peg die
of the three; some refer to
Immediately following
it
a
it,
quake
final
I.S12.
7,
die largest
as
the "hard shock."
as
The New Madrid
observations suggest that the
"hubbies theory" of the early models
been
a red
earthquakes documented in recent years occurred
section of the Missis-
disproportit)iiately in regions
New
geothermal processes
sippi River in the vicinity of
Madrid reversed
voirs ire in fact
course for several hours.
may have
herring. Yes, the remotely triggered
—
found
at
of active volcanic or
regions where fluid reserthe depths at
which earth-
Starting in the 197()s and cady lUSOs, seismolo-
Otto
gists
Nuttli,
Ronald
and Arch Johnston
Street,
compiled and interpreted the
available accounts
of
New
Madrid sequence, including reports of half
the
a dozen "large aftershocks" on the Atlantic coast.
Setders
most not
large
split
Recendy my own
torical
enough
to rattle anything
some
people's nerves, but
cracked chimneys and
I
'•>
so strong they
stone houses.
attention was
drawn
to his-
New
Madrid
accounts of the effects of the
sequence.
-^~r-
descriptions of thousands of perceptible
left
aftershocks,
more than
—
-}
'^0f^,.
was especially struck by passages con-
cerning three particularly large "aftershocks": one
occurred four days
that
on
and two others
after the
January 23 event
the night of the February 7
"hard shock." These supposed aftershocks were ap-
A contemporary
parendy centered near the Ohio-Kentucky border;
no accounts
Madrid. To
exist
a
from within 200 miles of
New
woodcut,
earthquake
absence of reports in the region ot the main
this
shocks
is
devastation in
contrary to expectation. Moreover, de-
New
Ohio and Kentucky diffrom accounts of the New Madrid
scriptions of the shaking in
fer significandy
main shocks. Daniel Drake of Cincinnati
Madrid,
Missouri, in the
Midwestern Main Shocks and Triggered Earthquakes
stated that
one of these "aftershocks" caused "a very
left,
pictures
seismologist reviewing the evidence,
winter of
1811-12
1811-12.
sensible
degree of trembling, but no oscillation." Jared
Map: An analysis
Brooks of Louisville wrote that another was "vio-
of accounts
lent in the tirst
to
do much
to read.
degree" but "of too short duration
injury."
written at the
^J..
time indicates
These accounts were exciting
—
Brooks and Drake
physician, respectively
—
an engineer and
that the three
S-
a
quakes
seemed to be describing
"jerky" motions of higher frequency than those
generated in the region by the distant
INDIANA
New Madrid
Missouri
OHIO
ILUNOIS
main shocks. Such high-frequency energy
is
triggered other
usually
/^
damped out
as
the waves
move through
the crust
i^indnnati
quakes near the
MISSOURI
Louisvllli
and away from the main shock.
I
then used
a
New Madrid
computer mapniaking program
plot the reported distribution of effects
three
major "aftershocks." The
=k
to
from the
were
results
strik-
ARKANSAS
Ohio-Kentucky
KENTUCKY
border.
TENNESSEE
Area of Detail
centered in
ing: they revealed a buU's-eye pattern
January 23,
1812
northern Kentucky.
I
could only conclude that
HO.
the same
ARK
r\'pe
of event that took earth
180 vears
later.
—
scienrists
by surprise
New
Mad rid
February
what Brooks and Drake and others had described
were remotely triggered earthquakes
in
southeastern
7,
^—-J
1812^
lOf.
TENN.
December
16,/^
50
68
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
quakes occur (typically three to twelve miles below
But northern Kentucky has no active
volcanic or geothermal features, nor are earththe surface).
quakes
common
Some of
most recent observations of
motely triggered quakes
and
A ruptured piece
crustal fluids
triggering process.
re-
also suggest that bubbles
do not play
a direct role in the
The October
16, 1999,
magni-
Hector Mine, Cahfornia,
numerous, but they
number of
Thus a fairly
particular, a
California, after
Sea, a large, low-lying saline lake just north of the
a great
the 1992 quake
California-Mexico border. Because the Salton Sea
a
in
pronounced sequence near the Salton
failure.
small disturbance might trigger remote earth-
Landers,
trig-
a relatively large
probably close to
faults are
gered events well outside
—
any given
at
tude 7.1 quake
aftershock zone
expected to be strong.
cent studies suggest, however, that
of highway in
its
are
time in such regions,
the desert near
at
may be
Re-
the crust that are relatively inactive, faults
there.
the
But if recent triggered earthquakes have generhappened where faults fail easily, what does
one make of the New Madrid results? In parts of
ally
quakes in quiet parts of the crust, not because
especiaUy
faults are
many
weak
nudge away from
there, but because
some
faults exist,
are likely to
where
be only
failure.
Newly recognized
phenomena, triggered
earthquakes can provide
important information
about fault failure.
What, then, can triggered earthquakes
about earthquake
tell
us
processes in general? Scientists
do
not yet have a complete answer to
this question.
However, the observations from 1812
seem
to carry the
same message:
1999
to
all
that triggered
earthquakes are ordinary earthquakes but that they
stand to provide us with important
new
tion about fault failure.
One
possibiHty
—
quakes
is
—
that earthquakes
represent nothing
more than
informa-
all
earth-
cracks in the
is
volcanicaUy and geo-
grow very, very slowly in response to the
forces appHed on them, until the cracking process
accelerates into a runaway failure. Such a phenomenon would be analogous to cracking in rocks, a
active, the Salton
Sea events also pro-
process that can be studied in detail in laboratory
earth that
events occurred within a few miles of a
seismometer,
lyze.
And
scientists
had excellent data
because the area
thermaUy
modern
to ana-
vided seismologists with an ideal opportunity to
look for evidence of an exotic, fluid-controUed
source in the event recordings.
own
The
results
of
my
recent analyses of the Salton Sea events sug-
with
gest that, notwithstanding their association
experiments.
The fmal
kick that
initiates
the run-
away process might be infmitesimally small
perhaps nothing
more than
the fmal grain of sand
landing atop the increasingly unstable sandpile. Or,
as in
the case of triggered events,
it
might be an
unusual geophysical features, such remotely trig-
abrupt kick, dehvered by the shaking from a distant
gered quakes are nothing more than garden-variety
earthquake.
temblors occuring on somewhat weak
tive volcanic
ile
In ac-
and geothermal regions, myriad
may behave somewhat Hke
faults
faults.
—even
balanced pile of pickup sticks
frag-
may
indirectly,
idea of earthquakes as the culmination of
we
can
now
is
not new.
What
is
new
is
quantify the type of shaking that
a deUcately
that
a small dis-
does, and does not, produce additional earth-
turbance can disrupt the system. Heat and crustal
fluids
The
runaway crack growth
quakes
at distant points.
Preliminary results suggest
therefore faciHtate triggering, but only
that only quakes close to or
by creating an environment in which
will
above magnitude 7.0
produce remotely triggered events. Seismolo J||
'
faults are
weak.
gists are able to
make
rocks crack in the laboratory,
vw haw
but
:i
very limited
ditions uiiiler wliicli aetu.il
ttire.
We now know
t.iiilts
that, at least
^round beneath our
the
.iliility
feet
how
ot tliese
along.
eyes
—
eon-
events. His narrative, publisiied in 1X15,
rup-
the
once
performs
periments, t^iving us important
about
to test tlie
in tlie crust
earthquake luptures
in
its
.1
wiiile,
own
ex-
new information
And some
oeeiu".
expermients have been available to us
The
old data just had to wait for
all
new
eyes aided by years of accumulated scientific
to
New
Madrid c]uakes, geologist
and congressman Samuel L. Mitchill set out to
compile and interpret local accounts of those
Shortly after the
among
After lamenting his failure to formulate a satisfac-
what had happened, Mit-
tory theory to explain
chill
notes. "1
history
which
console myself, however, that the
I
have written will give valuable in-
formation to the curious on these subjects, and
sist
some more happy
duce
understanding.
is
most valuable sources of information available
modern seismologists for the 181 1-12 sequence.
a
lull
and adequate theory of earthquakes."
One hundred and
seventy-seven years
Landers quake helped put earth
tion to
as-
inquirer into nature, to de-
fulfill his
hopes.
later,
the
scientists in a posi-
D
California is
earthquake
country. The San
Andreas Fault
is
easily visible at
the surface of
the Carrizo Plain.
*W
sec-'
J"'
•^^
>*
\
'^^
i^y
'"mk.i
y>MSS
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
70
By
Mushi
From Companion
Atiimah and Us:
Exploring the
Relationships Between
£1
'
People and Pets, edited
by A.
L.
Podberscek,
catching and playing with insects, or
Live mushi are also sold in
along with implements for
offices,
University Press,
many Japanese
Caged "autumn-
catching and breeding them.
2000. Adapted with
singing" insects (primarily crickets and grasshop-
permission.
pers)
have for centuries been welcome seasonal
Although in recent years the
gifts
L
Laurent
Every summer and fall, Japanese
children spend hours catching
playing with
and
insects.
noceros beetle sales, flieled by the enthusiasm of
young boys. Since then, rhinoceros and stag beetles
have become the best-seUing mushi. Several milHon
are now bred and sold during the warmer months.
Japanese department stores and post
A. SerpeU.
© Cambridge
fall,
children (mostly boys) spend hours
mushi.
E. S. Paul, and
J.
summer and
ach
Erik
recently interviewed a rhinoceros beetle
I
who
breeder, Akahane-San,
Hves in the
town of
Takato on the island of Honshu. Akahane had been
mushrooms but
raising
in 1985 switched to breed-
ing beetles. Even though
initially
only one store in
tra-
the nearby city of Ina sold his mushi, his business
dition of giving children rhinoceros beetles and stag
prospered and he has expanded the operation.
in the countryside.
ground
beetles as gifts has lost
to purchasing tiny
electronic creature toys, children stiU flock to Japan's
And
insectariums, or arthropod zoos.
over
summer vacation, many
as
homework
their eight- to ten-year-old students the task
first
of
his mushi are sold in the local post office
department
several
and
stores
are also
and
bought by
visitors to his farm.
rural schools stiU assign
preparing a collection of Hve
The
Now
"It's
not a very hard job, quite suitable for old
people," says Akahane,
who
keeps thousands of
rhinoceros beetles in a fenced breeding enclosure
insects.
written reference to the selling of au-
on
He
his farm.
monitors
carefully
soil
conditions
tumn-singing insects dates to 1685 in Kyoto. At
but basically leaves the beetles alone. At the end of
child stalks a
that time, vendors carried their crickets in big
August they
dragonfly in
square baskets suspended from poles
worn
across
mer
a field. Below:
the shoulders, and they also sold small cages.
Many
that arise
Opposite:
A
A
children used to catch their
katydid
(Gampsoclesis
buergeri),
one of
began
to
increased.
own
be commercially bred
Owned
mushi, but insects
as their
by fishermen or
popularity
peasants, the
pushcarts that sold mushi appeared in about
the singing
first
insects favored
1820. Beginning in the Meiji period (1868-1912),
by young
mushiya, or shops that sold singing insects,
Japanese
and jewel beetles
collectors.
vices,
as
well
as
To correct genetic problems
from inbreeding, Akahane introduces
the adults molt.
"new blood"
every two or three years by adding
wild-caught beetles to the breeding population.
He now
raises
4,000 rhinoceros beetles each year
for the market.
Two major
traits that
seem
cages and trapping de-
character and their spectacular appearance. Indeed,
for the twelve
gives a
most pop-
on insect
book Exotics
the black and
largest
horny rhinoceros beetle
children puUing small carts
tles
During the 1930s
mushi sales began to decline, and
by the end of World War II the
mushiya had almost completely
Little
disappeared.
of the
Retrospective.
The
tradition did not die,
the
how-
1960s department
ever.
In
stores
experienced a
boom
in rhi-
full
in
stiU sees
of rhinoceros bee-
a pastime that goes back hundreds of years.
boys wiU induce the rhinoceros beetles to
fight each other for a small piece
will
one of the
one sometimes
ular species in a chapter
—
is
members of the order Coleoptera. Today
the Japanese countryside
musicians in his 1898
and
to account for the
popularity of these creatures are their inoffensive
renowned writer on Japan,
list
and the following sum-
fireflies,
began to spring up. Lafcadio Hearn, the
price
lay their eggs,
make them
Each
species
year,
pull weights.
of mushi
is
associated with a season
and some even with
day. Traditional
of watermelon or
a particular
time of
mushi games, Ukewise, are seasonal.
In the spring children catch butterflies, and in the
summer
they play with aquatic whirligig beetles,
A..
%jm
NA<:'"
v^v
!*»-^
•
^^
^ilibA
^^^M»
** ji
"lit
^m.m
..-..-/jtet.1
"^* *j#
1$
1
^^^^H^^«^^
m.'9i
-^•*.'
72
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
Summer
true water beetles, and snails.
time to catch
fireflies
and cicadas and
noceros and stag beetles
The
bell cricket
(Homoeogryltus
Japonicus), right,
is
prized for its
flies,
as pets.
Catching dragon-
with ant Hons and
batta locusts,
and learning
to
make mushi cages firom straw are all traditional summer activities. In autumn children Hsten to singing
observe and play with red dragonflies, col-
insects,
Below: An insect
lect inago locusts, stage spider fights,
imprisoned in a
tises,
cage made of a
either die or enter
hollowed-out
son without mushi.
pumpkin.
to adopt rhi-
collecting tsuchihachi wasps' larvae, playing
musical chirping.
kabocha, or
also the
is
and
Once
and
collect wasps' nests.
a year, in
kirigirisu
watch man-
Because most
dormancy in
winter, that
autumn, suzumushi (beR
insects
is
a sea-
crickets)
(singing grasshoppers) are offered for
sale in
nearly every post otFiee in Japan and sent
When
over the cxnintry in special packages.
many
all
shops feature
nier arri\es in
iiiral areas,
luitterriy nets,
rhuioceros beetle cages, and packs ot
\illage
luinuis "mattresses" tor keeping stag beetles.
soft
Department
towns and
stores in larger
remain the best places to buy
ever,
summer
displays feature live
1^^
smii-
cities,
nniilii.
iiiiislii,
how-
1
Containers in a
Mm
l^./IJII^'sBO
Their
mushi
beetle larvae for
sale.
insecticides.
Revenue from
along with
of
sales
Below: Boys
buy beetles from
an automatic
breeding and catching ec]uipment, side by side with
\ariinis
store, left,
are filled with
vending
machine.
iinishi
alone climbed to 5 billion yen in 1992.
From
spring to autumn,
everywhere
—even
iiuislii
—they
Japan. Living
are not difficult
nets
interest to these chil-
make when
dren are the cries cicadas
clinging
cities,
armed with
prey for tree-climbing children
and cages. Seemingly of great
in
of
in the centers
to tree trunks or to walls
cicadas are per-
iiiitiniiii
haps the most often caught
caught,
as
well as the tricks used for catching them.
I
Tombo
first
(dragonfly catching) dates back to the
tori
half of the eighteenth century. Dragonflies can
b
Mushi
introduce children to
biological diversity, mortality,
tlie
and
progression of the seasons.
be caught by hand or with a net, but the traditional
way of catching them
western Japan or
miniature bola,
or shells
silk
a
it is
wrapped
a tool called a biiri in
Tokyo. Similar to a
is
made of two
small balls, stones,
in red cloth or paper
The
thread.
with
toriko in
toriko is
ahead ot the dragonfly, which then
it;
the thread
becomes tangled
and the dragonfly
among
most children
ing
fireflies
the species
ers
may be
—
is
is
today.
not
now
as
flies
A
right into
Although
boys in the Japanese
countryside, catching dragonflies
ests
a
in the insect's wings,
to the ground.
falls
popular until the 1960s
and tied to
hurled about three feet
no longer
inter-
—
catch-
related activity
easy as
it
used to be, because
protected and
officially
its
catch-
Spider tighting, too, was very popular until
in the
boys used to
fight
own
1930s,
spiders.
is
no longer
all
the twelve-year-old
They made
by putting two spiders together in
to
in vogue. In
the creatures
by throwing one spider into another's web or
fenced in by
wood
chips.
The
a miniature arena
fights
were allowed
continue until one of the arachnids was
killed.
Japanese children gain a great deal fi-om their in-
volvement with
sive in
a feeling for the seasons, a sensibility
Japanese culture.
They
perva-
learn very early, for i
instance, that fireflies, rhinoceros beedes,
creatures appear and then die during
a
and other |
limited pe-
riod of the year. Mushi give children concrete mate-
experimental dialogue with nature and
rial for their
introduce
them
to biological diversity.
relatively short life span also teaches
An
iimslii.
Amona; other
things, thev
Feeding and keeping
vation, reflection,
uuislii
"
insect's
them about
ontogenetic development and the cycles ot
fined.
about thirty years ago but
Yokohama
develop
lite.
requires personal obser-
and even experimentation.
A
post otlice leaflet that advertises the selling otsii:Hiiiiislii
crickets
tells cliildren:
"WhUe
observing,
let's
write a diary with pictures!" Mushi are usually
looked
them
after
every day by the child,
who
keeps
concerning
inuslii
the
stages a fight
between
a
rhinoceros
until they die.
Traditionally
A youngster
transmission of knowledge
used to occur
iirandfather to grandchild.
orally,
passed from
Althoush the
tradirions
beetle and a
stag beetle.
74
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
surrounding
in
modern
inushi
could
have been forgotten
easily
industrialized Japan, insects have instead
been turned into media phenomena, with
featuring slick,
nrHi/n'-related
gear,
stories
games, and
books. In addition, Japan's contemporary craze for
A boy allows
his
little
"virtual" animals that
mimic mushi constitutes
a
rhinoceros
technological transformation of real animals into
beetle to walk
"animaltronics."
up his arm,
tronic toys that
right. Below:
stag beetle
A
and even "die"
more
Tamagochi, for instance, are elec-
metamorphose
if
into various shapes
they are not cared
standing growth and change
is
for.
central to the
Undermanip-
than three
ulation of tamagochi. For Japanese children, creatures
inches long was
that
undergo metamorphosis
are a source
of fascina-
bought for
$90,000 by a
Tokyo shop in
1999. The
record-size
beetle drew
thousands of
young mushi
enthusiasts into
the store.
y
''fimm
^
5^
*^
¥160?
o
!'
I
o
xm^'M
tiDM
tli.it
Iviscd
IS
cultur.illy reinforced. I'okeinoii toys arc
on characters
that continually
other forms. ("Pokenion," of course,
"pocket monster"
sion,
,ill\
—
a
computer
and movie craze
til
the
West.)
"Japlish" for
cartoon, televi-
jumped
whether bonsai
puter chips, or
Some of
are clearly based
most obvious example
a
caterpillar,
is
other group of animals, insects appear
so than any
as
secondary
characters or as part of the scenery in the television
and comic-book versions of Pokemon
stories.
of these electronic and cartoon "insectoids," how-
seems to be connected with the Japanese
imislii.
And much more
very idea of imagining
delight in miniatures,
Pokemon
Buttertree.
Despite the o\erwhelmiiig mass-market success
pocket-sized monsters, or bird-eyg-sized pets like
liiiiidi^Oihi,
becomes
cross-cultur-
that has
The
toy,
is
change
into
the
trees,
com-
body forms of
on those of insects. The
C'aterpie,
which resembles
then changes into Metapod, and finally
ever, a sizable
to
number ofjapanese
spend time with the genuine
children continue
article.
The
fact
Youngsters
combing the
many traditions a.ssociated with miishi have
managed to survive in such a competitive market
fields with their
shows
sure sign of
that the
their remarkable vitality
and the valued
ot these diminutive ambassadors
education of children
m Japan.
of nature
role
in the
D
insect nets are a
spring in rural
Japan.
\::.M^
Mi't^;''
li'K.aa.i
76
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
MUSEUM
AT THE
The Helicoprion
Mystery
Where were
situated
on
shark? In
its
tail?
the
the teeth
this ancient
jaw?
On its
On its back?
i
Museum's Hall of Vertebrate
InOrigins
a
is
most intriguing
object,
tucked away where few people see
it.
The
object appears to be
a
perfect
spiral
of teeth, and the label below
reads,
"What
it
curious question to be asking of Muse-
Norway, Russia, Japan, Greenland, and
Australia. Paleoichthyologists have
um
categorized the teeth
visitors,
answer:
is
this fossil?"
This seems a
but the label provides the
"Many
isolated tooth whorls
of Helicoprion have been found, such
this
specimen, but complete
as
fossil
unknown." The specimen came from a phosphate mine in
L-laho, but others like it have been
skeletons are
unearthed
in
Wyoming
as
well
as in
as
sharklike and
therefore identified the specimen
as
Greek
for "saw." Helicoprion thus
"spiral saw."
for?
But what was
this
Russian paleontologist A.
pinsky was the
first
to find
which he
means
saw used
P.
Kar-
and describe
collected in 1899
having belonged to certain primitive
a group that incartilaginous fishes
a specimen,
cludes the sharks and chimaeras living
where
some 300 million years ago.
Helico- comes from the Greek
lower jaw, the upper jaw, both jaws, the
tail, the dorsal fin, the middle of the
—
"spiral" or "whorl,"
and
-prion
for
from the
in the Ural
Mountains.
to place
back? Only
it
He
puzzled over
on the shark
a year after
—
the
Karpinsky s de-
Positioning the Wliorl
Above: Paleontologist A.
P.
Karpinsky found the
whorl in 1899, but he could not decide where
century
first
specimen of Helicoprion's tooth
might
it
on the shark. Almost
fit
a
Australian paleontologist John A. Long visualized a seemingly
later,
extensible apparatus, illustrated below by Ivy Rutzky, of the
Museum's Division of Paleontology.
location in the lower
prevent the
fish
jaw "would only
points out fu'o of Helicoprion\ radical
He
features: the disproportionate size ot the
from feeding."
therefore placed the whorl in the upper
"where
jaw,
could serve
it
as effective
for the animal's head.
the shedding of the teeth.
book Tlw
Rise of Fishes:
John A.
Million Years of Evolution,
Long, curator of vertebrate paleontol-
ogy
Museum
the Western Australian
at
in Perth, includes a hypothetical illus-
at
Helicoprion's
prey with
tooth
spiral
coiled shellfish called
cially
two leading
them
.
.
.
to the jaws
some
the
first
of a shark or
the other to the
hack,
theories as to the
'spines,"
median
ascribes
skate,
line
and
of the
distance in ad\'ance of the
dorsal fin." hi a
gist
Dimitri Obruchev decided that
a
abundant
prey.
its
jaw
of
sort
a
is
that
mimicked
ammonites
(espe-
order to
at the time) in
these ammonites, the shark's
attract
"It
writes,
seems more
"that
likely."
these sharks
jagged tooth-whorls
into a school of fish
thrashing about to
when
Long
Richard Lund,
at
a
from
the
also
be-
of the jaw that sup-
a
buzz-saw-like gad-
to three feet in diameter.
of ven,'
impressi\-e size
well as impressixe dentures."
A
veritable cottage industry-
is
de-
voted to the solution ot the Helicoprion
tooth-whorl
some of
and the tenor of
niyster);
the publications
it
inspires
is
unmistakably tongue-in-cheek. In the
—note
1973
the Journal
1,
ontologists
the date
—
issue ot
of Insifinificant Research,
Michael
Williams
Kathv Elbaum. quoting trom
a
pale-
and
1966
paper by Danish p,ileontologist Svend
paleoichthyologist
Devonian
as
an ingrown
Lund
be big enough to accom-
Tliis yields a fish
April
or ammonites and
snag prey on the
up
get that got
like
teeth.""
reconstruction ot the
modate, smoothly,
charging
Adelphi Universit)' and an expert on
sharks
it:
used the
projecting array ot teeth."
1952 analysis of the
tooth whorl, Russian paleoichthyolo-
"Any
fish itself must
could
prevented
"Thus the
must have been propor-
tional to the size
lower jaw curhng downward
toothed whip. Another theory
the
lieves the spiral
shark's
and lashed
"Of
only with
toenail,
ported
imagine that the shark uncoiled
position of
out and down, sort ot
of Helicoprion that shows the
One
a feature that
smaller and older teeth are just shoved
tration
into a tooth-studded spiral.
American
of the teeth being locked together
during growth,
500
paleontologist C. R. Eastman wrote:
bases
the whorl, and the
protection," acting as a shock absorber
In his 1995
scriprion appeared in print,
making up
teeth
Period.
Erik BendLx-Almgreen
("On
the Sig-
nificance of Karpinsky "s Reconstruc-
tion")
demonstrate that Helicoprion's
ADVERTISEMENT
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80
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
whorl was the biomechanical equivalent
New Year's Eve
of a
noisemaker.
It
it.
"There was no upper-half whorl of
sharp
teeth
could be extended by hydrauUc force,
against," says Troll,
releasing "in effect a lethal raspberry."
crushing teeth. In
In their 1994
book
artist
Ray TroU
the "vexing
made
a
of the whorls and
but Uke
prion,
whether by
is
admits to
model of
the crushing teeth. ...
extremely narrow.
had
could begin to
I
the outline of the skuU: long and
'see'
long nose on
a
I
it
reahzed
much
this
thing
like a
mod-
ern-day goblin shark. ... As
grew,
it
it
growth
new version of Hehco-
all
such reconstructions,
artists
or paleontologists,
an educated guess.
at best
ring."
a
drawn
Troll has
what you're
teeth, so
really a fossilized
is
other upper teeth were found besides
an obsession with Hehcoprioin tooth
whorl, and he recently
all
seeing
skuDs Bendix-Almgreen examined, no
devote an entire page to
fossil shark." Troll
"only rows of small
produced bigger
A
author Brad Matsen and
Fossil Record,
cut
to
vi'horl
to the
Planet Ocean:
Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing
the
for
it
Helicoprion's
locked in the 280-mil-
secrets are stiU
Hon-year-old rocks.
Marine expert Richard
EUis's latest book
is
Encyclopedia of the Sea (Knopf 2000).
MUSEUM EVENTS
MARCH
seum
1
Warming
Lecture: "Impact of Global
on Polar Bears and Tundra Ecosystems" (Earthwatch
at the
Museum
Ecologist Peter Scott,
ries).
Kaufmann
ries).
"Quasar Absorption Lines:
series).
As-
tronomer Jane Charlton. 7:30
p.m.,
in
Astrophysics
se-
Theater.
With
Live
Stormy
a
Star"
(Distin-
guished Authors in Astronomy
series).
Astronomer Sten Odenwald. 7:30 RM.,
Three
8, 15,
AND 22
lectures:
War
series.
Geology of the Revoin Metropolitan
Geologist Sidney
enstein, coordinator
Seeing Ghosts in the Universe" (Frontiers
Kaufmann
AARP
Space Theater, Hayden Planetarium.
lutionary
Theater.
5
Lecture:
2:00 P.M.,
MARCH
York
MARCH
Holmes, March 21
se-
of the
Churchill Northern Studies Centre.
7:00 P.M.,
ecologist Jay
(Natural History and Life:
S.
New
Hor-
of the Museum's
environmental public programs. 7:00
DURING MARCH
Women's History Month:
"Everyday Heroines." Free weekend
International
films, lectures,
performances, and work-
1:00-5:00 RM., March 3-18,
shops.
Leonhardt People Center. For infor-
RM., Kaufinann Theater.
mation,
call
(212) 769-5315.
Symposium
Space Theater, Hayden Planetarium.
registration:
vation Genetics in the
"Conser-
Age of Ge-
nomics." April 4 keynote speaker: au-
MARCH
Four
5, 12, 19,
AND 26
thor and activist Jeremy Rifkin. April
lectures: Biodiversity
Plants series.
botany
William
lecturer.
is
p.m.,
March
MARCH
7
by the Museum's Center for Biodiver-
Kaufinann
sity
at
and Conservation and the Bronx
Zoo—based
repeated on four
consecutive Thursdays
starting
5—6: scientific presentations. Sponsored
Museum
Schiller,
2:30
Theater. (The series
and Seaside
7:00 P.M.,
ciety.
Call
and panel discussion:
clips
mammoth
IMAX
historical instruments at
7, 14,
AND 21
lectures:
Human
Destiny," science writer
Museum
7;
"The His-
IMAX
the
Theater:
Sliacl^-
Adventure (the dramatic
1914-17
British Imperial
Trans-Antarctic Expedition) and Ocean
Oasis (the biodiversity of the Baja Cali-
of the
Human
Brain: "Evolution of
Lessons
From Embryo-
The American Museum of Natural
History
is
located
and 79th Street in
at
Central Park West
New York
City.
For
Rakic, of the Yale University School of
of events, exhibitions, and
hours, call (212) 769-5100 or visit the
Medicine. 6:00 RM., Kaufinann Theater
Museum's
Archaeology."
Neurobiologist
Pasko
astrophysicist
March 14; "Ecology and
History of the Hudson River," Mu-
Charles Liu,
visit
MARCH 13
Neocortex:
"Nonzero: The Logic
Robert Wright, March
tory of Time,"
769-5200 or
fornia peninsula)
tion
of
Weston Pavilion
entrance, Columbus Avenue
7 1st James Arthur Lecture on the Evolu-
Theater.
Three
story of the
Chinese sundial, from exhibition of
and other Ice Age
species in Siberia. 7:00 P.M.,
MARCH
at
leton's Antarctic
Land of the Mammoth, Discovery Channel's second documentary about the
Jarkov
(212)
research. amnh. org/biodiversity/
8.)
Films
Preview
Wildlife Conservation So-
MARCH 19
Lecture:
"The 23rd Cycle: Learning To
listings
Web site at www.amnh.org.
Space Show tickets, retail products,
and Museum memberships are also
available online.
REVIEW
tween the strength of a
spectral feature
and the abundance of the element
causes
The
unity of nature
phrase.
Ever
sliowed
tli.it
the
just a poetic
isn't
since
Newton
Isaac
same gravitational
force that pins us to Earth holds the
planets in their orbits,
more mindful
we
become
have
cosmos and mi-
that
Chown
theme be.uititully. He
Science writer Marcus
how
counts
scientists
had
to
appreciated
—
the
that
two
how
led to the realization that the
that should resonate
today's theorists
—
—
in
with some of
that "there
perhaps
is
no beguilement more insidious and
hydrogen and he-
dangerous than an elaborate and elegant
lightest
it
elements
—were
mathematical process built upon unfor-
A
tified premises."
ing of the reactions that have allowed
the
Sun
detailed understand-
to shine for 4.5 billion years as a
exre-
Cosmic
this
atoms on
Chemists
In tracing this intellectual
Chown
quest,
words
wasn't
1920$
credit here goes to British as-
Earth were themselves forged in ancient stars.
10 million years. U.S. geologist
Much
understand
and
stars shine,
than
Thomas Chamberlain responded
overwhelmingly the most abundant.
atoms before they could understand
what made the
to clarih- the situa-
tion. Indeed, until the
tronomer Cecilia Pavne, whose 1925
croworld are intricately linked.
presses this
twentietli-century physics
it,
would be needed
lium
that
highhghts the advances
Gazing out
made by many important but underappreciated pioneers in the held.
at
the far reaches
of the universe led
Comte
while we
scientists
French philosopher Auguste
fimously averred in
might learn the
1
835
sizes
that
back into the inicroworld
and motions of
of matter.
we would never know what they
are made of. Within twenty- years,
Comte would be proved wrong. German chemist Robert Bunsen and a
Ph.D.
compatriot, physicist Gustav Kirchholf,
sented evidence that these two ele-
didn't
showed
ments amount
through the insights of two U.S. physi-
stars,
that dark lines previously dis-
By Martin J. Rees
CoDege
thesis at Radcliffe
to
pre-
98 percent of the
covered in sunlight's spectrum were
mass of the Sun. Sadly, the skepticism
caused by elements such
sodium,
of the influential astrophysicist Henn,"
whose glowing emissions could be ana-
Norris Russell led her to downplay
as
what was actually her greatest discovery
amateur astronomer William Huggins,
and to declare in a journal article that
using newly available photographic
this inferred abundance of both hydrotechniques, found that
gen and helium in stars
the much fainter spectra
The Magic Furnace: The was "improbably high
lyzed in the laboratory. Later, English
of
displayed
stars
same
line
patterns
the
as
those of the solar spec-
Search for the Origins of
and
Atoms,
not
by Marcus Clioini (Ox-
ford Viiivcrsity Press,
The Sun. Earth,
and stars were made of the same
stuff.
was achieved before atoms
realirs-
of atoms was
in
serious
stars shining.
ogists,
tar\-
Russian-born George Gamow and
German-born Hans Bethe. and those of
cists.
German
If nuclei can flise inside stars,
tions in stars?
\\"as
this idea.
brightly than the
hydrogen more
Earth's age to
hundreds of millions of
be
years. Charles
centers get
natural selection, concurred with die es-
atoms.
many
different
there
is
no
in discrete units.
elements.
Stellar
But since
straishtfonA-ard relation be-
timate, while
cist,
William
his ideas
Engkmd's leading physi-
Thomson
(Lord Kel\-in).
dogmatically argued that die
not have been shining for
Sun could
much
longer
which shine
Sun and burn
rapidly.
Graxity
then squeezes them further, and the
guments
came
Hoyle
efficient processing
stars,
their
nuclei
had revealed the "bar codes" of
The most
occurs in heavy
about
matter
Beginning in the mid-
1940s, British astronomer Fred
more
gauged
could
be the outcome of nuclear transmuta-
on sedimen-
strata,
philosopher
von Weizsacker.
the entire periodic table of 92 elements
Darwdn, in proposing
spectra
and
physicist
Friedrich Carl
doubt, despite compelling indirect arthat the building blocks of
until the late 1930s,
Nineteenth-centur\' geol-
basing their estimate
rock
come about
was the dominant figure promulgating
real."
what kept the Sun and
were understood. Indeed, until 1900
the
almost certainly
Another myster)'
2001; $25)
trum.
All this
is
"gra\itarionally confined flision reactor"
tlise
still
hotter, until the
helium
into the nuclei of hea\der
When
consumed, big
all
their fuel has
been
stars face a catastrophic
collapse that can compress their cores
to a state
1,000,000,000,000,000 times
denser than an ordinary sohd. trans-
82
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
forming them into neutron
stars
The
or
galaxy
is
an ecosystem.
like
perhaps black holes.
oxygen atom expelled from
But this coUapse also releases
enough energy to trigger a colossal ex-
star
—
plosion
the
star's
a
—
supernova
outer
that
These
layers.
blows off
layers
by then developed an onionskin
have
struc-
may have wandered
An
a massive
for hundreds of
millions of years in interstellar space.
may then have found
itself in a
cloud, contracting under
to
make
new
a
its
own
formed from inbecame "polluted"
stars
terstellar gas that
over time. But
Gamow
was
partially
It
vindicated; he proved to be right about
dense
the origins of the light elements deu-
gravity
surrounded by a
star,
ing the idea that
Even the
terium, helium, and lithium.
oldest stars are
23 percent helium
Through nuclear alchemy, hydroburned into heUum, helium
dusty disk. That star might have been
precisely the proportion that emerges
gen has
our Sun; that particular atom could
from the big bang.
into carbon, carbon into nitrogen, and
have ended up on Earth and perhaps
Seeking the true origins of atoms
We
been an interdisciplinary quest
more than 200 years. Its
pioneers deserve the same acclaim that
ture.
so
on through the periodic table, up to
the main element
and including iron
—
in the core of these
doomed stars.
table requires a further
input of energy.
Thorium and
nium, for instance,
—
are Stardust
ura-
are forged in the
all
When Albert Einstein's
relativity
these
that
elements
emerged from the big bang, but this
wasn't borne out by detailed calcula-
bismuth via the capture of neutrons
By 1957
cell.
This scenario disappointed George
tions.
stars.
human
stars shine.
Gamow. He thought
heat of a supernova, and barium and
within red giant
a
or the nuclear waste from
the fuel that makes
The formation of elements higher
up the periodic
been cycled through
theory of
was used to model an expand-
ing universe,
it
turned out that the
has
stretching back
is
rightly given to those
biological evolution.
we now view
sights,
stituent
lowing the big bang that there was no
Martin J. Rees
nuclear astrophysicist William Fowler
network of reactions
needed to produce all the elements.
Moreover, observations showed that
younger stars contained more heavy
at the University
Cameron developed some key
ideas independently.
stars
—
fascinating
fol-
time for the
elements than older
con-
be widely read.
paper that Hoyle coauthored with U.S.
Alastair
its
chronicle of their achievements deserves to
temperature dropped so quickly
and EngHsh astronomers Geoffrey and
their in-
Earth and
Chown's
processes were codified in a classic
Margaret Burbidge. Canadian physicist
proposed
atoms in a grand cosmic con-
Marcus
text.
who
Through
corroborat-
land's
book
is
a
Royal Society Professor
of Cambridge and Eng-
Astronomer Royal. His most
is
Forces
Just Six
That
recent
Numbers: The Deep
Shape
(Perseus Press, 1999).
the
Universe
worthy of
nature.net
their subject
—
the universe.
In the gallery, you'll find stunning
By Robert
merging
But they
more
are
But they are
the purpose of
tures;
one of the
gems. Take
all
3.^14, a spiral galaxy pair.
than just pretty pic-
Aiiilcrsoii
month
gala.xies.
like a multifac-
eted jewel."
images of everything from planets to
Genis of the Universe
"glowing
to fluoresce,
NGC
The two
are
_
aligned so that one
s
silhouetted against the
is
to pique
A
other, giving us the
colnmn,
our
curiosity
about
"
rare
one created to post tlie latest images
trom NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
the
universe.
Each
i
the
I
dust clouds darkening
?
the spiral arms of a
Last
I
revisited
Internet sites reviewed in this
first
the
I
was drawn to
a
wonderful
sion t)f the site called
new
exten-
Hubble Heritage
Project (heritage.stsci.edu/index.html).
The
astronomers have re-
project's
tined the telescope
s
scientific
the project
image
as
and
tions
other
My
throes
and often reveal
details previously hid-
den from the unaided eye. These spectacular
photographs are works of
art
BOOKSHELF
became
ejected
nant
at
Vnimsliy
Press,
destructive power, astronomer
Oden-
wald warns us about the coming cycle
and storms, which may
into
space,
with ultraviolet radiation, causing
gas
it
setting a precedent for a
ot extrasolar planet hunting that
has, to date,
turned up more than
forty.
Human Dimension,
by Albert A. Harrison (University of California
Press,
A
2001; $27.50)
4486),
with
bluish jet
of elec-
and other sub-
atomic particles streaming from the
black hole at
center? Ever\' image
its
is
magnificent.
Robert Atidcrsott
living
tell
ill
is
a freelance science writer
Los Angeles.
us about the universe, the solar sys-
tem, and Earth,
as
well as their role in
the discover)' of subnuclear particles.
Stardust: Supernovae and Life
Cosmic Connection, byjolw
Mar]' Grihlnn lYale University
an overview of
psychologist offers
humans
M87
(NC;C
rem-
stellar
core floods the surrounding
Spacefaring: The
2001; $27.95)
Tracing the recent history of the Sun's
ot solar flares
its
death
red giant and then
torming the nebula. The
method
iColiimbi.i
a
its
Or how
Galaxy
trons
outer layers
its
light-absorbing
about
its
sunlike star that in
a
telescope),
The 23rd Cycle: Learning To Live
With a Stormy Star, by Stm Odaiwald
is
Planetary Nebula IC
taining the accuracy of the originals, the
striking
favorite
chance to view
distant gala.xy.
to
links
sites.
418,
more
augmented
by lengthy explana-
composition and color. While main-
resulting images are far
remark-
a
tells
able story,
images by
paying close attention to such details
is
in space, covering such topics
motives for leaving Earth, group dy-
cause blackouts, satellite malfunctions,
as
and other kinds of havoc.
namics, and habitability of spacecraft.
—The
Gribbin with
2000:
Press,
$24.95)
The Gribbins
chemical
discuss the formation
elements
processed inside
— how
they
of
are
scattered across
stars,
the universe in great stellar explosions.
Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, by Eric Chaisson {Harvard Vuii'crsiiy Press.
"From
2001; $27.95)
planets to
life itself,
we
"from
are
identify an underlying,
and recycled to become new
21st Century Space Exploration,
planets,
Richard ]Va^ner,
galaxies to snowflakes," writes
astrophysicist Chaisson,
Designs on Space: Blueprints for
stars
and
(Simon
illustrated
& Schuster,
by
sails,
Unfinished
Einstein's
2001; $24)
botic arms, solar
parts ot ourselves.
Howard Cook
by
Elucidating blueprints for rockets, ro-
beginning
and
stars,
and the $30
bil-
Symphony:
Listening to the Sounds of Space-
Time,
Marcia BartusiaL:
/')
ijoscpli
H'nry
2000; $24.95)
ubiquitous
lion International Space Station, sci-
pattern penetrating the fabric of all the
ence writer Wagner shows us the
Science writer Bartusiak explains how-
natural sciences."
equipment
sopliisricated instruments allow scientists
to
the
The Neptune
File:
be using to investigate
we'll
neighborhood of planet Earth.
A Story of AstroA Thin Cosmic
Planet Hunting, by Tom
Outer Space,
2000; $24)
Neptune was "discovered"
in
1845 by
a
hear
gravity'
A
by Michael
Press,
ravs
and
II.'
Fnedlander
2000; $29.95)
physicist explains the
of cosmic
first
wa\'es
—
vibrations in
postulated by Einstein.
Rain: Particles From
(Harvard University
mathematical calculation (not with
to
space-time
nomical Rivalry and the Pioneers of
Stdinbuic (i]hlkcr.
Press.
phenomenon
re\'eals
what thev
The books mentioned
able in the
5150, or
Museum
\-ia
the
www.amnli.org.
are usually avail-
Shop, (212) 769-
Museum's
Web
site.
84 NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
UNIVERSE
Coirdni
By
Neil de Grasse Tyson
Our
to
Senses
Equipped uAth
man
senses,
his five
explores the
him and
universe around
calls
the adventure science.
—Edwin
Our
eyes
P.
are
Hubble, 1948
special
organs.
They allow
us to register in-
formation
not
only
from
room but from across
Without human eyesight,
across the
the
universe.
the
would never have
been born, and our capacity to measure our place in the universe would
have been hopelessly stunted. Think of
bats. Whatever bat wisdom gets passed
from one generation to the next, you
can bet that none of it is based on the
banero on the level of parts per triUion.
same way.
appearance of the night
And
total
science of astronomy
When thought
sky.
can
(and rebel against) the ha-
taste
your eyes can
register the bright,
apparent.
Our
eyes perceive Ught the
you have ever viewed a
solar ecHpse, you may have nothat the Sun's disk must be at least
If
of as an ensemble of
sandy terrain on a sunny beach yet
ticed
experimental tools for exploring the
have no trouble spotting a lone match,
90 percent covered by the
world, our senses have an astonishing
freshly Ht,
acuity and range of sensitivity:
ears
Your
can register the thunderous launch
of the space
shuttle, yet
they can also
hundreds of
Before
praise
we
breadth what
cause
dropped on your big toe but also a
one-milhgram bug crawUng up your
ball
arm.
Some
people enjoy munching on
habanero peppers, while other people
get
we
we
away
carried
we
in
gain in
lose in precision, be-
register the world's
stimuH in
logarithmic rather than linear incre-
ments. For example,
fore
anybody comments
has darkened.
of ourselves, note that
from your head. Your sense of touch
bowUng
in a
darkened auditorium.
hear a mosquito buzzing a foot away
allows you to feel not only a
away
feet
if
you
increase a
you
will barely take notice. Increase it by a
factor of ten, and the change wLU be
sound's energy by a factor of two,
stellar
Moon
The magnitude
brightness,
the
be-
that the sky
scale
of
well-known
acoustic decibel scale, the seismic scale
for earthquake severity
—each
is
loga-
rithmic, in part because of our biological
propensity to see, hear, and feel the
world that way.
What,
if
anything,
lies
beyond our
Does there exist a way of
knowdng that isn't hmited by these bisenses?
oli)gR\il coiiiicctioiis uitli
our
trom their starship
f.irthly
Consider that the human machine,
while good
at
decoding the
or night,
creature
if a
is
how
the
them
rest
a
handheld device that
a
of
could analyze the basic properties of
day
anything they encountered, living or
about to
eat
basics
has very httle talent tor decoding
us),
"tricorder,"
(it it's
immediate environment
tlie
uncharted
to an
planet always brought with
ciwiromiiciit?
of nature works. For
inanimate. As you
waved the
over the object in question,
tricorder
made
it
a
spacey sound that was interpreted by
we need the tools of science. It
we want to know what's out there,
then we must resort to detectors other
than the ones we are born with. The
job is to extend and. when we can,
the user.
transcend the breadth and depth ot
be clueless about the blob's chemical or
our senses.
nuclear composition.
that,
Some people
know
professing to
sense,
sixth
boast of having
top the
list
mind
readers,
of those
who
or
For-
see things that others cannot.
tune-tellers,
a
and mystics
lay
claim to
these mysterious powers, hi so doing,
they
elicit
Suppose
unknown
glowing blob of some
a
substance were parked right
of you. Without some diag-
in front
know whether
whether
netic tleld or
emitting
gamma
waves.
It
rays,
others,
book pub-
cially
and
lishers
tele-
ot light in the sky,
your
Sacrificing precision for
we
breadth,
tance,
world's stimuli in
questionable
logarithmic rather than
field
ot parapsy-
Unear increments.
its
of
some people
talent. To me, the
least
this
all
is
why
so
biggest mystery
many
fortune-tellers
TV
becoming
traders on
Weekly Excavation Procrams
Summer 2001
Inquire aboltt Aduit5-Only Weeks
(kow Canyon
Archaeolockal (enteh
23390 Road K Cortez, Colorado 813i1
(800) 4ii-8975 www.crowcanyon.orc
.
lick the stutT
Wall Street. Apart trom this inexplicable tact, the persistent tailure
You would
of con-
support the claims of parapsychology^
suggests that what's going
on
is
non-
analysis
tain,
all
lacking the urge to
you could report
be, "Cap-
it's
a blob."
Apologies to Edwdn
his
words
at
P.
the top of this
to
The Lodge on
Equipped with our
mass spectrometers and
ware converts the information
and magnetometers and
gleans
and
iiloiif;
seisniograplis
particle
accelerators
images that our innate senses can inter-
the entire electromagnetic spectriun
the crew that
beamed down
we
detectors seiisitire to
explore the unirersc around
call the
adventure science.
Georgia
iis
—
and
Island
island
280
bird
species, recreational activities, regional
cuisine
and
just thirty guests.
Small Hotel in North
America", 2000 Conde Nast
Readers' Choice awards.
into simple tables, charts, diagrams, or
In the original Star Trek sci-fi
St Simons
paradise. 7 mile pristine beach.
and iniavscopes and
u'itli
ware. In the end, of course, the hard-
telescopes
—
five senses
Little
10,000-acre
Exclusive
have special powers, just special hard-
it
essay, w'hile
like this:
science wields dozens of
do not claim
Hubble, but
poignant and poetic, should have read
more
sense rather than sixth sense.
—
35^^^
back to the starship would
double-blind experiments to
"senses," yet scientists
of rota-
that
—and
your
series,
flf^o.
velocity
compose its emitted Ught, nor could you know (as bees
do) whether or not the light was polarized. Without any hardware to help
trum of colors
insanely wealthy futures
pret.
ofxcay^
dis-
its
its
rate
tion.
psychic hotlines instead of
Modern
(hotis-fl/ids
to see the specactually possess
choose to work the phones on
trolled,
oj the American Southwest
have no capacity
founded
on the behef that
at
rugged landscape
through space, or
The
is
lived in the
no
offer
of
hint
senses
five
would
register the
vision producers.
chology
rays, ultravio-
the blob were tar out in
wideespe-
X
Ancient Tcchnolo^a
and Archaeology of those
who
strongly
is
space, appearing as an unresolved point
spread fascination
in
it
microwaves, or radio
radiation,
let
Nor could you
has an electromag-
it
...ihc
you would
nostic tool like a tricorder,
888-733-5774
•
912-638-7472
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NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
86
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crowaves,
EUROPE
MIDDLE
EAST
Tune
into view.
see
wW.
and the locations
rays,
^iW'
into
gamma
explosions
titanic
throughout
would have seen immediately, even
rays,
and
scattered
galaxies are receding firom us
entire universe
If
is
Sicily
"
Malta ^Tunisia
Morocco
»
Sardinia
THE CONNOISSEURS' MEDITERRANEAN
day.
Watch
our eyes had the resolution of
body would ever have blamed the
plague and other illnesses on divine
wrath. The bacteria and viruses that
make us sick would be in plain view as
they crawled on our food or slid
through open wounds on our skin.
With simple experiments, we could
easily tell which bugs were bad and
which were good. And, of course, the
problem of postoperative infection
would have been identified and solved
hundreds of years earHer.
we could detect high-energy
we would be able to spot ra-
If
particles,
dioactive substances from great distances
Our senses, honedfrom
effect
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Problem is, hardly any scientific discoveries of the past century flowed
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we
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in the air
We
could just check
the analyzer to see
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oxygen to sustain
were breathing.
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from beyond the
had gas analyzers
call to us
If
within our
ORAMA
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not have to pay
not they ^'make sense.
compass would never have
We
need one.
Earth's
with
in our
of
were born with magnetic de-
through
the basement floor
us whether or
been invented, because we wouldn't
discover fTVv
gas seep
Hght.
tectors, the
neces-
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even watch radon
pass judgment on events
lives, telling
in
bands
allow us as adults
and phenomena
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on the
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infancy,
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terial as
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the
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high-performance microscopes, no-
of about one per
'4--
—
expanding.
the
universe at a rate
as
grunting troglodytes, that aU distant
pop immediately
raling into them,
AMERICA
''y-*'K.
after the big bang. Flip
of nearby black holes, with matter spi-
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locations, such as the
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have
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learned thousands of years ago that
the big bang. Actually, these things
contained sufficient
human
life.
the stars in the
And we would
Milky Way contain the
same chemical elements found here
on Earth.
If we were born with big eyes and
built-in Doppler motion detectors, we
don't
either.
a
make much
At
least
new and
sense to scientists
not until they acquire
higher level of
"common
sense" from long study of the
math
and physics of the universe. This
ADVERTISEMENT
.illous tor
.ihk's
crcatiw
tliinkiiiL;
judgment
us to pass
,uii.l
underworld of the atom or
m
mind-bending domain of
man
Max
physicist
Nobel Prize
is
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who won
made
a
simi-
obser\-ation about the discovery
lar
o(
Planck,
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in
I
The Ger-
higlier-dimensional space.
a
H STO RV
in the tni-
f.uniliar
tlie
NATU RAL
(.'ii-
qu.uitum mechanics:
Moiicni Physics impresses
iis
partiaihirly with the truth oj the ohi
doctrine wliich
the past, check out
that there are
has on the
problems and
coiitiicis
realities are
.C'CiiftT I'ahie for
('/
Selections, to our editors' favorite pick
apart from our sense-
and
perceptions,
From Natural iVlomcnrs and Natural
that there arc
tciicltes
reiihties existiii'i;
where these
web
from
what Natuful HISTORY
for vou.
And
don't forget
know how
to ask us questions to let us
us than
we're doing.
We want
to
hear from vou.
the richest treasures of the world of
A place tofind out more about the world we live in.
experictice.
Our
five senses
even interfere with
Check
sensible answers to stupid metaphysi-
such
cal questions,
the forest
hear
it,
"How
did
"If a tree
as
and nobody
it
fall?"
My
do you know
around
is
best answer
But
fell?"
it
people angry. So
just gets
falls
"Q:
in
us out at
www.naturalhistory.com
to
is,
that
offer a
I
you can't
smell the carbon monoxide, how do
you know it's there? A: You drop
senseless analogy:
dead." (Natural gas, too,
human
the
is
odorless to
nose. For our protection, a
pungent smell
leaks
If
is
added so that gas
can be safely identified and lo-
cated.)
In
modern
times, if the sole
measure of what's out there flows
from your senses, then a precarious
Can
Save the World's Species?
awaits you.
life
New
tors
we
new
ways ot knowing are
\\indows on the universe,
new
nonbiological senses.
new
level
list
Whenever
of
this
of majesty and
complexirs- in the universe reveals
self to us, as
7-9 pm
Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation
on Economic Trends, considers the benefits,
risks, and limitations of cloning, genetic
engineering, and genomics in efforts to
American Museum of Natural History
conserve biodiversity.
detec-
can add to our growing
happens, a
ii(ai'i':c:[iN()f,()(;Y
Wednesday, April
IMAX
4,,2001
Theater
it-
though we were techno-
$10
for
AMNH and WCS members
$ 12 for non-members
logically evolving into supersentient
beings, always
coming
Neil de Grasse Tyson
is
to
our
senses.
the Frederick P.
Rose Director of New York City's Hayden
Planetarium.
Tliis semester
he
is
teaching
astrophysics at Princeton University.
American
Museums
Natural
History
%wcs
A
panel of distinguished scientists joins
Mr.
Riflcin to discuss
the future of
conservation genetics.
Sponsored by the Museum's Education Department,
the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, and
the Bronx
Zoo-based
The public
Is
Wildlife Conservation Society.
also invited to register lor two
full
days
of scholarly presentations during our sixth annual
Spring Symposium, Cotiservalion Genetics in the
Age of Genomics (April 5 and
6).
WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION
SOCIETY
For more info
CBC
website
call
at
212-769-5200 or
visit the
htlp://r9search,amnh.org/blodlversity/
88
NWURAL HISTOIW
3/0
1
THE NATUR AL MOMENT
wKmaaaammmmmmtmmmmmammmmmmm
m
!?
Photograph by Janies Warwick
Pier
RevW
DUILL in lODO, LMt; VVtJbL riCI dL DliyilLUll, UM LMC iUULII LUdiU
of England, has long been a place for socializing. Seaside
visitors flocked to its pavilion
pier closed in 1975.
now
alive
and
concert hall until the
Although the empty buildings on the
derelict structure are silent
by day, they come noisily
on winter nights with the chirps, whistles, and varied
murmurings of starlings— tens of thousands of them. As
their natural roosts in
woods and reed beds become
scarce.
''
_A._..i:.
buildings and bridges. Photographer
James Warwick, himself
a Brighton native, notes that small flocks from miles around
arrive
each evening, then coalesce into a huge roosting
congregation. Before settling in for the night, the starlings
indulge in an almost silent aerial display. One can hear only
their "wings ripping the air" as they
masse,
like "iron filings in a
change direction en
magnetized sky."— Judy Rice
^4^m^
''" *
'
« -*«« i
;i
US
i
?§
H iM
90
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
ENDPAPER
Informed Consent
A muckraking book spotlights the ethics of anthropological fieldwork.
Samuel M. Wilson
fiy
September, an ominous message addressed to
Early
the president of the American Anthropological Assolast
ciation
grapevine.
(AAA) began making the rounds of the e-mail
"We
it began, "of an imAmerican anthropologi-
write to inform you,"
pending scandal
that
cal profession as a
wiU
whole
affect the
and arouse
in the eyes of the public,
intense indignation and
calls
among members of
for action
the Association." Prompting this warning was the
publication of Darkness
nalists
Devastated the
in
El Dorado:
Amazon
(W.
How
Scientists
and Jour-
the same time, a feminist critique of science
emerged, challenging long-held, deeply biased interpretations.
Ethnographers
also reconsidered
what they owed
their
"informants" in terms of shared credit and editorial control
over what was being written about them, and reassessed the
knew what was
condescending assumption that they
right
for "their" tribe.
Among the
imminent
W. Norton). The book's au-
AAA. At
the
AAA
the
results
of this soul-searching was that in 1965
impaneled a Committee on Research Problems
and Ethics and, in 1967, adopted
a
code of
ethics.
Much
thor, freelance journahst Patrick Tierney,
amended over
was charging anthropologists and other
code includes the following wording:
outsiders
who worked
Amazonia
in
in
"Anthropological researchers have pri-
||
mary
the 1960s with a wide range of misdeeds
and
ethical violations, the
the years, the current
most horrify-
ethical obligations to the people,
and materials they study and to
species,
whom
ing of which was that they had inten-
the
tionally introduced a devastating measles
These obHgations can supersede the goal
epidemic
among
the Yanomaini.
who
of
of seeking
Napoleon A.
The
published a vivid ac-
rado are
those singled out was
Chagnon,
One
—
"Yanomamo The Fierce People," in
way back in January 1967.
news of the book first hit, the reaction of many
count of his fieldwork,
Natural History
When
anthropologists was a quiet dread that
start
acts
people with
it
represented only the
of an unpleasant airing of the profession's
and practices in the
past.
less
defensible
Anthropology emerged
when many
late in
false.
knowledge."
made
in Darkness in El
Do-
now being carefUly reviewed and
The most damning
debated.
ported or
new
claims
they work.
accusations appear to be unsup-
Nevertheless, past research
among
the Yano-
mami was not ethically untainted, particularly in that acts of
violence may have been instigated to study the supposedly violent nature of
fact,
men. Long before the book's pubHcation,
criticism against
in
anthropologists was expressed
were vanishing or being forever changed by colonial expan-
document the charges and
countercharges include www.tamu.edu/anthropology/Neel
sion and modernization. Anthropologists
.html and www.anth.ucsb.edu/chagnon.html.)
the nineteenth century,
traditional societies
felt it
was
their
mission to record what remained of the languages, knowledge, and worldviews of disintegrating cultures.
They
did
not necessarily pause to consider that their presence in the
field or the dissemination
of the knowledge they gained
might harm the people they studied. In
their
fact,
work
often aided colonial administrators and occasionally served
as a
cover for espionage.
By
the 1960s, anthropologists had
their abihty to
heavals of the
litically
within the
The
field.
to agonize over
be impartial observers. With the
social
up-
Vietnam War, the belief that science was pocame sharply into question. When some so-
sites that
practice of anthropology
wiU always be
complex, simply because the researcher
different cultural systems.
The El Dorado
is
ethically
caught between
scandal, however,
highlights the sea change that has occurred over the past forty
years.
Although some research from the 1960s and before
was of the highest
carried out today
begun
(Web
some
pline has
ethical standards
is still
and some research being
questionable,
become more
self-aware.
on the whole the disciwhile at one time
And
seeking the "informed consent" of the studied was un-
known, proceeding without
it
now
is
almost unthinkable.
neutral
cial scientists
provided cultural information in support of the
U.S. war effort, they were called to account by
members of
Samuel
M.
Wilson
is
an
associate professor
University of Texas at Austin.
of anthropology at the
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TMS V/ORLD
2001 FAMILY PROGRAMS
and leading expeditions of learning and
In the last decade, the recommendations of pre-
iscovery Tours has been designing
acwenture for nearly half a century.
lous travelers led us to create our special Family Programs
—
^journeys created to
engage, enrich, and delight an audience of parents, grandparents, and children.
Traveling in the
company of Museum
archaeology, biology, geology,
and
scientists
and paleontology
—
special lecturers
—
experts in
participants of every age learn
firsthand about the natural history, cultures,
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trained
Wildlife
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June 19 -July
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DAY 5
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$3,280 - $5,790
Youth Coordinators lead a variety
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DAY 3
Knappogue Casde/Quin
Abbey/The Craggaunowen
Pass
'
DAY 6
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DAy 7
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DAY 6
Santa Cruz Island
OAy 8
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DAY 7
Isabela Island/Fernandina
DAy 9
Xi'an/Chongqing
DA/ 10
Shibaozhai
DAY 8
Isabela Island
DAy
Qutang Gorge/Wu
Gorge/Xiling Gorge
DAY 9
Espanola Island
DAY
1
Galapagos/Quito
DAY 12
Jingzhou/Wuhan
DAY
1 1
Quito/USA
DAY 13
Shanghai
DAY 8
Ennis
DAYU
Shanghai
DAY 9
Ennis/Shannon/USA
DAY 15
Shanghai/Tokyo/USA
1
DAY 5
Island
Project
DAY 4
Canyon/Horseshoe Canyon
DAY?
DepartlGrand Junction
Bunratty Casde/Bunratty
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DAY 6
Thoor Ballylee/Coole
DAY
Aran
Castle/ClifFsofMoher
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Price
7
Islands
based on double occupancy.
Sinsle rates available
All prices, dates,
and
on
all
tours.
itineraries are
subject to
change.
••Includes overseas airfare from selected
cities,
\lATURAL History ^P;
'"" 'OUK
Dl'iC
.\
Expeditions throughout the World with Distinguished Scientists and Educators
of age-appropriate activities and excursions for younger travelers while adults
and
attend certain lectures, tours,
seating dinners).
Throughout
wine
special events (such as a
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himily... experiencing together the
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Voyage to the Lands of Gods
and Heroes: A Family
Journey to the Ancient
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II
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-August
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DA/
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Nepal: A Himalayan
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20, 2001
August 10-18,2001
Jam ARV
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DAY
Naples, Italy/Embark CL'lin 11
DAYS
Naples/Pompeii
DAY
Messina, Sicily/Taormina
1
DAY 2
Depart
DAY
USA
Katakolon, Greece/Olympia
5
Heraklion/Knossos, Crete
Lindos/Rhodes
7
Patmos, Greece/Kusadasi,
DAY 8
Turkey
DAY 10
DAY 3
Siena
Florence
5
DAY 6
Giostra Del Seracino
DAY
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7
Piraeus/Disembark Qt'/w///
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DAV
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11
Family Alaska Expedition:
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Adventurer
August 14-21, 2001
Athens/Vouliagmeni
DAY 12
Vouliagmeni/Cape
1
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Kathmandu
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DAY 7
Birethanti
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DAY 9
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DAY
Seti River/Royal
11
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DAY 3
Point Adolphus and ley
DAY 12
Roval Chitwan National
DAY 13
Royal Chinvan National
Park
Park/Bharatpur/Kathmandu
DAY 4
Glacier Bay
DAV 5
Chichagof Island/Baranof
DAY 14
I
Discovery Tours, the educational
department of the
American Museum of Natural
i
travel
History,
is
a registered service
frarkof this institution.
^•
\
Kathmandu/Bangkok,
Thailand
Island
^
Chirwan
National Park
Strait
Vouliagmeni/
Athens'/
Depart USA/Bangkok,
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Arrive Juneau
DAY 2
Sounion
DAY 13
-
Nepal
Montepulciano/Pienza
DAY
3,
Thailand/Katlimandu,
Zurich/Rome/Sarteano,
DAy4
DAY 8
Santorini, Greece
Day 9
DAY
1-3
Italy
4
DAY 6
DAY
Family Adventure
Family Adventure
USA
DAY 8
DAY
A Summer
DAY 6
Adiniralt)' Island
DAY 7
Trac)'
DAY 8
Depart Juneau
Arm
DAY 15
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F_E^
U
R^
NUMBER
VOLUME 110
MARCH 2001
2
S
MUSHI
For youngsters in Japan, the
study of insects has been both a tad
and
a tradition.
BY ERIK
L.
LAURENT
THE SCAVENGING OF
"PEKING MAN"
What was
who
tiic
hunter and
the vicdni?
BY NOEL
T.
RUSSELL
L.
BOAZ AND
CIOCHON
A
WORLD
APART
The
ocean's
invertebrate
animals
may
THE AFTERSHOCKS THAT
assume myriad
fantastic
forms
before reaching
adulthood.
WEREN'T
A
1992 quake
upset
some
in the
Mojave Desert
settled seismological notions.
BY SUSAN ELIZABETH
HOUGH
BY GREGORY A.
WRAY
WITH
ELIZABETH
J.
AND WILLIAM
BALSER
B.
