Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Nature 360

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A Bumble’s Blog and Bumble “Weee” Catapult Craft

Wander outside in the spring and summer and I bet you will bump into a busy bumble bee bumbling among the wildflowers. Bumble bees (Bombus sp.) are rather rotund, fuzzy bees usually with black and yellow-orange stripes. Unlike the famous honey bee that hails from Europe and Asia, most bumble bee species are native to our area. Bumble bees have small underground colonies with a loose social system, compared to that of a honey bee. While bumble bees produce honey, it is in small quantities and certainly not enough to share on an industrial scale. Still, these fuzzy bumbles play an important role as pollinators of local wildflower populations and are even adapted to pollinate certain flowers!

photo of Dutchman's breeches flower

This fashionable bumble bee is trying to squeeze into a little pair of white breeches! Duchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) to be exact. A bumble bee’s proboscis (tongue) is long enough to reach the nectaries within the nectary spurs or “pant leg” and the bee is strong enough to push open the flower petals to collect pollen.

bumblebee on squawroot

This bumble bee is sipping nectar from squawroot (Conopholis americana). Bumble bees and flies are the typical visitors of this parasitic plant! Fun fact: bumble bees “buzz” pollenate, which means they vibrate their bodies, effectively knocking pollen down into the flowers they visit.

Upon observing the flight of a bumble bee, I have noticed that while they are strong flyers, they are not the most graceful. Sometimes they miss their mark and land on a chunk of moss instead of the flower. However, they just take that moment to rest their wings before firing up their little motor and buzzing off into, hopefully, the next flower. Their rather clunky flight pattern gave me an idea for a fun activity to help young children learn about pollinators (and sneak in a STEM activity): The Bumble “Weee” Catapult! See below for assembly instructions:

Materials

      3 pipe cleaners

      Paper

      Pen or pencil

      Coloring supplies

      Scissors

      Recycled egg carton

      Recycled plastic spoon

      4-5 large Rubber bands

Let’s dismiss the idea of launching real bumble bees and begin building the bee puppet 😉. Pick 3 different colors of pipe cleaner. Feel free to go with traditional bee colors or mix it up!

1.     For the body, twist together two pipe cleaners.

2.     Wrap the twisted pipe cleaners tightly around a pen or pencil and slide it off.

3.     Tuck the loose ends inward and tighten up the coils on the end you would call the head.

4.     For the wings, shorten the remaining pipe cleaner by 1/3, then loop it under one of the coils of the bee’s body.

5.     Adjust the pipe cleaner for equal length on either side and twist at the base.

6.     Roll in the loose ends to finish forming your wings, thus completing the bumble bee.

step by step photos of creating a bee from pipe cleaners

Next, build the catapult to help your bee puppet fly. The catapult consists of half of an egg carton, 4-5 rubber bands, and a recycled spoon. Tension energy is generated when the spoon is pulled back. The arm stores that energy as potential energy. Upon release, that potential energy is transferred to the object as kinetic energy, moving the object away from the arm. Pictured is the simplest catapult design with rubber bands holding the spoon, or arm of the catapult, in place. Feel free to design something more elaborate!

photo of catapult made from egg carton, plastic spoon, and rubber bands

Finally, the bumble bee needs a flower to land in! Draw a flower of your choice on a piece of paper and color it in. Many bees are able to see UV light, which means they are able see colors and patterns invisible to the human naked eye. Some flowers have nectar guides that really stand out to bees, so feel free to draw some nectar guides, or lines that point to the center on your flower targets to help guide your bumble bee!

photo of paper flower

Feel free to create as many flowers as you like and propel your little bumble bee into as many flowers as you can. Happy pollinating!

Sara Klingensmith an educator at Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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The World of Bee Vomit

If you’re squeamish, this blog post might not be for you. We are deep diving in the world of vomit. Did you know insects like bumblebees vomit just like we do? Humans tend to vomit (upchuck, throw up, whatever you want to call it) as a reaction to something we don’t like or a sickness. However, bees are more methodical with their vomit.

The Thought Process

A bee collecting nectar from a redbud. Photo by Melissa Cagan.

Bumblebees put a lot of thought into choosing which flower to gather nectar from. Some common factors are how far the flower is from the hive, the shape of the petals, and how sugary the nectar is.

A recent study published in the Journal of Royal Society Interface shows bees also consider how long it will take for them to vomit the nectar back up.

