Pallid Bat Eating Scorpion
"Here, you can see the Pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus) munching away on a scorpion! They are not affected by scorpion stings like we are, instead these creepy crawlies are a tasty snack! If you want to encourage bats to eat the insects in your backyard, consider putting up a bat house! You can find amazing instructions at Bat Conservation International’s website here: http://s.si.edu/bats"
- Kelly Speer, Biodiversity Genomics Fellow @smithsoniannmnh and @smithsonianzoo #BatWeek 🦇 #BatAppreciation #Bats #Halloween
📸 credit: Winifred Frick
"As a bat biologist, I have had the immense fortune to visit places around the world to study these mysterious flying mammals. By the end of this week, I hope you’ll have learned something new about bats, making them a little better understood and maybe even a little more appreciated! So stay tuned for some amazing stories about these flying wonders! To get us started, here is a video of free-tailed bats leaving their cave near a Buddhist temple in Thailand!” - Kelly Speer, Biodiversity Genomics Fellow @smithsoniannmnh and @smithsonianzoo
Cacti Herbarium Sheets
Sew, have you ever wondered how Botanists attach cactus specimens to herbarium sheets?
This year many people have discovered their hidden sewing skills. Our volunteers put those talents to use in a different way by sewing dried cacti onto archival paper. This is how the volunteers in the Department of Botany, attach cacti and bulky specimens to a herbarium sheet.
#NatureIsBrutal #NatureIsExcellent Some ladybird beetle larvae are notorious for snipping a tip of their prey’s antennae or legs and using them as "straws" to drink their prey alive. In this video, a larva from the genus Scymnus is feeding on an aphid by repeatedly sucking its contents and regurgitating them; this mechanism allows the beetle larva to get as much nourishment as it can from the aphid. Museum communications intern Miguel Montalvo captured this #MicroWonders horror scene in his own backyard! What's happening in yours?
The Dr. Is In Season 2 | Episode 6 | Forget Tomato Juice and Baking Soda! 🌋
In the final "Dr. Is In" episode of the season, @Smithsonian geologist Dr. Liz Cottrell answers your questions about new technologies for studying volcanoes; her favorite geology #DIY demo for teachers; and how to identify rocks.
Reasons To Love Snakes
One final #ReasonsToLoveSnakes: “The vast majority of snakes are small and harmless. Although there are giant snakes, like anacondas and some pythons, most snake species never get any longer than 24 inches. Also less than 10% of all snake species are venomous to humans. The red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata), shown here, is a small secretive snake found throughout much of the eastern U.S. A “giant” red-bellied snake would be 16 inches; most are ~9-10 inches in length. They give birth to live young, which are ~3 inches long!” – Ed Myers, Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow @smithsoniannmnh #NatureNerding101
The Dr. Is In | Season 2 | Episode 5 | Where to Find Rocks and Running out of TP in the Wild
Which U.S. state is the best for finding rocks? What TP alternatives can you find in nature? And what do volcanic gases tell us about eruptions? Smithsonian geologist Dr. Liz Cottrell answers these audience questions in Episode 5 of The Dr. Is In! #GeologyRocks
#SupportYourSmithsonian
“Your support is critical to everything we do.” Hear from Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, on why our ability to reach people everywhere is only possible with your help. #SupportYourSmithsonian go.si.edu/SupportYourNMNH
The Dr. Is In Season 2 | Episode 4 | Pressure at the Center of the Earth!
Smithsonian Dr. Liz Cottrell is “in” and here to show you how geologists “travel” to the center of the Earth. She then hops off Zoom to take you to the Blue Ridge Mountains to explore some of her favorite rocks. Post your questions about geology, everyday life challenges, or how to survive off the grid and Liz will try to answer them in upcoming episodes of The Dr. Is In!
(Fun fact: 350 giga pascals of pressure at Earth’s center = 10,000 times the average pressure at the bottom of the ocean!)
Dr. Advait Jukar on the Origins of Africa's Grevy's Zebra
#DYK the origins of Africa’s Grevy’s zebra can actually be traced back 2.5 million years ago to North America? Dr. Advait Jukar tells this #FossilFriday story.
Dr. Scott Evans on Learning from Imperfect Fossils
Smithsonian paleontologist Scott Evans explains that even an imperfect fossil can unlock a wealth of information. #FossilFriday
Dr. Vera Korasidis on 56-Million-Year-Old Pollen
For #FossilFriday we're sharing the work of three of our paleo postdoctoral fellows. First up: Dr. Vera Korasidis, a palynologist who explores how we use fossil plants to understand how Earth's climate has changed in different places over time!
Visit https://www.si.edu/cares to find more ways to engage with the Smithsonian online.
The Dr. Is In Season 2 | Episode 3 | Cold(ish) Lava?!?
This week, Smithsonian geologist Dr. Liz Cottrell talks about a 🌋 that spews relatively cold (only ~510 °C / 950 °F!!!), black lava; what would happen if Earth’s molten outer core solidified; and how to start a career in science. Post your questions about geology, everyday life challenges, or how to survive off the grid and Liz will try to answer them in upcoming episodes of The Dr. Is In!
The Dr. Is In | Season 2, Episode 2 | Big vs. Small Celestial Bodies
The Dr. Is In! Smithsonian geologist Liz Cottrell stands ready to answer your❓s about the deep Earth, 🌋🌋, and how to survive off the grid. She can even offer life advice.
Watch episode 2 and post your questions in the comments. She’ll answer as many of them as she can in upcoming episodes. Ask away!
How to Build Your Own Plant Press
Looking for a fun, #DIY activity for the whole family? Watch this #NatureNerding101 video from the Botany Department at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This team of scientific green thumbs curates and preserves over 5 million specimens in the U.S. National Herbarium, so they know a thing or two about how to make your flowers last (and last and last).
Orchid Catapult
“Plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) fascinate me for countless reasons including, as Charles Darwin once put it, the ‘various contrivances’ by which they are fertilized by insects. Pollination of few other plants is quite as dramatic as members of the orchid genus, Catasetum, . They have evolved a ‘“trigger/catapult’” mechanism for insuring their pollen securely attaches to visiting orchid bees.” – Benjamin J. Crain, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the North American Orchid Conservation Center #NatureNerding101
The Dr. Is In Season 2 | Episode 1 | Super Volcanoes and Skunks
In the season premiere of “The Dr. Is In,” Smithsonian Geologist Liz Cottrell fields your inquiries about super volcanoes (specifically Yellowstone!) and skunks.
In addition to being an expert on the deep Earth and volcanoes, Cottrell is a huge outdoor enthusiast: the more minimal the conditions, the better. So, post your questions about what’s lurking waaaaaaaaayyyy beneath your feet or how to live off the grid and she’ll do her best to answer them in upcoming episodes. She can even give life advice. Just post your queries in the comments! New episodes will be published every other Saturday through July 25.
And we have our final offering for the #SpeakBird challenge. Ingrid Rochon may work in the Division of Mammals @smithsoniannmnh, but she does a solid Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) call in a pinch!
Listen to Chris Milensky from our Division of Birds #SpeakBird. If you guessed Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio), you are correct. This is a fairly common backyard bird, most people just don't know it due to the relatively quiet call. In the U.S., they are found in every state east of the Rockies. They will eat large insects, small mammals and birds, and have been even known to eat earthworms.
@SmithsonianNMNH's Sarah Luttrell doing her #SpeakBird impression of a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Here's Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History's Sarah Luttrell doing her #SpeakBird impression of a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). It's the state bird of Ohio—Sarah's home state!—and can be found throughout the eastern U.S. in a variety of habitats from woodlands to suburban back yards.
It's not too late for you to join the #SpeakBird challenge. Just record a video of your best bird call, post it and add the hashtag (please tag us too if you want to be sure we see it).
Ornithologist Peri Bolton can #SpeakBird, and gives us three of the Aussie species she misses. The Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) and the Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) are easy to spot in urban areas, but you’ll have to keep an eye and ear out for the camouflaged and nocturnal Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides).
This is the “Drink-your-tea-he-he-he"-song of the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Faridah Dahlan of our Feather Identification Lab sent us this #SpeakBird call, while wearing her PPE and continuing the museum's essential work of identifying the birds that strike airplanes (Thank you Faridah!).
Do you #SpeakBird? Take a video, use the hashtag, and let everyone know which 🐦 you are imitating.
Here's @SmithsonianNMNH ornithologist Sahas Barve, doing their best call of an Acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), which lives from Oregon down to Colombia and can be heard in oak-dominated habitats. #SpeakBird Background image: Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren
Do you #SpeakBird? Take a video, use the hashtag, and let everyone know which 🐦 you are imitating.
We're challenging all you bird-nerds out there to #SpeakBird this week. Smithsonian ornithologist Carla Dove (yes, 🕊️) starts us out with the Barred Owl (Strix varia). Its distinctive call sounds like, “Who Cooks For You, Who Cooks For You…All.”
The Barred Owl is native to eastern North America, but considered invasive in the west coast. You can see and hear it in suburban areas that have forests nearby. This large owl has dark brown eyes, as opposed to yellow of the similar Great Horned Owl.
Do you #SpeakBird? Take a video, use the hashtag, and let everyone know which species you are imitating.
Opal Play of Color
"This video is of the play of color of an opal with digit patterns from Welo, Ethiopia. This is an example of opal-CT. 'CT' stands for the cristobalite and tridymite SiO₂ minerals that make up the spheres in opal-CT. I hope it brightens your #MineralMonday!" -- Dr. Gabriela Farfan, Coralyn W. Whitney Curator of Gems and Minerals Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
The Dr. Is In, Season 2 Trailer.
Smithsonian Geologist Liz Cottrell wants to answer your questions about volcanoes, camping, and life!
Our friends Smithsonian 3D Digitization, working with the Tlingit Kiks.ádi clan of Sitka, Alaska and the Smithsonian NMNH Repatriation Office, just published a 3D rendering of an object that has been in our collections for the past 135 years. It's a ceremonial hat of the Kiks.ádi clan in the form of a sculpin or bullhead fish.
There's a lot more to the story, some of which we'll share tomorrow, but it's one of the first cultural restorations of an important religious object for an indigenous community using 3D digitization and replication technology. You can explore the hat and its story online through the Smithsonian's 3D Explorer.
https://3d.si.edu/explorer/kiks-%C3%A1di-sculpin-hat-restoration?fbclid=IwAR1j33CFC0u0H9FM-gKw_gJwNrKgG5V4kXRVZHk2ebzn9h1XKA892qvHISE
It's #AskACuratorDay, so we're bringing back the Dr. Is In! Hear Dr. Hans Sues answer some burning questions from fans like you (and Slash) about dinosaurs, life, and even cats (because he loves cats 🐱)!
For #NationalRelaxationDay we share this hypnotic video...of a leech. Its name is Macrobdella mimicus. And it was just described today in the Journal of Parasitology, by our curator of parasitic worms, Anna Phillips, and an international team of scientists. It's the first North American medicinal leech species discovered in 40 years! The orange-spotted, olive-green leech, was found on a field expedition in a Maryland swamp, but the species ranges across the Piedmont region of the eastern U.S. “A discovery like this," says Phillips, "makes clear just how much diversity is out there remaining to be discovered and documented, even right under scientists’ noses."
Advance Science, Pick Gingko Leaves! #CitizenScience
Attention nature-lovers, the Smithsonian needs your help in a citizen science project! Help gather leaves from Ginkgo trees, mail them to our Fossil Atmospheres research team, and advance our understanding of Earth’s climate history! https://www.si.edu/fossil-atmospheres/leaf-survey