JAECKLE, STEVEN
MORGAN AND SKYLI
COVER
McAFEE, LARRY
beetle
is
Japan,
a
R.
McEDWARD, CRAIG M.
YOUNG, AND RICHARD
STRATHMANN
The seven-
spotted ladybird
found in
country
with an insectfriendly culture.
STORY BEGINS ON
PAGE 70
PHOTOGRAPH BY
HIROSHI OGAWA:
NATURE PRODUCTION
mm.
DEPARTMENTS
6
UP FRONT
In Defense
of Larvae
J
10
LETTERS
12
CONTRIBUTORS
14
IN
16
THIS LAND
Urban Country
ROBERT H. MOHLENBROCK
30
SUM
IN THE FIELD
Warm Welcome
PETER
32
36
J.
MARCHAND
THE EVOLUTIONARY FRONT
"After You, Eve"
CARL ZIMMER
CELESTIAL EVENTS
Lost in Space
RICHARD PANEK
43
THE SKY IN MARCH
JOE RAO
44
BIOMECHANICS
The Fine Art of Waddling
CARL ZIMMER
76
AT THE
The
MUSEUM
Helicoprion
Mystery
RICHARD ELLIS
80
81
MUSEUM EVENTS
REVIEW
Cosmic Chemists
MARTIN 3. REES
83
nature.net
Gems of the Universe
ROBERT ANDERSON
83
BOOKSHELF
84
UNIVERSE
Coming
to
Our
Senses
NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON
NATURAL MOMENT
Revue
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES WARWICI
88 THE
Pier
90
ENDPAPER
Informed Consent
SAMUEL
Visit
our
Web
M.
WILSON
site at
immi'. naturalhistory.com
i
T^^
Tke most
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For your free travel guide or to make reservations,
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NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
UP FRONT
In Defense of Larvae
The magazine of the
American Museum of Natural History
Livva.
and
we
To
a lot ol people, the
likely to
devour food
glorify the butterfly
for tadpoles,
incUned to
word
stores,
signifies
something half-formed,
winter clothing, or green
and dismiss the
caterpillar.
As
leaves.
Ellen Goldensohn
ugly,
RebeccT
a rule,
Jenny Lawrence, Vittorio Maestro, Richard Mibier,
Judy Rice, Kay Zakariasen
Michel DeMatteis, Avis Lang
maturity without
Thomas
much
changing
Flora
more than our
bodUy proportions.
have
a
pick
we do
And
Director of Mannfacttmng
Harrison National Advertising Manager
L.
fictional
Jessica
Mackin
Ramon E.
Advertising Production
Manager
Alvarez Circulation Manager
Michael Shectman FulfUment Manager
Jermifer Stagnari Promotion Director
Fortunately for Natural History's readers,
some people
appreciate
Gladys Rivera Assistant
metamorphosis and have made the study of larvae an important part of their
One
is
evolutionary biologist Gregory A. Wray,
issue's special section,
"A World Apart"
who
common
lihes, corals, clams,
and barnacles
are
among
write about larvae
this
the
stars,
larval
or drifting near the surface of the world's oceans. For
who
is
the multitude
of marine invertebrate organisms that spend days or months in
the other seven scientists
Suzanne Kato
(page 52), provides a corrective to
developmental pathway in the animal kingdom. Sea
nudibranchs, sea
Monique Berkley
in this
direct-developers' chauvinism by pointing out that the larval Ufestyle
swimming
Publisher
Sonia W. Waites Senior Account Manager
Fly).
most
Editor
Judy Lee-Buller General Manager
Denise Clappi
humans undergo transformations in books and films, it's almost always bad
news (think Gregor Samsa in Kafka's "Metamorphosis" or Vincent Price in
work.
to the
Gale Page Consumer Marketing Director
Edgar
life's
Assistant
not truly
metamorphose.
The
Picture Coordinator
Mark A. Furlong
we
few secondary
when
Rodriguez
Merle Okada
sex characteristics,
but
Editors
Carol Barnette Editorial Coordinator
to
adulthood
up
Managing
Rosinski Assistant Designer
and along
giUs,
way
the
(Pictures)
Associate
Barbie Bischof Research Editor
embryos we
Yes, as
Designer
Board of Editors
this
reproductive
Managing Editor
Thomas Page
which at least, hke us, are vertebrates. Perhaps humans are
form of prejudice because we are direct developers, going
from babyhood to
Chief
Maire Crowe
Executive Editor
may be made
Exceptions
Erf/ior in
B. Finnell
form,
to the
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Photo CiMnes»oiK*s*.
Europe kas Leen
Yet
muck
of
ty more Americans tnan any otner continent.
visited
Europe goes unseen. Surprising,
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not in tke company ot kordes or
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An opportunity,
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Sven-Olof Linablad
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Refer'.o:3NH-GEI03
10
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
would I come up with a
number reasonably close
LETTERS
the 100,000 quoted by
Martin A. Nowak?
Word Count
number of
estimating the
to
words in an
Derivatives" {Journal of
Reading Behavior 25, 1993)
individual's
And
well
Nagy and R.
E.
Anderson,
readable discussion
as a
W
and
vocabulary. For references, as
C.
"How Many
would an ordinary
of how some of these
evolution of language,
seventeen-year-old really
variable figures are reached,
School Enghsh?" {Reading
"Homo
know
Nowak recommends
Research Quarterly 19, 1984).
In his article
on
the
Grainmatiais"
half of these?
(12/00-1/01), Martin A.
H.
Nowak
via e-mail
states that
"English
(Morrie)
Kuhlman
Pinker's
Instinct
has about 100,000 words."
But an
The editors
article in the
December 2000
issue
of
reply:
Psychologists, linguists,
and
Smithsonian notes that
dictionary publishers use
English has "a total
different
vocabulary of maybe two
their estimates
milHon words." There is a
wide disparity between the
two figures. Could you shed
some Hght on which is the
more
Don
accurate total?
New
York
I
counted every word in
the Oxford English Dictionary,
of the
number of words
conservative.
Language
Expedition of Two
(HarperCoUins,
The
"people can recognize vastly
Paricutin Expedition to
more words than they have
occasion to use in some
Mexico ("An Expedition
and he believes
roots
and
graduate
12/00-1/01 supplement)
brought back memories, for
that
I
would probably be
credited with around 60,000
Nowak
encourages interested readers
play
when
a language
all
come
into
totaUng words in
and
when
1944.
also
W. E. Nagy
"The Acquisition of
to look at
proper names,
acronyms, and the words for
to see that volcano
my
et
sister in
August
We went by bus from
Uruapan
words.
and
went
with
and compounds,
suffixes
note on the 1943-44
Notebook, 1900-2000,"
fixed period of time or
an average high-school
is
in Printed
1994). Pinker maintains that
space,"
in a
The
Tire
Steven
stems of words, derivatives
numbers can
If
to derive
language. Nowak's figure
prefixes,
Bessette
Wassaic,
methods
book
Words Are There
possible.
to get as close as
When
the bus
could go no farther,
al.,
we
Morphology: Learning the
mounted horses and made
our way down a steep
Contribution of Suffixes to
incline.
the
Everywhere there
—
Meanings of
was desolation
trees black
Ox^oc B<^^k^
"rti^
I
We all
need our
space.
Some
a
of us just
more, that's aU.
little
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p^i^
1
and bare-limbed and the
ground covered with
gritty
stood there in the dark,
Hstening to the roar of the
sound hke
experiments to be well
assertions.
But
made.
urge them
to
I
loved the reference
volcano beyond,
desolation, yet, scattered
continuous thunder, and
the words
here and there, white
watched
have one that
mountain poppies managed
into the
to
push up through the
The
ash.
flow ended
lava
A short
wall.
rose the bell
church,
all
that
of the
visible
away
distance
remained
of San
village
My
Juan Parangaricutiro.
sister
and
I
climbed up the
ragged lava with great care.
From deep
could
lava
feel the
had not
from the
time
crevices
it
as
yet cooled
By
this
was getting dark, and
a misr\' rain
was
tailing.
We
made our way over
the lava
and walked into the
shelter
of the open
Some
fell
back
and went bouncing down
the sides of the volcano in a
bell tower.
We
"Obey
Gravity."
states
Fight Entropy?"
I
"Why
Of course,
sizzled in pockets
spit
refrite
(1)
her claims.
D.J. Meltzer
Monte
Jim Massa
of stUl-hot
et
First Fight
Taylor and C. V. Haynes,
and
In
"Who's on
(2)
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt
reviews my book Tlic
Verde. Chile:
Doris Hopper
I
read Neil de Grasse
Tyson's article
on the laws of
Settlement of the Americas:
64:3. 1999).
Dixon's book
Tom D.
and Bison: ArcheologY and
of
North America. Readers
and found
are
point about
the
Western
who
unacquainted with the
at
Monte
No Evidence
Eflect" {American Antiquity
Bones, Boats,
physics ("Universe," 11/00)
his
A
and E.James
Colonization
E.
for a Local Reservoir
New Prehistory
First
R.
"Radiocarbon Analysis of
First?"
Modern Organics
Nerd Humor
are
"On
Verde, Southern
("Reviews," 7/00-8/00),
Jacksoiii'illc, Illinois
al.,
Chile" {Americati Antiquity
lava.
Awesome memories.
Thank you.
that
They
via e-mail
62:4, 1997)
and
and
a scientific journal
the Pleistocene Antiquity' of
faUing apart.
it is
shower of sparks while
we
heat where
flow.
last
air.
behind us the rain
tower of a
shoot
fiery boulders
into the crater; others hit the
lip
abruptly in a jumbled high
a
I
at t\vo
pubHcations that appeared in
to his old T-shirt bearing
black ash. Such utter
in response,
look
T.
Dillehay
Marshall
Hahnjr
Professor
of Anthropology
University of Kentucky
Le.xington.
Kentucky
the universaht)- of laws
archaeology- of the
based on numerous
Americans may be
Natural History s e-mail
observations and
impressed by Roosevelt's
address
first
is
[email protected].
12
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
CONTRIBUTORS
The impending
birth of his
child inspired Carl
first
write about the genealogy of the whole
Eve,' "
You,
page 32). This
article
human
Zimmer
to
family (" 'After
marks the inauguration of Natural
new bimonthly column "The Evolutionary Front," in
which Zimmer explores the latest research and thinking about
History's,
two
evolution. For almost
Zimmer
years,
the magazine's "Biomechanics" column,
has been responsible for
which will be taken over
by other writers following the April 2001
»
issue.
A former senior
editor at Discover and a contributor to National Geographic, Science,
,
Zimmer
Audubon, and Nature,
^^
is
the author of At the Water's Edge:
Macroevolution and the Transformation of Life (Free Press, 1998)
Parasite
Rex:
pubHshed
Inside the Bizarre ll'brld of Native's
this fall
by HarperCoUins,
is
the
Most Dangerous Creatures (Free
companion
upcoming PBS
to an
Press, 2000).
television
and
His next book, to be
documentary on evolution.
To learn more about Homo erectus pekinensis, Noel T. Boaz and Russell L. Ciochon ("The Scavenging of 'Peking Man,'
site in China where the remains of this early human relative were discovered and also carefully
page 46) visited the
reviewed the
fossils, fossil casts,
paleontologists
Xu
concerning the
Qinqi
fate
and related materials stored
(center)
in
museum
and Liujinyi (not pictured), Boaz
collections. Collaborating
(right)
and Ciochon
(left)
with Chinese
uncovered
new
evidence
of these Ice Age people and their
relationship with the animals that shared their
territory.
Boaz and Ciochon
graduate school
at
first
Berkeley, and "cut their teeth"
serving
on the
met while attending
the University of Cahfornia,
on bone
research by
Omo Research Expedition to
southern Ethiopia. Boaz subsequently led expeditions
to the Libyan Sahara
and to the western Great Raft
Valley of Uganda and the
Democratic RepubHc of
Congo, while Ciochon has organized expeditions to
Myanmar, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia. Boaz is a
professor of anatomy at the
Medicine
in
Ross University School of
Dominica, West
Indies,
and Ciochon
is
a
professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa.
Raised in
cities
and towns
Weren't," page 64)
became
east
of the Mississippi PJver, seismologist Susan Elizabeth Hough ("The Aftershocks That
interested in earthquakes during her undergraduate years at the University of California,
Berkeley,
when
she discovered that she could put her mathematical
problems. She received
talents to use to help solve socially relevant
her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, spent four
years as a postdoc at
Columbia
University,
and has worked for the
U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, for the past nine
years.
Hough
(pictured here with her youngest son, Paul)
particularly enjoyed her research
quakes, in part because
it
on the 1811-12
her father, a professor of poUtical science
iielped
from
me
New Madrid
gave her an opportunity to
to understand the
at
Duke
work with
University.
"He
importance of seeing the information
a historical rather than purely scientific perspective," she says.
Hough
is
currently finishing Earth Shaking Science, aimed at the
general reader and scheduled for publication next year by
Princeton University
Press.
A
I.
of Atli,
ii.itiw
tvi.li.i:ti.ils
iK-ar
HiusslK, Erik
as a zooloi;ist .uid
.1
1.
Laurent ("Miishi," page 70)
L.
iiiiliiopologist.
uluiiil
l.mgiiage in Paris
and then pursued fieidwortc
mountain
of Nagano,
village
living in a seaside
went
such
life,
"You
in
lie
got to
can't escape insects
as locusts, are
know
itii
111
tiie loeal
silkworm breeders;
rice hirniers.
prominence ot
the
|.ip.iii.""
li.is dLi.ii
studied the Japanese
Japan. While working in the
in
Kayama. he worked with
he was impressed u
in |apan,
culture.
temple
He
Laurent
while
later,
Wherever Laurent
insects in the national
"Tiiey
says.
e.it
crops,
eaten by people. I'hey figure in poetry and novels
death, and change." H.iving spent a decade of fieldwork on
iititslii.
and some,
symbols of
as
now
Laurent
[iLms to stud\' luim.m sexuality in Japanese culture.
James Warwick ("The Natural Moment," page
was inspired by
and
India.
Wanvick
88) started taking photography seriously in
graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in materials science.
|y'J5, just after
a trip to
Most
Kenya and has
recently he visited the
strives tbr evocative
ways to capture
Brighton's West Pier, taken with
a
won two
competition, and his
work
his subject. In his
Nikon F90X and
speed that helped to give "an Impressionist
.jameswarwick.co.uk/)
He
made excursions to the Kalahari Desert. Namibia,
Wolong Nature Reserve in China to photograph pandas.
since
a
teel to the
awards in the 1998
image of a
2S-S()mm
starling flock over
he used
lens,
composition." Warwick
BG
a
slow shutter
(www
Wildhfe Photographer of the Year
has appeared in journals worldwide.
He
resides
on the
of the
coast
English Channel, not far from the West Pier.
An
associate professor
of biology
Apart," page 52) wrote
on
at
sea stars
Duke
University,
Gregory A. Wray ("A World
and other echinoderms
1998-January 1999 issue of Natiinil Histoiy. That
in the
December
article ("Body Builders of the Sea"),
coauthored with Rudolf A. Raff, prompted our editors to put together the present
of articles on marine invertebrates. Wray,
right,
developmental mechanisms in echinoderms
marine larvae was what
the
way an animal
first
(as
set
continues to study the evolution of
well as in ants)
sparked his interest in asking
The
.
how
peculiar
anatomy of
natural selection shapes
develops, a question that led in turn to his current research
on
the
cxolution of gene net\\-orks in embn'os and larvae. "Wife and husband Elizabeth J.
Balser and William B. Jaeckle ("And
professors in the
Illinois.
department of biology
They welcome
hope soon
to identify
Then There Were Two," page
at Illinois
54) are assistant
Wesleyan University in Bloomington,
the chance afforded by ocean plankton to explore the diversity of larval
down
form and tunction and
to the species level, the cloning larvae they are studying. Balser provided the \ideos ot
marine
on Niniinil Histoiy\ Web site (w^vw.namralhisto^s'.com) this month. Steven Morgan and Skyli
McAfee ("Getting to the Point." page 57), another husband-and-wife team, are researchers at Bodega Marine Laboratory
in C'alifornia. Morgan is also an associate professor in the department of environmental science and poHcy at the
Uni\-ersitv' of Calitbrnia, Davis; McAfee is currently studying white sharks otlthe California coast. Most of Morgans
a focus he teels is essential it we
research has centered on the complex dynamics of populations at the land-sea margin
Larry R. McEdward
human
population."
are to "fully understand, and conserve, marine life in the face of a burgeoning
invertebrate larvae viewable
—
("The Long and the Short of It," page 58)
Florida.
He
is
an associate professor in the department of zoolog\-
at
the
Unnersm
conducts research on echinoderm larvae in the Florida Keys and the San Juan Islands ot Washington
recent research has involved about equal parts diving, lab studies, computer modeling, and mountain biking.
scientist at
Harbor Branch Oceanographic
larvd ecolog\-, Craig M.
Institution in Fort Pierce, Florida,
Young ("Out of the Frying
deep-sea research cruises and has visited the seafloor more than
Invertebrate
is
beautifril
a
hundred
times.
He
is
Method
of zoologN' and associate director of the Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan
marine embryos and larvae very simply and in
and
I
want
institution's
to understand their form." Inspired
Garstang, Strathmann encourages his students to write
a
way
that
is
surely true for
His
A senior
department of
more than
SLXt\-
senior editor ot Tlic Athis of Marine
Uuvae, forthcoming in July from Academic Press. Richard Strathmann ("A
a professor
interest in
and head of the
Pan, Into the Freezer." page 61) has participated in
ot
State.
all
for the Masses."
Island.
He
his colleagues:
page 62)
explains his
"Because they are
by early-twentieth-centun- English embr\-ologist and poet Wdter
poems of their
o\\"n
about
lan'ae.
NATURAL HISTORY
14
3/0
1
SUM
IN
DADDY'S NO BOOB
According to some
evolutionary biologists, males will act to favor
questionable paternity
them could be
the reproduction of their own genes at the ex-
Eggs
pense of their
Ecology 12:1, 2000)
rivals'
genes. Male blue-footed
When
— even though
some
of
their own. ("Mate Boobies Expel
Paternity Is in Doubt," Behavioral
BALLISTIC TONGUE
well
known
Chameleons are
being able to change color but
also for their spectacular ability to capture
prey
boobies provide extensive parental care, in-
for
by
shooting
out their
sticky
long,
tongues. While many other kinds of lizards
cluding defending the nest, incubating the
SMART SLIME
Sdentists at the Bio-Mimetic
can extend their tongues to seize small prey,
eggs, and helping to feed the chicks.
Control Research Center in Nagoya, Japan, placed
only chameleons have evolved a powerful suc-
blobs of the single-celled amoeba-like organism
tion device: a
Physarum polycephalum inside a miniature maze
pouch enables them to grab birds and
How
can males prevent their prodigious
labors in the seabird colony from
other males that
may
try to cuckold
profiting
them while
in
which four
they are off gathering food? According to
ferent routes led
Marcela Osorio-Beristain and Hugh Drummond,
to food
of the Universidad Nacional
ico,
when an
Autonoma de Mex-
egg's paternity
male boobies push
it
doubt, some
is in
out of the nest.
series
of
elucidated
consistently
Classified
mals.
Maze-solving slime
as fungi,
Like other fungi, they reproduce with
shape and extend pseudopodia
with which they reach out to
When
change
— tubelike
move and
the
mechanism
in
various
knew that chame-
leons had a pair of pouch-retractor muscles in
their tongues,
but
it
was thought that the
pouch splayed open on contact with
prey, cre-
ating suction. Herrel, Meyers, and colleagues
legs
have shown that these muscles actually open
to ab-
the pouch just before contact and that two
modified muscles then pull the tongue pad in-
were placed in the maze, they spread and coa-
ward. (When the researchers cut the special
lesced to form a single organism spanning the
nerves that extend into the pouch-retractor
pieces of a
P.
shortest route from start to end. Then the mold
muscles, the chameleons were unable to hold
pseudopodia to connect the two
onto their targeted meal.) These intricate, co-
extended
its
food sources, reaching for a double helping.
The research team, led by Toshiyuki Nakagaki,
concluded that the organism changes
twelve hours and then returned them to their
shape to maximize foraging
mates. One group of males was removed a few
ally
days before their females' fertile period (about
est distance between food
efficiency, eventu-
forming one thick tube covering the short-
sources— a
computation" demonstrating
group had been temporarily isolated several
telligence."
weeks
Organism," Nature 407, 2000)
a
"cellular
"primitive in-
("Maze-Solving by an Amoeboid
ordinated movements, including the
full retrac-
tion of the tongue with its captive, are
com-
pleted in less than half a second. The suction
adaptation, the team believes, arose
lizards
would
when the
took to the trees, where targeted prey
fall if
not instantly well secured. ("The
Mechanics of Prey Prehension in Chameleons,"
Journal of Experimental Biology 203, 2000)
—Richard Milner
not suddenly become promiscuous while
their mates were away.
Some copulated
with
other males, but the rate of these pairings was
low. Yet of the males sequestered just before
the females' fertile period, 43 percent expelled
the
Antwerp, and Jay
polycephalum
sorb food.
did
his
chameleon species.
Herpetologists already
prize.
slime molds seem to
spores, yet like amoebas, they can
The scientists found that females
22-pound weight with
Meyers, of Northern Arizona University, has
trials,
share characteristics with both plants and ani-
earlier.
150-
feat comparable to a
Herrel, of the University of
chose the shortest path to reach the
males from their nesting territory for ten to
lay their eggs); a control
a
electromyography, a team led by Anthony
a
ism
week before females
—
lifting a
and
at the start
the researchers (working on Isla Isabel, off
a
lizards
15 percent of the chameleons'
tongue. Using high-speed video, X rays, and
the slime organ-
number of
pound man
tip. This
oat flakes) placed
that may have been fertilized in their absence,
Mexico's Pacific coast) removed a
body weight
(ground
end points. In
To test the male birds' reactions to eggs
as heavy as
dif-
pouch on the lingual
first-laid
egg from the nest, although none
of the control males did so.
The researchers concluded that
a large pro-
portion of male boobies will eliminate any possibility of lavishing their efforts
on
a "dead-
beat dad's" offspring by destroying eggs of
X ray of a chameleon extending
its
tongue
i
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16
NATURAL HISTORY 3/0 1
1916 John Holliday,
who
Infounded the Indianapolis News and
the Indiana National Bank,
donated
his
country estate to
Indianapolis for family recreation and
managed by the
Department of Parks and
nature study. Today,
Indianapolis
Recreation (IndyParks),
it
provides
circuitous route through Indianapolis
an enclave within the city limits
where
local residents
and
visitors to
the state capital can sample an array
of natural
habitats.
Covering eighty-
originates near the state's
emptying into the
"Wabash River.
park
is
The
crisscrossed
heavily
by
wooded
trails,
some
negotiate the wetter zones.
When
eastern
edge and snakes southwest, taking
finally
with boardwalks that help the hiker
HoUiday Park borders
White River, which
three acres,
Indiana's
and
a
normal
the
stage,
White River
it is
is
at
bordered by
a
Because
I
its
ot tlie
unique stiuctuie
ot
wildflower of the upland
Icptostacliya), a
woods, has
a
own. Most
botanists believe
family classification
pink blooms and, tor
often
than
less
large leaves.
somewhat
foot
a
The
seed capsules, shaped
down.
on the hill
slopes yield clear, cool water that
toward the
trickles in rivulets
mesic (moist)
smaD
And
hills.
known
an extensive wetland
more
a boglike habitat
found
of the
convergence of the
plants
in either habitat, but others are
are usually
blue
aster,
confined to fens are
its
swamp
visitors
a historic residential
huge homes,
this
Street.
With
narrow, tree-Hned
corridor between 38th Street and 57th
Street
is
an elegant reminder of
Victorian-era IndianapoHs.
Robert H. Molileiibrock, professor emeritus
of plant biology at
Soiitlierii Uliiiois
University, Carboiidale, explores the
biological
narrow,
grow
muddy
in shallow
beach.
is
covered with
can tolerate periodic
flooding. Farther
home
plants
and geological
ihitioiial forests
and
highlights of U.S.
other parklands.
water nearby, while
the inland floodplain
tree species that
Wedand
oft",
low
hills
are
to a drier, upland forest
For
visitor information, contact:
Holliday Park Nature Center
6363 Spring Mill Road
IndianapoHs,
IN 46260
containing a wide varieU' of trees,
(317)
shrubs, and wildflowers.
w^v^v.indygov.org/indyparks
327-7180
is
thick with green
American elm, sycamore,
Cottonwood, and
silver
maple, with
cress
water's edge. In
and waxy yellow swamp
buttercup provide bright splashes on
By mid-May,
the forest floor.
herbs begin to
in
sunmier
fill
the understory, and
their junglelike
make hiking
coarse
diftlcult.
A
growth can
further
the prevalence of wood
netde and stinging netde, which have
Stepping out of HoUiday Park and
encounter
Floodplain forest
ash,
deterrent
speckled joe-pye weed, and
zone that hnes Meridian
incidentally, are unrelated to cultivated
more
rather rare species of pink turriehead.
will
plants related to wild petunias (which,
do well
Holliday Park that
heading south just one mile,
member of a
early spring, white-flowering bulbous
Michigan, and Canada.
Whereas bogs are acidic, the water
in a fen is basic, owing to the presence
of bedrock composed of Umestone or
restricted. Plants at
actually a
group of colorful flowering
box elder near the
frequently
Some wetland
is
leaves
trees,
as a fen,
Illinois,
dolomite.
small
of willow
rivulets
northern Indiana, northern
in
water willow
water willow.
petunias).
in spring, covers a
area near the foot
at the
as
somewhat narrow
A
where wildflowers
forest,
bloom abundantly
river.
known
its
are similar to those
like parrots, lie flat against
Several natural springs
bulrush, hardstem bulrush, river
wildflower
relatively
tall,
Shoreline plants include soft-stem
Although
is
the stem and point straight
a
A B ITAJS
bulrush, and an aquatic, purple-petaled
has
It
plant that
a
all its
it is
distantly related to verbenas.
is
H
seed capsules, lopseed (Phryina
is
acid-tipped hairs on their stems and
leaves.
Another
golden glow,
is
nettle,
known
a robust plant
as
whose
late-summer flower heads resemble
those of its cousin, black-eyed Susan,
except that those of golden glow have
a yellow rather than a
brown
center.
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
18
The White River viewed from HoUiday Park
Mesic forest
is
dominated by Ohio
leaved blue
buckeye, green ash, tuHp poplar, and
sugar maple.
ash,
unusual
Here and there
among
is
a blue
trees creates a rich habitat for
wildflowers. Spicebush, with
pleasantly scented leaves,
bladdernut, with
its
the chief shrubs.
One
growing here
a
is
boneset
provide a second wave of blossoms
in
autumn.
is
deepest, while
cabbage, with
its
huge
perimeter of the fen.
skunk
leaves,
Hues the
A typical
obedient plant
named
wildflower
is
because
flowers can be turned in
its
(so
any direction and, once released, will
oak, bitternut hickory, and pignut
its
and
hickory are
inflated fruits, are
bladdernut
certainly
the water
cherry. Black oak, red oak, chinquapin
among
the
The
many of which bloom
trunk diameter of six inches.
in
May, include waterleaf, wild ginger,
common
near
hill
summits, where the driest conditions
prevail.
of its kind in the world, having
wildflowers,
late
Upland woods contain red mulberry,
shppery elm, white ash, and wild black
moisture-loving shrubs and
largest
and
ashes because
of its square twigs. The dense shade
of the
aster,
Spring-blooming wildflowers
are the broad-leaved spiderwort,
downy yellow violet, and hairy phlox.
Few plants flower in the upland woods
during the summer, although lopseed
is
fairly
common.
red trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit,
smooth and woolly blue
Solomon's
seal, false
Fen plants include watercress and wild
violet,
Solomon's
seal,
forget-me-not, which grow in
clear,
and enchanter's nightshade. Missouri
flowing water. Watercress, whose
ironweed, zigzag goldenrod, arrow-
leaves are a delicacy in salads, has
flowers with
four white
petals;
wild
forget-me-not
Solomon's seal
has five-
remain there for some time). Others
petaled blue
are
flowers with a
(CJieloiie obliqiia),
yellow center.
weed, great lobeUa, Pennsylvania
Broad-leaved
buttercup, and several kinds of sedges.
arrowhead and
Black ash
lizard's-tail are
that
found where
common
swamp
is
blue
is
aster, a
pink turtlehead
speckled joe-pye
—one
the only tree species
rare in central Indiana but
in the
more
northern counties.
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To get you started on an adventure to Mexico, contact one of the following
tour operators
EAGLE OPTICS
Call for your FREE
Comprehensive Optic Buying Guide &
Discount Price List on all major brands
m (800) 289-1132
Visit
our excellent Online Buying Guide
specialize in birding tours around this rich country:
Pronatours
El
Cid
Mega
Resorts, Mazatlan
Phone:800-525-1925
•
Web: www.pronatours.com
Campo David
Ahome,
Sinaloa, Mexico
Phone: 866-BIRDING (866-247-3464)
at:
www,eagleoptics.com
2120 W. Greenview Dr. #4
Middieton, WI 53562
who
•
Web: www.birdingsinaloamexico.com
Hidden Voyages Ecotours/Pelee Wings Nature Store
Phone/fax: 519-326-5193 • Web: www.wincom.net/~pelewing/hvecotur.html
Photographs by Doug Wechsler
©VIREO
/!
k/^
P pQ/meets
1
m
was born thousands of years ago,
and soon
I
tniicjlit
the world to
count the days by the sun, the
months by
the
moon, and the
I
am
affectionately called Mexico,
and
years by the stars.
I
Today
am full of intrigue and wonder.
r
/AM dHMH{,
I
am outAvavdly bcautitnl and tiuite
cultured, yet part of
remains a mysteii'.
versed in
tlie arts,
stories to
I
have many states of mind.
My adventurous side leads
attitude, with crystalline waters that are clearly invigorating.
works of art, and hundreds of museums
my
nights dance until dawn.
/
filled
1
I
and
will entice
call
800-44-MEXICO
1
beinii
remarkably
ha\'e
many
tell.
my playftjl
appointed with breathtaking architecture, extraordinary
you with tantalizing cuisine, and when excitement
am Mexico.
For more information,
am
to lush rain forests. Spectacular beaches beckon
am also sophisticated,
with exquisite treasures.
1
my
or log onto
www.visitmexico.com.
stirs,
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G THE TREASURES OF WALES
EXP
ALES
IS
scenery
THE LAND OF LEGEND, MYSTERY, AND BEAUTIFUL
— everywhere!
Friendly people, castles, dramatic
and mountains, wide sandy bays, and lush green
valleys
cliffs
make up
all
the
Welsh countryside.
The heritage and culture of Wales reach back over thousands of
years and offer something for every birder's perfect vacation.
If
you're going to
of Skokholm.
visit
Here you
at
its
one place
ferry ride
Nature Reserve
will
finest.
is
and
from Martins Haven, near Haverfordwest,
one of the most important
get a true flavor of
The
razorbill,
make your acquaintance on
West
in
Britain's binding
Europe.
^,^,
guillemot,
fulmar,
will
all
this magical
/^,
Guided walking tours take you
around the
his
Wales, you must go to the island
chough and short-eared owl
kittiwake,
island.
in
Lying just off the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast
reached by a 20-minute
this National
only
island, with the local
warden
sharinj,
knowledge of wildlife and the nature reserve.
1
Stops in poetry, legend
wALEs^>\Ru
It's
Welcome aboard
and legend mountains and music — is just down the tracks from London.
British Ainvays from any of our 21 U.S. gateivays and enjoy special rates
Hertz car rental starts at $19 per day, accommodations start at $61 per night.
Wales - a land of myth
one more reason
on our
& mystery.
to fly to
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Call your travel professional or British Airways at 1-877-4 A
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\m mtsvob
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THE SPRING MIGRATION BRINGS A FANTASTIC SYMPHONY
OF SIGHT AND SOUND TO TINY SKOKHOLM ISLAND.
Skokholm
and
Britain's oldest bird observatory,
is
lighthouse, built
its
1916, has been
in
especially adapted to protect the
of
manx shearwaters
migration
fall
periods can be spectacular, with "fallouts" of
birds
such as
thrushes,
larks,
warblers, flycatchers, pipits, and finches,
depending on the season and the weather.
that return to the island
The spring and
after dark.
thousands
common
For
more information on
contact the
British
birding
in
Wales,
Tourist Authority at
1-800-462-2748 orwww.visitbritain.com.
-0-
BELIZE THE BIRDER^S PARADISE
ITH
as
ECOSYSTEMS
acres
diverse
to research, education,
swamplands and
forests,
as
and includes
tropical
country boasts not only
540
some
but also
most
Much
of the
found
protected
^
day you can
many
Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, a wetland preserve
in
is
the north-central part of the country
A
your peaceful,
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is
home
to
wonderful
more than 250
example
of
mile network of nature
O OBSERVE SOME COASTAL
ecotourism, the sanctuary was founded by
I
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Where the people
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warm and
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that live along Belize's 185-mile- long barrier
one of the properties
reef You can stay at the Caribbean Villas, a
Crooked Tree that caters exclusively to
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package rates that include
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as the climate.
in
Discover Belize. ..and
let
all
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more about
meals and guide services.
If
Me0i^„
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birders, offering
the adventures begin.
SPECIES,
the popular island of Ambergris
by
helping visitors learn
are
visit
their
of
U.S.
friendly
Contact the Belize Tourism Board
whom now
provides plentyj
species.
the village of Crooked Tree's 750 residents,
many
\
10-
successful
on the Caribbean coast
Central America only
trails
A
this
of opportunity to explore this unique area.
English-speaking neighbor
in
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the Crooked
barrier reef to tropical
2 hours from the
at
us at:
you as you enjoy
want
forest and majestic
that
and
kinds of colorful
parrots will serenade
very special area
to miss
Belize
Scott's
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orioles,
go from our 185 mile
3,675 foot mountains.
An adventurer's paradise,
mots,
percent of the country.
is
site.
blue crowned
mot
that
an
Maya
There,
is
on
of
oropendulas,
that birders won't
at
set
is
make up more than 40
One
In a single
areas
stay
plaza
ancient
wildlife
thanks to the
thriving,
to
lodge that
the
rare.
Belize
in
Plan
of the
exotic and
a wildlife
Chan Chich, an upscale
of birds
species
forest
sanctuary as well.
small
this
of rain
you're
interested
in
forest
island forest.
birds,
For
a
more information about
Belize, contact
unique conservation organization called
the Belize Tourism Board at 800-624-0686,
Programme
or
for
Belize
devotes 260,000
This special editorial /advertising
and did not
go to www.travelbelize.org.
-O"
supplement was created by the Natural History Special Sections Department
involve the magazine's editorial staff.
WRITER: Stephanie
Fekety
DESIGN: Mindy
Phelps Stanton
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30
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
IN THE FIELD
water
level
dropped below the
rather than attempting to repair the
Northern winters can be long
for a beaver
—longer than
for
most nonhibernating
mammals. Though equipped to gnaw
through the hardest wood, beavers
show
little
their
my
students and
pond
the frozen
ponds freeze
o\'er
I
A month
ventured onto
We
entrances.
couldn't
resist
single
why
the beavers in lodges I'd
previously attempted to study had
so quick to chew ofl" the ends of
some temperature probes I'd inserted).
A small chamber branched to the side
been
to investigate the
lodge and found the exposed
temptation. Shedding
inclination to chisel
through ice and thus are seldom seen
from the time
dam, vacated the premises.
later,
were trimmed evenly; not a
nub protruded to discomfort a
huddhng animal (which explained
ceilings
entrances to their lodge, the beavers,
the
some of our
of one entrance tunnel, apparently
bulky clothing, two of us wiggled and
having served
squirmed (with an occasional push
just
as a
feeding platform
above the water
single scrap
quillwort,
main
level. It
held a
of food: a frozen aquatic
still
whole and green. The
nest chamber,
permit us to
roomy enough
to
our heads and pass a
raise
camera back and forth between
opposite tunnels, was devoid of any
detritus
—not
a trace
of food,
fecal
material, or odor.
Beaver lodge, Minnesota
The lodge had been empty for
some time, but my initial sensation
upon entering it was one of subtle
warmth. Heat, conducted upward
from the unfrozen water beneath the
floor,
maintained the temperature near
—
Warm Welcome
warmer than
A beaver's lodge
family of beavers crowded into a small
is its
when
particularly
castle,
ice covers the
pond.
the freezing point
It
considerably
snowy world
the
was easy to imagine the
unusual for
Htters
until spring melt, often
snow
has
rarely die
stress
left
long
from behind by
after
the land. Yet beavers
tunnels until
during the winter from cold
or a shortage of food.
their success in the
The key
North seems
to
to He,
a
lodge did
I
understand the fuU
implications of this structure for a
beaver's Hfe
under
ice.
My
opportunity
came early one winter in northern
Vermont as a result of an unusual
circumstance. Just before freeze-up, a
local
highway maintenance crew had
rifted a colony's
dam
flooding of a road.
to prevent the
When
had ever provided. Outwardly,
beaver lodge appears to be nothing
more than
actually crawled inside a
the pond's
I
once recorded
lodge temperature of 60°
a beaver's
F,
On
woody
a
mud-plastered pile of
debris
—an unkempt heap of
well within
thermoneutral zone (the
without raising
warm enough
snow
at
But
its
metabolic
the top of the lodge.
Beavers face an energy
this picture.
dilemma every time they sHp
more
feet
out of the
into the
icy water for an excursion to their food
water. In this case, the interior turned
cache. (In the
out to be a marvel of neatness and
tree
The earthen floor of the
worn smooth by the
and
there's another, colder side to
odd-sized sticks that occasionally
four or
rate)
to melt a hole in the
reaches twenty feet in diameter and
rises
fall,
beavers stockpile
branches underwater.)
The
cleanhness.
compression of their fur in the water
lodge was
and the
countless comings
feet
on
silky clay.
and goings of wet
The
walls
and
a
a
temperature range within which an
studies
I
zero-degree day,
animal can remain comfortable
communal
until
me
of adults and two
of kits to winter together).
beavers that none of my previous
with their lodge
Not
in the middle.
a pair
not
(it is
an insight into the winter Hves of
the most massive
constructed by any animal.
we met
That firsthand inspection gave
in large measure,
nest
others) into opposite
A
and grooming, can
space, huddling
Marchand
J.
relative
comfort of an occupied chamber.
generate significant heat
By Peter
outside.
resultant displacement
of air
from the otherwise superbly insulated
pelt,
coupled with water's high
I
capacii
{o
conduct
hc.it,
greatly accclcnitc licit
from the beaver's body and can
loss
render the animal hypothermic within
The need to
become a repeated
about thirty minutes.
[Mociire food can
which
tr.umi.i tor the kits,
ni.iy
enter
the water daily in feeding forays lasting
members
trips,
to stagger their foraging
ensuring that the lodge
—
To
in.ixiiiiize effectiveness in
fiinctions such as feeding
northern United
on
a
and mating,
over time, in their daily schedules.
than
may make fewer
biological rhythms that are precisely
probably carries
cued to day length and seasonal
ice,
trips,
with
subsidizing their energy needs
fat stores in
the
tail.)
A
foraging
beaver benefits by being able to return
to a
warm
lodge,
where
its
bociy
Having
animals maintain
Scientists aren't sure
why
cycles.
or how, but
beavers' biological clocks (and thus
their activity patterns) drift
out of
temperature can be quickly restored to
phase with the day/night cycle in
the requisite 98°
winter.
But herein
F.
lies a
Four hundred cubic
potential problem.
feet
of earthen
lodge, if allowed to cool, can quickly
turn into
a
massive heat sink instead of
this
isolation in the
lodge without external light cues
would promote such
attest to the
interior),
drift
(and
I
a
free-running internal clock
little risk
under the
where predators are not a threat,
but what is the advantage? One
possibility
is
that in winter, staggered
foraging times
may maintain an
equable indoor temperature,
guaranteeing
whenever
a
warm welcome
a beaver returns to
its
lodge.
can
darkness of a lodge
even infrequent excursions
PclcrJ. Marclhvid
scientist at the
is
CHnciiily a visiting;
Carnegie
to
underwater should recalibrate internal
IWatiiml History's
might be for family
clocks, since light easily penetrates ice
Sttitioii iictir Rector.
a life-saving refuge.
prevent
One way
Although long
States, beavers
twenty-six- to twenty-nine-hour
virtually
(Adults
all
the
cycle, resulting in a considerable shift,
minutes to more
forty.
pond. Yet
display winter activity patterns based
troni less than five
all
a
Canada and
across southern
is
at all times
and this is
where an unusual aspect of beaver
behavior comes into play.
occupied
and snow cover on
Museum
PowdermiU
of
Bioio_^ical
Peiiiisyh'diiiti.
32
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
THE EVOLUTIONARY FRONT
You, Eve"
"After
Y chromosome only
Research on the
of the
human genealogical
By
Zimmer
Carl
all
hints at the complexity
tree.
humans descend from an African
59,000 years ago. Even
man who Hved
My
wife, Grace,
our
first
on
and
my mind
a lot
has
it
What's the
stuff:
route from our apartment to the
hospital?
a
had
Most of
recently.
been pretty mundane
fastest
are expecting
I
child in July, so I've
How
do you swaddle
exactly
baby? But sometimes
invade.
I
loftier
thoughts
think about our child
My
union of two heritages.
as
the
wife's
County Kerry
flows back to Ireland, to
and County Derry in the
in the south
north.
My own
flung,
encompassing Wales, England,
heritage
is
more
far-
Germany, and Hungary, as well as
countries in eastern Europe that no
longer exist, having been bisected and
by countless wars.
Both our family trees extend back
only a few generations, at which point
trisected
written records and the memories of
But we, Hke
relatives fail.
mans,
our species.
decode
that if you
my
other hu-
also carry a genetic genealogy.
Encrypted in our
to
all
is
a history
far
enough
and
of
how
and they fmd
that history,
go back
wife's heritage
tually fuse,
DNA
Scientists are learning
in time,
my own
even-
along with that of the
rest
of humanity.
There's an apparent paradox in our
molecular genealogy, however:
ent genes
search
that
all
tell
diflfer-
different stories.
Re-
on one set of genes indicates
humans on earth descend from
an African
woman who
lived 170,000
years ago. Scientists studying a difierent
group of genes recendy concluded
that
allowing for a healthy margin of error
in these estimates,
it
would seem
Eve Hved more than 100,000
Adam.
You inight think
that
years be-
involved need to
fmd
produced two such
sions.
sults
But
may
as
the mistake that
difierent conclu-
contradictory
as
the re-
appear, they are perfectly
compatible. Genealogy
is
much stranger
than most of us reaUze.
fore
that the scientists
The
quest for humanity's genetic
gciicaloi^' bci^.in
when
shaped
ot
its
were
researchers
deciplier
the
iii
just startiiit; to
ing blocks called bases.
all
When
scientists
through
first
genes they
pecuHar
a
sort.
of our 30,000 genes are
lo-
But 37
nucleus.
cell
genes reside outside the nucleus, in
known
sausage-shaped structures
mitochondria, which act
houses of the
as
as
the power-
Our chromosomes go
lack.
complex
a
shuffle in every
generation, but mitochondrial genes
unmuddled
create a clean,
The onlv way
mitochondrial genes of
her child can arise
some
is
mother and
a
they mutate. In
if
mutation will cause
cases, a
a
ge-
symptoms such
netic disorder with
weakness,
pedigree.
problems,
respiratory
way they
usual because of the
The genes
are also
human
are in-
moves the most harmful
ot these
lated to have lived
or
ago,
surname can take over an
pairs ot
chromosomes. At the time an
egg or
a
though
cell division, the
in
cell is
mu-
On
searchers
which
harm
entire village.
(and, in very rare cases,
chromosomes
quires a harmless mutation in her
one important excep-
tochondrial
set ot twentv'-three pairs
some of
Thanks
to the
later).
is
established.
swapping episode,
it's
a
unique combination of genes.
Mitochondria
are different.
Mito-
benefit). If a
DNA,
it
on
she will pass
to their
own
mark her descendants
—
other people
it
and her daughters
to her children,
pass
get to
I'll
may even
woman
bestow some
Each egg
or sperm then receives only one from
each pair ot rearranged chromosomes.
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, it contributes its chromosomes, and a new
tion,
children.
distinct
descendants of her
Wilson and
own
his
on
will
my
wife's
mito-
—
As
it
weren't
DNA
as
from
cember
tire
different
suggesting that these groups had
pairs.
fifty-three
re-
—
the en-
the sequences of
found
these
re-
that their genes
had come from an African woman.
But instead of living 200.000 years
while
ago. they estimated, she lived 170,000
markers that no one
did,
1987
other markers that Africans lacked.
basis
Xattiie,
scientists
shared
all
grouping people on the
ot
De-
from examining
individuals,
searchers, too,
years ago.
In the mid-1980s Allan Wilson, a
results
Comparing
own. Wilson's team also found that
Asians and Europeans shared certain
thousands of generations of women.
issue
in the
sequence of about 16,(X^0 base
Asians had unique markers ot their
and so on, back through
genome:
2000,
frag-
about 9 percent of
the mitochondrial genes
wife inherited her
mother,
to
same conclu-
ancestor.
For example, Europeans
else
7,
ported on the
all
common
statistics
he had believed,
as
Swedish and German
mitochondrial genes only from her
chondrial genes,
sound
but later studies on mitochondria hav'e
ing specific stretches from each indithat
—
turned out, Wilson's
the mitochondrial
descended from
my
now Wilson's
when ancestors of
that time;
sister.
students studied
It
record
Europe
relatnes lived in
ments adding up
genes to a child, because mitochondria
child inherited only
at
fossil
work suggested that
living humans migrated out of Africa,
these other humans
with their own,
different mitochondria
went extinct.
people around the world and compar-
a
human
that
and Asia
from the
clear
to essentially the
ers,
My
was already
Wilson worked only with
groups of people shared certain mark-
cell.
of
estimate
come
ther cannot contribute mitochondrial
egg
in dif-
sions.
sexual reproduction. Moreover, a fa-
can't enter the
up
from
vidual.
sperm
taken tor
ha\'e
to build
Their
lineages.
even from the
samples of mitochondrial
and then calcu-
must
many mutations
mi-
these markers by gathering
They found
DNA
the re-
variations in
will
It
as distinct
ac-
chondria themselves do not engage in
in
compared the
200,000 years was shockingly recent.
way one
the
To come
their age estimate,
it
postu-
they an-
Africa,"
in
long
DNAs
is
about 200,000 years
in Nature in 1987.
how
ferent
being formed
each pair swap parts of their genetic
material (with
probably
mitochondrial
much
living
African
an
woman who
stem firom one
lated
species
humans
mitochondrial
gins. "All these
the other hand, mutations can alter
dominate our
all
from
but also the time, of human ori-
as
to
all
Wilsons team named not only the
place,
mitochondrial genes without causing
Mitochondrial Eve ^s genes came
were
tree
woman.
nu-
cell
in
descended
today
so
sperm
DNA
chondrial
nounced
up with
from the human gene pool.
tations
that sprouted
of the
African lineages, suggesting that mito-
on twentv-three
in a
cleus are arranged
un-
The branches
manity.
closest to the base
between the
a difl'erence
deafness. Natural selection steadily re-
cell.
These outlying genes
herited.
construct an evolutionary tree for hu-
mitochondria were loaded
in
genes
some of the
cated within the
markers, Wilson's team was able to
the
of build-
chose to decode were
Nearly
genes
("alifor-
th.it
pair
began to read the sequence of these
base pairs,
recognized
Ik'ikeley,
ni.i,
with historical information that other
made of a
is
is
of
geneticist at the University
and each
like a twisted ladder,
rungs
DNA
code.
ti;enetic
tlie
I'WOs.
i.Mrly
By
of their
Newspaper
woman
paper
reports
dubbed
on Wilson's
this
African
"mitochondrial Eve." But de-
spite the biblical overtones, she
was not
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
34
the sole female progenitor of
living
all
humans. She was simply the most
recent female ancestor to
can
whom we
trace this particular genealogical
all
connection. Mitochondrial Eve existed
thousands of other
alongside
women in Africa,
Many
of those other
women
had children
inherited their genes, and
some
son
—
drial
DNA.
The
making
over the course of thousands of years,
human
the other mitochondrial lineages grad-
1
ing
it
has been
it
easy to sequence, and every
contains an average of
cell
,700 mitochondria, offering plenty of
would
targets for genetic probes.
the
women
carry-
each of a man's
contrast,
contains a single
cells
chromosome, and
By
it is
60 million base
ent mitochondrial genes were drop-
for markers
ping out. Eve's were becoming more
like
widespread.
volume encyclopedia. By 1994,
everyone
alive
share just one.
in the village
doesn't
ever,
now
enitor.
could conceivably
their sole
alive at the
drial Eve.
same time
We
as
mitochon-
just don't carry their
Just as mitochondrial genes contain
record of female lineages,
set
of genes that can
tell a
men
have a
story about
Of
the other half of our species.
the
twenty-three pairs of chromosomes
carried by
cells,
men
of their
in the nucleus
twenty-two consist of partners
identical in length,
shape,
and
quence of genes. The remaining
se-
pair
is
From his father, a boy inherchromosome called Y, and from
mother, a chromosome called X.
different.
its
his
a
During the formation of sperm,
other
chromosomes
the motherland of us
Y
chromosome
is
scien-
all.
Africans spread out to the other
continents, a journey that the
mosome
Y
chro-
records in exquisite detail.
from Asia
It
waves of migration
to Europe,
from Asia
from Asia
Polynesia, and
to
New
to the
World.
But
there's
one important
disparity
between the findings based on the
chromosome and
colleagues established a clock for the
chromosome, and
2000
Y
November
in the
of Nature Genetics they
issue
Y
on mitoUnderbill and his
those based
DNA.
chondrial
esti-
mated that Y-chromosome Adam, the
man from whom all living men descend, lived only 59,000 years ago.
How
looking for a few typos in a thirty-
can
who
people
we
all
descend from two
of genera-
lived thousands
was common 59 000 years
ago for just a few men in each hand to
it
,
earn the privilege offathering children.
tists
had managed
grand
to find a
The
Y
chromosome
been tamed by
sjiuffle
as
the
their
genes, only a small section of the
Y
total
Y
of only two markers on the
has finally
investigators at the lab-
oratory of Stanford University geneticist L.
Luca Cavalli-Sforza. In 1995
Stanford researchers Peter Underbill
and Peter Oefner found
mitochondrial genes.
a
pairs long. Searching
the
Perhaps
male prog-
we descend from
of other women who were
Similarly,
thousands
Some
is
to
The fact that everyone
is named Chen, howmean that one man
named Chen was
on
Y
measuring
big,
gave birth only to sons. As these differ-
dominate our species is similar to the way in
which a patrilineal surname can take
over an entire community. In a village
where many different family names
were in use thousands of years ago,
that Africa
is
only 16,000 base pairs long,
lineage
The way her genes came
Y
harder to
genome
mitochondrial
A
died without having children or
the
in
much
than that of mitochondrial
extract
DNA. The
mitochondrial Eve's descendants. But
if
embedded
story
confirming
exclusively African,
are
reveals individual
chromosome
small,
ually disappeared.
father to
male counterpart to mitochon-
a
of their descendants had children with
have vanished
down from
pedigree passed
of whom had mi-
all
tochondrial genes ot their own.
who
chromosome exchanges bits of material with its partner. Most of it remains
aloof, providing a clean, unmuddled
a
way
to
speed-read through the Y-chromo-
some encyclopedia. Soon they and
their colleagues
were discovering
them
to study
chromosomes from various
world to see
lar
if they
parts
mark them
mon
as
Y
of the
shared any particu-
would
descendants of a com-
mutation. If they did,
it
ancestor.
their markers to
evolutionary tree of the
and they find
draw an
human
race,
that the oldest branches
we
genes
scientists are calcu-
not attempting to re-
share,
construct the complete family tree of
the people
who
carry them.
Only our
mitochondrial genes descend from
common
female ancestor
who
a
lived
170,000 years ago, and only our Y
chromosomes descend from a single Y
chromosome dating back 59,000 years.
The men who were
alive in
chondrial Eve's day carried a
of different versions of the
Y
mito-
number
chromo-
some. They passed their chromosomes
down
own
Y
ups and downs. Finally, about
59,000 years ago,
a
newly mutated
would
species.
ally
and over time,
went through its
to their sons,
each version of
a
Like Wilson's group, the Stanford
team has used
These
antiquity of the various
a
new mutation every month or so
(they're now up to 167). It was then
relatively easy for
tions apart?
lating the
man was born with
Y
chromosome
that
eventually dominate our entire
Other versions of the
disappeared
as
men
Y gradu-
died without
children or had only daughters.
that
iiungiiiiii!;
It's
Y-cliiomosomc
much
Adani appears to have lived so
Y
than luitochondrial Eve. His
later
(.hromosome apparently needed
less
tune to ovenviielni the luinian gene
One
pool.
speed
Adam's
one of the genes on
that
is
explanation for this
pi>ssible
Y chromosome had
that gave
mutation
a
an evolutionary edge, and
it
natural selection then drove
But natural selection of
spread.
its
gene
a
is
not
the only force capable of making
more widespread
—
been responsible. Perhaps
mon
men
a
few
each band to earn the privilege
of fithering children.
case.
was com-
it
59,UUU years ago for only
in
it
culture might have
Y-chromosome
If that
was the
might
lineages
have gone extinct quickly, because
most men would have been unable to
on their genes. The Stanford team
pass
is
now
exploring these two possible
explanations.
The
from research on the
findings
Y chromosome
and mitochondrial
DNA are only a taste of the genealogical feast that will be served up m the
next few years. Last year, government
and private-sector
joint
scientists
announcement
quenced the
that they
made
had
a
se-
human genome.
now be able to find
entire
Researchers will
—
more quickly and not
just on the Y chromosome or on mitochondrial DNA but on any gene
markers
fir
they want to study.
Some of
these
genes will turn out to be hundreds ot
thousands of years old. Others will
turn out to be
much
younger, having
evolved in response to recent epi-
insured for up to $100,000 per depositor.
demics or similar challenges.
research makes
me
think ditTerendy about our child.
We
new
All this
are not simply giving
nose or
my
him
wife's eyes.
or her
We
my
For each
CD opened,
the American
a contribution
Museum
is
made
to
of Natural History.
are gi\'ing
our child tens ot thousands ot histories
combined
into a single
genome. And
she or he will carry this record of
human
existence another generation
into the hjture.
ies
bis;
Somehow,
the myster-
of swaddling don't seem
deal an\'more.
like
such
a
D
MBNA and MBNA America are federally registered service marks of
MBNA America Bank. N. A.
© 2000 MBNA America Bank. N. A. Member FDIC.
AMERICAN
IWuseums
Natural
HISTORY
36
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
CELESTIAL EVENTS
sky watcher knows that
Every
what's "up" in our nighttime
skies isn't
objects
up
may look
as
there" to observers
Earth, but
we
at
all.
If all goes according to plan (never
a safe
though
"down
they're
when
bet
missions),
Celestial
"up
here" on
Earth's
it
comes
issue
thinking and accepted that they're
bodies, bits and pieces of payloads that
to space
Mir should be reentering
atmosphere between February
26 and 28, or about
long ago adjusted our
a
week
after this
of Natural History comes off the
presses.
Much
roadside trash: hatch covers, rocket
of Mfr should
have disintegrated or
about
six a year)
exploded, even
a
(at
the rate of
unexpectedly
glove that a Gemini
astronaut lost back in the 1960s.
then
And
there's the celestial equivalent
of a
Lost in
Space
What goes up
must come down.
Or not.
By Richard Panek
roadside attraction: a one-third-sized
working model of the Sputnik 1
satellite, released by Mir cosmonauts
in
1997 on the fortieth anniversary of the
launch that initiated the space age.
on
reentry; any remaining
anybody keeping track of all
simply moving across the vast reaches
disintegrate
of empty space, where directions
pieces should land in the Pacific
stuff? Fortunately, yes:
Ocean, off the coast of Austraha. That
Command's Space Control Center
like
up and down have no meaning. And
for the
The
most
part, that's true.
exception
have sent up
is
—
what we ourselves
International Space Station (ISS),
under construction in
artificial satellites
stay
up there
such
forever,
reminder of this basic
.
orbit.
as
now
But
the ISS won't
and one
fact
(SCC) near Colorado
number of man-made
Colorado.
objects in the
^rapending return of the Mir
is
total will
still
this
the U.S. Space
Springs,
The SCC continuously
monitors the location of each object,
be nearly 8,000, and growing almost
not only to distinguish between friend
daily.
and
About 2,500 of those
genuine
'
of physics
spacecraft to our blue planet.
crash-and-burn will reduce the
heavens by one, but the
for example, the
Is
satellites
specifically
—
objects are
but to
in the way.
spacecraft
designed to orbit Earth. As
for the other 5,000 or so out there,
they're the celestial equivalent
foe,
deteriTiining
of
satellite
LLC
facilitate
what could
When
navigation by
potentially
be
the bankrupt global
telephone company Iridium
needed
to think about
dumping
(Please turn to
page 43)
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ponies, waterfowl and other wildlife.
The History
through the heart
J.
and Edward
Brugger,
C.
bound
travels
too. Visit the Mt. Zion
$19.95 paperback
life
share of history
Museum
Julia A. Purnell
get a glimpse of
its
One-Room School Museum
Lippson
and the
has
in
Snow
Hill
to
from the pre-colonial days
MARY'S COUNTY
ST.
A Bit of America's Storied Past
Historic St. Mary's City
first
capital
Is
the
and now one the
tourist attraction in
site
of the
state's
finest 17th century
North America.
St.
Mary's
and
surrounding
Common
cultural notes."
of the
Hill
Mid-Atlantic
about eight churches and 52 homes.
See a replica of the square-rigged Dove, one of
Coast
FREDERICK COUNTY
the two ships that brought English settlers to the
history
—
Fredricksburg Free
Lance-Star
$15.95 paperback
A
Field
Plants
Guide
Gene M. Silberhorn
Fossil Collecting
in
S
1
3.95 paperback
to the late 19th century
offers
walking-tour of
Illustrations
than
450
and
in
federally
the United States, follows a
of More
A
Family Guide
funded
trail
Hiking, Cycling,
and Canoeing
in Maryland
museum
along the banks of the
early settlers first landed at
first
by George Washington as a route to
H'itli Localities,
City boasts a stunning 800-acre outdoor history
link
used
now
There
you'll find a
BRITISH
$18.95 paperback
Jasper Burns
j.
The Johns Hopkins University Press
• www.jhupbooks.com
9
M
.«
T
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Clements
Island,
museum devoted
AT FORT Mchenry, francis scott
KEY WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE "THE
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SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE AGAINST THE
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T
St.
wonderful
Bryan MacKay
5
River.
the port
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S24.95 paperback
Mary's
a state park accessible by water-taxi.
Fossil
Specimens
St.
state in 1634. Before choosing St. Mary's City, the
History's Crossroads
highway
Collecting Tips,
Snow
interesting historical details
The National Road, the
the Mid-
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some
A
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Nature lovers
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offer scenic cruises or
region, take a sail
introduction to this diverse and unique environment.
sails.
The
to the island's history
Not too
away, on Piney Point you can take a
far
picnic lunch
and
Museum and
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on
its
Maryland. The
on
the Piney Point Lighthouse
The
lighthouse, built
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first
Potomac
U-1105
visit
Park.
was the
lighthouse
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is
built
in
1836,
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the only remaining accessible
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museum
tells
Southern
the story of a
German Submarine from WWII, which
display. After the war,
it
was eventually
scuttled off the coast of Piney Point,
In
November
of 1994, the wreck was designated as Maryland's
first historic
shipwreck preserve.
rich
maritime history and diversity of
found
Celebrate the Culture of the Chesapeake
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A
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contain
park
is
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15 million
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more than 600 species of
ideal for hiking
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The
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Outdoor
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In
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Calvert County,
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Tennison. the oldest Coast
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converted from
Built in 1899.
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A boardwalk
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CHARLES COUNTY
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scoter
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OTTmWKi**
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ol
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Covered bridges, orchards,
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microbrcwcries, wineries,
Battlefield
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later
to power, serving as an oyster
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buyboat. After your cruise, sample the fresh
m
ihe 'Clustered Spires
6.
catches served at Solomon's excellent restaurants.
naturally
•
Wm.
Guard licensed passenger-
cliffs.
Sanctuary protects the
northernmost
marsh.
also take advantage
of some wonderful ecological spots. The Battle
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salt
Harbor and the Patuxent River aboard the
carrying vessel
activity,
you'll find boats,
and a re-created
this nine-log chunk-built
closed due to landslide
the
Enjoy a leisurely one-hour cruise around Solomons
minute walk one-way (two miles) to the beach.
is
alive at
exhibits include a boat basin,
The area under the
cliffs
come
Museum. Here
w~^
Frederick's Historic District
life
CALVERT COUNTY
is
the Navy acquired
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centers— the Academy
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in St.
more out about the
one of the
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shoreline to explore
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^ESOmi:!^
Calvert CountY
MARYLAND
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E L
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OM
E
an
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seafood into one unforgettable weekend. Explore
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hunting grounds of Purse State Park, or
fossil
take
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in
Mattawoman
you
if
United
where foreign
States
invaded our shores. The
British
their
way to Washington
of
1812.
Two
Chapel Cemetery
through
have
army landed here
the war
D.C. during
history,
in
Hughesville.
you can take
a 24-mile bike
following the
Wilkes Booth. Your tour picks up
home
the
in
troops
of the troops are buried at Old
For a bit of exercise,
ride
of the
Benedict, the only spot
on
Fields
wetlands
be intrigued by the
like history, you'll
town of
small
and
forests
Natural Environment Area.
of John
trail
his trail at
the
who
set
of Samuel Mudd, the doctor
Booth's leg before he continued his escape into
Virginia.
The route follows
through
rolling
Stop at the
where
1848,
around the
Q.C'.mIi4' C?<«i*«A^4
Vcto'fy^^ ^M/^a
-^^
BYOjoat
""""•""
va^
|^g>;ftltffl»l
www.explorecharlescomd.com
St.
Mary's Catholic Church, built
River.
After taking a vacation
Here,
you can enjoy
understand
in
guilt.
Maryland, you
why they
say
So many
about
this extraordinary state, call
T877-333-4455
to speak to a Maryland travel specialist.
This special editorial/advertising supplement
was
created by the Natural History Special Sections
Department and did not involve the magazine's
editorial staff WRITER: Stephanie Fekety
DESIGN:
Mindy Phelps Stanton
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Maryland Tourism
SESTlKATiSN
MARY'S
COUNTY
Maryland Began Here!
MARYLAND
-••-•-Trhy not start your next trip
JL/
W
and
at
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w
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.Enjoy a narrated
.
of our naamil features
Participate in an archeological dig.
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itage.
.
.or Tour
Over
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Call for
her-
one of our lighthouses
your FREE
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1-800-327-9023
wwTjv.co.saint-marys.md.us
St. MARY'S
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MARYLAND
so MANY THINGS TO DO,
SO CLOSE T O O T H t R
1;
.
will
things
So close together. For more information
to do.
ST.
in
Mudd is buried. You will peddle
Zekiah Swamp and end up in Pope's
Maryland crab dinner without any
definitely
roads
Dr.
Creek on the Potomac
a
lightly traveled
countryside and scenic farmland.
Explore the Chesapeake
Yachts Unlimited, located
at
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able boaters, you are assured of expert personal service.
