Burke Blog

How Gertrude the Hippo led me to the Burke

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:02:00 +0000

By Norah Farnham
Guest Writer

When I was hired as the hippo zookeeper at Woodland Park Zoo in 1999, the hippos were the first animals I was assigned to care for, and I have been with them ever since.

Though I had worked as a zookeeper for 13 years at two previous zoological facilities, I had never worked with Common, or Nile, Hippos. I was instantly fascinated by 36-year-old Gertrude (Gertie) and 21-year-old Water Lily – and so were the zoo visitors.

The hippopotamus is one of Africa’s most iconic animals, and a favorite among zoo visitors. Their immense size and aquatic habits make them one of the most recognizable and popular animals, and one that people expect to see when they visit a zoo.

Since hippos commonly live only into their 40s, and hippos are highly social animals, it was not long after I became the hippo keeper that we began discussions about adding a third hippo to our group, as company for Lily when Gert eventually passed. In 2003, we welcomed 2-year-old Guadalupe as the newest member of our little herd.

Water Lily, Gertrude, and Guadalupe
Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

As the years passed, we noticed natural changes in Gertie's health and mobility as arthritis pain in her joints began to take its toll. She was less active and showed increasing signs of discomfort. To ease her aches and pains, we worked with the zoo’s veterinarians and nutritionist to start Gertie on a weight loss plan combined with a daily dose of glucosamine chondroitin for her arthritis (just like humans use). Of course there were good days and bad, but Gertie always seemed to bounce back and get out to entertain the throngs of admirers that gather around the hippo pool every day.

Gertrude (Gertie) the Hippo
Woodland Park Zoo

Unfortunately, the bad days began to outnumber the good. By March 2010, Gertie became less willing to leave the comfort and buoyancy of her pool, and showed clearly that walking was becoming increasingly painful. With our careful daily observation and record keeping, we were faced with the inevitable fact: this time 47-year-old Gertie was not going to rally to meet her fans again, and humane euthanasia was the final decision.

For a zookeeper, the euthanasia of one of “your” animals is certainly a low point, and the most difficult part of the job. However, realizing it is in the best interest of the animal, we strive to make the actual process as stress-free as possible. With the cooperation of many zoo departments, primarily the veterinarians and the animal health staff, we let Gertie go in the most stress-free and gentle manner possible, surrounded by her dedicated staff of keepers.

As with any animal death at the zoo, a necropsy, or animal autopsy, was performed at the Animal Health Department, with the assistance of various ancillary staff, including several staff and volunteers from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Since 1913, Woodland Park Zoo has partnered with the Burke to donate remains of deceased animals to become part of the museum’s collections where they can be used for education and research about the species. Once the examination of Gertie was complete, Jeff Bradley, mammalogy collection manager at the Burke, made plans to clean and prepare Gertie’s bones to become part of the permanent mammals collection.

At this point, I was invited by a friend to go see Gertie’s skull, which was nearly done with cleaning at the Burke. I didn’t know how I would react to seeing it and was very anxious at first, but eventually my curiosity got the best of me.

We met Jeff in the mammal collection, and the moment I saw the skull, I was fascinated and intrigued to see how Gertie was ‘living on’ at the Burke. We had a wonderful and informative visit with Jeff, and when he mentioned how much his volunteers help in the collection, I immediately asked, “Can I be a volunteer here, too?” (I was hooked!)

Gertie's skull in the mammalogy collection
Cathy Britt/Burke Museum

One of my first duties as a Burke volunteer was to help with the ongoing cleaning and preparation of Gertie’s skeleton. The normal cleaning of animal bones involves several steps. First the entire skeleton is placed, bone by bone, in what is known as the “beetle colony,” a large container where Dermestid, or flesh-eating, beetles go to work cleaning the bones. Next the bones are thoroughly rinsed with water. But because hippos have naturally high levels of oil in their bones (similar to marine mammals), Jeff turned to a different technique to clean Gertie's bones: mortality composting.

Basically, the process would involve enveloping the skeleton in a high-carbon material to generate temperatures hot enough to ‘melt’ the oil from the bones. The perfect place to help with this process was back at Woodland Park Zoo in the area known as the “Zoo Doo” yard, a rich, composted mix of organic food scraps and animal manure that is sold by lottery to eager gardeners across the Seattle area.

The Zoo graciously separated and dedicated a large pile of ‘doo’ that would be used for the sole purpose of cleaning Gertie’s skeleton.

Volunteers in the Zoo Doo yard
Photo by Chandler Cole

A team of volunteers and I began carefully interring Gertie’s skeleton, piece-by-piece, in the compost mixture. Dan Corum, (a.k.a “Dr. Doo) the Zoo’s compost and recycling expert, oversaw the burial and monitored the temperature and moisture content of the process over the next 6-10 weeks, until, at last, Gertie’s bones were clean and free of oil. Success!

