Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

A case of mistaken squirrel identity has been solved thanks to two of our researchers. Research zoologist Arlo Hinckley, curator Melissa Hawkins, and colleagues recently re-evaluated two squirrel species in a paper published last month in the journal Vertebrate Zoology. Read more here: https://s.si.edu/4fzaCR4

Did you know there’s a national lab in D.C. dedicated to solving bird murders? WTOP's Matt Kaufax visited the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History to learn about what is perhaps the most interesting “crime lab” in D.C., dedicated to keeping you safe in the air. Learn about the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's "Feather Identification Lab" and find more episodes of "Matt About Town" on WTOP: https://lnkd.in/ePc_dgH8

Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large fish that lived about 382–358 million years ago. An apex predator, it could quickly open and close its jaw and had an extremely high bite force. Pictured here is Dunkleosteus terrelli, the most well-known species in the genus. This specimen was collected in Ohio and other have been found across the United States, Poland, Belgium, and Morocco. Nearly all fossils from this genus come from the armored head and upper trunk of Dunkleosteus.

On August 23, 2023, a shark seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Swimming along the aquarium’s sandy floor was a striped surprise. The three female epaulette sharks at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois suddenly had a new roommate: a teeny-tiny, 15-centimeter baby shark. The discovery of this newborn shocked the aquarium staff. None of the sharks had appeared to be pregnant. Furthermore, the mother of this new baby had not been housed with males since she was three years old and had yet to reach sexual maturity There was no way she could have mated with a male—so how did this young female become a mother all by herself? Read more here: https://s.si.edu/3UDGk7s

As winter’s darkness gathered in 1872, Captain Charles Francis Hall lay dying on the U.S.S. Polaris, anchored off the coast of Greenland. Before he breathed his last, Hall accused his crew—especially his chief scientist Emil Bessels—of wanting to poison him. In 1968, Hall’s body was exhumed. An analysis of his hair and nails indicated a high degree of certainty that he died of arsenic poisoning, which might have been self-induced. Or not. A snow bunting from the museum's Bird Division was collected by Emil Bessels in May 1872 and preserved using arsenic. Could arsenic from the same bottle have also killed Captain Hall a few months earlier? Read more: https://s.si.edu/4enP34l

Perhaps the most famous item in the museum's collection, the Hope Diamond arrived here #OTD in 1958. Donor and jeweler Harry Winston mailed the gem from New York City, via registered mail. Winston paid $145.29 to mail the package, spending $2.44 for postage and remainder for a $1 million insurance policy. This packaging is now in the collection of the National Postal Museum. The Hope Diamond is one of the cornerstones of the National Gem & Mineral Collection, which consists of approximately 385,000 mineral specimens and 10,000 gems. The collection is used for scientific research, education programs, and public exhibitions. Every year specimens are loaned to scientists around the world for research projects in geology, materials science, health, chemistry, physics, and other disciplines.

Interested in a career in science writing and love the ocean? Our Ocean Science Writing internship might be perfect for you! Help create original content to be published on the Ocean Portal website and participate in other communications activities at the museum. Applications are due Nov 10th. Learn more: https://s.si.edu/3NOsHhP

Interested in writing about meteorites and mammoths, squids and sloths, diamonds and dinosaurs? Apply now for the paid Spring 2025 #SciComm internship at the National Museum of Natural History! This 12-week, part-time internship may be virtual. Work will focus on presenting science and natural history stories primarily through our Smithsonian Voices platform. Apply by 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 10. Learn more: https://s.si.edu/3BXZnma

?? In the early 1900s, science as a profession was largely inaccessible to women. Despite societal constraints, a few pioneering women found a path to contribute through illustration. Drawing was a decidedly “womanly” pastime in the early 20th Century, so illustration became an acceptable avenue for women to document and interpret the natural world despite the gender bias in traditional scientific roles. These are the stories of four women—Violet Dandridge, Aime Motter Awl, Carolyn Bartlett Gast, and Marilyn Schotte—in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Invertebrate Zoology who broke through the gendered barriers of science and made significant contributions to scientific discovery through art. Read more: https://s.si.edu/3YabST8 1??,3?? Illustration of the lateral view of a feather star (Ptilocrinus pinnatus) by Violet Dandridge published in “A Monograph of the Existing Crinoids” by Austin Hobart Clark in 1915. 2?? Image courtesy of Bedinger Family History and Genealogy. 4?? Illustration of a new species of crab, Aegla parana, by Amie Awl featured in a publication by Waldo Schmitt in 1942. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. 5?? Illustration of a Loriciferan (Pliciloricus enigmaticus) by Carolyn Gast from the publication describing this new species in 1986. Discovering new phyla is rare; Loricifera was only the third new phylum discovered in the 1900s. Image courtesy of Higgins & Kristensen, 1986. 6?? Marilyn Schotte at her retirement party in 2009. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Invertebrate Zoology. 7?? Schotte’s illustration of Malacanthura schotteae featured in Kensley’s original 1982 publication, “Revision of southern African Anthuridea.” Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

Congrats to Dr. Carole Baldwin who today was awarded the Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas Award!