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Sue McLaren

September 13, 2021 by wpengine

A Deeper Look at Dioramas

by Suzanne McLaren

On the second floor at Carnegie Museum of Natural History a visitor can see dioramas showing wildlife found in both North America and Africa. Often a visitor is drawn close to an exhibit by the taxidermy mount of a large mammal that is the diorama’s most prominent feature. The animal is posed as it would appear in its natural surroundings. The art and science of world class taxidermy can lead a visitor to focus only on what appears to be the main subject of the diorama. However, that would be unfortunate. In nearly every example on the second floor, the staff has gone to great lengths to include so much more. The next time you visit, look at different types of plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even insects and mollusks that share the habitat.

Taxidermy zebras in a museum display

Some of the earliest Carnegie Museum dioramas exhibits, crafted by taxidermist Frederic S. Webster, have depicted locations unfamiliar to the average visitor of his day. Webster was sent to locations around North America to observe, sketch, plan and collect for the construction of dioramas that could bring the essence of those environments home to Pittsburgh. Subsequent generations of Carnegie Museum exhibit and scientific staff have followed that same general process. In many cases, one can look at a diorama and realize that the scene represents an identifiable location. Whether that location is Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, or Powdermill Nature Reserve in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the construction of a new diorama can take years of planning and months of construction to complete.

taxidermy caribou in a snowy museum display

If you can join us at Carnegie Museum of Natural History for Super Science Saturday on September 25th, Curator John Wible and Collection Manager Sue McLaren from the Section of Mammals will be on hand to talk about mammals and share stories about some of their favorite dioramas.

close up of an animal's face in a museum diorama

Suzanne McLaren is the Collection Manager in the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to share their unique experiences from working at the museum.

Related Content

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Doubly Dead: Taxidermy Challenges in Museum Dioramas

Sympathy for the Devil

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: McLaren, Suzanne
Publication date: September 13, 2021

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: mammals, Science News, ssstakeover, Sue McLaren

December 18, 2018 by wpengine

Are Santa’s Reindeer Real Mammals?

by Suzanne B. McLaren

Yes! Reindeer are real mammals. In fact, reindeer are the same species as caribou (Rangifer tarandus). The species is widespread throughout northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America, the wild subspecies are called “caribou.” In Eurasia, both wild and domesticated animals are called reindeer.

The First Nations People of Canada have depended upon caribou in the same way that tribes of the North American plains depended upon the bison – for meat, and as a source of clothing and various household goods cleverly derived from the animal’s bones, tendons, horns, and fur. However, there was never an attempt to domesticate the animals in North America. In parts of Eurasia, people began to domesticate reindeer about 2,000 years ago. The domesticated animals have evolved to be shorter and stockier than the wild animals. North American subspecies of caribou by contrast, are about as large an elk. There are several subspecies found in Canada, such as the barren-ground caribou living in the tundra, which is known to migrate as much as 800 miles from one seasonal feeding ground to another. At Carnegie Museum of Natural History, visitors can observe the barren-ground caribou and the mountain caribou in dioramas that show their natural habitats in the Hall of North American Wildlife. There is additional information about caribou in Polar World: Wykoff Hall of Arctic Life.

Barren-ground caribou in snow diorama
Barren-ground caribou in snow, Hall of North American Wildlife
Mountain caribou diorama
Mountain caribou, Hall of North American Wildlife

The domesticated reindeer of Eurasia are herded by people living in Arctic regions. These reindeer provide food, clothing, and even shelter for the people with whom their lives are intertwined. Clement Moore’s famous story, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ was written in 1837 at a time when the people of Lapland, in northern Finland, would have been using reindeer to draw large sleighs or sledges, just as other people might use horses.

Unlike other members of the deer family, both male and female caribou and/or reindeer have antlers during part of the year. Large bucks begin developing antlers in March. The antlers of adult males may reach lengths of three to four feet and will be dropped by early November. Young males develop much smaller racks, which are occasionally retained as long as the following February. The antlers of adult females are of similar size to those of young males. A doe will begin to develop her antlers in June and carry them until the following April or May. Timing of antler loss in females usually coincides with the birth of their young. Based on this timing, it is clear that Santa’s reindeer must either be young males or adult females rather than adult males, because the larger males do not have antlers by Christmas time!

Reindeer can move at different speeds from the most common slow trot to a rapid gallop that can reach speeds of up to forty-nine miles per hour over short bursts. A unique characteristic of this animal is a clicking sound that is made by tendons moving over bones in the feet. They are excellent swimmers but have never been known to fly.

Suzanne B. McLaren is the Collection Manager in the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. She lives on the Northside with her husband Andy. Museum employees are encouraged to share their unique experiences from working at the museum.

Related Content

A Perfect Mineral for the Christmas Season

A Deeper Look at Dioramas

Snow White Bird Search

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: McLaren, Suzanne B.
Publication date: December 18, 2018

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Christmas, Hall of North American Wildlife, mammals, Polar World, Sue McLaren

October 10, 2018 by wpengine

D is for Dugong

The dugong is a marine mammal related to the manatee. Dugongs and manatees are members of the order Sirenia, which in turn is included in a larger group called Afrotheria. Also included in Afrotheria are elephants, hyraxes, aardvarks, elephant shrews, golden moles, and tenrecs. The dugong feeds on seagrasses and other shallow vegetation found within 1-5 meters of water in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. It is a docile animal, like land-based grazing mammals such as cows and sheep.

A single baby is born underwater and surfaces immediately to get its first breath. A baby will ride on its mother’s back as she submerges to feed and rises to the surface to breathe when she does. Observation shows that dugongs come to the surface about every three minutes. A female may produce milk for her young for up to 18 months, but babies begin to eat vegetation by three months of age.

dugong swimming
Photo credit: Julien Willem/Wikimedia Commons

Dugongs have numerous adaptions to marine life, including the modification of its front limbs as flippers and the complete loss of hind limbs. Unlike the manatee’s paddle-like tail, a dugong’s tail looks like that of a dolphin. The lungs are elongated as are the kidneys, which are important to helping the animal cope with living in seawater. Observation of wild populations indicates that dugongs may live up to 70 years.  However, a female only gives birth every 3–7 years, so premature deaths can have a significant impact on the stability of the population.

Sharks are the dugong’s main natural enemy although large groups of dugongs occasionally have been observed driving a shark away after an attempted attack. However, dugongs are more often found alone, in pairs or in small groups. Killer whales have also been observed feeding on dugong. For many years, the dugong was hunted as a source of leather, meat, and oil. Now, humans pose the largest threat due to loss of seagrass habitat and the impact of fishing where dugong become caught in nets and cannot surface to breathe.

Coastal populations from the Red Sea south to Madagascar, and east to India and Southeast Asia have fallen dramatically in recent decades. Now, the largest populations, by far, are in the waters surrounding Australia where most research on this species takes place. Many countries have passed laws protecting the dugong, but various body parts are used in traditional medicine, making poaching problematic and protection especially difficult because of the ocean environment. Many different cultures assign a variety of special powers to the dugong. Fascination with dugongs can be found throughout time, from a 5,000-year old cave drawing found in Malaysia to inclusion in Cabinets of Curiosity beginning in the Renaissance. The dugong is thought to be the inspiration of the mythological mermaid, hence the name Sirenia for its order. In fact, the name dugong is from the Malay word for “lady of the sea.”

Sue McLaren is the Collection Manager in the Section of Mammals and Chair of Collections for Carnegie Museum of Natural History. She lives on the Northside with her husband Andy. Museum employees are encouraged to share their unique experiences from working at the museum. 

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: mammals, Sue McLaren

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