After a final rinse, the entire skeleton was ready to become part of the Burke’s mammalogy collection. I started the tedious process of marking each individual bone with the specimen’s unique five-digit catalog number so it can be included in the database. A hippo’s body contains more than 200 bones, so numbering each of Gertie’s bones took several weeks for me to complete.

Norah holds one of Gertie's tiniest bones
Cathy Britt/Burke Museum

It’s worth mentioning the drastic range in size of hippo bones. Gertie’s cranium is nearly 30 inches long and tips the scale at 27 pounds, her femur weighs more than 7 pounds and measures 17 inches in length, and her pelvis weighs more than 14 pounds and stretches 27 inches in each direction. Then on the small scale, her ‘wrist’ and ‘ankle’ bones that are only about the size of a peanut. It’s incredible to see them all next to each other.

Now that Gertie’s skeleton is part of the mammals collection, it is available for researchers to study and learn from. In fact, Dr. Kelly Helmick, associate veterinarian at Woodland Park Zoo, was able to see and draw new insight from Gertie's skeleton to help care for other large animals at the zoo:

“While we strongly suspected that our hippo Gertie had advanced age-related arthritis, the full extent of her condition was only available to us after the Burke Museum provided her skeleton for review. Having this information will better assist veterinarians in interpreting clinical symptoms in large animals, such as hippos, with suspected age-related arthritis. Through our relationship with the Burke, the veterinary staff of the Woodland Park Zoo is able to perform three-dimensional skeletal examinations that provide a foundation for differentiating between normal and abnormal anatomy, interpreting clinical and radiographic changes, and implementing surgical and other therapeutic techniques for a variety of zoo animals.” - Dr. Kelly Helmick

Jeff Bradley examines Gertie's skull with Dr. Kelly Helmick
Photo by Chandler Cole

Last year, Jeff extended a very special invitation to the staff of Woodland Park Zoo to go on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the Burke’s mammal collection. Gertie was one of the star attractions of this three day event, and many zoo staff were thrilled to see her again. These days Jeff brings out Gertie’s skeleton during special events, such as Members’ Night and Meet the Mammals, so the public is able to see the skeleton and learn about hippos.

It’s been three years since her death, and I still see Gertrude the Hippopotamus every week as a volunteer at the Burke. As difficult as Gertie’s death was for me personally, I am so happy that, through her, I have developed a relationship with the Burke Museum. I’ll always remember Gertie, and am so thankful that she opened up this world to me.

Norah in the Burke's Mammalogy collection
Cathy Britt/Burke Museum

Short Takes on Plastics

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:35:00 +0000

Look around you and you'll notice that plastics are everywhere today. From children’s toys to parts on the Mars rover Curiosity. It’s difficult to imagine what life was like before them. Products made with plastic are often more convenient, cheaper, lighter, safer and more durable, but they also present unwanted side effects to our health, cultures, and environments across the globe.

As part of our Plastics Unwrapped exhibit at the Burke, we recently invited a range of experts from the University of Washington (UW) and beyond to present their perspective (or "Short Takes") on a range of topics related to plastics in front of a live audience at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle. We've captured a few of the presentations on video to share with you:

What was life like before plastics?
Lauren Palmor, a UW Art History student shows what life was like before plastics - specifically related to food. How did people preserve their food without plastic? Watch Lauren's presentation in this video to find out:

What is plastic?
Dr. A.J. Boydston, assistant professor in the UW Department of Chemistry and head of Boydston Research Group, breaks down plastics at the molecular level and how scientists are exploring ways to develop new opportunities for plastics where the consumer use is only one reccuring step in an infinite cycle. Watch Dr. A.J. Boydston's presentation in this video:

There's more "Short Takes on Plastics" presentations available to watch on our Burke Museum YouTube channel.

Also, stay tuned for a wide range of special events that further explore plastics in our lives, their impact, and future solutions. Visit our website for a full list of events.

Posted by Jeremy Lange, Digital Communications

Plastics in our Collections: A Sign of the Changing Material Culture?

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:45:00 +0000

"Before Plastics" objects on display

in the Plastics Unwrapped exhibit

The Burke Museum’s new exhibit, Plastics Unwrapped, examines how plastics went from being rare to being everywhere in a short period of time, and how material culture was changed by plastics.

To help visitors explore what life was like before plastics, several objects from the Burke’s ethnology collections – made from a range of materials found in nature – are on display. These objects include: a rain hat made of twined cedar bark, a child’s waterproof parka made of seal gut, toy blocks made of wood, and containers made of clay.

That made me wonder, will more and more plastic objects begin to make their way into the Burke Museum’s permanent collections as a reflection of this shift in material culture?