Bees will go out on foraging duty to drink and collect the nectar. Then, they return to the nest and regurgitate the nectar into wax honeypots so the other bees can have nectar.

Observing the Bee Vomit

Beekeepers looking for the queen bee. Photo by Melissa Cagan.

Bumblebee vomit is something that is normally overlooked when observing the insect. Scientist Dr. Johnathan Pattrick from The University of Oxford was so intrigued he set up a nest to observe this important step.

In his lab, Dr. Pattrick’s team set up a nest and filled it with Bombus terrestris, which is Europe’s common bumblebee.  The experiment started off by giving the bees access to three different sugar solutions of different thicknesses, one as thick as maple syrup and the thinnest being a soupy liquid. The object was to see which solution the bee preferred and the timing difference between how much they’re slurping and the thickness.

Scientists found that the thicker nectar could take almost 2 minutes for the bee to throw back up. When vomiting up the less thick solution, the vomiting was faster and less energy intensive. Overall the bees chose a less concentrated nectar so they could get the job done in a timelier manner.

How Can We Help

Dr. Pattrick’s study helped us realize that vomit and regurgitation is actually very important to consider during the process of pollination. One thing we can do to make this process easier for bumblebees is be cautious of what flowers we are planting. This video from Cambridge University does a great job at demonstrating what research is being done in pollination.

Fun Fact

Bombus dahlbombii is one of the largest species of bees in South America. The queen bees can grow up to 40 mm long and have been described to look like flying mice.

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Draw a Flower

This is the season of colorful flowers and we can truly appreciate their vibrance after a typical grey and chilly winter.  One way to make the beauty last and keep a reminder of springtime all year-round is to draw a flower.

Andrey Avinoff was an entomologist and Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History from 1926 to 1946.  But he was also an illustrator and painter in his free time!  Many of his beautiful illustrations can be found in “Wild Flowers of Western Pennsylvania and the Upper Ohio Basin,” a botanical guide authored by the botanist Otto E Jennings, and later Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

One of the most ubiquitous flowers of the season, for me, is the violet.  I love the way they sprout up through lawns and in the forest alike.  They come in a dazzling array of colors—pink, white, yellow, blue, and purple—and the detail when you look closely is inspiring.  There are about 600 species in the Viola genus, so there are plenty to choose from.

Before we get started you might need to gather some supplies.  Use a pencil and eraser, just in case you make some mistakes (it’s okay to make a mistake).  Get some paper and a comfy spot to draw—make sure you cover your table to avoid making marks on it.  Don’t forget the colors!  I like colored pencils, but you can use markers, crayons, paint, or anything else to color with.

Here’s a tip: try out some ideas on scrap paper so that you know what works best for you.  Practice makes perfect!

Step 1: Shapes

circles and lines drawn in pencil to show the basic shapes to begin drawing flowers

Use some basic shapes—circles, triangles, squares, and lines—to make up the general shape of your flower.  You can draw little lollipops or popsicles for now and we’ll add more details as we go.  Use light pencil strokes so that they’ll be easy to erase later.

Try to keep all of your flower shapes the same size—you want all your flowers to be similar in size.

I also draw some leaf shapes.  Make sure your leaves are balanced to your flowers and don’t worry about how they overlap just yet.

I also like to have a photo that I’ve taken or found online to use as a reference for what I’m drawing.  I even picked some flowers to get a good idea of what they look like—just make sure you leave some flowers for the wildlife.

If you want to take it to the next level, you can also check out some botanical illustrations (like Andrey Avinoff’s) where individual flower parts, seeds, leaves, and roots are sometimes drawn to help with identification.

Step 2: Silhouette

basic pencil drawing of flowers

Next let’s draw individual flower petals.  It’s good to know how many petals your flower has and how they look—violets have five that look a little like a butterfly.  Flowers come in a lot of shapes, so take some time studying the flower and practice drawing the shape.  If you haven’t already, you can also draw the flower stalks, or petioles.

The leaf shape is important too, leaves come in lots of shapes like the violet’s heart-shaped leaves.

Step 3: Details

detailed pencil drawing of flowers

Add more details.  Mark where colors might change on flower petals and if there are any veins on the leaves or petals.  You can add details to the leaf edges to make them wavy, scalloped, or toothed.

detail of pencil drawing of flowers

It’s also important in this step to know how detailed you want to be. Remember: a smaller sketch doesn’t need as much detail, but a bigger sketch can have more.  Whatever you think looks best.

detailed pencil sketch of flowers

Step 4: Color

colored drawing of flowers with purple petals, yellow centers, and green stems and leaves

This step is optional, sometimes a black and white sketch can tell a great story.  However, if you have some time, then adding color to your drawing can also really bring it to life.