Experience the Chesapeake
Bay on one of our
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BAREBOAT or CAPTAINED
MOTORYACHTS
TRAWLERS • SAILBOATS
NATURAL HISTORY
3/01
piobabK
(iloniiiHhd jfoin pd'^c .U))
its
sixty-six satellites last
the
sec
for
year, u asked
guidance in steering
Only
its
.suddenly useless inventory safely to
oblivion. (The Pentagon later decided
to
keep the
two more
Many
outside
who
were ahve
in the
of Telstar or some other primitive
satellite as
most powerful backyard telescopes, but
mir.shtml.
backdrop of the so-called fixed
Whatever romantic
visions
now
magnitude
stars.
of space
star if
Sun just
it
find out precisely
part
.gov/realdata/sightings/,
some kind of existential
get
As
locating celestial objects that, unlike
the
Moon,
and
planets,
yet.
it
may be going
And
until
it is,
can't see
it,
the beeping Sputnik
but surely
Web
but
it's
you can
model. That
1
that at
any time, and despite
—
horizon before dawn in early March.
a
comes
from the Sun (27.5°
elongation on the
view only
into
1
1th),
it
tor those willing
to search diligently with binoculars.
chance to see Venus
the blazing evening "star"
is
shining in the west
On
the month.
so high that
hours
the
it
after
dusk for most of
1st,
Venus stands
both dusk and
the evening and the
morning "star" is
on the 27th
after sunset
and then just before sunrise the next
morning;
look for
it
very low on the
exceed our
Richard Panck
Our
grasp.
author o/'Seeing and
is
How
sets
By
the 27th,
only about halt an
sundown. During March,
rises
within an hour of midnight
local
time
in
March. As
approach Earth,
its
it
continues to
1999).
noticeably increases, from magnitude
+0.5 on the
is
binoculars,
eye.
full
Moon. Venus
But the crescent
Its
one percent by March 27.
Apparitions of Venus go through an
appearance in
2001 closely duplicates that in 1993.
At only one point
in the cycle
Aldebaran
magnitude
star Antares, the "rival
deepening dark-blue
the planet will appear
Use your
sky.
binoculars for observing the Taurus
get-together: even the
pair will
most ordinary
show dozens of the
stars
and
Pleiades'
at least
one of
four bright moons. As
evening progresses, the whole
assemblage wheels lower in the west,
by midnight.
at
on
at first c]uarter
is
9:03 p.m.
on March 9
of
star
Taurus) soon
(also in
emerge, flanking Jupiter in the
2
it
to
to a hairline
its
the night of March 2-3,
of Venus. Yellow Saturn
left
and the red first-magnitude
The Moon
-0.2 by month's
about 30° to 40° above
The
at
full
on March
Moon
12:23 P.M.,
last
comes
quarter
the 16th at 3:45 P.M., and the
Moon
on
new
the 24th at 8:21 p.m.
to shine nearly twice as bright.
its
illuminated fraction narrows
eight-year cycle, so
On
Mars," though
also thins
magnitude tades from -4.6
end.
1st to
passes about 5° north ot the tirst-
and maybe with the naked
throughout the month, so
-3.8.
's
visible in telescopes,
It lies
and to the
setting
brightness
the planet swings closer to Earth and
1/30 that of a
twilight.
Jupiter's
Mars
grows to an apparent diameter nearly
crescent
Opened
the Telescope
Eyes and Minds to the Heavens
(Pcu'iuiu.
and Hyades'
eastern horizon.
remains visible for three
after sunset.
however,
hour
it
at
at
dawn within twenty-four hours, and
March brings us this rare opportunitN'.
The best chance to see Venus as both
immediately
Venus
our
all
B y Joe Rao
those in the Northern Hemisphere get
at greatest
site to
to the
Believing:
Mercury hugs the southeastern
far
too,
a
is
THE SKY IN MARCH
Despite being
it,
more touching monument
space age
a humble reminder
glove
still
which links
opportunities for more
for Mir,
not gone
stars, will
then there's the Gemini glove.
technological wizardry, our reach can
than 200 locations worldwide.
from
thrill
to sighting
visit
is
spacetiight.nasa
have long ago receded into collective
still
what
in
of the sky the space station
you can
site
inform us of its whereabouts. Forget
station itself
when and
Web
& Telescope magazine
Sky
deserves a dedicated
grows, that radiance will also grow. To
visible,
But sky watchers can
can
catches the light of
exploration were inspired by that sight
nostalgia.
And
first-
As the
right.
It
a
www.skypub.com/sights/satellites/
No, you
gives naked-eye
observers something to see.
the
slowly traveled across the
it
established by
at
reach the brightness of a
memories of standing
night, straining for a glimpse
at
small proportion of orbiting
a
spacecraft's availability
by checking
visibility
objects are visible through even the
night sky
years.)
of us
and
the recent addition of the ISS to the
satellites aloft for at least
196()s have
determine the
v.misli Imiii ilic universe
before they do.
do
Jupiter and Saturn continue to be
prominent in the evening
into
view high
Jupiter (in
Coming
Southern Hemisphere.
in the southwest,
the constellation Taurus)
next to Venus, by
"star"
sky.
far the brightest
of the night. During early
The vernal equinox occurs at 8:31
A.M. on March 20. Spring begins in
the Northern Hemisphere, tall in the
is,
Unless otheni'ise noted,
in
all
Eastern Standard Time.
times are given
43
44
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
BIOMECHANICS
As
rocks from side to
it
side, a
force was acting and
walking penguin
how
fast
the
the line in
clumsy, but
movements
its
are actually
set
Griffin
we
move. Planting
your body
out to study
and Rodger
how
Rram
penguins walk,
they didn't expect to be impressed.
Compared with long-legged ostriches
waddHng
penguins come up short. Underwater
they may be able to race like
torpedoes in tuxedos, but on land
they are more apt to evoke laughter
striding across a plain,
than to inspire respect.
hard numbers.
Pound
for
pound,
penguin on land uses twice
energy
walk
a
as
as
a
much
other animals of its size to
given distance. Scientists laid
the blame for this expense
on
is
occurs
when
energy
it
side
and then
Griffin
to
to the other as
it
and Rram, both
at
test
is
Hke
to
a
saves lots
this
way
of energy. Experiments have
muscles need to supply only 35
perform
manage
work they would have
if there
were no inverted
involved.
with each
As the walker
step, the
muscles
to recover 65 percent
energy they put into
Griffin
and
of the
a stride.
Rram were amazed
to
discover that in this respect the
penguins were actually superior to
waddHng. So they filmed emperor
humans, recovering up to 80 percent
penguins walking over a force-sensitive
of the energy they put into each step
among
the highest rates ever recorded
How
calculate not just the force of each step
for
but also the direction in which the
Penguins not only
Story by Carl
Zimmer
~
sway to make the next one.
shown, for example, that a person's
walks.
Their data enabled them to
not wasteful. The emperor
the
measuring the work involved in
plate.
is
penguin reuses some energy from one
is
derives firom moving side
moving upward against
Taking advantage of gravity
"falls"
the assumption by
Waddling
kinetic
The same process
pendulum converts
A walking person
one
the
additional energy for fighting gravity.
pendulum turned upside down.
University of CaHfornia, Berkeley,
decided to
a
percent of the
first
side-to-side waddling provides
then transformed into moving
forward again.
to
body
much of the
energy of your forward movement
pendulum
its
their bodies
turned into gravitational energy, which
energetically costly business of the
throwing
swing
as
this process,
waddUng, the (presumably)
bird's
do); they also
of
slightly.
gravity.
back up the laughter with
to
a foot in firont
you walk forward, you
Once your body is
positioned directly above the foot, you
start to fall forward and downward. In
up
side into
Previous research on penguins
seemed
(as
firom side to side like pendulums. This
rise
When Tim
walking
on humans and
other land animals have shown that
walking is a surprisingly efficient way
to
quite efficient.
are
penguins were moving.
Similar studies
may look
which they
any animal.
Iliustratfon by Sally J.
is
rise
this possible?
and
fall
w'^j.
along
Bensusen
The
Fine Art
I
Energ)- from this sideways
movement
opposite side,
helps the penguin reach an
upright position
when
only one leg
is
— or
rather, tails
—
to the
uses gravitational
move
sideways and to
step forward.
on the ground. As the bird swings
back
it
energv' both to
Biologists have given waddling a
bad
rap, suggest Griflin
and Kram.
Penguins do pay
walk, but
tiie
waddling
is
a steep price to
researchers claim that
not to blame. Instead,
they propose, the trouble comes
from having such short
legs.
Long-
legged animals with longer strides
maintain contact with the ground
for
more time during each
step than
do short-legged creatures. This
aUow s a long-legged creature to use
more
slower-w^orking,
muscle
is
weighing about forty
a hefty bird,
pounds
—
efficient
An emperor penguin
fibers.
in the
same range
as
the
flighdess
South American rhea,
which
similar to an ostrich.
the
is
emperors
legs are
But
only one-third
the length of the rhea's, or onlv
about
long
as
fbw^l, a
as
those of the guinea
bird weighing only three
pounds.
Moxnng
around on
a
a rhea's
body
guinea fowl's
legs, a
penguin has no choice but
lot
to use a
of energy.
Like
many
caught in
With
a
animals, penguins are
biomechanical bind.
their fiipperlike wings, they are
well adapted for
their short legs
swimming, and
may
help reduce drag
underwater. But because they're
birds
and not
fish,
penguins cannot
completely give up Hfe on land,
where they find mates, la\' their
eggs, and raise their chicks.
Emperors are. in fact, champion
w,ilkers, tra\ersing
of frozen
up
to
1
50 imles
sea ice to reach their
winter rookeries. Far from wasting
energ\; waddling
penguin
may
help keep
ali\"e.
of Waddlin
a
D
46
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
Scavenging of
7776
jj
ff
Man
'Peking
New
evidence shows that
a venerable cove was neither
hearth nor home.
By Noel
Boaz and Russell
T.
is
China
but few
filled
can
L.
Ciochon
with archaeological wonders,
rival the
Man
Peking
Site at
Zhoukoudian, which has been inscribed on
UNESCO's World
about
thirty miles
Zhoukoudian
Heritage
List.
Located
southwest of Beijing, the town of
boasts several attractions, including
ruins of Buddhist monasteries dating from the
Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). But the town's main
claim to fame
Longgushan, or Dragon Bone HUl,
the
site
of the cave that yielded the
cache of
Franz
largest)
Weidenreich,
historically
who
tive
in the
is
who
known
as
(and
first
the
still
Homo erectus pekinensis,
Peking man a human rela-
fossils
of
—
walked upright and whose thick skuU
1930s studied
bones and beethng brow housed
the fossils of
quarters the size of H. sapiens
Homo
unearthed in
The remains of about forty-five individuals
more than half of them women and children
erectus
a
brain three-
s.
from
China, is
along with thousands of stone
caricatured along
tool manufacturing,
with Ralph von
were contained within the hundred-foot-thick de-
Koenigswald
posits that
(wielding the
The
shovel),
who
task
stools, debris
and thousands of animal bones,
once completely fiUed the original
cave.
of excavation, initiated in 1921, was not
completed
until 1982.
Some
evidence unearthed
who
at
found fossils of
the
H. erectus in
from about 600,000 to 300,000 years ago, had mas-
Java. The
tered the use of fire and practiced cannibaHsm.
fandful setting
despite years of excavation
site
suggested that these creatures,
tain
two
years
place where the
the
fossils,
dead are
sort
disturbed."
analysis, little
is
But
cer-
about what occurred here long ago. In the past
according to
the artist, "any
is,
and
lived
we
out the
site,
reexamined
tests in
an effort to
have visited the cave
and carried out new
facts.
To most of the
early
excavators,
such
as
existing parts on
the opposite
side of the skull.
i^/
,
48
NATURAL HISTORY 3/0 1
blunt and sharp instruments, such
Most convincing
tools.
to
as
clubs and stone
him and
others was the
systematic destruction of the skulls, apparently at
humans who had decapitated the vicopen the skuU bases to re-
The early
the hands of
investigations at
tims and then broken
Zhoukoudian
trieve the brains.
were coordinated
large longitudinal sphts seen, for example, in
by the Cenozoic
of the thighbones could only have been caused by
Research
humans and were probably made
Laboratory in
tract the
Weidenreich
also believed that the
some
in an effort to ex-
marrow.
Others held dissenting views. Chinese paleoan-
Beijing. Staff
members there
Wenzhong, who codirected the
Zhoukoudian excavations, disagreed with
thropologist Pei
included (left
early
to right in
Breuil and suggested in 1929 that the skulls had
foreground)
been chewed by hyenas. Some Western
Teilhard de
also
Chardin, Franz
Helmuth Zapfe published
Weidenreich,
hyenas
Yang Zhongjian,
ing
Pei
Wenzhong,
at
Pel's
on the way
on cow bones. Echoof which he was aware,
his findings
the Vienna zoo fed
earHer observations,
Zapfe convincingly argued that
found
and Bian Meinian.
scientists
had doubts. In 1939 German paleontologist
many of the bones
Uke Longgushan closely resembled
at sites
modern bones broken up by
hyenas. In fact, a
new
anatomist Davidson Black, paleontologist Pierre
term, taphonomy, was coined shortly thereafter for
Chardin, and archaeologist Henri
the field Zapfe pioneered: the study of how, after
Teilhard de
Breuil, the Hkely scenario
early
humans
and stone
was
that these particular
lived in the cave
tools
where
were found and
their
bones
that the animal
death, animal and plant remains
moved, buried, and
soon revised
become modified,
Franz Weidenreich
fossilized.
of several H.
his prior interpretation
bones were the remains of meals, proof of their
erectus
hunting expertise. Excavation exposed ash in hori-
human
zontal patches within the deposits or in vertical
argue that the long-bone splinters and broken skull
patches along the cave's walls; these looked very
bases
much hke
A
the residue of hearths built up over time.
more
sensational view,
first
advanced by
bones whose condition he had attributed to
cannibalistic activity, but
he continued to
must have resulted from human
Following disruptions in fieldwork during
World War
II
(including the loss of aU the H.
Longgushan up
Breuil in 1929, was that the cave contained evi-
fossils
dence of cannibaHsm.
leaving only the casts that had been
were
why
he argued,
ays,
And
skulls
If the
animal bones
at
the
site
from the cave dwellers' hunting for-
leftovers
not the
human bones
as
well?
were conspicuous among the remains,
suggesting to
him
that these
might be the trophies
collected
of the
site.
gist Jia
final twist,
a
but the cannibalism hypothesis received
considerable support.
German
paleoanthropologist
working
at
Peking Union Medical CoUege, described the H.
erectus
remains
in
scientific
detail.
A
trained
made of them),
rejecting the idea of cannibalism,
upon
the cave
fire, as
reflected in the
Lanpo's
book
77ie
as a shelter
of paleoanthropolo-
title
Cave
Home
of Peking
Man,
published in 1975.
About
preciate
this time,
Western
and develop the
scientists
field
ford,
began to ap-
of taphonomy.
scholars, notably U.S. archaeologist
In the late 1930s Franz Weidenreich, an emi-
nent
erectus
to that time,
used by early humans equipped with stone tools
and
had been prey to
While
they continued to look
contemporary, advanced cousin, some ancestral form of
H. sapiens. Most paleoanthropologists rejected this
erectus
at
Chinese paleoanthropologists resumed investigation
of headhunters. Perhaps, Breuil even proposed, the
duU-witted H.
action.
A few
Lewis R. Bin-
then reexamined the Longgushan evidence,
but only from a distance, concluding that the burning of accumulated bat or bird guano
counted for the ash in the
cave.
With
may
have ac-
the founding
1993 of the Zhoukoudian International Paleoan-
anatomist and medical doctor, he concluded that
in
some of the
of trauma, includ-
thropological Research Center at Beijing's Institute
ing scars and fresh injuries from attacks with both
of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,
skulls
showed
signs
a
now
era ofiiuiltidiscipliiiary
search
at
and
iiitcriiatioiial re-
Loiig^uslian began. At the institute,
we
the ones to have inhabited the area in
likely
Standing in the Beijing
institute
have been able to collaborate with paleontologists
of museum cases
Xii Qinqi and Lin Jinyi and with other scholars in a
cave,
reassessment ot the excavations.
longed to H.
cnrtiis
One ot taphononiy's nia.\in)s
that the most
common animals at a fossil site and/or the animals
suggests that
most of the time,
whose remains
skeletons
is
there are the
most complete
are
most
filled
with
we were immediately
mammal
—perhaps only
from the
how
few be-
5 percent. This
did not
this species
none of the H.
complete. There
is
(J.
is
life.
row
after
fossils
struck by
the cave. Furthermore,
live in
amid row
crectiis
of limb
a dearth
bones, especially of forearms, hands, lower leg bones,
and
—
feet
indicating to us that these individuals died
somewhere
and that
else
their partial remains
subsequently brought to the cave. But
The answer was
most
common
were
how?
iiitii
m
hrevirostris.
and complete animal skeletons
Had H.
erecttis,
in
instead of being the
mighty hunters of anthropological
the same ignominious fate
as
prey species in the cave? This
been
much
raised
simply met
lore,
the deer and other
possibility,
the hundredfoot-thick
deposits that
contained the
remains of
"Peking man."
which had The
by Pei and Zapfe, drew
earlier
1930s,
excavators dug
down through
suggested by the remains of the
the cave deposit: those of the giant hyena, Pacliycw-
V
During the
backing from subsequent studies by others. In 1970,
deposits,
which also
yielded animal
Anthony J. Sut- bones, stone
cliffe reported finding a modern hyena den in
tools, and layers
Kenya that contained a number of human bones, of ash, had
including skuUs, which the animals had apparently completely filled
for example, British paleontologist
^''
obtained from
i-s'ii
same
year.
a
nearby hospital cemetery'. In the
an ancient cave.
South African zoologist C. K. Brain
published the findings ot his extensive feeding ex-
It looked asi'fH. erectus
had smashed open the
skulls
to cannibalize the brains,
r*
\
periments with captive carnivores, akin to those of
One
of Brain's conclu-
sions was that carnivores tend to
chew up and de-
Zapfe three decades
'
stroy the ends
of the extremities, leaving,
of primates, very
To
aO the
ttis
test
earlier.
little
of the hands and
the giant hyena hypothesis,
fossil casts
and the few actual
trom Longgushan.
We
in the case
teet.
we examined
fossils
of H.
crct-
looked for both carnivore
marks and the shallow, V-shaped straight cuts
would be left by stone tools (although we realized that cut marks would probably not be debite
that
tectable
on the
casts).
ple's fracture patterns.
t
.1
damage long
or
'
We
also analyzed
Breaks
after death,
at right
when
fossilizing; tractures in fresh
un-
regular,
due
foUowdng natural
to crusliing
bone is
bone tend
the
structural Unes.
bv cave rocks
is
each sam-
angles indicate
tbssiUzed
to
be
ir-
Breakage
usuall\- massive,
and
50
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
Franz
Hkely have discovered
Weidenreich at
eredus.
his laboratory at
the American
Museum
this
vulnerable region in H.
no such facial bones, whose
structure is known to us from discoveries at other
sites, have been found in the Longgushan cave.
Practically
The
of
of the skuU
rest
is
a pretty
tough nut to
Natural History
crack, however, even for Pachycroaita, since
in the 1940s,
sists
with ape and
ern human, with massive
human
the eyes and
skulls
of bones half again
as
mounds
con-
it
thick as those of a
mod-
called tori above
and around the back of the skuU.
ears
Puncture marks and elongated bite marks around
gnawed
the skuUs reveal that the hyenas
at
and grap-
pled with them, probably in an effort to crack open
the cranium and
We
concluded
best
consume the
lipid-rich brain.
tasty,
that the hyenas probably
by chewing through the
succeeded
face, gaining a
pur-
on the bone surrounding the foramen magnum (the opening in the cranium where the spinal
cord enters), and then gnawing away until the skuU
vault cracked apart or the opening was large
chase
the fracture marks characteristically match rock
fragments pushed into the bone.
We
were surprised by our
of Longgushan's H. eredus
findings. Two-thirds
fossils
display
what we
are convinced are one or more of the following
kinds of damage: puncture marks from a carnivore's
large,
a
pointed front teeth, most likely the canines of
hyena; long, scraping bite marks, typified by U-
shaped grooves along the bone; and fracture patterns comparable to those created by
nas
when
they
modern hye-
chew bone. Moreover, we
feel that
enough
to expose the brain. This
of cannibaHstic H.
We know
been washed
activity
—can
also
be attributed to
a
—
a feature
human
hyena, espe-
one the
largest
tiis
bones, part of a femur, even reveals
face etchings
from stomach
telltale sur-
acid, indicating
it
was
swallowed and then disgorged.
The
pattern of
damage on some of the skuUs
on how hyenas may have handled them.
Bite marks on the brow ridge above the eyes indicate that this protrusion had been grasped and bitten by an animal in the course of chewing off the
sheds hght
Most animals' facial bones are quite thin, and
modern hyenas frequently attack or bite the face
first; similarly, their ancient predecessors would
face.
are
—
by
streams:
found
are ei-
indicating gradual deposi-
—or they con-
sharp-edged shards that would not
a
stream or flood.
Some of
the
Other bones were probably brought in
and chewed on by hyenas and other carnivores.
Cut marks we observed on several mammal
size of the extinct Pachycroaita, the
hyena known, whose preferred prey was
giant elk and woolly rhinoceros. One of the H. ereccially
rains or carried in
which the bones
bones may have belonged to animals that died inside the cave during the course of Hving in it or fire-
by carnivores.
that Weidenreich considered evidence of
studies of the cave
wind or slow-moving water
quenting
the longitudinal spUtting of large bones
by
have survived in
Two-thirds of the fossils
show bite marks or fractures
inflicted
in
ther very fine-grained
tain angular,
the actions
bones found there could not have
the sediments in
tion by
how we believe
eredus.
from geological
that the animal
is
—not by
the skull bases were destroyed
it.
bones firom the cave suggest that early humans did
sometimes make use of Longgushan, even if they
most of the
were not responsible
for accumulating
bones. Stone tools
near the cave entrance also at-
test to their
may have
left
presence. Given
have been configured
Another
shelters.
its
long
history, the cave
served a variety of occupants or at times
as
several separate, smaller
possibility
time-sharing, early
is
that,
form of
in a
humans ventured partway into
on what the
the cave during the day to scavenge
hyenas had not eaten and to find temporary
shelter.
They may not have reaUzed that the animals, which
roamed at twilight and at night, were sleeping in the
dark recesses a couple of hundred feet away.
What
taken
as
about the ash in the cave, which has been
evidence that H.
erectus
used
fire?
Recently
pubHshed work by geochemist Steve Weiner and
his
team
.it
the Weizni.mii histitiite of Science in Is-
were not from hearths.
In
detailed studies of the ash levels, they discovered
no
rael suggests tJKit the fires
silica-rich layers,
ing of wood.
tains silica
which would be
Wood
(as
particles
by the burn-
A composite
well as grass and leaves) con-
image of the
known
resistant residues that are
cal
hearth
sites.
The
left
phytoliths
as
—heat-
ubiquitous in archaeologi-
results indicate that fire
present in the cave but that
its
was
controlled use in
cated
111
human hand may somehow be implithese fires. One possibility we are explora
ing in the next phase of our research
is
that
Long-
where Pachyaoaita and H. erectus
confronted each other as the early humans sought
to snatch some of the meat brought back to the
cave by the large hyenas. Pachycroaita would have
gushan was a place
had the
home
haps using
court advantage, but H.
fire to
hold the carnivore
have quickly sliced off
slivers
erectus,
at bay,
per-
could
of meat. Although
we might turn up our noses at such carrion,
may have been a dependable and highly prized
today
it
source of food during the Ice Age.
H. erectus, left,
shows how the
giant hyena
hearths was not part ot the story.
Still,
skulls of
Pachycrocuta and
D
may
have attacked
the face.
Beneath
is a
disgorged piece
of an H. erectus
thighbone.
Below: An
artist's
depiction
of the cave
shows hyenas
consuming the
remains of an
H. erectus.
52
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
WOR
A
7776 larval lifestyle
may seem
alien to
us terrestrial bipeds, but it comes quite
naturally to most creatures
especially
inhabitants of the world's oceans.
—
By Gregory A. Wray
tiny larva, not
A
dust,
larger than a speck of
plankton in the cool waters of Puget
Rows
Sound.
of
sides
much
swims through the swirHng soup of
body
its
of minute
pulsate continuously, pulling sin-
gle-celled algae near before flicking
mouth.
along the
cilia
Fifty feet
below the
same species creeps
them
into
its
an adult of the
larva,
across the rocky seafloor in
Looking nothing like the larva and
by comparison (weighing about a million
search of a meal.
colossal
times more), this animal
star,
or starfish
—
is
—
a Pisaster ochraceus sea
an active predator, searching out
clams and mussels to pry open with
arms.
The
larva
and the adult lead Uves
its
powerful
that differ in
almost every conceivable way: what they
eat,
how
they move, what predators they must avoid, and the
physical world they
must negotiate.
From a human perspective, this may seem an
odd arrangement. Even as embryos, we possess
many anatomical features of our future adult bodies,
albeit often in
rudimentary form. Furthermore,
only a few temporary structures appear during
human development, most notably the transient giU
shts that close when we are stiU early embryos, the
placenta that feeds us in the womb, and the baby
A spiny
lobster
larva hitches a
ride
teeth that erupt soon after birth.
ment
is
Not
so for
being at sea for
gin Hfe
two years, the
responding
«/ill
develop-
gression toward adult form.
on a
jellyfish. After
larva
Human
quite direct, involving a fairly steady pro-
swim
val
most animals. The
vast majority
as larvae that difler drastically
adults.
Many
be-
from the cor-
famiUar animals have a
lar-
form: caterpillars turn into butterflies, and
But
among
against the
tadpoles into frogs.
current back to
rine invertebrates that the larval lifestyle
coastal wafers
dramatically displayed.
and undergo
170,000 species of marine invertebrates
metamorphosis.
worldwide, including not only sea
it is
By one
the ocean's
is
estimate,
stars
mamost
about
exist
but also sea
ART
To see larvae in
action,
ry
5^.
go to
54
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
And Then
Cbm'ng
By Elizabeth
1989
In
in
Sea Star Larvae
Balser and Wiliiam
reported an astonishing discovery
scientists
cloning by
sea star larvae. Isidro
of Newr York College
versity
J.
There Were Two
at
ofispring.
B.
Jaeckie
From
the larva's perspective, cloning
Bosch, of the State Uni-
one "individual"
(the
Geneseo, and several
identical larvae
produces) to extend the
col-
it
primary larva and
leagues observed larvae with
growths,
small
place of one or
or
buds,
more of
it
in
their
from the primary, or "parent,"
(or,
in this case, places) to set-
and metamorphose into
into fully
may
larvae.
populate
adult form, let alone sexual
maturity, these
were
amount of time
A longer period of
tends
wider dispersal
formed swimming
Long before reaching
mean
to
a
which
as well,
eventually help a species
nignly,
immature Ufe-
way for
tle
dispersal
buds developed
these
larva,
a
has to find a suitable place
adult form.
larval "arms." After separating
is
the genetically
all
new
Less be-
areas.
of course,
a
longer dis-
persal also increases the period
in essence giving
of vulnerabihty to predators.
birth to other, genetically iden-
Presumably, however, in order
tical individuals.
for
fornis
In the years since Bosch's
found
discovery, we, too, have
instances
larvae
as
sea star species
among
as
at least
three
collected
stars
have
to
some of the time and
some circumstances,
under
Two clones (white globes) develop from the rear
"arms" of a sea star
larva.
of
species of britde stars. Larvae
sea
least
of cloning among the
of several
well
cloning
larval
evolved, the benefits must, at
outweigh the
when
stance,
for the adult are
from the
(for in-
costs
suitable habitats
few and
far
between).
Once
western Atlantic Ocean exhibit
cloned, a larva de-
clones de-
no differently than an
embryo arising from a fertil-
velop from the posterior arms
ized egg. This suggests that
three distinct cloning methods.
Most commonly,
velops
of the parent larva (which, un-
cloning
Uke the
mental process
adult,
is
symmetrical
radially
bilaterally synunetrical,
and
tively,
restarts
the developalterna-
or,
some
begins
as-yet-
back end). In
undiscovered parallel develop-
the second method, aU ten lar-
mental pathway. Understand-
with
a front
a
buds that de-
ing the patterns of gene ex-
velop into independent larvae.
pression during cloning could
In the third, the preoral lobe
have
val
arms
release
(a
—
ticularly since
hving larvae
preoral lobe, while the released
lobe forms
From
its
own
larval
the mother sea
no
cloning by free-
may
turn out to
words of the renowned
is
more investment on her part,
she winds up with many more
^par-
other invertebrate phyla. In the
star's
a repi-oductive bonus: with
in
and
be a characteristic typical of
body.
point of view, larval cloning
value
control of development
from the primary
which then regenerates its
separates
larva,
far-reaching
studies of the evolution
region in front of the mouth)
The preoral lobe (see box) of this larva will soon
break free and form a new, independent larva, while
the "parent" left behind will regenerate the lost lobe.
Gunnar Thorson,
knows? Nobody has
ecologist
"Who
larval
ever looked for
it!"
urchins, sea cucumbers, sea slugs,
and sea
lilies,
Equipped with
as
well as corals, clams, barnacles, and teather-duster
long spines that
worms. These animals typically spend days, weeks,
or even months in larval form, mosdy swimming in
it
creatures.
water might contain the larvae of a
cies
of marine
val stage, the
invertebrates.)
animals drop
metamorphose
down
into adults.
to the seafloor
There they
live,
lar-
bears
and
resemblance to
late-stage scale
worm
invertebrate larvae are so small that
tion not
corrected until the i<S2(ls.
when
Irish sur-
came only in the late 170()s, with
good microscopes. Samples ot
seawater examined through these new instruments
John Vaughn Thompson observed them metamorphosing into immatun.-
revealed a world teeming with unfamiliar organ-
barnacles. Zoologists initially responded to his find-
isms. Early observers believed that these tiny crea-
ings with disbelief; for centuries,
the development of
tures
must be the
species,
unknown
and they named them according to the an-
imals' often bizarre shapes
the
of previously
adults
Greek word
—such
as
pilidium (from
for "hat") or auricularia (from the
Barnacle larvae found crawling on
stance,
were thought
geon and amateur
believed that
to
be
parasites
adults, for in-
—
a
misconcep-
naturalist
zoologists
common
this
new
fintastic claim.
decades after the publication of
findings.
real
name), and
were understandably war\- of
and seemingly equally
sons
many people had
goose barnacles were the young ot
geese (hence the barnacle's
Two
Latin for "ear").
it will
become. The
into the water and beginning the cycle again.
their discovery
little
the adult
grow,
and eventually reproduce, releasing sperm and eggs
The marine
marine
larva of a
worm, above,
dozen or so spe-
At the end of the
open
attacked,
an early-stage
company
(One bucketkil ot sea-
the top ten to twentv* feet of water in the
of myriad other
flares
when
German
Thomp-
physiologist Johannes
Miiller accidentally discovered a second
example
is
larva, left,
beginning to
look like
its
adult self.
56
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
while studying a microscopic creature to which he
had
earlier
doxus, or "strange easel"
ture
whose
gave
it
name Pluteus
an apt name for a
given the scientific
—
triangular profile
MiiUer was surprised to observe
brittle star (a slender relative
crea-
side the
and projecting "legs"
the general appearance of an
beit a nearly transparent
spots.
para-
artist's easel, al-
one flecked with bright red
body of this minute
of sea
stars)
fact
inside the
miniature
animal. His continuing
two
patient observations revealed that the
were in
a
growing increatures
one and the same: the adult develops
larva, whose body is cast away
swimming
when the adult takes up residence on the seabed.
