Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

mammals

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The Woodchuck…or Groundhog?

By: Suzanne McLaren

groundhog with long, curled teeth

Woodchuck, groundhog, whistle pig- these picturesque and sometimes misleading names describe one of the state’s most common and familiar mammals. The exposure of “Punxsutawney Phil” has helped to acquaint many people with some of the groundhog’s habits and has made the animal appear to be a comical character.

The importance of incisors in the woodchuck’s obtaining of food is obvious when the remaining teeth are examined. Between the incisors and the cheek teeth is a large gap which would be filled by canine teeth in omnivorous and carnivorous mammals. Behind this gap, called the diastema, are five molar-type teeth on each side of the upper jay and four on each side of the lower jaw. These cheek teeth grind and pulverize the material obtained for them by the incisors.

The image above details the importance of perfect dental alignment in a woodchuck. Misaligned teeth lead to unchecked growth and death by starvation.

Suzanne McLaren is the Curatorial Assistant of the Section of Mammals in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.  

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Ask a Scientist: What is one of the more unique…

Ask a Scientist: What is one of the more unique mammals of western Pennsylvania?

Collections Manager Suzanne McClaren weighs in on what is so unique about one of the more familiar mammals of western Pennsylvania.

Ask a Scientist is a new short video series where we ask our research staff questions about the millions of amazing objects and specimens stored in our collection. Tune in on YouTube, and submit your own questions via Twitter @CarnegieMNH.

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Humans and Nature: Pangolins

model of a pangolin

Have you ever heard of the pangolin? If not, it may surprise you to learn that they are the most illegally trafficked animal on the planet.

Sometimes called scaly anteaters, pangolins are unique in that they are mammals that are scaly, have no teeth, and eat social insects like termites or ants. There are eight species of pangolins worldwide: four in Africa and four in Asia.

Their scales are valued in some African and Asian medical practices, and though they may not look appetizing to Americans, their tender meat is a delicacy in some cultures. Just one kilogram of pangolin scales can be sold for thousands of dollars. As a result, pangolin populations have been nearly decimated by humans.

The third Saturday of February is World Pangolin Day, which was instituted by conservationists looking to draw attention to the terrible, impending crisis facing the future of pangolins.

Here at the museum, we raised awareness by including a taxidermy mount of a pangolin in We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene, an exhibition that explored the interconnectedness of humanity and nature in the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene is the current geological era in which humans are making a profound impact on the geological strata. While the term itself is still being debated by geologists, the museum is embracing it as a social and cultural tool for exploring the broad sum effect humans are having on the planet. We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene was the first exhibition in the nation to focus on the Anthropocene as a concept and it was built entirely within Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Related Content

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What is the Anthropocene and How Does it Relate to Earth Day?

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The Naming of the Shrew

By John Wible

When most people in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Upper Midwest find this small, brown, tubular mammal in leaf litter in their yard they call it a mole. In fact, it is not a mole, but a relative of a mole called a shrew. More specifically, it is a northern short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda. Like moles, the northern short-tailed shrew has degenerate eyes, spends most of its time in underground burrows, and feasts on earthworms and other invertebrates. Estimates are that it eats its weight per day to maintain its high metabolic rate; food consumption has to increase in winter to survive the cold. Life span is short by our standards, with most not living more than a year. To aid in procuring food, the northern short-tailed shrew has a salivary gland that produces venomous saliva that either kills or paralyzes its prey. Biochemically, it resembles some snake venom and starts the digestive process by breaking down protein. Vision is not this shrew’s forte, but I have seen them successfully cross a busy two-lane road in the North Hills of Pittsburgh! How? They echolocate, using high-pitched clicks, and have a heightened sense of smell.

shrew specimen collected in Pennsylvania

There are more than 350 species of shrews found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Not all shrews spend the majority of their time underground. Some tropical shrews in Africa and Asia forage in bushes and small trees and there are even aquatic shrews! They are all small though and with a similar tubular body plan. The largest shrew is about 6 inches long and weighs 100 grams. The smallest, the Etruscan pygmy shrew, Suncus etruscus, is less than an inch and a half in length and weighs only 1.8 grams; it is the smallest living terrestrial mammal by weight.

In Old English, shrews were superstitiously feared and were believed to have a venomous bite, which is not true as shrews in England are not venomous; in fact, our North American Blarina brevicauda is the only venomous shrew species. These small mammals became the source of another usage for the word shrew as an evil or scolding person, used in that sense since at least the 11th century and made immortal by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Despite the intention of the title, Blarina brevicauda cannot be domesticated!

John Wible, PhD, is the curator of the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. John’s research is focused on the tree of life of mammals, understanding the evolutionary relationships between living and extinct taxa, and how the mammalian fauna on Earth got to be the way it is today. He uses his expertise on the anatomy of living mammals to reconstruct the lifeways of extinct mammals. John lives with his wife and two sons in a house full of cats and rabbits in Ross Township.

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Scientists Live: Suzanne McLaren – Squirrels

On the most recent Scientists Live, Mammals Collection Manager Suzanne McLaren discussed the squirrels of Pennsylvania.

Sue did a 20-minute broadcast on November 8 on Facebook Live to show off the collection and answer questions from commenters as part of the web series. This series is designed to give our followers a glimpse at hidden collections and the great science happening at the museum every day.

This episode of Scientists Live was made possible by funding and support from The Institute of Museum and Library Services.