Carnegie Museum of Natural History

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Suzanne McLaren

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Groundhog Day 2024: Punxsutawney Phil’s Alpine Cousin

by Suzanne McLaren and John Wible

Beginning in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the celebration of Groundhog Day has made the groundhog (Marmota monax) a familiar animal to people who live far beyond the range of this species. While this large ground squirrel may get the most publicity, especially on February 2nd every year, there are twelve related species that live elsewhere in North America, Europe, and Asia. In Europe, the Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota), which lives in mountainous areas of the continent’s central and western regions, is particularly well-known. Like the groundhog, it spends most of the year fattening up so that it can survive the winter months by hibernating.  

two alpine marmots
Credit: Sylvouille at French Wikipedia. – Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 1.0

While our local groundhog leads a more solitary existence, the Alpine marmot lives in a communal setting that includes a single breeding pair and around 15-20 of their offspring. They live in underground burrows that are passed down for generations within the family group, expanding over time into complex systems of tunnels. The tunnels eventually lead to a large chamber or den, where the entire family hibernates during the winter months. This concentrates body heat among the group and helps younger individuals to survive. Similar to prairie dogs, family members are friendly and playful with each other, grooming and touching noses when they greet. One individual, serving as a guard at the mouth of the burrow, will give off a loud whistle, to warn the rest of the family about the approach of an enemy – either a predator or even a non-family member of its own species.  

Humans have hunted this species for hundreds of years for its meat. They are still hunted by the thousands for sport in Switzerland and Austria, with the large, ever-growing, yellowish-orange upper incisors sometimes displayed on hunters’ belts.

alpine marmot skull
Picture of Alpine marmot skull showing large incisors, Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is also reported that rendered Alpine marmot fat is still sought after as a folk remedy for arthritis. It is not taken internally but rubbed on sore joints.  

two glass containers of rendered marmot fat
Picture of rendered marmot fat. Credit: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0

Perhaps the most surprising anecdote about the interaction of humans and the Alpine marmot is the use of the animal for entertainment, though not for weather forecasting like Punxsutawney Phil. Stories of a trained Alpine marmot on a leash, accompanying a “hurdy-gurdy man”, somewhat like the organ grinder and his monkey, date to at least the mid-1700s as evidenced by François Hubert Drouais’ painting Les Enfants d’ Ilustre Naissance. Here, two boys sit together, one playing the hurdy-gurdy, a stringed instrument, and the other holding a dancing marmot on a leash. The traveling entertainer carried his marmot from town to town in a box. If you’ve ever witnessed the belligerent behavior of a local groundhog you might find it hard to believe that any Pennsylvania groundhog, other than Punxsutawney Phil, would allow itself to be led around on a leash or kept in a box!

picture of the painting "The Children of the Duc de Bouillion" by Francois-Hubert Drouais
Credit: François-Hubert Drouais, Public domain PD-US, via Wikimedia Commons

Suzanne McLaren is Collection Manager of Mammals and John Wible is Curator of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: McLaren, Suzanne; Wible, John
Publication date: February 2, 2024

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Sympathy for the Devil

Bats and devils are among the most popular topics associated with Hallowe’en.  Of course, the research collection in the Section of Mammals has worldwide examples of bats species, but we don’t find them scary and we think about bats and their vital ecological roles all year long.  Perhaps more mysterious and less well-known are the two Devil specimens stored among the wombats, kangaroos, and koalas in our collection.  Even school children have heard about *our* kind of devils.  Yes, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a marsupial – a pouched mammal, like our opossum – that is found only on the island of Tasmania, located some 140 miles off the southeast coast of Australia.  Fossil evidence tells us that it once lived on the Australian mainland, but it may have been wiped out on the continent by the introduction of the Dingo, Australia’s legendary wild dog.

photograph of Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil is a stocky mammal with short legs, short black fur and a distinctive white throat patch. Its head is noticeably large for the size of the body. An adult male may weigh up to 20 lbs. They are nocturnal with a good sense of sight, smell, and touch. Devils are known to cover significant distances nightly, in search of carrion or prey. They can move surprisingly fast and seem to enjoy swimming. In the wild, individuals can live between five and seven years, but many die within the first year of birth. Although it is the largest living marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian devil is predominantly a scavenger.

Tasmanian devil skull

A close look at the skull shows evidence of space on the side of the head for large jaw muscles. For its size, the Tasmanian devil has the strongest bite force of any mammal – more powerful than even a hyena! With the large masseter muscles and especially large molars, it can easily crush bone. In fact, devils are such efficient carrion-eaters that they willingly consume an entire carcass, including the fur.