I asked Rebecca Andrews, ethnology collections manager, and she pointed me towards several objects in the ethnology collection that are either partially or fully comprised of plastic. For example:

Fish Bait Container
This fish bait container, or ha’apee, is from the Society Islands of French Polynesia is used to hold fish bait. It attaches to the side of a boat so the fishermen can simply reach into the hole at the top and grab the bait they need as they fish. Before plastic, fishermen typically used a ha’apee made from bamboo. This particular ha’apee is made from a 20-liter plastic container and was added to the Ethnology collection in 1994. According to the information provided by the collector, a plastic ha’apee lasts longer than its wooden counterpart.

Fish Bait Container, Burke Museum Object #1994-76/2

Bag
At first glance, this Yup’ik bag from Bethel, Alaska does not appear to be plastic, but it’s actually plastic shopping bags crocheted together with wool yarn. If you look closely, you can see the detail from the plastic sacks on the sides of the bag.

Bag, Burke Museum Object #1996-37/3

Radio
This radio, which dates from about 1968 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, was a part of the former Burke Museum travelling exhibit, Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Times. While the radio is a relatively new invention in the grand scheme of material history, it was impacted by the invention of plastic. Radios were originally made of wood and metal, but this radio shows that plastic quickly became the preferred material for production. There’s a quote at the top of the radio from Mao Zedong that reads, “We should try to have the best radio to serve the people of the world.”

Radio, Burke Museum Object #2001-11/71

Objects made of plastic introduce a unique set of challenges for long-term storage based on the plastic’s chemical structure and engineering. For example, some plastics, like those made in the early 20th century, contain additives that make them unstable and likely to release harmful chemicals if they deteriorate.

To assist collections staff in caring for these objects, the National Park Service created guidelines that offer a framework for proper care of plastics. This often includes maintaining a cool, stable temperature, being mindful to the amount of light and humidity plastic is exposed to, and regularly monitoring the object for signs of deterioration.

When the Burke acquires an object in its collections, they promise to take care of it forever. Each object has its own special needs based on a number of factors, and collections managers play an important role in documenting and preserving all objects in the collections to ensure that they are around as a permanent resource for future generations.

Browse additional objects in the ethnology collections.
Learn more about the Plastics Unwrapped exhibit, on display at the Burke Museum through May 27, 2013.

Danielle Acheampong is a second year museology graduate student at University of Washington. She works in the Communications Department at the Burke Museum and serves on the Burke's Student Advisory Board.

Tracked at the molecular level: Wolverines return to the North Cascades

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:37:00 +0000

Logan was live-captured for the first time on January 24, 2013
near Easy Pass. (Photo by U.S. Forest Service).

Wolverines are one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in North America. After being hunted to extinction in Washington state in the 1930s, they’re finally starting to return to the northern Cascade Range.

Keith Aubry, research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, has led a study to track wolverines found in Washington since 2006. Each winter, he and his team carefully live-capture wolverines, like “Logan,” the young male in the photograph to the right, to document their appearance, sex, age, and condition.

Many are fitted with a radio collar so the team can track their movement and learn more about their range. In addition, the researchers collect a small tissue sample from the ear to get a permanent molecular snapshot of the wolverine before releasing it back into the wild.

Sharon Birks, genetic resources collection
manager at the Burke, opens one of the five
large freezers that hold tissue samples.

After doing some initial research, Aubry’s team sends the wolverine tissue samples to the Burke Museum where they are added to our genetic resources collection, one of the largest of its type in the world. With tissue samples from more than 50,000 birds, 8,000 mammals, and 1,000 reptiles and amphibians, the collection is essentially a library of biodiversity – and a resource for researchers everywhere.

Tissue samples contain valuable genetic information that can help researchers in many ways. For example, researchers might use this information to verify the identity of the animal, look at genetic diversity and trends across wolverine populations in Washington versus other populations, or even to do basic research on their genes to understand how they occupy a particular ecological niche.

The Burke's mammalogy collection has wolverine bone and skin specimens from past years, but Jeff Bradley, mammalogy collections manager, is particularly excited that these tissue samples come from wolverines still living in the wild – with some tissues coming from the same wolverine at different stages in its life.

This information, along with any bone or skin specimens the Burke might receive in the future, is a valuable resource for future researchers. “As technology improves, we are able to use our specimens to ask new questions," said Bradley. "In one-hundred years, researchers will be using our collections to answer questions we we can't even dream of today."

More information about wolverines in Washington:

Once extinct here, wolverines on the rebound, The Seattle Times, January 31, 2013.
The Way of the Wolverine, Smithsonian Magazine, January 2012.
Wolverines breed, raise young in North Cascades, The Seattle Times, May 21, 2012
Wolverine-sized leap south, Conservation Northwest, April 12, 2012.
N. Cascades wolverine is an international traveler, The Seattle Times, March 29, 2010.
Washington's Wild One, by Keith Aubry, Conservation Northwest

Posted by Cathy Britt, Digital Communications
Special thanks to Keith Aubry for contributing information and photos to this post.