One by one, nearly all the creatures in the pecuUar microscopic bestiary of ocean water were found
By the
to be the larval stages of familiar animals.
ginning of the twentieth century,
confidently assert that a complex
extended
larval
mon method
"detour"
is
scientists
cycle with an
life
in fact the
of development
most com-
in the animal king-
dom. This newly discovered complexity
eral
questions:
Why
is
be-
could
raised sev-
the larval stage such a
widespread feature of animal
Hfe,
and
if
it is
advan-
animals go through one?
And
why do larvae look so bizarre?
One key insight into these questions came
dur-
why
tageous,
don't
all
ing the 1920s from Walter Garstang, an Enghsh
embryologist and amateur poet.
among
the
first
Garstang was
to argue that larvae are intricately
adapted to their planktonic world, a world so differ-
Right: The
nudibranch, or
sea slug, larva
starts out with a
shell
and four
ciliated feeding
lobes. (The
larva's
eyes are
visible as
two
black dots.)
Above: At
metamorphosis,
nudibranchs
crawl out of
their shells, with
many spedes
trading armor for
toxicity,
which
they advertise
with bold
markings.
Getting to the Point
Self-Defense in Crab Larvae
By Steven Morgan and
Ot
tlic
that crab
iiLiny predators
eating fishes (such
larvae face, plankfim-
anchovies and
as
silversides)
pose
groves,
and
sea grass beds
—
of estuaries and bays
where such
ductive but perilous habitats
—brood
abundant
their
The
released.
release
is
larvae
are ready to
down
its
the spines. After the
it
darkness,
when
A similar set of defenses has arisen in other lineages of
marine invertebrates. The larvae of polychaetes (segmented marine worms), for example, are also largely
be
timed
transparent
and
like
tides
of the month, when the vul-
and play dead.
chance of being swept out to the
their
leased them.
continental shelf.
Their conspicuousness already
cies invest
The long spine of this porcelain crab larva may
boost their chances of survival by
deter predatory fish.
at
and spines
transforming the
by
with
a fish,
its
size
of antennal spines
lai-\^a
many
flare
upon
To avoid such
may
it,
spitting
it
tures
of anatomy could serve
purpose
both locations. Take, for example, cone
cone
shells, as
adults crawl
they are
known
in
about the seabed, while the larvae are
swept along by currents near the ocean's surface;
the adults are active predators,
crabs
armed with potent
nc)'.
trasts are
puses, while small jeU-s^ishes
and
larger,
for a
long-spined
lar\"ae
upon by octo-
a great variety' ot
larger
and
vers"
development time of about rwo
the time
must return
are
common
in species
among
comes to metamorphose into adult
more precisely. posdar%-ae) of coastal
to shore, regardless
a
flood tide
enough of them make
it
at
of how
night
on
The con-
of
spines
of
the plankton drove the evolution of nu-
of the hfe cycle: the
cilia
higlily
in the
convoluted
on the lai"S'ae of clams and acorn
swimming and feeding; the long
for
on some annelid worm
hir
they
tliis last
may
jour-
past the predaton- fish to start
merous and seemingly bizarre adaptations
early part
whose
and back during development.
part of the adult, Garstang argued that the rigors
hfe
moth-
them
Poinring to transient larval organs that form no
tracts
adults are preyed
—
enormous.
worms, used
and the
re-
young
energ\' per off-
the cycle anew.
capture single-celled algae with the aid of microcilia;
is
and short spines
have drifted. Riding
neurotoxins, while the larvae are herbivores that
scopic
their
producing fewer, but
other tiny predators feed on the larvae.
snails (or
to collectors): the
result
form, the larvae (or
young
out each time in an attempt
a useful
size,
When
attack,
attack a lan'a repeatedly
ent from the seafloor habitat of adults that few fea-
The
relatively short
larvae migrate offshore
larvae catch in their throats.
a fate, a fish
before swallowing
a
body
times over.
into a prickly ball, difficult for sniiiU-
when
mothers
weeks. Conversely, short brood times, small eggs, small
armored exoskeleton
planktivorous fishes to swallow. Indeed,
sometimes die
fish
heavily
a
that effectively increase
In addition, a pair
mouthed
on
ers
longer time.
night to feed in
surface waters. If approached
reUes
it
more
eggs and brooding
a crab larva generally does not attempt to avoid or escape
attack. Instead
To help
spring than do other crab
waters
during the daytime and ascending only
more productive
in the estuaries
their
survive, the females in these spe-
partial transparency,
the larvae of many species fiuther
the
crab larvae complete
development
and bays where
of the open
Lit
safer
crab larvae, flare their bristles
Some
nerable crabs-to-be have the best
descending into dimly
to
tacked, they roll into a ball and,
fish are least ac-
and during the strongest ebb
reduced by
sink
depths during the daytime. At-
tive,
relatively safer waters
the larva
sinks quietly
it
generating broken spines during the next molt or two.
occurs under cover ot
carefully:
initial strike,
antennal spines collapse, and
away. Remarkably, larvae can survive multiple strikes, re-
the pro-
their bodies until
and
McAfee
plays dead:
tlie
fishes are especially
embiyos beneath
embryos have developed into
the
to break
man-
greatest threat. Feni;ile crabs living in the marshes,
Skyli
larvae that flare in re-
sponse to the slightest touch: and the specialized.
581 NATURAL HISTORY
3/01
The Long and the Short of It
Development
"Arm''
By Larry
Like sea
most
star larvae,
sea urchin larvae have
R.
suspended in the water. Remarkably,
scarce, a sea urchin
more
cilia
when food
McEdward
ture, fiinction,
is
If
One
with which the animal
is
—arm
fact,
when
that
how much
length
is
that
short-armed larvae
These larvae
thus,
graduate students and
are
I
ies
Many sea urchin
larvae can modify their
currendy investigating
body forms under
is
different
long arms are
termine
because
may now seem
almost obvious, they went
against the then-prevaOing view. Just halt a century
it
German comparative
among
anatomist Ernst
disruptions fr-om
who
of evolutionary his-
interpreted larvae as vestiges of
remained
influential well into the
twentieth century. In arguing that
specifically
adapts
a
larva
for
its
anatomy
planktonic
life,
Garstang challenged Haeckel's paradigm and, in-
as a
times.
satirizes
Haeckel and other
—
inevitably suffer periodic
deposition, unusually violent
silt
storms, disease outbreaks, and the
numbers of offspring
the chance that at least
like.
adrift in the
some
Setting great
ocean increases
will survive
and be de-
hvered to suitable locations, a strategy that contemporary ecologists
call
bet hedging.
eventual
Larvae's abiHty to drift long distances also
general principle. (Garstang's poetry re-
mbdng. Many
deed, played an important role in
demise
numerous
biologists today, in large part
of sandy sea bottom
bit
retraces the course
ancestral adults,
long-term hope of
that understanding the
But why would young need a body plan and
habitat different from those of adults? In Garstang's
view, the answer was dispersal. Local habitats
whether a suitable rock, a chunk of coral reef, or a
velopment
Haeckel,
bod-
once, early in the evolu-
venomously
Haeckel had forcefiiUy argued that embryonic de-
tory.
more
intellectual opponents.)
Although Garstang's observations and conclu-
the
One
is
if larval plasticity arose
mains popular
metamorphosis.
their
in response to environmental
tionary history of sea urchins, or
to adhere to rocks or shells during
modify
mechanisms by which short and
generated in different species wiU help us de-
and sea
stars
inight think, benefit
ability to
our team
suckerlike organs used by the larvae of sea squirts
earlier,
to exhibit plasticity, even
conditions.
"arms" in response to food supply.
plasticity in sea urchins. (Plasticity
the ability to produce different
we
from an
meta-
period of time.
sions
their early develop-
food from the plankton and would
will also
of larval
material.
devel-
long-armed brethren and thus
My
modify
ment and
is
are vulnerable to planktonic preda-
several aspects
For example, not aU
and Upid-rich eggs have a greater capacity to
into adults sooner than
tors for a shorter
how
urchins
start
sea
to learn
related to other lar-
Larvae that develop from protein-
sooner than do long-anned individ-
their
arm
though larvae from poorly provisioned eggs are more dependent on
of its gut. Another advantage
morphose
larvae
alter
same amount of nutritional
irrelevant.
may allow a
more energy and
oping into juvenile
uals.
dif-
species pack their eggs with the
a larva
materials to increasing the size or activity
is
val attributes.
smaller arms
larva to devote
some
and
want
also
this plasticity
abundant, nutritional intake
limited only by
In
is
We
to feed.
larvae ever have short ones?
can digest
have learned that
able to detect cues
why
long arms are beneficial,
is
yet iso-
length even before they have begun
possible advantage
food
we
or development,
ferent species respond to different cues, with
can capture food.
would
Though we have not
lated the specific cues that trigger modifications in struc-
arms grow longer, thus providing
larva's
Sea Urchin Larvae
enviromrrental conditions.)
little
"arms" lined with rows of cilia that gather nutritious particles
in
its
vides a
mechanism
for genetic
pro-Bj
adult
invertebrates
iiuiriiic
move, and
mow
not
ttires
tli.it
Widespre.id
larvae
do
potential mates
Although
the cost
Inbreeding
.ill.
,it
is
lunited ability to
and barnacles, do
will
danger for
some
dispers.il
cre.i-
cases) stuck in
lielps
settle din\ii, tluir
—
ensure that
neighbors
—and
Among
the plankton are
numerous
diminutive but voracious carnivores, including
small jellytishes and
creatures called
comb
jellies,
simil.ir to
and
.1
those invented by
saber-toothed
arrowworms or chaetognaths, and
1
hoinpson
a
century
half earlier, began a systematic sampling of
plankton
in the
middle of oceans. These plankton
hauls often included the larvae of clams, sea
and other
invertebr.ites
relatively sii.illnw
now know
be unrelated.
dispersal provides tangible benefits,
high.
is
.1
a real
,uv (quiie literally, in
t)ne place.
when
tmly
li.ive
sonic, siidi as corals
larvae out
Atlantic,
don
whose
water of
that the Ciulf
stars,
adults live only in the
coiitiiiein.il slieKvs.
We
Stream sweeps countless
of the Caribbean Sea and into the North
where most perish and perhaps a tiny fracenough to ride the entire gyre to
survive long
Europe and back
across to the ("aribbean.
a
host of crustaceans and small fishes. Larvae that are
not eaten are
prey to the cicean currents, which
still
can sweep them away from suitable habitats.
when
Pacific
"suitable habitat"
Ocean
—
means
a coral
separated from the next reef by
perhaps a thousand niiles of open ocean
any current
safely than
is
And
reef in the
likelier to
toward
move
a larva
—almost
away from
it.
Yet the broad geographical distribution of many
species ot
marine invertebrates across the South Pa-
proof that larvae do sometimes successfiiUy
cific
is
drift
from reef to
that adults
its
reef, crossing
birthplace a larva
I97()s,
over abyssal depths
could never negotiate. Just
when
may
drift
how
became
far
from
clear in the
oceanographers, using fine-mesh nets
Left:
Sea squirts
have
a short
larval life,
swimming with
the aid of a
tadpolelike tail
for just a
few
minutes before
settling on the
seafloor, to
which they
attach
themselves with
little
"suckers"
(visible at the
front end). There
they will
transform into
filter-feeding
adults, above.
60
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
urchin larvae also develop long projections lined
with hundreds of cilia, which help the larvae pull in
even more food. SpeciaUzations for feeding abound
among immature marine invertebrates. The cilia on
the larvae of acorn worms capture algae; strings of
mucus
vae;
serve as "fishing" Hnes for
some sponge
lar-
and the larvae of lobsters and shrimp use pow-
erful claws to
grab unwary prey.
Well-fed or not, larvae face the problem of predation.
The
many
larvae of
groups defend themwhich can be impres-
selves
with spines and
spikes,
sive.
Some shrimp
larvae
extending more than
Other defensive
sea squirt larvae)
hide in their
sport
sharp
spines
body
length.
five times their
(some
strategies include toxicity
and concealment
shells).
And
nearly
(larval snails that
all
marine inverte-
brate larvae enjoy the advantage of transparency.
To study how
predators, Steve
larvae defend themselves
Tim
Rumrill and
graduate students
from
Pennington, then
University of Alberta, set up
at the
aquariums with different combinations of predators
and juvenile
(adult jellyfish
example) and
fish, for
prey (sea urchin embryos and larvae in various
stages).
larvae
They found
were
that the
embryos and younger
had
especially vulnerable because they
not yet developed their feeding projections, inside of
which
are spiny spicules capable
of deterring some
But nothing stopped the
whose mouths opened wide enough to swal-
predators, such as jellyfish.
All these hazards take a heavy toU. Estimates of
As a sea star
larva prepares to
settle
death rates range from 10 to 20 percent per
larval
Even
grows brood wiU
on the
the lower rate, barely one-fifth of a
fish,
low even late-stage urchin larvae whole.
Even if a larva manages to get enough
to eat
day.
at
an attachment
and only
two weeks among the plankton,
few percent will last a month. (Most lar-
organ with sticky
vae must feed for weeks or months before they
metamorphosis. Those fortunate enough to
"arms" and a
near the right habitat
central adhesive
grow large enough to undergo metamorphosis.)
Such heavy mortaHty suggests that natural selection
disk (see
will favor the evolution
seafloor, it
a
survive
grow
of well-defended larvae that
to escape being eaten,
finding an appropriate place to
snail
ton community in short order, and soon undergo
to starvation.
(yellowish sac)
metamorphosis
proaches, most larvae
forms from the
gested nearly a hundred years ago.
lower part of the
only recently been tested in
Garstang and others sug-
-just as
detail,
The
idea has
however.
Eventually the
evolutionary biologist
rest of the larval
observed echinoderm larvae capturing food par-
at
and then quantified
Dalhousie University, has
body, except for
ticles
the stomach
paring the rates of sea urchin and sea
(orange),
found
is
that those
their feeding rates.
he
of sea urchins were higher and that
absorbed into
these larvae reached metamorphosis sooner.
the developing
tomically the
juvenile.
and both use the
to
Com-
star larvae,
two kinds of larvae
cilia
Ana-
are quite similar,
along the sides of their bodies
sweep algae toward
their
mouths, but the sea
drift
still
se-
Setthng near a hungry
doom
a sea urchin
for
metamorphosis ap-
become
acutely sensitive to
As the time
chemical cues that signal the presence of food, conspecific adults,
Using time-lapse microscopy, Michael Hart, an
larval body.
and undergo
the right time must
landing too far from kelp would
eat efficiently,
—
settle
could be disastrous for a peanut worm, and
bracket). The
of the plank-
at
lect exactly the right site.
adult-to-be
quickly, drop out
it
and
confronts the challenge of
and potential hazards. The impor-
tance of finding a
by the
final:
glue
good
place to land
fact that the decision,
many larvae bear specialized
them to their chosen spot.
Metamorphosis
ment on
itself
is
underscored
once made,
is
often
structures that
must coincide with
settle-
the seafloor, an environment so different
no larva would long survive
no adult could handle life in a
planktonic world. Metamorphosis can be dramatic
from the surface
unchanged
and
that
—
just as
hterally gut-wrenching.
Almost immediately,
I
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Freezer
Larvae at Deep-Sea Vents
Craig M.
fly
A
quarter
(.•ciui.u-y
wlicn
Aiz,o.
scientists
discovered lush
colonies ot\)rganisins surrounding hot-water vents, sueii
black smokers, on the ocean Floor, tiiey began
how
these animals maintained their populations.
as
wondering
The
giant
tbund around \ents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge have been
captured more than
tjiaii
live
tiny snails, crabs, shrimps,
and odier worms
that
nourished by bacteria,
tmn
in
larvae
do indeed
Because vent animals
ecolog)' have
recently, after years
such great depths and
live at
been
of their develop-
details
determine. Only
difficult to
of work, have we reared tubeworm
vae in our laboratory.
obtain
long distances.
tra\'el
under tremendous pressure, the
ment and
around the vents are
which
half" a mile above the bottom and more
000 miles from the nearest vent, suggesting that free-
swimming
tubewornis, specialized clams and mussels, and wide assort-
ment of
Young
The
we
ones
first
succeeded
lar-
in rais-
h"om hydro-
^
ing came not from vents but
the hot
g
from
shallower,
water emanating trom
§
deep
communities
their energs'
gen sulfide
in
deep within the
crust.
Completely decannot
species
cold
at
methane seeps on the Louisiana
earth's
continental slope.
pendent on vent water,
these
2,000-foot-
Now, with
colleagues from the University
of Southern
survive
California,
we
Be-
have also cultured the larvae of
cause the hot-water plumbing
giant tubewornis from deep Pa-
of the seatloor
cific vents,
even
a short distance away.
controlled by
is
unpredictable volcanic
in the earth's interior,
may remain open and
only limited periods
ally
activity'
a
vent
dispersal
—
bryos are richly
years or
of active venting may
hundreds of miles
apart.
all
because
if
em-
eggs and
endowed with
and
lipids
for
ment and
Re-
searchers suspected that many,
the
needed
lie
gradu-
are
mechanism.
Tubeworm
active for
sometimes decades. Moreover,
areas
and they
yielding the details of their
protein
embryonic developlarval dispersal.
lipids
are
less
And
dense
not most, of the vent animals
than seawater, they also aid dis-
must produce
persal
larvae capable of
dispersing through cold ocean
new
sites.
Searching
for
water to
searchers
rise
drifting for several weeks, the
larvae,
embryos develop into cihated
re-
larxae and
from the Woods Hole
ing
plankton nets near vents on the
relatively
few
They captured
—except
in the
buoyant plumes that rose directly
above hot smokers. Here
may begin
vae
by
worms were
their
warmer
lai-vae
and
trans-
vents in the Pacific Ocean. Inset: An electron
worms. 'We don't yet know
what precipitates the larval mi-
micrograph of the larva of
cold
methane seeps
a related species
from
grations of giant tubewornis or
in the Gulf of Mexico.
other vent animals back to the
voyage trom one vent
drifting in the slighdy
a suitable habitat
Above: Adult giant tube worms at hydrothermal
abundant, suggesting that some
other side of the world,
actively for
forming themselves into small
the larvae of various snails and
polychaete
swim
about two weeks before locat-
Oceanographic Insrimtion towed
East Pacific Rise.
by causing the larvae to
toward the surface. After
field to
waters near vents.
lar-
ocean
floor,
We
another
habitats.
On
unique to
the
of the abundant shrimp
nor do
we know how
suspect that they cue in
\-ents:
thev locate suitable
on
certain attributes
the presence of sulfide, hot water, or per-
haps other vent organisms.
NATURAL HISTORY
3/0
1
A Method for the Masses
Oxygen Delivery for Stay-at-Home Embryos
By Richard Strathmann
Most marine
invertebrates set their
young
tom of the
sea,
sules,
by
these
embryos
life
layers
where they may be protected by tough capare safe
embryo mass
Perhaps the most
in an
Not very
oxygen.
fuses
in
gen
not without
is
vital
its
challenge
predators,
getting
snails, sea slugs,
the
enough
form of thin
Some
water.
in gel, often in
strings or beautiful coiled ribbons that
Even within
however, embryos will die
if packed
too
The
tightly.
thicker
more of
the mass, the
it
gel,
lowering the de-
thus
mand
For
un-
a thin ribbon,
must be devoted to
dif-
air.
moving
and worms embed embryos
dulate gracefiilly in the current.
challenges.
is
capsule to a rock or to seaweed in
oxy-
rate
diffuses in
from the many planktonic
snails, secrete strong, flex-
thin-walled capsules around their eggs and attach each
about
at
it
1/10,000 the
Though
ible,
solu-
oxygen
ble in water,
bot-
at the
of gel, or by the body of a parent.
Other species, including many
Some,
adrift.
however, produce masses of embryos that remain
for
a given
oxygen within
volume.
Sometimes these em-
free-swimming larvae,
this presents no prob-
bryo masses are thick
lem. But for embryos
and globose and
packed together in
chored in the sand by a
—
mass
^with
no
buried
circula-
way
tory system and no
to force
a
of
strand
from
a quarter inch to
water rapidly through
several inches in
the tiny spaces between
ter
—
the problem
is
A nudibranch
to
laying its gelatinous, ribbonlike egg
mass
which mothers brood
their bodies tend to
their
embryos on or
be the smaller species of sea
in
stars, sea
cucumbers, clams, and feather-duster worms. Larger
marine invertebrates
that
brood
their
have evolved special ventilation mechanisms.
may
young
A
large
more than 100,000 emheld loosely on a separate strand.
incubate
one is
Oxygenated water is forced through the mass of embryos
by the mother's movements; to increase circulation
around her brood, a mother crab waves her abdomen up
and down.
-«?
^
bryos, but each
diame-
high pro-
Embryos
of the mass
oxygen than
those at the periphery
thus the need for oxygen relatively low. Accordingly,
crab or lobster
gel.
receive less
keep the mass small and
species of
a
in the center
solution
species in
and have
portion of
can be severe.
One
gel.
Masses of this type range
oxygen-bearing
small eggs
are an-
and,
as
a result, develop
more
slowly. In
some
masses, the
central embryos die; in others, as the peripheral embryos
hatch and leave, those in the center
oxygen and
are able to
start
receiving
more
complete their development.
Some of these protective measures have their costs, of
The capsule walls of cone snails and the gel around
course.
nudibranch eggs constitute between one-quarter and onehalf of the organic material in the mass. If the
eggs,
spacing
she could produce up to twice
gel,
mother pro-
and not the additional protective coats or
duced only
makes the trade-off worthwhile
is
as
many.
What
the increased survival of
her young.
-
after attaching to a
stance, the larva
of
rock or
a
a blade
of kelp, for in-
bryozoan begins
a violent re-
and muscles quickly fold the former larval body
newly forming adult, where it is re-
wall inside the
many ribbon worms and echinoderms,
arrangement of its internal organs and external ap-
sorbed. In
pearance. Pockets of sticky
metamorphosis
animal in place; other
side
of the
adult;
still
cells
cells evert,
evert to
securing the
form the out-
others secrete a tough shell;
changes from
is
remarkably rapid, with the major
larval to adult
than half an hour.
body form taking
lessj
And
feed at
tlicii
all
sea stars,
there aiv larwic
ch.it
\u\v no
— including those of some
iicct-l
to
clams, snails,
and annelid worms. Nonfceding larvae are
much
perior.
ance
Each has
shifts
costs
among
and benefits, and the bal-
groups of animals and across the
myriad habitats of the marine realm. Species with
simpler anatomically than the feed-
feeding larvae, for example, produce small eggs
ing larvae of related species, having jettisoned use-
and consequently can afford to have much larger
feeding structures and significantly accelerated
broods, whereas species with nonfceding larvae or
generally
less
the events leading to metamorphosis. In these spe-
direct
enough protein and
fat to fuel development all the way through metamorphosis. This shift to dependence on maternally
provided food reserves has evolved within most
to
cies,
eggs are provisioned with
groups of animals and
at
many junctures
in the his-
tory of life. In the most extreme cases, a distinct larval stage
rectly
is
lost altogether,
into
evolutionary
groups
miniature
shift, too,
and embryos develop di-
\'ersions
of
has occurred
as diverse as sc]uids,
adults.
many
This
times
roundworms, and most
vertebrates develop without the benefit of larvae.
Why
don't
all
species adopt this trick
mizing or even bypassing the
neither having nor lacking
larval stage?
a larva
is
development tend
to
produce larger eggs or
have placentas and therefore
brood
sizes.
Predators
may
much
smaller
also affect the dur.ition
ot larval development: species heavily preyed
small juveniles
time
among
ter to settle
may be
the plankton, but others
on the
on
as
better off prolonging their
may do
bet-
seafloor as quickly as possible
invertebrateslike
these young
octopuses
and thus avoid planktonic predators. Understand-
peering out of
ing the particular ecological contexts that
their egg
fa\-or
the evolutionary retention, reduction, or loss of
larvae represents
one of the outstanding challenges
facing biologists today. For now, however,
we
can
of mini-
say that although larvae don't offer the only road
Because
to adulthood,
inherently su-
Some marine
gooci
way
for
most animals they provide
to get there.
a
D
cases—
skip the freeh'ving larval
stage and
develop directly
from embryo
to adult.
?-£
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3/01
NATURAL
HISTt)KY
By Susan Elizabeth Hough
dawn on June
Before
of southern
from
28, 1992, residents
California were jolted
by
their sleep
a
magnitude 7.3
The temblor
earthquake.
started be-
neath the tiny Mojave desert town of
Landers, but
its
effects
were
Angeles, ninety miles to the west,
as
felt in
Los
well as in
northern California, southern Nevada, and
at
the
Me.xican border.
Earthquakes are not unusual for California, of
The
course.
small faults
state
is
riddled with both large and
boundary between two tectonic
the
North American
and the
Pacific
These two enormous pieces of the
earth's
the
plates:
Plate.
at
Plate
crust are constantly sliding past
and grinding against
southeast across
boundary zone. Sections of
the Mojave
its
faults often
reputation
as
rupture
earthquake
country. So the powerful Landers temblor w-as not
unusual in
itself.
ever, revealed
a
tar-reaching aftereffects,
how-
Desert shows a
rupture (running
from the lower
left
surprises.
century ago, seismologist Charles
the photo)
earthquake of consequence
created by the
is
never an isolated
was referring to the aftershocks that mvariably foOow a large temblor, or main shock. As
California,
earthquakes go, aftershocks are remarkably well be-
earthquake.
He
1992 Landers,
.-1*?'
haved. In time, space, and magnitude, they follow
^
predictable patterns that have been recognized by
^^«
small,
**!J
;V*i^|
seismologists for decades. As a general rule, they are
more firequent in the immediate aftermath of
main
shock, and usually clustered no farther from
a
the site of the main shock than the length of the
rupture
it
created.
New evidence from
:
4M
Sft
S^/-^
^
#®
Iv^
^:^^-^^^^^^^^^^:
vv^' \
&l^ ^
*
/^
V ^^?^
V
:r:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
toward the
upper right of
Richter, of Richter scale fame, observed that "an
event."
.
Its
some
Nearly half
:--
aerial view
looking
each other, creating an active and complicated
here, earning California
^-^^^:-J
.:«
An
California
—and
old reports from the
Midwest— indicate that some
earthquakes can trigger others
hundreds of miles away.
65
66
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
The Landers
temblor, however, permanently
changed the established view of earthquake sequences. In the minutes and days that followed the
quake,
—
zone
number of
substantial
a
occurred
events
as far
away
as
smaller seismic
beyond
well
its
aftershock
the Lassen Peak area and
at
the
—changes
marily fi^om local, mechanical factors
But
block.
ers
have shown, the outlying earthquakes of 1992
The
is,
distant events,
with
a
magni-
tude of 5.4, struck in western Nevada twenty-two
hours
after the
Landers event. Quickly dubbed re-
motely triggered earthquakes, these outlying
mic events seemed
to
seis-
be different beasts from any-
Because the Landers quake was one of the
magnitude 7.0 events
first
be recorded by state-of-
to
it
by waves, or shaking,
seems, were capable of engendering
—new quakes
triggering
—
that
700 miles away.
as far as
Using data not only from Landers but
from
also
Greece and Mexico, seismologists attempted
to
characterize the geology of vulnerable areas and to
define a threshold level of shaking needed to trigger
remote
thing seismologists had previously encountered.
set off solely
emanating from the Landers main shock. Such
waves,
of these
as
were apparently
Geysers, about sixty miles north of San Francisco.
largest
in
movement of a crustal
seismologist Joan Gomberg and oth-
caused by large-scale
stress
The
events.
models impUcated some-
first
Most of
thing curious: bubbles.
the
triggered
quakes identified in the immediate aftermath of
Landers had taken place in regions with active vol-
Landers and Triggered Earthquakes
Lassen
Peak area
June 28-July
4,
If
1992 i
canoes or geothermal features such
bubbles within fluid reservoirs can indeed
stress
NEVADA
•The
Geysers
A
as geysers.
couple of models showed that disruption of the
then
on
faults,
raise
which, the researchers argued, could
set off earthquakes.
According to
this scenario,
triggered earthquakes were rather exotic events oc•
curring only in highly unusual geological zones.
San Francisco
^.
Long Valley
Little Skull
Caldera
Mountain
The powerful
computer studies
of triggered quakes
The
Landers
earthquake of
CALIFORNIA
hundreds of
PACIFIC
distant events,
many
implicated the disruption of
gas bubbles in subterranean
Landers and
aftershock zone
1992 triggered
OCEAN
reservoirs of fluid.
clustered
in four areas in
Los Angeles
Last year, however,
California and
Nevada, and
far
first
Saltan
all
new look
a
place,
at evi-
my
and
in-
vestigation has revealed that the triggered earth-
Mil
MEXICO
quakes of 1992 were not
aftershock zone.
the-art seismic stations throughout California,
yielded the
first
solid evidence
it
of distant earth-
quake triggering. The authors of one research
paper
took
dence from an urJikely time and
Sea
beyond the
I
commented
would have
"no previous experience
that
led us to anticipate the observations of
remotely triggered [earthquakes]." Earth
began to
realize that large
crust in
complex ways
scientists
quakes could perturb the
that earlier theories could
exotic
—
as
they
ports that (had they
have helped
Almost immediately
after Landers,
researchers
as
—or
unprecedented
Ohio River
been
wrote re-
fully appreciated)
scientists interpret
U.S. inidcontinent was rocked by an earthquake so
large that
it
caused damage
as far
away
as coastal
Now estimated to have had a mag-
nitude upwards of 7.3, the temblor was the
southeast corner of Missouri
classified as aftershocks,
associated with the
be
they also couldn't even be
same physical mechanisms. As
the
16, 1811, the usually stable
were they located too
to
after
wee hours of
event in an extraordinary sequence. Centered
from the main shock
might
what happened
the Landers earthquake. In the
morning on December
valley
began to focus on these puzzling quakes. Not only
far
as
seemed. Nearly two centuries
ago, settlers along the
South Carolina.
not explain.
first
—
at
first
the
the Bootheel re-
gion, adjoining the Tennessee-Kentucky border
named New Madrid, after a town
The area experienced two more
December 1811: events of comparable
the sequence was
the Landers earthquake helped seismologists under-
close to the event.
stand, conventional aftershocks appear to result pri-
quakes after
magnitude
on February
1H12, and again
23,
l.iiuiaiv
region on die luornings ot
jolti'd tlio
Historual aeeounts peg die
of the three; some refer to
Immediately following
it
a
it,
quake
final
I.S12.
7,
die largest
as
the "hard shock."
as
The New Madrid
observations suggest that the
"hubbies theory" of the early models
been
a red
earthquakes documented in recent years occurred
section of the Missis-
disproportit)iiately in regions
New
geothermal processes
sippi River in the vicinity of
Madrid reversed
voirs ire in fact
course for several hours.
may have
herring. Yes, the remotely triggered
—
found
at
of active volcanic or
regions where fluid reserthe depths at
which earth-
Starting in the 197()s and cady lUSOs, seismolo-
Otto
gists
Nuttli,
Ronald
and Arch Johnston
Street,
compiled and interpreted the
available accounts
of
New
Madrid sequence, including reports of half
the
a dozen "large aftershocks" on the Atlantic coast.
Setders
most not
large
split
Recendy my own
torical
enough
to rattle anything
some
people's nerves, but
cracked chimneys and
I
'•>
so strong they
stone houses.
attention was
drawn
to his-
New
Madrid
accounts of the effects of the
sequence.
-^~r-
descriptions of thousands of perceptible
left
aftershocks,
more than
—
-}
'^0f^,.
was especially struck by passages con-
cerning three particularly large "aftershocks": one
occurred four days
that
on
and two others
after the
January 23 event
the night of the February 7
"hard shock." These supposed aftershocks were ap-
A contemporary
parendy centered near the Ohio-Kentucky border;
no accounts
Madrid. To
exist
a
from within 200 miles of
New
woodcut,
earthquake
absence of reports in the region ot the main
this
shocks
is
devastation in
contrary to expectation. Moreover, de-
New
Ohio and Kentucky diffrom accounts of the New Madrid
scriptions of the shaking in
fer significandy
main shocks. Daniel Drake of Cincinnati
Madrid,
Missouri, in the
Midwestern Main Shocks and Triggered Earthquakes
stated that
one of these "aftershocks" caused "a very
left,
pictures
seismologist reviewing the evidence,
winter of
1811-12
1811-12.
sensible
degree of trembling, but no oscillation." Jared
Map: An analysis
Brooks of Louisville wrote that another was "vio-
of accounts
lent in the tirst
to
do much
to read.
degree" but "of too short duration
injury."
written at the
^J..
time indicates
These accounts were exciting
—
Brooks and Drake
physician, respectively
—
an engineer and
that the three
S-
a
quakes
seemed to be describing
"jerky" motions of higher frequency than those
generated in the region by the distant
INDIANA
New Madrid
Missouri
OHIO
ILUNOIS
main shocks. Such high-frequency energy
is
triggered other
usually
/^
damped out
as
the waves
move through
the crust
i^indnnati
quakes near the
MISSOURI
Louisvllli
and away from the main shock.
I
then used
a
New Madrid
computer mapniaking program
plot the reported distribution of effects
three
major "aftershocks." The
=k
to
from the
were
results
strik-
ARKANSAS
Ohio-Kentucky
KENTUCKY
border.
TENNESSEE
Area of Detail
centered in
ing: they revealed a buU's-eye pattern
January 23,
1812
northern Kentucky.
I
could only conclude that
HO.
the same
ARK
r\'pe
of event that took earth
180 vears
later.
—
scienrists
by surprise
New
Mad rid
February
what Brooks and Drake and others had described
were remotely triggered earthquakes
in
southeastern
7,
^—-J
1812^
lOf.
TENN.
December
16,/^
50
68
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
quakes occur (typically three to twelve miles below
But northern Kentucky has no active
volcanic or geothermal features, nor are earththe surface).
quakes
common
Some of
most recent observations of
motely triggered quakes
and
A ruptured piece
crustal fluids
triggering process.
re-
also suggest that bubbles
do not play
a direct role in the
The October
16, 1999,
magni-
Hector Mine, Cahfornia,
numerous, but they
number of
Thus a fairly
particular, a
California, after
Sea, a large, low-lying saline lake just north of the
a great
the 1992 quake
California-Mexico border. Because the Salton Sea
a
in
pronounced sequence near the Salton
failure.
small disturbance might trigger remote earth-
Landers,
trig-
a relatively large
probably close to
faults are
gered events well outside
—
any given
at
tude 7.1 quake
aftershock zone
expected to be strong.
cent studies suggest, however, that
of highway in
its
are
time in such regions,
the desert near
at
may be
Re-
the crust that are relatively inactive, faults
there.
the
But if recent triggered earthquakes have generhappened where faults fail easily, what does
one make of the New Madrid results? In parts of
ally
quakes in quiet parts of the crust, not because
especiaUy
faults are
many
weak
nudge away from
there, but because
some
faults exist,
are likely to
where
be only
failure.
Newly recognized
phenomena, triggered
earthquakes can provide
important information
about fault failure.
What, then, can triggered earthquakes
about earthquake
tell
us
processes in general? Scientists
do
not yet have a complete answer to
this question.
However, the observations from 1812
seem
to carry the
same message:
1999
to
all
that triggered
earthquakes are ordinary earthquakes but that they
stand to provide us with important
new
tion about fault failure.
One
possibiHty
—
quakes
is
—
that earthquakes
represent nothing
more than
informa-
all
earth-
cracks in the
is
volcanicaUy and geo-
grow very, very slowly in response to the
forces appHed on them, until the cracking process
accelerates into a runaway failure. Such a phenomenon would be analogous to cracking in rocks, a
active, the Salton
Sea events also pro-
process that can be studied in detail in laboratory
earth that
events occurred within a few miles of a
seismometer,
lyze.
And
scientists
had excellent data
because the area
thermaUy
modern
to ana-
vided seismologists with an ideal opportunity to
look for evidence of an exotic, fluid-controUed
source in the event recordings.
own
The
results
of
my
recent analyses of the Salton Sea events sug-
with
gest that, notwithstanding their association
experiments.
The fmal
kick that
initiates
the run-
away process might be infmitesimally small
perhaps nothing
more than
the fmal grain of sand
landing atop the increasingly unstable sandpile. Or,
as in
the case of triggered events,
it
might be an
unusual geophysical features, such remotely trig-
abrupt kick, dehvered by the shaking from a distant
gered quakes are nothing more than garden-variety
earthquake.
temblors occuring on somewhat weak
tive volcanic
ile
In ac-
and geothermal regions, myriad
may behave somewhat Hke
faults
faults.
—even
balanced pile of pickup sticks
frag-
may
indirectly,
idea of earthquakes as the culmination of
we
can
now
is
not new.
What
is
new
is
quantify the type of shaking that
a deUcately
that
a small dis-
does, and does not, produce additional earth-
turbance can disrupt the system. Heat and crustal
fluids
The
runaway crack growth
quakes
at distant points.
Preliminary results suggest
therefore faciHtate triggering, but only
that only quakes close to or
by creating an environment in which
will
above magnitude 7.0
produce remotely triggered events. Seismolo J||
'
faults are
weak.
gists are able to
make
rocks crack in the laboratory,
vw haw
but
:i
very limited
ditions uiiiler wliicli aetu.il
ttire.
We now know
t.iiilts
that, at least
^round beneath our
the
.iliility
feet
how
ot tliese
along.
eyes
—
eon-
events. His narrative, publisiied in 1X15,
rup-
the
once
performs
periments, t^iving us important
about
to test tlie
in tlie crust
earthquake luptures
in
its
.1
wiiile,
own
ex-
new information
And some
oeeiu".
expermients have been available to us
The
old data just had to wait for
all
new
eyes aided by years of accumulated scientific
to
New
Madrid c]uakes, geologist
and congressman Samuel L. Mitchill set out to
compile and interpret local accounts of those
Shortly after the
among
After lamenting his failure to formulate a satisfac-
what had happened, Mit-
tory theory to explain
chill
notes. "1
history
which
console myself, however, that the
I
have written will give valuable in-
formation to the curious on these subjects, and
sist
some more happy
duce
understanding.
is
most valuable sources of information available
modern seismologists for the 181 1-12 sequence.
a
lull
and adequate theory of earthquakes."
One hundred and
seventy-seven years
Landers quake helped put earth
tion to
as-
inquirer into nature, to de-
fulfill his
hopes.
later,
the
scientists in a posi-
D
California is
earthquake
country. The San
Andreas Fault
is
easily visible at
the surface of
the Carrizo Plain.
*W
sec-'
J"'
•^^
>*
\
'^^
i^y
'"mk.i
y>MSS
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
70
By
Mushi
From Companion
Atiimah and Us:
Exploring the
Relationships Between
£1
'
People and Pets, edited
by A.
L.
Podberscek,
catching and playing with insects, or
Live mushi are also sold in
along with implements for
offices,
University Press,
many Japanese
Caged "autumn-
catching and breeding them.
2000. Adapted with
singing" insects (primarily crickets and grasshop-
permission.
pers)
have for centuries been welcome seasonal
Although in recent years the
gifts
L
Laurent
Every summer and fall, Japanese
children spend hours catching
playing with
and
insects.
noceros beetle sales, flieled by the enthusiasm of
young boys. Since then, rhinoceros and stag beetles
have become the best-seUing mushi. Several milHon
are now bred and sold during the warmer months.
Japanese department stores and post
A. SerpeU.
© Cambridge
fall,
children (mostly boys) spend hours
mushi.
E. S. Paul, and
J.
summer and
ach
Erik
recently interviewed a rhinoceros beetle
I
who
breeder, Akahane-San,
Hves in the
town of
Takato on the island of Honshu. Akahane had been
mushrooms but
raising
in 1985 switched to breed-
ing beetles. Even though
initially
only one store in
tra-
the nearby city of Ina sold his mushi, his business
dition of giving children rhinoceros beetles and stag
prospered and he has expanded the operation.
in the countryside.
ground
beetles as gifts has lost
to purchasing tiny
electronic creature toys, children stiU flock to Japan's
And
insectariums, or arthropod zoos.
over
summer vacation, many
as
homework
their eight- to ten-year-old students the task
first
of
his mushi are sold in the local post office
department
several
and
stores
are also
and
bought by
visitors to his farm.
rural schools stiU assign
preparing a collection of Hve
The
Now
"It's
not a very hard job, quite suitable for old
people," says Akahane,
who
keeps thousands of
rhinoceros beetles in a fenced breeding enclosure
insects.
written reference to the selling of au-
on
He
his farm.
monitors
carefully
soil
conditions
tumn-singing insects dates to 1685 in Kyoto. At
but basically leaves the beetles alone. At the end of
child stalks a
that time, vendors carried their crickets in big
August they
dragonfly in
square baskets suspended from poles
worn
across
mer
a field. Below:
the shoulders, and they also sold small cages.
Many
that arise
Opposite:
A
A
children used to catch their
katydid
(Gampsoclesis
buergeri),
one of
began
to
increased.
own
be commercially bred
Owned
mushi, but insects
as their
by fishermen or
popularity
peasants, the
pushcarts that sold mushi appeared in about
the singing
first
insects favored
1820. Beginning in the Meiji period (1868-1912),
by young
mushiya, or shops that sold singing insects,
Japanese
and jewel beetles
collectors.
vices,
as
well
as
To correct genetic problems
from inbreeding, Akahane introduces
the adults molt.
"new blood"
every two or three years by adding
wild-caught beetles to the breeding population.
He now
raises
4,000 rhinoceros beetles each year
for the market.
Two major
traits that
seem
cages and trapping de-
character and their spectacular appearance. Indeed,
for the twelve
gives a
most pop-
on insect
book Exotics
the black and
largest
horny rhinoceros beetle
children puUing small carts
tles
During the 1930s
mushi sales began to decline, and
by the end of World War II the
mushiya had almost completely
Little
disappeared.
of the
Retrospective.
The
tradition did not die,
the
how-
1960s department
ever.
In
stores
experienced a
boom
in rhi-
full
in
stiU sees
of rhinoceros bee-
a pastime that goes back hundreds of years.
boys wiU induce the rhinoceros beetles to
fight each other for a small piece
will
one of the
one sometimes
ular species in a chapter
—
is
members of the order Coleoptera. Today
the Japanese countryside
musicians in his 1898
and
to account for the
popularity of these creatures are their inoffensive
renowned writer on Japan,
list
and the following sum-
fireflies,
began to spring up. Lafcadio Hearn, the
price
lay their eggs,
make them
Each
species
year,
pull weights.
of mushi
is
associated with a season
and some even with
day. Traditional
of watermelon or
a particular
time of
mushi games, Ukewise, are seasonal.
In the spring children catch butterflies, and in the
summer
they play with aquatic whirligig beetles,
A..
%jm
NA<:'"
v^v
!*»-^
•
^^
^ilibA
^^^M»
** ji
"lit
^m.m
..-..-/jtet.1
"^* *j#
1$
1
^^^^H^^«^^
m.'9i
-^•*.'
72
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
Summer
true water beetles, and snails.
time to catch
fireflies
and cicadas and
noceros and stag beetles
The
bell cricket
(Homoeogryltus
Japonicus), right,
is
prized for its
flies,
as pets.
Catching dragon-
with ant Hons and
batta locusts,
and learning
to
make mushi cages firom straw are all traditional summer activities. In autumn children Hsten to singing
observe and play with red dragonflies, col-
insects,
Below: An insect
lect inago locusts, stage spider fights,
imprisoned in a
tises,
cage made of a
either die or enter
hollowed-out
son without mushi.
pumpkin.
to adopt rhi-
collecting tsuchihachi wasps' larvae, playing
musical chirping.
kabocha, or
also the
is
and
Once
and
collect wasps' nests.
a year, in
kirigirisu
watch man-
Because most
dormancy in
winter, that
autumn, suzumushi (beR
insects
is
a sea-
crickets)
(singing grasshoppers) are offered for
sale in
nearly every post otFiee in Japan and sent
When
over the cxnintry in special packages.
many
all
shops feature
nier arri\es in
iiiral areas,
luitterriy nets,
rhuioceros beetle cages, and packs ot
\illage
luinuis "mattresses" tor keeping stag beetles.
soft
Department
towns and
stores in larger
remain the best places to buy
ever,
summer
displays feature live
1^^
smii-
cities,
nniilii.
iiiiislii,
how-
1
Containers in a
Mm
l^./IJII^'sBO
Their
mushi
beetle larvae for
sale.
insecticides.
Revenue from
along with
of
sales
Below: Boys
buy beetles from
an automatic
breeding and catching ec]uipment, side by side with
\ariinis
store, left,
are filled with
vending
machine.
iinishi
alone climbed to 5 billion yen in 1992.
From
spring to autumn,
everywhere
—even
iiuislii
—they
Japan. Living
are not difficult
nets
interest to these chil-
make when
dren are the cries cicadas
clinging
cities,
armed with
prey for tree-climbing children
and cages. Seemingly of great
in
of
in the centers
to tree trunks or to walls
cicadas are per-
iiiitiniiii
haps the most often caught
caught,
as
well as the tricks used for catching them.
I
Tombo
first
(dragonfly catching) dates back to the
tori
half of the eighteenth century. Dragonflies can
b
Mushi
introduce children to
biological diversity, mortality,
tlie
and
progression of the seasons.
be caught by hand or with a net, but the traditional
way of catching them
western Japan or
miniature bola,
or shells
silk
a
it is
wrapped
a tool called a biiri in
Tokyo. Similar to a
is
made of two
small balls, stones,
in red cloth or paper
The
thread.
with
toriko in
toriko is
ahead ot the dragonfly, which then
it;
the thread
becomes tangled
and the dragonfly
among
most children
ing
fireflies
the species
ers
may be
—
is
is
today.
not
now
as
flies
A
right into
Although
boys in the Japanese
countryside, catching dragonflies
ests
a
in the insect's wings,
to the ground.
falls
popular until the 1960s
and tied to
hurled about three feet
no longer
inter-
—
catch-
related activity
easy as
it
used to be, because
protected and
officially
its
catch-
Spider tighting, too, was very popular until
in the
boys used to
fight
own
1930s,
spiders.
is
no longer
all
the twelve-year-old
They made
by putting two spiders together in
to
in vogue. In
the creatures
by throwing one spider into another's web or
fenced in by
wood
chips.
The
a miniature arena
fights
were allowed
continue until one of the arachnids was
killed.
Japanese children gain a great deal fi-om their in-
volvement with
sive in
a feeling for the seasons, a sensibility
Japanese culture.
They
perva-
learn very early, for i
instance, that fireflies, rhinoceros beedes,
creatures appear and then die during
a
and other |
limited pe-
riod of the year. Mushi give children concrete mate-
experimental dialogue with nature and
rial for their
introduce
them
to biological diversity.
relatively short life span also teaches
An
iimslii.
Amona; other
things, thev
Feeding and keeping
vation, reflection,
uuislii
"
insect's
them about
ontogenetic development and the cycles ot
fined.
about thirty years ago but
Yokohama
develop
lite.
requires personal obser-
and even experimentation.
A
post otlice leaflet that advertises the selling otsii:Hiiiiislii
crickets
tells cliildren:
"WhUe
observing,
let's
write a diary with pictures!" Mushi are usually
looked
them
after
every day by the child,
who
keeps
concerning
inuslii
the
stages a fight
between
a
rhinoceros
until they die.
Traditionally
A youngster
transmission of knowledge
used to occur
iirandfather to grandchild.
orally,
passed from
Althoush the
tradirions
beetle and a
stag beetle.
74
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
surrounding
in
modern
inushi
could
have been forgotten
easily
industrialized Japan, insects have instead
been turned into media phenomena, with
featuring slick,
nrHi/n'-related
gear,
stories
games, and
books. In addition, Japan's contemporary craze for
A boy allows
his
little
"virtual" animals that
mimic mushi constitutes
a
rhinoceros
technological transformation of real animals into
beetle to walk
"animaltronics."
up his arm,
tronic toys that
right. Below:
stag beetle
A
and even "die"
more
Tamagochi, for instance, are elec-
metamorphose
if
into various shapes
they are not cared
standing growth and change
is
for.
central to the
Undermanip-
than three
ulation of tamagochi. For Japanese children, creatures
inches long was
that
undergo metamorphosis
are a source
of fascina-
bought for
$90,000 by a
Tokyo shop in
1999. The
record-size
beetle drew
thousands of
young mushi
enthusiasts into
the store.
y
''fimm
^
5^
*^
¥160?
o
!'
I
o
xm^'M
tiDM
tli.it
Iviscd
IS
cultur.illy reinforced. I'okeinoii toys arc
on characters
that continually
other forms. ("Pokenion," of course,
"pocket monster"
sion,
,ill\
—
a
computer
and movie craze
til
the
West.)
"Japlish" for
cartoon, televi-
jumped
whether bonsai
puter chips, or
Some of
are clearly based
most obvious example
a
caterpillar,
is
other group of animals, insects appear
so than any
as
secondary
characters or as part of the scenery in the television
and comic-book versions of Pokemon
stories.
of these electronic and cartoon "insectoids," how-
seems to be connected with the Japanese
imislii.
And much more
very idea of imagining
delight in miniatures,
Pokemon
Buttertree.
Despite the o\erwhelmiiig mass-market success
pocket-sized monsters, or bird-eyg-sized pets like
liiiiidi^Oihi,
becomes
cross-cultur-
that has
The
toy,
is
change
into
the
trees,
com-
body forms of
on those of insects. The
C'aterpie,
which resembles
then changes into Metapod, and finally
ever, a sizable
to
number ofjapanese
spend time with the genuine
children continue
article.
The
fact
Youngsters
combing the
many traditions a.ssociated with miishi have
managed to survive in such a competitive market
fields with their
shows
sure sign of
that the
their remarkable vitality
and the valued
ot these diminutive ambassadors
education of children
m Japan.
of nature
role
in the
D
insect nets are a
spring in rural
Japan.
\::.M^
Mi't^;''
li'K.aa.i
76
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
MUSEUM
AT THE
The Helicoprion
Mystery
Where were
situated
on
shark? In
its
tail?
the
the teeth
this ancient
jaw?
On its
On its back?
i
Museum's Hall of Vertebrate
InOrigins
a
is
most intriguing
object,
tucked away where few people see
it.
The
object appears to be
a
perfect
spiral
of teeth, and the label below
reads,
"What
it
curious question to be asking of Muse-
Norway, Russia, Japan, Greenland, and
Australia. Paleoichthyologists have
um
categorized the teeth
visitors,
answer:
is
this fossil?"
This seems a
but the label provides the
"Many
isolated tooth whorls
of Helicoprion have been found, such
this
specimen, but complete
as
fossil
unknown." The specimen came from a phosphate mine in
L-laho, but others like it have been
skeletons are
unearthed
in
Wyoming
as
well
as in
as
sharklike and
therefore identified the specimen
as
Greek
for "saw." Helicoprion thus
"spiral saw."
for?
But what was
this
Russian paleontologist A.
pinsky was the
first
to find
which he
means
saw used
P.
Kar-
and describe
collected in 1899
having belonged to certain primitive
a group that incartilaginous fishes
a specimen,
cludes the sharks and chimaeras living
where
some 300 million years ago.
Helico- comes from the Greek
lower jaw, the upper jaw, both jaws, the
tail, the dorsal fin, the middle of the
—
"spiral" or "whorl,"
and
-prion
for
from the
in the Ural
Mountains.
to place
back? Only
it
He
puzzled over
on the shark
a year after
—
the
Karpinsky s de-
Positioning the Wliorl
Above: Paleontologist A.
P.
Karpinsky found the
whorl in 1899, but he could not decide where
century
first
specimen of Helicoprion's tooth
might
it
on the shark. Almost
fit
a
Australian paleontologist John A. Long visualized a seemingly
later,
extensible apparatus, illustrated below by Ivy Rutzky, of the
Museum's Division of Paleontology.
location in the lower
prevent the
fish
jaw "would only
points out fu'o of Helicoprion\ radical
He
features: the disproportionate size ot the
from feeding."
therefore placed the whorl in the upper
"where
jaw,
could serve
it
as effective
for the animal's head.
the shedding of the teeth.
book Tlw
Rise of Fishes:
John A.
Million Years of Evolution,
Long, curator of vertebrate paleontol-
ogy
Museum
the Western Australian
at
in Perth, includes a hypothetical illus-
at
Helicoprion's
prey with
tooth
spiral
coiled shellfish called
cially
two leading
them
.
.
.
to the jaws
some
the
first
of a shark or
the other to the
hack,
theories as to the
'spines,"
median
ascribes
skate,
line
and
of the
distance in ad\'ance of the
dorsal fin." hi a
gist
Dimitri Obruchev decided that
a
abundant
prey.
its
jaw
of
sort
a
is
that
mimicked
ammonites
(espe-
order to
at the time) in
these ammonites, the shark's
attract
"It
writes,
seems more
"that
likely."
these sharks
jagged tooth-whorls
into a school of fish
thrashing about to
when
Long
Richard Lund,
at
a
from
the
also
be-
of the jaw that sup-
a
buzz-saw-like gad-
to three feet in diameter.
of ven,'
impressi\-e size
well as impressixe dentures."
A
veritable cottage industry-
is
de-
voted to the solution ot the Helicoprion
tooth-whorl
some of
and the tenor of
niyster);
the publications
it
inspires
is
unmistakably tongue-in-cheek. In the
—note
1973
the Journal
1,
ontologists
the date
—
issue ot
of Insifinificant Research,
Michael
Williams
Kathv Elbaum. quoting trom
a
pale-
and
1966
paper by Danish p,ileontologist Svend
paleoichthyologist
Devonian
as
an ingrown
Lund
be big enough to accom-
Tliis yields a fish
April
or ammonites and
snag prey on the
up
get that got
like
teeth.""
reconstruction ot the
modate, smoothly,
charging
Adelphi Universit)' and an expert on
sharks
it:
used the
projecting array ot teeth."
1952 analysis of the
tooth whorl, Russian paleoichthyolo-
"Any
fish itself must
could
prevented
"Thus the
must have been propor-
tional to the size
lower jaw curhng downward
toothed whip. Another theory
the
lieves the spiral
shark's
and lashed
"Of
only with
toenail,
ported
imagine that the shark uncoiled
position of
out and down, sort ot
of Helicoprion that shows the
One
a feature that
smaller and older teeth are just shoved
tration
into a tooth-studded spiral.
American
of the teeth being locked together
during growth,
500
paleontologist C. R. Eastman wrote:
bases
the whorl, and the
protection," acting as a shock absorber
In his 1995
scriprion appeared in print,
making up
teeth
Period.
Erik BendLx-Almgreen
("On
the Sig-
nificance of Karpinsky "s Reconstruc-
tion")
demonstrate that Helicoprion's
ADVERTISEMENT
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80
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
whorl was the biomechanical equivalent
New Year's Eve
of a
noisemaker.
It
it.
"There was no upper-half whorl of
sharp
teeth
could be extended by hydrauUc force,
against," says Troll,
releasing "in effect a lethal raspberry."
crushing teeth. In
In their 1994
book
artist
Ray TroU
the "vexing
made
a
of the whorls and
but Uke
prion,
whether by
is
admits to
model of
the crushing teeth. ...
extremely narrow.
had
could begin to
I
the outline of the skuU: long and
'see'
long nose on
a
I
it
reahzed
much
this
thing
like a
mod-
ern-day goblin shark. ... As
grew,
it
it
growth
new version of Hehco-
all
such reconstructions,
artists
or paleontologists,
an educated guess.
at best
ring."
a
drawn
Troll has
what you're
teeth, so
really a fossilized
is
other upper teeth were found besides
an obsession with Hehcoprioin tooth
whorl, and he recently
all
seeing
skuDs Bendix-Almgreen examined, no
devote an entire page to
fossil shark." Troll
"only rows of small
produced bigger
A
author Brad Matsen and
Fossil Record,
cut
to
vi'horl
to the
Planet Ocean:
Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing
the
for
it
Helicoprion's
locked in the 280-mil-
secrets are stiU
Hon-year-old rocks.
Marine expert Richard
EUis's latest book
is
Encyclopedia of the Sea (Knopf 2000).
MUSEUM EVENTS
MARCH
seum
1
Warming
Lecture: "Impact of Global
on Polar Bears and Tundra Ecosystems" (Earthwatch
at the
Museum
Ecologist Peter Scott,
ries).
Kaufmann
ries).
"Quasar Absorption Lines:
series).
As-
tronomer Jane Charlton. 7:30
p.m.,
in
Astrophysics
se-
Theater.
With
Live
Stormy
a
Star"
(Distin-
guished Authors in Astronomy
series).
Astronomer Sten Odenwald. 7:30 RM.,
Three
8, 15,
AND 22
lectures:
War
series.
Geology of the Revoin Metropolitan
Geologist Sidney
enstein, coordinator
Seeing Ghosts in the Universe" (Frontiers
Kaufmann
AARP
Space Theater, Hayden Planetarium.
lutionary
Theater.
5
Lecture:
2:00 P.M.,
MARCH
York
MARCH
Holmes, March 21
se-
of the
Churchill Northern Studies Centre.
7:00 P.M.,
ecologist Jay
(Natural History and Life:
S.
New
Hor-
of the Museum's
environmental public programs. 7:00
DURING MARCH
Women's History Month:
"Everyday Heroines." Free weekend
International
films, lectures,
performances, and work-
1:00-5:00 RM., March 3-18,
shops.
Leonhardt People Center. For infor-
RM., Kaufinann Theater.
mation,
call
(212) 769-5315.
Symposium
Space Theater, Hayden Planetarium.
registration:
vation Genetics in the
"Conser-
Age of Ge-
nomics." April 4 keynote speaker: au-
MARCH
Four
5, 12, 19,
AND 26
thor and activist Jeremy Rifkin. April
lectures: Biodiversity
Plants series.
botany
William
lecturer.
is
p.m.,
March
MARCH
7
by the Museum's Center for Biodiver-
Kaufinann
sity
at
and Conservation and the Bronx
Zoo—based
repeated on four
consecutive Thursdays
starting
5—6: scientific presentations. Sponsored
Museum
Schiller,
2:30
Theater. (The series
and Seaside
7:00 P.M.,
ciety.
Call
and panel discussion:
clips
mammoth
IMAX
historical instruments at
7, 14,
AND 21
lectures:
Human
Destiny," science writer
Museum
7;
"The His-
IMAX
the
Theater:
Sliacl^-
Adventure (the dramatic
1914-17
British Imperial
Trans-Antarctic Expedition) and Ocean
Oasis (the biodiversity of the Baja Cali-
of the
Human
Brain: "Evolution of
Lessons
From Embryo-
The American Museum of Natural
History
is
located
and 79th Street in
at
Central Park West
New York
City.
For
Rakic, of the Yale University School of
of events, exhibitions, and
hours, call (212) 769-5100 or visit the
Medicine. 6:00 RM., Kaufinann Theater
Museum's
Archaeology."
Neurobiologist
Pasko
astrophysicist
March 14; "Ecology and
History of the Hudson River," Mu-
Charles Liu,
visit
MARCH 13
Neocortex:
"Nonzero: The Logic
Robert Wright, March
tory of Time,"
769-5200 or
fornia peninsula)
tion
of
Weston Pavilion
entrance, Columbus Avenue
7 1st James Arthur Lecture on the Evolu-
Theater.
Three
story of the
Chinese sundial, from exhibition of
and other Ice Age
species in Siberia. 7:00 P.M.,
MARCH
at
leton's Antarctic
Land of the Mammoth, Discovery Channel's second documentary about the
Jarkov
(212)
research. amnh. org/biodiversity/
8.)
Films
Preview
Wildlife Conservation So-
MARCH 19
Lecture:
"The 23rd Cycle: Learning To
listings
Web site at www.amnh.org.
Space Show tickets, retail products,
and Museum memberships are also
available online.
REVIEW
tween the strength of a
spectral feature
and the abundance of the element
causes
The
unity of nature
phrase.
Ever
sliowed
tli.it
the
just a poetic
isn't
since
Newton
Isaac
same gravitational
force that pins us to Earth holds the
planets in their orbits,
more mindful
we
become
have
cosmos and mi-
that
Chown
theme be.uititully. He
Science writer Marcus
how
counts
scientists
had
to
appreciated
—
the
that
two
how
led to the realization that the
that should resonate
today's theorists
—
—
in
with some of
that "there
perhaps
is
no beguilement more insidious and
hydrogen and he-
dangerous than an elaborate and elegant
lightest
it
elements
—were
mathematical process built upon unfor-
A
tified premises."
ing of the reactions that have allowed
the
Sun
detailed understand-
to shine for 4.5 billion years as a
exre-
Cosmic
this
atoms on
Chemists
In tracing this intellectual
Chown
quest,
words
wasn't
1920$
credit here goes to British as-
Earth were themselves forged in ancient stars.
10 million years. U.S. geologist
Much
understand
and
stars shine,
than
Thomas Chamberlain responded
overwhelmingly the most abundant.
atoms before they could understand
what made the
to clarih- the situa-
tion. Indeed, until the
tronomer Cecilia Pavne, whose 1925
croworld are intricately linked.
presses this
twentietli-century physics
it,
would be needed
lium
that
highhghts the advances
Gazing out
made by many important but underappreciated pioneers in the held.
at
the far reaches
of the universe led
Comte
while we
scientists
French philosopher Auguste
fimously averred in
might learn the
1
835
sizes
that
back into the inicroworld
and motions of
of matter.
we would never know what they
are made of. Within twenty- years,
Comte would be proved wrong. German chemist Robert Bunsen and a
Ph.D.
compatriot, physicist Gustav Kirchholf,
sented evidence that these two ele-
didn't
showed
ments amount
through the insights of two U.S. physi-
stars,
that dark lines previously dis-
By Martin J. Rees
CoDege
thesis at Radcliffe
to
pre-
98 percent of the
covered in sunlight's spectrum were
mass of the Sun. Sadly, the skepticism
caused by elements such
sodium,
of the influential astrophysicist Henn,"
whose glowing emissions could be ana-
Norris Russell led her to downplay
as
what was actually her greatest discovery
amateur astronomer William Huggins,
and to declare in a journal article that
using newly available photographic
this inferred abundance of both hydrotechniques, found that
gen and helium in stars
the much fainter spectra
The Magic Furnace: The was "improbably high
lyzed in the laboratory. Later, English
of
displayed
stars
same
line
patterns
the
as
those of the solar spec-
Search for the Origins of
and
Atoms,
not
by Marcus Clioini (Ox-
ford Viiivcrsity Press,
The Sun. Earth,
and stars were made of the same
stuff.
was achieved before atoms
realirs-
of atoms was
in
serious
stars shining.
ogists,
tar\-
Russian-born George Gamow and
German-born Hans Bethe. and those of
cists.
German
If nuclei can flise inside stars,
tions in stars?
\\"as
this idea.
brightly than the
hydrogen more
Earth's age to
hundreds of millions of
be
years. Charles
centers get
natural selection, concurred with die es-
atoms.
many
different
there
is
no
in discrete units.
elements.
Stellar
But since
straishtfonA-ard relation be-
timate, while
cist,
William
his ideas
Engkmd's leading physi-
Thomson
(Lord Kel\-in).
dogmatically argued that die
not have been shining for
Sun could
much
longer
which shine
Sun and burn
rapidly.
Graxity
then squeezes them further, and the
guments
came
Hoyle
efficient processing
stars,
their
nuclei
had revealed the "bar codes" of
The most
occurs in heavy
about
matter
Beginning in the mid-
1940s, British astronomer Fred
more
gauged
could
be the outcome of nuclear transmuta-
on sedimen-
strata,
philosopher
von Weizsacker.
the entire periodic table of 92 elements
Darwdn, in proposing
spectra
and
physicist
Friedrich Carl
doubt, despite compelling indirect arthat the building blocks of
until the late 1930s,
Nineteenth-centur\' geol-
basing their estimate
rock
come about
was the dominant figure promulgating
real."
what kept the Sun and
were understood. Indeed, until 1900
the
almost certainly
Another myster)'
2001; $25)
trum.
All this
is
"gra\itarionally confined flision reactor"
tlise
still
hotter, until the
helium
into the nuclei of hea\der
When
consumed, big
all
their fuel has
been
stars face a catastrophic
collapse that can compress their cores
to a state
1,000,000,000,000,000 times
denser than an ordinary sohd. trans-
82
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
forming them into neutron
stars
The
or
galaxy
is
an ecosystem.
like
perhaps black holes.
oxygen atom expelled from
But this coUapse also releases
enough energy to trigger a colossal ex-
star
—
plosion
the
star's
a
—
supernova
outer
that
These
layers.
blows off
layers
by then developed an onionskin
have
struc-
may have wandered
An
a massive
for hundreds of
millions of years in interstellar space.
may then have found
itself in a
cloud, contracting under
to
make
new
a
its
own
formed from inbecame "polluted"
stars
terstellar gas that
over time. But
Gamow
was
partially
It
vindicated; he proved to be right about
dense
the origins of the light elements deu-
gravity
surrounded by a
star,
ing the idea that
Even the
terium, helium, and lithium.
oldest stars are
23 percent helium
Through nuclear alchemy, hydroburned into heUum, helium
dusty disk. That star might have been
precisely the proportion that emerges
gen has
our Sun; that particular atom could
from the big bang.
into carbon, carbon into nitrogen, and
have ended up on Earth and perhaps
Seeking the true origins of atoms
We
been an interdisciplinary quest
more than 200 years. Its
pioneers deserve the same acclaim that
ture.
so
on through the periodic table, up to
the main element
and including iron
—
in the core of these
doomed stars.
table requires a further
input of energy.
Thorium and
nium, for instance,
—
are Stardust
ura-
are forged in the
all
When Albert Einstein's
relativity
these
that
elements
emerged from the big bang, but this
wasn't borne out by detailed calcula-
bismuth via the capture of neutrons
By 1957
cell.
This scenario disappointed George
tions.
stars.
human
stars shine.
Gamow. He thought
heat of a supernova, and barium and
within red giant
a
or the nuclear waste from
the fuel that makes
The formation of elements higher
up the periodic
been cycled through
theory of
was used to model an expand-
ing universe,
it
turned out that the
has
stretching back
is
rightly given to those
biological evolution.
we now view
sights,
stituent
lowing the big bang that there was no
Martin J. Rees
nuclear astrophysicist William Fowler
network of reactions
needed to produce all the elements.
Moreover, observations showed that
younger stars contained more heavy
at the University
Cameron developed some key
ideas independently.
stars
—
fascinating
fol-
time for the
elements than older
con-
be widely read.
paper that Hoyle coauthored with U.S.
Alastair
its
chronicle of their achievements deserves to
temperature dropped so quickly
and EngHsh astronomers Geoffrey and
their in-
Earth and
Chown's
processes were codified in a classic
Margaret Burbidge. Canadian physicist
proposed
atoms in a grand cosmic con-
Marcus
text.
who
Through
corroborat-
land's
book
is
a
Royal Society Professor
of Cambridge and Eng-
Astronomer Royal. His most
is
Forces
Just Six
That
recent
Numbers: The Deep
Shape
(Perseus Press, 1999).
the
Universe
worthy of
nature.net
their subject
—
the universe.
In the gallery, you'll find stunning
By Robert
merging
But they
more
are
But they are
the purpose of
tures;
one of the
gems. Take
all
3.^14, a spiral galaxy pair.
than just pretty pic-
Aiiilcrsoii
month
gala.xies.
like a multifac-
eted jewel."
images of everything from planets to
Genis of the Universe
"glowing
to fluoresce,
NGC
The two
are
_
aligned so that one
s
silhouetted against the
is
to pique
A
other, giving us the
colnmn,
our
curiosity
about
"
rare
one created to post tlie latest images
trom NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
the
universe.
Each
i
the
I
dust clouds darkening
?
the spiral arms of a
Last
I
revisited
Internet sites reviewed in this
first
the
I
was drawn to
a
wonderful
sion t)f the site called
new
exten-
Hubble Heritage
Project (heritage.stsci.edu/index.html).
The
astronomers have re-
project's
tined the telescope
s
scientific
the project
image
as
and
tions
other
My
throes
and often reveal
details previously hid-
den from the unaided eye. These spectacular
photographs are works of
art
BOOKSHELF
became
ejected
nant
at
Vnimsliy
Press,
destructive power, astronomer
Oden-
wald warns us about the coming cycle
and storms, which may
into
space,
with ultraviolet radiation, causing
gas
it
setting a precedent for a
ot extrasolar planet hunting that
has, to date,
turned up more than
forty.
Human Dimension,
by Albert A. Harrison (University of California
Press,
A
2001; $27.50)
4486),
with
bluish jet
of elec-
and other sub-
atomic particles streaming from the
black hole at
center? Ever\' image
its
is
magnificent.
Robert Atidcrsott
living
tell
ill
is
a freelance science writer
Los Angeles.
us about the universe, the solar sys-
tem, and Earth,
as
well as their role in
the discover)' of subnuclear particles.
Stardust: Supernovae and Life
Cosmic Connection, byjolw
Mar]' Grihlnn lYale University
an overview of
psychologist offers
humans
M87
(NC;C
rem-
stellar
core floods the surrounding
Spacefaring: The
2001; $27.95)
Tracing the recent history of the Sun's
ot solar flares
its
death
red giant and then
torming the nebula. The
method
iColiimbi.i
a
its
Or how
Galaxy
trons
outer layers
its
light-absorbing
about
its
sunlike star that in
a
telescope),
The 23rd Cycle: Learning To Live
With a Stormy Star, by Stm Odaiwald
is
Planetary Nebula IC
taining the accuracy of the originals, the
striking
favorite
chance to view
distant gala.xy.
to
links
sites.
418,
more
augmented
by lengthy explana-
composition and color. While main-
resulting images are far
remark-
a
tells
able story,
images by
paying close attention to such details
is
in space, covering such topics
motives for leaving Earth, group dy-
cause blackouts, satellite malfunctions,
as
and other kinds of havoc.
namics, and habitability of spacecraft.
—The
Gribbin with
2000:
Press,
$24.95)
The Gribbins
chemical
discuss the formation
elements
processed inside
— how
they
of
are
scattered across
stars,
the universe in great stellar explosions.
Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, by Eric Chaisson {Harvard Vuii'crsiiy Press.
"From
2001; $27.95)
planets to
life itself,
we
"from
are
identify an underlying,
and recycled to become new
21st Century Space Exploration,
planets,
Richard ]Va^ner,
galaxies to snowflakes," writes
astrophysicist Chaisson,
Designs on Space: Blueprints for
stars
and
(Simon
illustrated
& Schuster,
by
sails,
Unfinished
Einstein's
2001; $24)
botic arms, solar
parts ot ourselves.
Howard Cook
by
Elucidating blueprints for rockets, ro-
beginning
and
stars,
and the $30
bil-
Symphony:
Listening to the Sounds of Space-
Time,
Marcia BartusiaL:
/')
ijoscpli
H'nry
2000; $24.95)
ubiquitous
lion International Space Station, sci-
pattern penetrating the fabric of all the
ence writer Wagner shows us the
Science writer Bartusiak explains how-
natural sciences."
equipment
sopliisricated instruments allow scientists
to
the
The Neptune
File:
be using to investigate
we'll
neighborhood of planet Earth.
A Story of AstroA Thin Cosmic
Planet Hunting, by Tom
Outer Space,
2000; $24)
Neptune was "discovered"
in
1845 by
a
hear
gravity'
A
by Michael
Press,
ravs
and
II.'
Fnedlander
2000; $29.95)
physicist explains the
of cosmic
first
wa\'es
—
vibrations in
postulated by Einstein.
Rain: Particles From
(Harvard University
mathematical calculation (not with
to
space-time
nomical Rivalry and the Pioneers of
Stdinbuic (i]hlkcr.
Press.
phenomenon
re\'eals
what thev
The books mentioned
able in the
5150, or
Museum
\-ia
the
www.amnli.org.
are usually avail-
Shop, (212) 769-
Museum's
Web
site.
84 NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
UNIVERSE
Coirdni
By
Neil de Grasse Tyson
Our
to
Senses
Equipped uAth
man
senses,
his five
explores the
him and
universe around
calls
the adventure science.
—Edwin
Our
eyes
P.
are
Hubble, 1948
special
organs.
They allow
us to register in-
formation
not
only
from
room but from across
Without human eyesight,
across the
the
universe.
the
would never have
been born, and our capacity to measure our place in the universe would
have been hopelessly stunted. Think of
bats. Whatever bat wisdom gets passed
from one generation to the next, you
can bet that none of it is based on the
banero on the level of parts per triUion.
same way.
appearance of the night
And
total
science of astronomy
When thought
sky.
can
(and rebel against) the ha-
taste
your eyes can
register the bright,
apparent.
Our
eyes perceive Ught the
you have ever viewed a
solar ecHpse, you may have nothat the Sun's disk must be at least
If
of as an ensemble of
sandy terrain on a sunny beach yet
ticed
experimental tools for exploring the
have no trouble spotting a lone match,
90 percent covered by the
world, our senses have an astonishing
freshly Ht,
acuity and range of sensitivity:
ears
Your
can register the thunderous launch
of the space
shuttle, yet
they can also
hundreds of
Before
praise
we
breadth what
cause
dropped on your big toe but also a
one-milhgram bug crawUng up your
ball
arm.
Some
people enjoy munching on
habanero peppers, while other people
get
we
we
away
carried
we
in
gain in
lose in precision, be-
register the world's
stimuH in
logarithmic rather than linear incre-
ments. For example,
fore
anybody comments
has darkened.
of ourselves, note that
from your head. Your sense of touch
bowUng
in a
darkened auditorium.
hear a mosquito buzzing a foot away
allows you to feel not only a
away
feet
if
you
increase a
you
will barely take notice. Increase it by a
factor of ten, and the change wLU be
sound's energy by a factor of two,
stellar
Moon
The magnitude
brightness,
the
be-
that the sky
scale
of
well-known
acoustic decibel scale, the seismic scale
for earthquake severity
—each
is
loga-
rithmic, in part because of our biological
propensity to see, hear, and feel the
world that way.
What,
if
anything,
lies
beyond our
Does there exist a way of
knowdng that isn't hmited by these bisenses?
oli)gR\il coiiiicctioiis uitli
our
trom their starship
f.irthly
Consider that the human machine,
while good
at
decoding the
or night,
creature
if a
is
how
the
them
rest
a
handheld device that
a
of
could analyze the basic properties of
day
anything they encountered, living or
about to
eat
basics
has very httle talent tor decoding
us),
"tricorder,"
(it it's
immediate environment
tlie
uncharted
to an
planet always brought with
ciwiromiiciit?
of nature works. For
inanimate. As you
waved the
over the object in question,
tricorder
made
it
a
spacey sound that was interpreted by
we need the tools of science. It
we want to know what's out there,
then we must resort to detectors other
than the ones we are born with. The
job is to extend and. when we can,
the user.
transcend the breadth and depth ot
be clueless about the blob's chemical or
our senses.
nuclear composition.
that,
Some people
know
professing to
sense,
sixth
boast of having
top the
list
mind
readers,
of those
who
or
For-
see things that others cannot.
tune-tellers,
a
and mystics
lay
claim to
these mysterious powers, hi so doing,
they
elicit
Suppose
unknown
glowing blob of some
a
substance were parked right
of you. Without some diag-
in front
know whether
whether
netic tleld or
emitting
gamma
waves.
It
rays,
others,
book pub-
cially
and
lishers
tele-
ot light in the sky,
your
Sacrificing precision for
we
breadth,
tance,
world's stimuli in
questionable
logarithmic rather than
field
ot parapsy-
Unear increments.
its
of
some people
talent. To me, the
least
this
all
is
why
so
biggest mystery
many
fortune-tellers
TV
becoming
traders on
Weekly Excavation Procrams
Summer 2001
Inquire aboltt Aduit5-Only Weeks
(kow Canyon
Archaeolockal (enteh
23390 Road K Cortez, Colorado 813i1
(800) 4ii-8975 www.crowcanyon.orc
.
lick the stutT
Wall Street. Apart trom this inexplicable tact, the persistent tailure
You would
of con-
support the claims of parapsychology^
suggests that what's going
on
is
non-
analysis
tain,
all
lacking the urge to
you could report
be, "Cap-
it's
a blob."
Apologies to Edwdn
his
words
at
P.
the top of this
to
The Lodge on
Equipped with our
mass spectrometers and
ware converts the information
and magnetometers and
gleans
and
iiloiif;
seisniograplis
particle
accelerators
images that our innate senses can inter-
the entire electromagnetic spectriun
the crew that
beamed down
we
detectors seiisitire to
explore the unirersc around
call the
adventure science.
Georgia
iis
—
and
Island
island
280
bird
species, recreational activities, regional
cuisine
and
just thirty guests.
Small Hotel in North
America", 2000 Conde Nast
Readers' Choice awards.
into simple tables, charts, diagrams, or
In the original Star Trek sci-fi
St Simons
paradise. 7 mile pristine beach.
and iniavscopes and
u'itli
ware. In the end, of course, the hard-
telescopes
—
five senses
Little
10,000-acre
Exclusive
have special powers, just special hard-
it
essay, w'hile
like this:
science wields dozens of
do not claim
Hubble, but
poignant and poetic, should have read
more
sense rather than sixth sense.
—
35^^^
back to the starship would
double-blind experiments to
"senses," yet scientists
of rota-
that
—and
your
series,
flf^o.
velocity
compose its emitted Ught, nor could you know (as bees
do) whether or not the light was polarized. Without any hardware to help
trum of colors
insanely wealthy futures
pret.
ofxcay^
dis-
its
its
rate
tion.
psychic hotlines instead of
Modern
(hotis-fl/ids
to see the specactually possess
choose to work the phones on
trolled,
oj the American Southwest
have no capacity
founded
on the behef that
at
rugged landscape
through space, or
The
is
lived in the
no
offer
of
hint
senses
five
would
register the
vision producers.
chology
rays, ultravio-
the blob were tar out in
wideespe-
X
Ancient Tcchnolo^a
and Archaeology of those
who
strongly
is
space, appearing as an unresolved point
spread fascination
in
it
microwaves, or radio
radiation,
let
Nor could you
has an electromag-
it
...ihc
you would
nostic tool like a tricorder,
888-733-5774
•
912-638-7472
www.LittleS6imonslsland.com
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NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
86
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Comfortable small group
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AMERICA
crowaves,
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MIDDLE
EAST
Tune
into view.
see
wW.
and the locations
rays,
^iW'
into
gamma
explosions
titanic
throughout
would have seen immediately, even
rays,
and
scattered
galaxies are receding firom us
entire universe
If
is
Sicily
"
Malta ^Tunisia
Morocco
»
Sardinia
THE CONNOISSEURS' MEDITERRANEAN
day.
Watch
our eyes had the resolution of
body would ever have blamed the
plague and other illnesses on divine
wrath. The bacteria and viruses that
make us sick would be in plain view as
they crawled on our food or slid
through open wounds on our skin.
With simple experiments, we could
easily tell which bugs were bad and
which were good. And, of course, the
problem of postoperative infection
would have been identified and solved
hundreds of years earHer.
we could detect high-energy
we would be able to spot ra-
If
particles,
dioactive substances from great distances
Our senses, honedfrom
effect
of these ex-
it
counters
up and glows
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to
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E-mail: [email protected]
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(800)
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we
wonder what was
infancy,
to pass
home and
somebody to tell
you about it.
Honed from
our senses allow us
as adults
judgment on events and phe-
nomena
in
our
lives,
to
determine
whether or not they "make sense."
Problem is, hardly any scientific discoveries of the past century flowed
from the
direct application of our
five senses.
They flowed
from
instead
wouldn't have
sense-transcendent mathematics and
we
hardware. This simple fact explains
in the air
We
could just check
the analyzer to see
whether the air
oxygen to sustain
were breathing.
httpv7uiuiui.8Hplorama.com
from beyond the
had gas analyzers
call to us
If
within our
ORAMA
of your
not have to pay
not they ^'make sense.
compass would never have
We
need one.
Earth's
with
in our
of
were born with magnetic de-
through
the basement floor
us whether or
been invented, because we wouldn't
discover fTVv
gas seep
Hght.
tectors, the
neces-
You could
even watch radon
pass judgment on events
lives, telling
in
bands
allow us as adults
and phenomena
heats
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to
on the
surrounding ma-
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infancy,
plosions
terial as
—no Geiger
sary.
the
that the
high-performance microscopes, no-
of about one per
'4--
—
expanding.
the
universe at a rate
as
grunting troglodytes, that aU distant
pop immediately
raling into them,
AMERICA
''y-*'K.
after the big bang. Flip
of nearby black holes, with matter spi-
SOUTH
T-JTSSrri-i
locations, such as the
principal stars of the con-
X
the dial to
AMERICA
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except
Sagittarius).
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of the uni-
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we were born with high-precision,
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daytime sky
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the
how
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world would appear to us and
why
relativity,
particle physics,
and
ten-dimensional string theory make
have
no sense to the average person. Neither do black holes, wormholes, and
learned thousands of years ago that
the big bang. Actually, these things
contained sufficient
human
life.
the stars in the
And we would
Milky Way contain the
same chemical elements found here
on Earth.
If we were born with big eyes and
built-in Doppler motion detectors, we
don't
either.
a
make much
At
least
new and
sense to scientists
not until they acquire
higher level of
"common
sense" from long study of the
math
and physics of the universe. This
ADVERTISEMENT
.illous tor
.ihk's
crcatiw
tliinkiiiL;
judgment
us to pass
,uii.l
underworld of the atom or
m
mind-bending domain of
man
Max
physicist
Nobel Prize
is
Online!
who won
made
a
simi-
obser\-ation about the discovery
lar
o(
Planck,
1918,
in
I
The Ger-
higlier-dimensional space.
a
H STO RV
in the tni-
f.uniliar
tlie
NATU RAL
(.'ii-
qu.uitum mechanics:
Moiicni Physics impresses
iis
partiaihirly with the truth oj the ohi
doctrine wliich
the past, check out
that there are
has on the
problems and
coiitiicis
realities are
.C'CiiftT I'ahie for
('/
Selections, to our editors' favorite pick
apart from our sense-
and
perceptions,
From Natural iVlomcnrs and Natural
that there arc
tciicltes
reiihties existiii'i;
where these
web
from
what Natuful HISTORY
for vou.
And
don't forget
know how
to ask us questions to let us
us than
we're doing.
We want
to
hear from vou.
the richest treasures of the world of
A place tofind out more about the world we live in.
experictice.
Our
five senses
even interfere with
Check
sensible answers to stupid metaphysi-
such
cal questions,
the forest
hear
it,
"How
did
"If a tree
as
and nobody
it
fall?"
My
do you know
around
is
best answer
But
fell?"
it
people angry. So
just gets
falls
"Q:
in
us out at
www.naturalhistory.com
to
is,
that
offer a
I
you can't
smell the carbon monoxide, how do
you know it's there? A: You drop
senseless analogy:
dead." (Natural gas, too,
human
the
is
odorless to
nose. For our protection, a
pungent smell
leaks
If
is
added so that gas
can be safely identified and lo-
cated.)
In
modern
times, if the sole
measure of what's out there flows
from your senses, then a precarious
Can
Save the World's Species?
awaits you.
life
New
tors
we
new
ways ot knowing are
\\indows on the universe,
new
nonbiological senses.
new
level
list
Whenever
of
this
of majesty and
complexirs- in the universe reveals
self to us, as
7-9 pm
Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation
on Economic Trends, considers the benefits,
risks, and limitations of cloning, genetic
engineering, and genomics in efforts to
American Museum of Natural History
conserve biodiversity.
detec-
can add to our growing
happens, a
ii(ai'i':c:[iN()f,()(;Y
Wednesday, April
IMAX
4,,2001
Theater
it-
though we were techno-
$10
for
AMNH and WCS members
$ 12 for non-members
logically evolving into supersentient
beings, always
coming
Neil de Grasse Tyson
is
to
our
senses.
the Frederick P.
Rose Director of New York City's Hayden
Planetarium.
Tliis semester
he
is
teaching
astrophysics at Princeton University.
American
Museums
Natural
History
%wcs
A
panel of distinguished scientists joins
Mr.
Riflcin to discuss
the future of
conservation genetics.
Sponsored by the Museum's Education Department,
the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, and
the Bronx
Zoo-based
The public
Is
Wildlife Conservation Society.
also invited to register lor two
full
days
of scholarly presentations during our sixth annual
Spring Symposium, Cotiservalion Genetics in the
Age of Genomics (April 5 and
6).
WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION
SOCIETY
For more info
CBC
website
call
at
212-769-5200 or
visit the
htlp://r9search,amnh.org/blodlversity/
88
NWURAL HISTOIW
3/0
1
THE NATUR AL MOMENT
wKmaaaammmmmmtmmmmmammmmmmm
m
!?
Photograph by Janies Warwick
Pier
RevW
DUILL in lODO, LMt; VVtJbL riCI dL DliyilLUll, UM LMC iUULII LUdiU
of England, has long been a place for socializing. Seaside
visitors flocked to its pavilion
pier closed in 1975.
now
alive
and
concert hall until the
Although the empty buildings on the
derelict structure are silent
by day, they come noisily
on winter nights with the chirps, whistles, and varied
murmurings of starlings— tens of thousands of them. As
their natural roosts in
woods and reed beds become
scarce.
''
_A._..i:.
buildings and bridges. Photographer
James Warwick, himself
a Brighton native, notes that small flocks from miles around
arrive
each evening, then coalesce into a huge roosting
congregation. Before settling in for the night, the starlings
indulge in an almost silent aerial display. One can hear only
their "wings ripping the air" as they
masse,
like "iron filings in a
change direction en
magnetized sky."— Judy Rice
^4^m^
''" *
'
« -*«« i
;i
US
i
?§
H iM
90
NATURAL HISTORY 3/01
ENDPAPER
Informed Consent
A muckraking book spotlights the ethics of anthropological fieldwork.
Samuel M. Wilson
fiy
September, an ominous message addressed to
Early
the president of the American Anthropological Assolast
ciation
grapevine.
(AAA) began making the rounds of the e-mail
"We
it began, "of an imAmerican anthropologi-
write to inform you,"
pending scandal
that
cal profession as a
wiU
whole
affect the
and arouse
in the eyes of the public,
intense indignation and
calls
among members of
for action
the Association." Prompting this warning was the
publication of Darkness
nalists
Devastated the
in
El Dorado:
Amazon
(W.
How
Scientists
and Jour-
the same time, a feminist critique of science
emerged, challenging long-held, deeply biased interpretations.
Ethnographers
also reconsidered
what they owed
their
"informants" in terms of shared credit and editorial control
over what was being written about them, and reassessed the
knew what was
condescending assumption that they
right
for "their" tribe.
Among the
imminent
W. Norton). The book's au-
AAA. At
the
AAA
the
results
of this soul-searching was that in 1965
impaneled a Committee on Research Problems
and Ethics and, in 1967, adopted
a
code of
ethics.
Much
thor, freelance journahst Patrick Tierney,
amended over
was charging anthropologists and other
code includes the following wording:
outsiders
who worked
Amazonia
in
in
"Anthropological researchers have pri-
||
mary
the 1960s with a wide range of misdeeds
and
ethical violations, the
the years, the current
most horrify-
ethical obligations to the people,
and materials they study and to
species,
whom
ing of which was that they had inten-
the
tionally introduced a devastating measles
These obHgations can supersede the goal
epidemic
among
the Yanomaini.
who
of
of seeking
Napoleon A.
The
published a vivid ac-
rado are
those singled out was
Chagnon,
One
—
"Yanomamo The Fierce People," in
way back in January 1967.
news of the book first hit, the reaction of many
count of his fieldwork,
Natural History
When
anthropologists was a quiet dread that
start
acts
people with
it
represented only the
of an unpleasant airing of the profession's
and practices in the
past.
less
defensible
Anthropology emerged
when many
late in
false.
knowledge."
made
in Darkness in El
Do-
now being carefUly reviewed and
The most damning
debated.
ported or
new
claims
they work.
accusations appear to be unsup-
Nevertheless, past research
among
the Yano-
mami was not ethically untainted, particularly in that acts of
violence may have been instigated to study the supposedly violent nature of
fact,
men. Long before the book's pubHcation,
criticism against
in
anthropologists was expressed
were vanishing or being forever changed by colonial expan-
document the charges and
countercharges include www.tamu.edu/anthropology/Neel
sion and modernization. Anthropologists
.html and www.anth.ucsb.edu/chagnon.html.)
the nineteenth century,
traditional societies
felt it
was
their
mission to record what remained of the languages, knowledge, and worldviews of disintegrating cultures.
They
did
not necessarily pause to consider that their presence in the
field or the dissemination
of the knowledge they gained
might harm the people they studied. In
their
fact,
work
often aided colonial administrators and occasionally served
as a
cover for espionage.
By
the 1960s, anthropologists had
their abihty to
heavals of the
litically
within the
The
field.
to agonize over
be impartial observers. With the
social
up-
Vietnam War, the belief that science was pocame sharply into question. When some so-
sites that
practice of anthropology
wiU always be
complex, simply because the researcher
different cultural systems.
The El Dorado
is
ethically
caught between
scandal, however,
highlights the sea change that has occurred over the past forty
years.
Although some research from the 1960s and before
was of the highest
carried out today
begun
(Web
some
pline has
ethical standards
is still
and some research being
questionable,
become more
self-aware.
on the whole the disciwhile at one time
And
seeking the "informed consent" of the studied was un-
known, proceeding without
it
now
is
almost unthinkable.
neutral
cial scientists
provided cultural information in support of the
U.S. war effort, they were called to account by
members of
Samuel
M.
Wilson
is
an
associate professor
University of Texas at Austin.
of anthropology at the
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TMS V/ORLD
2001 FAMILY PROGRAMS
and leading expeditions of learning and
In the last decade, the recommendations of pre-
iscovery Tours has been designing
acwenture for nearly half a century.
lous travelers led us to create our special Family Programs
—
^journeys created to
engage, enrich, and delight an audience of parents, grandparents, and children.
Traveling in the
company of Museum
archaeology, biology, geology,
and
scientists
and paleontology
—
special lecturers
—
experts in
participants of every age learn
firsthand about the natural history, cultures,
and even the prehistory of the
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trained
Wildlife
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June 19 -July
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1-2
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DAY 5
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visit.
June 30 -July 10, 2001
$3,280 - $5,790
Youth Coordinators lead a variety
Family Dinosaur Discovery:
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Exploring the Natural
July 7 -13, 2001
August 18-24,2001
Wonders ofIreland:
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$1,745 -$2,650
DAY
1
In addition, specially
of the Galapagos
A Family
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DAY1
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DAY
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we
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3
Grand Junction
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Genovesa Island
DAYS
Mygatt-Moore Quarry
DAY 6
Colorado River/Ruby
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DAY
Monument/Unaweep Canyon/
Island
1
Depart
USA
DAY 2
Shannon, Ireland/Ennis
DAY 3
Knappogue Casde/Quin
Abbey/The Craggaunowen
Pass
'
DAY 6
Beijing
DAy 7
Xi'an
DAY 6
Santa Cruz Island
OAy 8
Xi'an
DAY 7
Isabela Island/Fernandina
DAy 9
Xi'an/Chongqing
DA/ 10
Shibaozhai
DAY 8
Isabela Island
DAy
Qutang Gorge/Wu
Gorge/Xiling Gorge
DAY 9
Espanola Island
DAY
1
Galapagos/Quito
DAY 12
Jingzhou/Wuhan
DAY
1 1
Quito/USA
DAY 13
Shanghai
DAY 8
Ennis
DAYU
Shanghai
DAY 9
Ennis/Shannon/USA
DAY 15
Shanghai/Tokyo/USA
1
DAY 5
Island
Project
DAY 4
Canyon/Horseshoe Canyon
DAY?
DepartlGrand Junction
Bunratty Casde/Bunratty
Folk Park
DAY 5
Burren Center/Newtown
DAY 6
Thoor Ballylee/Coole
DAY
Aran
Castle/ClifFsofMoher
Park/Galway City
Price
7
Islands
based on double occupancy.
Sinsle rates available
All prices, dates,
and
on
all
tours.
itineraries are
subject to
change.
••Includes overseas airfare from selected
cities,
\lATURAL History ^P;
'"" 'OUK
Dl'iC
.\
Expeditions throughout the World with Distinguished Scientists and Educators
of age-appropriate activities and excursions for younger travelers while adults
and
attend certain lectures, tours,
seating dinners).
Throughout
wine
special events (such as a
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these itineraries, however, the focus remains the
himily... experiencing together the
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discovery and understanding in places of great beauty,
antiquity,
and
scientific
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Voyage to the Lands of Gods
and Heroes: A Family
Journey to the Ancient
Mediterranean Aboard the
Clelia
II
July 23
-August
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DA/
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Nepal: A Himalayan
Tuscany:
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20, 2001
August 10-18,2001
Jam ARV
2002
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DAY
Naples, Italy/Embark CL'lin 11
DAYS
Naples/Pompeii
DAY
Messina, Sicily/Taormina
1
DAY 2
Depart
DAY
USA
Katakolon, Greece/Olympia
5
Heraklion/Knossos, Crete
Lindos/Rhodes
7
Patmos, Greece/Kusadasi,
DAY 8
Turkey
DAY 10
DAY 3
Siena
Florence
5
DAY 6
Giostra Del Seracino
DAY
Trasimeno/Cortona
7
Piraeus/Disembark Qt'/w///
DAY 9
Sarteano/Rome
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DAV
Vouliagmeni/Athens
11
Family Alaska Expedition:
Aboard the Wilderness
Adventurer
August 14-21, 2001
Athens/Vouliagmeni
DAY 12
Vouliagmeni/Cape
1
USA
Kathmandu
DAYS
Kathmandu/Pokhara
DAY 6
Pokliara/Birethanti
DAY 7
Birethanti
DAYS
Birethanti/Dhampus
DAY 9
Dhanipus/Pokhara
DAY 10
Pokhara/Seti River
DAY
Seti River/Royal
11
Juneau
DAY 3
Point Adolphus and ley
DAY 12
Roval Chitwan National
DAY 13
Royal Chinvan National
Park
Park/Bharatpur/Kathmandu
DAY 4
Glacier Bay
DAV 5
Chichagof Island/Baranof
DAY 14
I
Discovery Tours, the educational
department of the
American Museum of Natural
i
travel
History,
is
a registered service
frarkof this institution.
^•
\
Kathmandu/Bangkok,
Thailand
Island
^
Chirwan
National Park
Strait
Vouliagmeni/
Athens'/
Depart USA/Bangkok,
DAY 4
Arrive Juneau
DAY 2
Sounion
DAY 13
-
Nepal
Montepulciano/Pienza
DAY
3,
Thailand/Katlimandu,
Zurich/Rome/Sarteano,
DAy4
DAY 8
Santorini, Greece
Day 9
DAY
1-3
Italy
4
DAY 6
DAY
Family Adventure
Family Adventure
USA
DAY 8
DAY
A Summer
DAY 6
Adiniralt)' Island
DAY 7
Trac)'
DAY 8
Depart Juneau
Arm
DAY 15
Banokok/USA
Fjord
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTGRY/DISCOVERy TOURS
For
more information
call:
800-462-8687 or 212-769-5700 Fax: 212-769-5755
Email: [email protected] Visit: discoverytours.org
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