You can use crayons, markers, paint, or any other color tool you want.  It’s always a good idea to test your colors on a separate piece of paper to see if they’re right for you or to try out a mix of colors.  Flowers are many colors, so you can be really creative!

Be proud of your sketches!  No one else could have made it the same way that you did.  By drawing and coloring plants, animals, and other nature you can sharpen your observation skills and gain a better appreciation for the beauty and uniqueness of all life.

Aaron Young is a museum educator on Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Outreach team. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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City Nature Challenge Recap

photo of black and red bug on white flowers

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting, the entire world had to adapt how we participated in this year’s City Nature Challenge. This year we focused on a global collaboration instead of a competition, and physical distancing over public events. We are amazed at the creativity and resilience that we saw – and 2020’s City Nature Challenge results show just how important it was both globally and in the Pittsburgh region.

City Nature Challenge Results

graphic of Pittsburgh City Nature Challenge 2020 Results: 8281 total observation, 1225 total species, and 487 total observers

This year, over 40,000 people around the world came together virtually to participate in the City Nature Challenge.  Collectively we shared over 800,000 observations of nature near our homes, and documented 135,435 different species of fungi, plants, and animals. Want to see what was found in any of the more than 200 cities that participated? You can explore at this link.

Pittsburgh’s numbers are incredible too. At the end of the challenge, the Pittsburgh region ended up having 487 observers, 8,281 observations, and 1,225 different species. We almost doubled the number of observers from last year!

The identification phase was a success as well with 419 users helping identify 13,446 different observations. You can explore all the Pittsburgh Region’s observations from this year at this link.

photo of candle flame lichen
Pete Peng has 1,310 observations and these Candleflame Lichens are beautiful.

Don’t Stop Observing!

We can’t put into words how thankful we are for everyone’s resilience and hard work. The results from this year’s City Nature Challenge prove that even though we have to distance from each other right now, we can still come together to accomplish something awesome.

closeup photo of a fly
Check out this observation of a fly from Julia Schwierking!

The City Nature Challenge may be over, but the observations don’t have to end here. Nature is around you 24/7 and waiting to be observed. You can use the iNaturalist app anytime to share what you find!

We’d love to see your observations. Email them to nature360@carnegiemnh.org or tag us on social media @CarnegieMNH.

Get more nature activity ideas from Nature Lab!

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The City Nature Challenge Family Experience

photograph of a boy with a camera in a field

In these unprecedented times, it can be the simplest acts of normalcy that are most welcome.

It had been a while since we piled the entire family, including my wife, son, daughter, and myself, into the family minivan and headed off on an adventure.

The past six weeks consisted of self quarantine, at-home work, at-home schoolwork, neighborhood walks and riding bikes in the alley behind our house. The occasional trip to the grocery store, a most routine act any other time that I would probably have put off, had become a welcome escape.

Enter the City Nature Challenge. This worldwide event provided everything we needed: Fresh air. New experiences. Wonder. An opportunity to explore new worlds and use new technology.

Each previous year was an awesome event. This year’s felt more like a necessary one.

The drive over started off a little rough, with choruses of “I’m bored” and “My toe hurts.” As I passed the exit off Route 28 for St. Margaret’s Hospital, I made the tough decision not to pull off for the supposedly injured toe and keep the hospital bed free for another patient.

As we pulled into the parking lot of Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Fox Chapel, the gravel crunching beneath our tires was like a wakeup call. The kids shot up in their carseats and bobbed their heads as they desperately tried to get a view of the nature reserve. Once it was safe, they bounded through the lot and onto the trail with a relentless energy and optimism. My wife and I took a more leisurely stroll and joked how they looked like a couple of labradors let off their leashes.