There's hope for the survival of frogs

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Leopard running frog, Kassina arboricola.
Photo by Duncan Reid.

Amphibians are one of the most threatened animal groups in the world; almost one third of all species are under severe threat. One of the main reasons for this is a nearly worldwide distribution of a chytrid fungus that causes a highly-lethal disease in frogs, called Chytridiomycosis. The fungus attacks the skin and blocks respiration in infected frogs, eventually killing the animal.

Chytrid is particularly widespread in Africa, with new positive records reported from countries in southern, eastern, and central Africa each year. One hypothesis is that the chytrid fungus originated in Africa and dispersed globally via the pet trade.

In a recent study published in the science journal PLOS ONE, Burke Museum researchers collaborated with biologists and herpetologists from across the globe and tested nearly 1,000 amphibians belonging to 62 species in seven African countries to see if they have the disease.

Two co-authors of the study, Burke Museum Curator of Herpetology Dr. Adam Leaché and University of Washington biology graduate student Matt McElroy, traveled to Ghana in 2011 to collect specimens for the project. Of the nearly 1,000 amphibians analyzed in the study, a significant portion, over 40 different species, were collected on this 17-day Burke expedition.

McElroy conducted genetic and histological tests on more than 100 individual frogs in the study, but did not detect the chytrid fungus. Other tests in the study produced similar findings. Remarkably, the fungus was not found in West Africa despite environmental factors that clearly show the fungus would find suitable conditions there.

“Chytrid is having negative impacts on amphibian communities on a global scale, and our study provides hope that at least one highly diverse region of Africa may remain unaffected by this pathogen,” Dr. Leaché said. One explanation for this, according to Johannes Penner, the lead author on the study, is the Dahomey Gap; an arid region in Togo and Benin that naturally divides the rain forests in West Africa from Central Africa and in turn acts as a natural barrier for the dispersal of the fungus.

It appears that West Africa is the last tropical region beside Madagascar where chytrid does not exist, potentially sparing West Africa from the great amphibian decline affecting the rest of the world. Though, according to many experts, future destruction of natural habitats in West Africa could easily rival the devastation of chytrid on amphibians.

In the study, researchers suggest various precautionary measures to prevent chytrid from spreading into West Africa through the trade of frogs for the food market. For example, regional transport of potential fungus-infected materials should be controlled and disinfected. In addition, an early warning system would be useful to detect the appearance of the fungus in Ghana, a potential entry point. These actions could protect the amphibians of West Africa, and be utilized by conservationists to help other amphibian populations across the globe.

All of the amphibians collected by Burke researchers for this study are a permanent part of the Burke Museum's herpetology collection and are available for future research.

Study Information:
Johannes Penner, Gilbert B. Adum, Matthew T. McElroy, Thomas Doherty-Bone, Mareike Hirschfeld, Laura Sandberger, Ché Weldon, Andrew A. Cunningham, Torsten Ohst, Emma Wombwell, Daniel M. Portik, Duncan Reid, Annika Hillers, Caleb Ofori-Boateng, William Oduro, Jörg Plötner, Annemarie Ohler, Adam D. Leaché & Mark-Oliver Rödel (2013) Title: West Africa - A Safe Haven for Frogs? A Sub-Continental Assessment of the Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). PLOS ONE http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056236.

My Month Without Plastic: I Survived

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:17:00 +0000

The plastic waste generated during my month without plastics.

I made it! I survived a month "without" plastic. I managed to mostly avoid purchasing new plastic but still left a small trail of plastic waste behind (see the photo to the right).

It’s less than I expected, which is somewhat of a relief, but I still cringe when I think about this waste still being around for decades after this challenge is over.

We forget about our trash rather quickly when we throw something “away,” but “away” is still somewhere. One of the walls in the Burke's Plastics Unwrapped exhibit is covered with 3,000 plastic bags–the number used every single second by people like me, who hadn’t thought about the consequences of common consumption. I believe as people who can make choices for ourselves, we have a duty to become more aware of our impact and to make a change.

It’s virtually impossible to live a life free of plastic, but is that the best goal? Regional co-director of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and a graduate student at New York University, Max Liboiron said in an article in the Harvard Gazette that we now live in a plastic planet and that, “we need to consider how to manage the problem rather than envision a return to pre-plastic days.”

It doesn't take much looking around to spot examples of "the problem." In the past month, I realized there are certain stores I can no longer shop at because virtually everything, down to the fresh garlic, is packaged in plastic. Items that I previously thought were free of plastic, like canned goods, are lined with plastic. Things like sporks at fast food restaurants, the pressure guard that keeps the lid of the pizza box from squishing the pizza, the thin wrap around new coffee table books, individual potato wrapping (for real, I've seen it) and six pack holders for soda and beer cans. All of these are made of materials that will last hundreds of years. Why?? I think that if the item inside the packaging has an expiration date, then the packaging on the outside should have one too.

More and more companies are beginning to adjust the engineering of their packaging to be more environmentally responsible. I'm encouraged to see prototypes of new products that use little or no plastic or are made from recycled plastic waste. Seventh Generation has adjusted their laundry detergent packaging to use 66% less plastic packaging than a typical detergent bottle. Method Soap recently came out with a soap bottle partially made from plastic trash found in the ocean and on beaches. I believe that if we, as consumers, support these positive changes in packaging design, then things will continue to head in the right direction.

I’m sure to fall off and get back on the anti-plastics wagon in the future, but I've learned a lot about plastics in our environment and my connection to it as a consumer. I also learned that, ultimately, no one can change you but you. You have to take it upon yourself to put forth the effort so bad things are less likely to happen. Slowly, habits can change and improve our lives and the lives of those around us. We need only consider the life before us (and generations beyond) to motivate this change.

I invite you to come to the Burke and learn more about the impacts and benefits of plastics at the Plastics Unwrapped exhibit. And, if you come during the week, you'll have to swing by the back desk to say hi!

Thanks for reading and I hope this project has been of some help to you.

All the best,
Sam

About Samantha:

Sam is a self-proclaimed minimalist who loves to take on new challenges - especially ones that relate to her love of the Burke Museum. She's worked at the Burke for two and a half years, currently as our Operations Assistant.

Parrington artifacts: A collector's story

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:20:00 +0000

Vernon L. Parrington in his office at the University of
Oklahoma, ca. 1905. Photograph courtesy of Sarah Parrington.

Objects in museums hold many stories—often of their makers and users, and also, sometimes, of their collectors.

That's the case with several beautiful Native American artifacts recently donated to the Burke Museum from the family of Vernon Louis Parrington, a longtime English professor at the University of Washington (UW) in the early 1900s.

Parrington was born in Illinois in 1871. He graduated from Harvard College in 1893 and taught English for four years at Emporia College in Kansas before moving on to teach at the University of Oklahoma.

It was in Oklahoma that his interest in Native art likely blossomed. His office (see the photograph above) was adorned with a growing collection of Native American artifacts including this horse drape, war club and panel belt.

Horse Drape
Buckskin, cotton and wool cloth, sinew, glass beads
Unknown maker, Lakota, Oglala, late 19th century
Burke Cat. No. 2010-31/5

War Club
Stone, wood rawhide, horsehair, sinew, yarn, glass beads
Unknown maker, Plains, late 19th century
Burke Cat. No. 2010-31/4

Panel Belt
Leather, sinew, glass beads
Unknown maker, Plains, late 19th century
Burke Cat. No. 2010-31/6

In 1909, Parrington made the long journey from Oklahoma to Washington state, where he became a member of the UW faculty and went on to establish the "American Studies" movement in the 1920s, then won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for his three-volume history of American letters from colonial times, Main Currents in American Thought. UW's Parrington Hall is named in his honor.

In addition to donating the horse drape, war club and panel belt to the Burke Museum's Ethnology collections, the Parrington family also generously donated funds to support the professional conservation of these objects.

When we add objects to our collection, we promise to take care of them forever. We're honored the Parrington family chose the Burke to care for their family heirlooms. As part of our collection, these objects will be available for people to study, and will help us answer future questions that haven't even been asked.

You can see the objects on display at the Burke Museum beginning on Wednesday, February 13, 2013.

My Month Without Plastic: Wrapped Up

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:51:00 +0000

By Samantha Porter

Not only have I had to rethink how and what types of foods I purchase during this month without plastics challenge, but it's also made me rethink other aspects of my life. Have you ever noticed how many everyday items you use are either made of plastic or wrapped up in it?

Plastics are literally everywhere! They're surrounding my shampoo, kitchen sponges and laundry detergent. They're in my clothes, face wash (what do you think those little microbeads are?) chewing gum, and dental floss. Even the little plastic aglet on the end of my shoe laces. It's a fact: plastics exist in my life and in my home.

I certainly can't avoid all plastics and there are some that I don't want to avoid. Can you imagine having a glass shampoo bottle in the shower? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Even though there are some plastics I can't easily avoid, I've found ways to lessen the collateral damage of my overall consumption.

For instance, instead of buying one sponge as I need it, I purchased a 12-pack of pop-up sponges from Trader Joe's and cut each one in half before reyhydrating it with water so I get a total of 24 sponges from one pack. Yes, they come packaged in plastic, but I figure that one wrapper for all of those sponges is far better than 24 packages for each individual sponge.

There's also the option to refill your already existing plastic bottles with certain products at some stores. Rainbow Remedies on Capitol Hill and Central Co-op both provide this option for shampoo, conditioner, dish and hand soap, detergent and even some oils. However, I will add that it can sometimes cost more to purchase the refill soaps than to just buy a new bottle. Even though these items do sometimes go on sale, it just depends on timing. I believe that when we shop we are essentially casting a vote for the world we want to see, but some votes are harder to cast than others because of their cost. Still, I find that doing what I can as often as I can do it helps to create a momentum for change.

Reducing my plastic consumption has helped me reduce my consumption across the board. Today’s specimen of focus: tissues.

Tissue photo by Joe Nicora, Flickr Creative Commons

I don’t tend to use a heap of tissues, but I usually keep a small pack in my bag when I go out. Since they're wrapped in plastic, these small packs were on my list of contraband for this month.

In their place, I've started using a lovely little collection of colorful cloth hankies that I got while I was in New Zealand. Much like Goodwill and Value Village, Kiwi “op-shops” have a sweet assortment of things you didn’t know you need.

It might seem gross to carry around a little cloth in your handbag used to wipe nose dribbles but I haven't felt that at all. I remember my dad always carrying a handkerchief in his back pocket. He would fold it into fourths and as he used it throughout the day he would fold over the blotted side like a hygienic origami. Another benefit of hankies: I feel like I have less clutter in my bag and I don’t have to find a trash bin as often to throw away tissues. At the end of the day, I put the small cloth into my laundry bin and feel a sense of accomplishment for not using a disposable resource to wipe my nose.

I've also found that these hankies (washed of course) make a fantastic substitution for plastic wrap and baggies for sandwiches and snacks that I bring to work for lunch. If the snack is small enough I can wrap it up and tie it in a knot but if it's bigger I use a rubber band, or just fold it over and hope for the best. For more of the plastic-reducing ideas and alternative products, check out the Burke's Plastics Unwrapped Pinterest board.

Click here for event information.

This month isn't wrapped up just yet. In less than one week, I'll debut the plastic I ended up using this month and talk more about this challenge at the Burke's Short Takes on Plastic event on Tuesday, February 5 at the Neptune Theatre. It's a fun, informative, and fast-paced event, so I recommend checking it out!

Lastly, I'm proud to say that my house has significantly less trash output since I've started this challenge. In fact, my roommates and I didn't even have to take out the garbage last week because there was nothing in it! It's a good feeling. Perhaps that could be the motivation you need if you're someone who hates taking out the trash? Just stop using plastic and you won't have to!

Until next time,
Sam

About Samantha:

My Month Without Plastic: Unexpected Nutrition Overhaul

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:50:00 +0000

By Samantha Porter

In last week's post, I was just starting to realize how much effort and planning it would require for me to avoid plastic waste while shopping for groceries. This process is a bit clumsy at first, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

What will I eat??
Before leaving for the store, I think through exactly what I'm going to purchase so I make sure to bring the right jars and reusable bags with me to carry my groceries. Though it is a relative hassle, it's given me the opportunity to be more mindful about what I eat.

Before this challenge, I would swing into any grocery store at anytime and buy whatever I wanted on a whim. While that was certainly convenient for me, those trips usually resulted in a lot of plastic waste and consumption of overly-processed foods.

Now that I have to mull over a shopping list so that my bulk bin soiree goes accordingly, I'm more likely to erase the mac and cheese, lunch meat, frozen pizza (impossible to find without plastic no less) and brownie mix from my list. Eating like that is not sustainable for a person’s health or the environment. My new list consists of more fresh fruits and vegetables, like spinach, carrots, mushrooms, strawberries, apples, as well as healthy bulk foods like beans, nuts, granola and grains. These items are not in plastic and let’s be honest, I know they're way better for me.

The other perks? By eating more fresh whole foods and less animal products and highly processed foods, I've already noticed an improvement in my skin, fingernails and, ahem, digestive process. And, since I started juicing every morning I no longer need to buy prepackaged beverages because my juice is much more tasty and has tons of nutrients in it! Win, win!

How much will this cost?
As for how much this whole shift costs... it is more money initially. Purchasing the glass jars is an obvious expense that you don't have if you're buying Lucky Charms in a box. However, it's a one time cost and each time I bring my jar and fill it up with organic corn flakes it costs less than if I were to purchase cereal in a box. Win! Also, by purchasing bulk, I'm able to buy exactly the amount I need so it's fresh when I use it as opposed to almond flour that's been sitting around for a year and a half because I had to buy five pounds of it in a bag.

Will I have to trek all over town?
My trips to the store are a little more frequent, but I am fortunate to live on Capitol Hill because the co-op is close by and I don't really need to trek all over the place to get what I need. Though it can be a nice diversion to head across town to the Ballard Farmer's Market on Sundays and have tea nearby with my lovely ladies in 98107. Savin' plastic and swappin' stories at the same time.

I've found that the effort it takes to not encounter plastic has become a kind of novelty, actually. I've gotten over the awkwerdity of hauling a heap of jars to the bulk bins and now do it with ease. In fact, on one of my recent trips, a fellow shopper told me that she was going to try and bring her own jars the next time she comes to the co-op after she saw how easy I made it look. That's exactly what I love to hear!

I know Gandhi's words are often overused, but I have found truth in them: we can make a positive impact and cause the change we want to see.

‘till next time!
Sam

Read Sam's next blog in this series, "My Month Without Plastic: Wrapped Up."

About Samantha:

My Month Without Plastic: Starting at the Store

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:58:00 +0000

By Samantha Porter

Plastic, plastic, plastic!

In my last post, I vowed to rethink my relationship with plastics by taking a look at what plastic products are in my life and trying to not purchase or use any new plastic for one month. But first, let's set some realistic ground rules...

There are some plastics in my life that I won't be able to avoid. For example, look down, see they keyboard in front of you? Plastic. What about the phone to your left? Plastic. Or the amputated T-Rex figurine to your right (am I the only one that has that?)? It's plastic (with paperclip prosthesis, of course).

I won't be discarding the lid to my reusable water bottle (because it's plastic) or getting rid of my computer mouse or the plastic case for my cell phone. This challenge isn't about deprivation, it's about conscious living. But, I do publicly vow, Burke Blog readers, that I will not repurchase my favorite (as of late) modern invention: press and seal wrap (mmmmmm…so brilliant).

After trying to focus on all of the plastic that I encounter in a single day (plastic is ever.y.where), I realized that most of the plastic waste I generate each day is from the packaging that surrounds food. So, I'm beginning this challenge with a significant shift in how I go about purchasing food at the grocery store.

I purchased a membership at the local co-op in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, Central Co-op, and plan on doing the vast majority of my shopping there. They have a huge selection of bulk products (no plastic packaging required!), and I admire their commitment to sustainability. I've also gathered a plethora of glass mason jars, cloth bags and reusable produce sacks which I intend to use instead of their plastic counterparts for my grocery shopping.

My new bulk food companions after being weighed, filled and labeled for checkout!

Now for the "fun" part: cleaning out my cupboards to make way for my glass mason jars, which I must say, look far more pleasing to the eye in my cupboards (Pinterest users would be proud). Although I didn't find the mess of plastic I removed from my shelves as pleasing. This transition has thrust plastic off of my shelves like a scorned lover throwing their exes belongings out on the front lawn. I never paid attention to just how much plastic packaging was on my shelves because I was focused on the food inside of it. Now that I've shifted my focus it's all out there for me to see.

I'll recycle what I can of the remnants from my cupboards, but what happens to the plastic bag my rice came in? Garbage. I can’t recycle the crinkly plastic bag, it’s not #1 PET, #2 HDPE, #3 PVC, #4 LDPE, #5 PP, #6 PS, etc. therefore, ‘tis trash. And since plastics don’t biodegrade, they must be recycled or they’ll end up sitting in a landfill for decades.

Is that little plastic cup my Taco Bell nacho cheese came in when I was in high school still in a landfill somewhere? What about that plastic bag of chocolate chips that my dad and I mixed into cookies when I was little? Is it still around even though the cookies have long since been converted into giddy childhood energy? What a thought.

That's why I'm doing this challenge. I know there is no such thing as being "no impact," but I want to be more aware of my impact and try to minimalize it where possible. I've started by asking myself: "what are you willing to sacrifice?" Homemade chocolate chip cookies? Hardly. I can still get all the things I need for cookies in the bulk bins at the co-op, it just takes a little more effort on the front end.

But just how much effort is this going to take? Will it cost a lot more than buying things normally or will I be rewarded with heaps of discounts? Will I have to trek all over Seattle to find what I need or will it be a short bus ride away? Will my packed lunches become wilted and sad because they aren't sealed in by their plastic wrap friend? How will I survive?!?!

I'll try to answer these questions and more in the next few weeks! In the meantime, I'd love to hear your comments (even the nitpicky ones) and any suggestions you may have. I hope that means that you're interested in this project, but more importantly, that you're considering how you can reduce plastic in your life.

Until next time,
Sam

Read Sam's next post: "My Month Without Plastics: Unexpected Nutrition Overhaul."

The Burke Museum's Short Takes on Plastics event
Sam will share the stage with nine other presenters and discuss her experience during this month-long challenge at the Burke Museum's Short Takes on Plastics event on February 5, 2013 at the Neptune Theatre. For more information on the event of the Burke Museum's Plastics Unwrapped exhibit, click here.

