Museum Blog

Articles in category Zoology: 31

Big and Open Data!

Posted 04/26/2013 by John Demboski | Comments

Data associated with museum specimens is found on tags, in handwritten catalogs and field notes, and increasingly, in relational databases. These databases let us to manage our collections, track use, map our specimens, add associated images and publications, and publish our holdings to larger data…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
- Collections
- Birds
- Mammals
- Database
- Big Data
- Museums
Kayce Bell receives NSF DDIG funding!

Posted 03/25/2013 by John Demboski | Comments
Kayce Bell was informed recently by National Science Foundation that she will be getting a prestigious Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the only proposal to receive a perfect score. Her project is "Elucidating Evolutionary Histories of Chipmunks and their Parasites". Kayce is a former DMNS …
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
- Chipmunks
- NSF
- DDIG
- parasites
Databasing at full speed

Posted 02/24/2013 by Frank Krell | Comments
On 1 November, Chris Grinter started as the Databasing Assistant in the NSF funded SCAN project (Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network), a consortium of ten Museums and Collections of the American Southwest. He worked his first months for Paula Cushing in the arachnology collection cleaning up…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
ScarabNet meeting in London

Posted 02/20/2013 by Frank Krell | Comments
Frank Krell joined this year’s ScarabNet meeting on 1 and 2 February at the London Zoo. ScarabNet is a NSF-funded Research Coordination Network that has brought together over 80 researchers working on dung beetles (Scarabaeinae). ScarabNet has stimulated international collaborations, produced review…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
Collection of Megan Vogel donated to DMNS

Posted 11/07/2012 by Frank Krell | Comments
On 18 October Jeff Stephenson and Frank Krell drove from Denver to Helena, Montana, to collect a major donation (only to find out in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, that the gas gauge of the Museum vehicle didn't work). In Helena resides Dr. Bea Vogel, DMNS Research Associate and first preside…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
- donation
Off to Churchill and Polar Bears

Posted 10/19/2012 by John Demboski | Comments

Leaving for Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay October 20 for 4 days of polar bears. Hopefully we'll see some other wildlife like arctic hares and foxes. I'll post pics when I get back.
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
- Polar bears
New species can be published online

Posted 09/18/2012 by Frank Krell | Comments
2012 has brought two pivotal decisions for the publication of newly discovered species. Before, everything relevant to scientific names (nomenclature) had to be published on hard copy. From this year, species discoveries can be published in online journals. Electronic works containing new anima…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
Shrews in the News

Posted 07/02/2012 by John Demboski | Comments

The USGS issued a press release around our new shrew paper published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Here's the link to the release: "Shrews in the News - Rapid Evolution of Shrews in Response to Climate Change" and here: "Shrews Rapidly Evolving in Re…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
Wyoming fieldwork, 49 million years to the present

Posted 06/20/2012 by John Demboski | Comments

Was out this past week and a half with students in the Bridger (Green River) Basin of southwestern Wyoming. Highschool Teen Science Scholars, undergraduate students, other scientists, DMNS volunteers, and a few dogs. The Green River Basin is a treasure trove of Eocene critters that lived…
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags:
- Teen Science Scholars
- Chipmunks
The Egg Craters! Take 2

Posted 06/04/2012 by John Demboski | Comments

The redhead duck egg clutch we saw in the last installment of "The Egg Craters" is shown above. Zoology department volunteer Alika Brooks designed and fabricated this hand-made "egg crate" to properly house the 36 eggs in this set. The box is made from acid-free cardboard and the eggs …
Read More
Categories:
- Zoology
Tags: