Scallop and Pecten found in Pilocene, California on display in Benedum Hall of Geology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
(Photo by Hayley Pontia)
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
by carnegiemnh
by carnegiemnh
by Hayley Pontia
Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s collection of mollusks is home to about 3 million specimens that include more land and freshwater snails from Pennsylvania and its adjacent states than all other U.S. museums combined.
What are mollusks you ask? They are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet. They have a soft body with a ‘head’ and ‘tail’ region. Their bodies are most commonly covered in a hard exoskeleton, but some can even have their shells on the inside.
You may know the most common mollusks without even knowing they are mollusks: snails, clams, octopuses, scallops, oysters, and even squids are all part of this phylum. Many people are around these animals, yet know very little about them.
As assistant curator and head of mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Tim Pearce spends a lot of time researching and understanding these specimens. Every second Saturday, Pearce gives tours of the collection found in the basement of the museum for those interested in learning more about these unique species.
Hayley Pontia is the marketing assistant at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and a student at the University of Pittsburgh. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.
by carnegiemnh
Even on our warmest and muggiest days, it’s hard to imagine Pennsylvania ever looked like this coal forest diorama.
Giant cockroaches, dragonflies, and centipedes shared the area we now call home with huge amphibians like the Eryops, which is pictured above.
Oddly, there were no birds in those ancient forests. They wouldn’t evolve for another 100 million years!
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by Patrick McShea
At first it seems absurd to discuss speed in front of adiorama in which nothing moves. With appropriate prompts, however, this threedimensional snapshot of galloping pronghorn antelopes can generate an astonishing level of mind’s eye animation.
When viewed from dusty Wyoming roadsides, distant pronghorns appear to gallop without sound, even when their pace suddenly changes and their speed doubles for 100-yard stretches.
At the close vantage point offered by the diorama, such antelope maneuvers would undoubtedly produce a sensory mix of blurred furred forms, the staccato clatter of hooves against rock, and the powerful scent of crushed sage.
The species’ blazing speed invites speculation about its evolutionary history. Could pronghorn antelopes be adapted to elude a predator no longer found on western landscapes? A large extinct cat termed an American cheetah is sometimes cited as the missing participant in this natural selection process.
Fossil evidence examined during the past 25 years complicates this narrative. Paleontologists point to expansive ranges for these big cats that include mountainous areas and sea coasts, and the absence, to date, of sites containing both cat and antelope fossils.
With the identity of the pronghorn’s prehistoric predator unsettled, a viewing position in front of the diorama is a place to ponder possibilities.
Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.
by carnegiemnh
by carnegiemnh