The main idea of the City Nature Challenge is to collect images of plant and animal specimens and upload them through the iNaturalist app. This allows others to identify your collection and thus help researchers around the globe better understand the ecosystem of your hometown. The simplest way to do this is by taking an image on your phone and uploading it to the app. Easy. Because I am a writer and photographer by trade, I had several DSLRs on hand for the family to use. I think it is important to note that you can also use a camera of your choice. There is a huge contingency of DSLR, and now mirrorless, camera buyers who love wildlife and nature photography. In fact, the flagship models of every major camera brand, and many of their lower tier models, specifically mention wildlife photography in their product descriptions. If you are like me and prefer this method of shooting, chances are you don’t mind going back home, finding a few keepers, and uploading those images from your computer. That is what we did. I feel like it’s good to know that iNaturalist is versatile and can be more than an app on your phone if you would like it to be.

girl holding a camera in the woods

Beechwood Farms did not disappoint. Our first stop was a pond teeming with life. American Toads leaped off the trail and into the grass as we approached. The closer we got to the water, we could hear the “sploosh!” and catch a quick glimpse of hind legs as the toads jumped into the water.

The pond was filled with those toads, numerous species of fish and Canada geese. We just kept snapping away and asking each other, “Did you see that?”

From there, we hiked a loop of trail that took us through sunny meadows and patches of forest where we spotted mayapple, violets, numerous blooming trees and more. I am always interested in what catches the kids’ attention. My son, who is 7 and already has a terrific eye and excellent ability, operates by the well-known photographer’s motto: “If you think you’re too close, take one step closer.” His shots are well framed and detailed.

photo of pink and white flowers on a tree branch

My daughter, who is 4, had the wide-angle lens and preferred sweeping images of scenery. She liked one particular field because the yellow grass looked like blonde princess hair.

photo of a field with yellow grass

My wife is a fan of contrasting texture and color, like moss carpeting a dead tree trunk. (Insert Jill moss pic)

photo of moss growing on a dead tree trunk

I prefer wildlife and action shots.

photo of a frog on a rock

As we neared the end of the loop, we clunked along a bridge atop a stream. The kids couldn’t resist it and before we knew it, their socks and shoes were off and they were in the water. Their toes appeared to be just fine.

When we got back to our house, we couldn’t wait to look over the photos and upload them to iNaturalist. We weren’t sure what everything was – and that’s OK! Let your natural curiosity and wonder carry you through. There’s an entire support system to help classify and identify. You can even do the same for others.

We could use your help identifying our photos! Look for phillipps_family in your iNaturalist app or the website.

Eddie Phillips is an educator at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Pokémon Inspired by Animals

When Pokémon launched as a franchise in 1996, quickly becoming a worldwide multimedia phenomenon, the Pokémon creators had their work cut out for them imagining a whole new world with new creatures that we had never seen before. Or had we? Believe it or not, most Pokémon creatures have real-life animal inspirations!

Caterpie and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

illustration of Caterpie
photo of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar

Caterpie is a bug type Pokémon. It’s known for devouring leaves bigger than its body and releasing an intense odor from its orange antennas when battling another Pokémon. You can’t miss the similarities between Caterpie and the eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar. Both creatures have a distinct green body with bright orange antennas.

The eastern tiger swallowtail is a butterfly native to eastern North America. Similar to Caterpie, the swallowtail caterpillar possesses something called an osmeterium, an orange fleshy organ that emits a foul smell to ward off enemies when threatened.

Magikarp and Yelloweye Rockfish

illustration of Magikarp
photo of Yelloweye rockfish held out of water

Magikarp is a water Pokémon and a large fish with orange scales. Magikarp flops around while blinking its large bulging eyes with its mouth open.

Yelloweye rockfish are one of the biggest members of the genus Sebastes and are prized for their meat. Both the real fish and the Pokémon are orange in color and have long rigid head spines to protect them from predators. Yelloweyes also have bulging eyes and a gaping mouth like Magikarp.

Drowzee and Malayan Tapir

illustration of Drowzee
photo of Malayan Tapir

What about Drowzee, a hypnosis Pokémon with insomnia who senses dreams with its trunk-like nose? Drowzee has beady eyes and triangular brown ears.

It can’t sense your dreams like Drowzee, but the Malayan tapir has many resemblances to the Pokémon. The tapir is a large mammal with a short trunk. It uses its snout to pick up things or as a snorkel when in water. Aside from both having a short snout, Drowzee seems to have been inspired by the tapir’s two-toned coloring.

What other Pokémon/real-life animal resemblances have you noticed?

Fun Fact

Poliwag, Poliwhirl, and Poliwrath are all based on tadpoles. They each have a spiral on their stomach that resembles the intestines which are visible through a tadpole’s translucent stomach.