Although this animal gained a reputation for having a bad disposition, it is speculated that this impression was derived from the poor conditions it was kept in when first captured for observations. Since then, it sometimes has been kept humanely as a pet and been found to be much friendlier than initially reported. Tasmanian devils do not seek each other’s company except during the mating period. However, they often come together to feed on a dead animal, where vocalizations and as many as nineteen different behavioral cues are used for communication. These communal gatherings are characterized by aggression and loud sounds, described as “frequent growling” and “blood-curdling screams”!

In 1996, a sad chapter began in the existence of the Tasmanian devil. A deadly infectious cancer called devil facial tumor disease, began to spread within the population. In 2012, the Australian government transferred 30 disease-free individuals to tiny Maria Island off the coast of Tasmania, in what was called ‘island insurance’, while researchers worked on perfecting a vaccine. By 2017, the disease had led to a 90% extinction rate on Tasmania. In hopeful news, by 2019 there were indications that surviving individuals’ immune systems may be undergoing modifications to fight the disease. In early September 2020, a consortium of conservation groups released 11 Tasmanian devils to a wildlife sanctuary in the state of New South Wales, placing the Tasmanian devil on the Australian mainland for the first time in more than 3000 years.  An additional 15 devils were released in early October and more releases are planned.

Currently, the Tasmanian devil is not extinct, but its recovery hangs in the balance. It would be tragic if we are left only with museum specimens and Taz, the Looney Tunes cartoon image, of this fascinating mammal.

Suzanne B. 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.

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Risk Assessment, or how to keep your collection intact

By Gretchen Anderson, Conservator, and  Suzanne B. McLaren, Chair of Collections

What are the risks to a museum’s collection?  

specimen in a box with partially eaten label

Figure 1: The risks of damage are varied. This photograph illustrates the potential risk of loss of data. The label has been partially eaten by silverfish, damaging not only the paper but ingesting the all-important data about this specific specimen.  

The museum is currently engaged in a two-year Risk Assessment process funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). We are reviewing a spectrum of potential risks to our collections. This includes everything from fire and water damage to earthquake and pest damage that could affect the Museum’s more than twenty million specimens and objects, both behind the scenes and on exhibit.

Forty staff members from across the museum attended a weeklong workshop led by our consultant, Rob Waller of Protect Heritage, who has been refining a model of how to quantify risks for more than twenty-five years. This was meant to get us all on the same page when we begin to focus on our individual collections.  The workshop offered everyone a chance to see and talk about their individual collections. For most of us, we call this fun. This gave each of us an appreciation for risks to distinct types of collection material. The risk for stone and metal will be quite different than the risk for organic material like birds and plants.

researchers around a table

Figure 2: Curators, collection managers, curatorial assistants, educators, exhibits staff, engineers, maintenance and security staff attended the workshop.

researchers looking at computer

Figure 3: The workshop had several days of small group interaction. Here Vertebrate Paleontology Collection Technician Linsly Church, Anthropology Collection Manager Deborah Harding, Collection Associate Marion Burgwin and Minerals Collection Manager Debra Wilson discuss definitions of risk.

We hired Collection Associate Marion Burgwin to work with various staff members on gathering quantitative information on risk from each collection. Collections are divided into twenty-nine units, based on scientific discipline, preservation type and primary use. For example, the Bird collection has four units: study skins & skeletons, nests & eggs, taxidermy, and fluid collections. It is detailed and tedious work – but Marion also gets to see all the cool collections.

researchers looking at specimens

Figure 4: Birds Collection Manager Steve Rogers and Collection Associate Marion Burgwin viewing a collection of bird wings. Burgwin is entering the data directly into the Preservation Heritage Data Base.

Nearly one year into the project, Conservator Gretchen Anderson and Chair of Collections Suzanne McLaren had the good fortune to present the project and network with colleagues at the annual conference of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections in New Zealand.  Sharing information like this is an important aspect of the support we receive from agencies like IMLS.

two researchers and their poster

Figure 5: McLaren and Anderson with the Risk Assessment poster at the 2018 SPNHC annual conference, Dunedin New Zealand.  

yellow-eyed penguin

Figure 6: A New Zealand native  – a highly endangered yellow-eyed penguin.

 

 

Gretchen Anderson is a conservator and the head of the Section of Conservation and Suzanne McLaren is the collection manager for the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Ask a Scientist

Ask a Scientist: Can you tell us the story of Harvey the big rabbit?

Our museum has a huge rabbit stored in the Section of Mammals. Collections Manager Suzanne McClaren compares it to other local rabbits and tells the story of how it came into our collection.

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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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.