About Samantha:
Sam is a self-proclaimed minimalist who loves to take on new challenges - especially ones that relate to her love of the Burke Museum. She's worked at the Burke for two and a half years, currently as our Operations Assistant.

My Month Without Plastic: The Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:58:00 +0000

By Samantha Porter

The Burke recently opened a new exhibit, Plastics Unwrapped, that explores how material culture was changed–rapidly and significantly–by plastics. Plastics are everywhere and they'll stay in landfills and in our oceans for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

That got me thinking about the plastics in my life. I consider myself to have a fairly small ecological footprint overall: I don’t own a car, I buy locally when I can, and I'm above average in my knowledge of recycling protocol *dust off shoulders.* But when it comes to plastics, I realized that so much of what I purchase comes wrapped in plastic packaging. Even if it is recyclable – it never entirely disappears. We can't simply recycle things into non-existence.

I wanted to challenge myself to rethink my relationship with plastics, especially when it comes to my purchases. I realize that many of the things I purchase without a second thought contain plastics (such as peanut butter, laundry detergent, vitamins, pens, chapstick, tissues, toilet paper, spinach, toothpaste, etc). So, in August 2012, I vowed to take a hard look at what plastic products I already had in my life and then not purchase or use any new plastic for one month.

Now for the fun part: the public accountability. Over the next month, I'll post on the Burke Blog each week to give you an inside look at what I experienced in my month without plastic.

Then, on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, I'll be speaking at the Burke Museum's Short Takes on Plastics event at the Neptune Theatre, where I'll unveil the new plastics that still managed to creep into my life during my month-long challenge, despite my best attempt to avoid them.

In the meantime, check out our Plastics Unwrapped Pinterest board to see some alternatives to plastics and feel free to share your plastic-reducing tips or ideas!

Until next time,

Sam

About Samantha:
Sam is a self-proclaimed minimalist who loves to take on new challenges - especially ones that relate to her love of the Burke Museum. She's worked at the Burke for two and a half years, currently as our Operations Assistant.

The Carved Legacy of Snohomish Cultural Leader William Shelton

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:09:00 +0000

William Shelton, Model Story Pole,
Snohomish (Tulalip Indian Reservation),
Southern Coast Salish. Ca. 1920s.

By Christy Hansen
Guest writer, Ethnology

From the late nineteenth-century through the early decades of the twentieth century, white American culture embraced the notion of the Native American culture as rapidly disappearing. The popular visual iconography of the totem pole, along with the feathered war bonnet and teepee, had come to be interpreted as an exotic and spellbinding relic of a "savage" "vanishing race" by whites, and miniature carved model totem poles became popular souvenirs from curio shops to commemorate a visit to a Native village along the northern Northwest Coast. Urban stores, such as the landmark Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, Washington (founded in 1899), offered model totem poles for sale, as well, to those who may never even have traveled to villages of the Haida, Tsimshian or Tlingit - northern Northwest Coast Native cultures from which totem poles originated.

The totem pole, which had become a symbol of "a generalized American Indianess," was not a traditional art form of the Southern Coast Salish – the grouping of over fifty autonomous Native American tribes which populate the Puget Sound Basin in Washington State.

Amongst the Coast Salish peoples, traditional religious beliefs did not tolerate extroverted art forms such as the heraldic totem poles of the northern Northwest Coast cultures; thereby, making the circa 1920s Snohomish (a group of the Southern Coast Salish) model totem, or story, pole (pictured at right) so fascinating.

This miniature pole is a container of many intriguing interrelated stories, all of which hinge on the motivations and desires of the man who is to credit for its creation the late Snohomish cultural leader William Shelton (Wha-ceh-dub or Whah-kay-dub) (1868-1938), whom was based out of the Tulalip Indian Reservation, located just north of Everett and west of Marysville in Washingotn State.

A photograph from 1912 or 1913 shows Shelton in the process of refining the shapes of the skelalitut figures on the story pole that would be erected on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. (Negative No. NA859, Ferdinand Brady Photographic Postcards PH Coll 139, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division)

So what impelled William Shelton to create this non-traditional miniature story pole?

By 1912, William Shelton was approaching middle age and had become acutely aware that the cherished traditions and oral stories of his culture were rapidly vanishing after decades of U.S. governmental suppression following the 1855 signing of the Point Elliot Treaty in Washington Territory by leaders of eighty-two Coast Salish tribes. Analogous to the developments on other U.S. Indian Reservations, residents of the Tulalip Indian Reservation were confronted with the stringent laws of the U. S. Government, which sought to extinguish all vestiges of traditional customs and Native cultural identities and "bring civilization to the Indian." (1)

Shelton sought out an innovative artistic strategy to ensure that his culture’s knowledge could be revitalized and preserved for longevity, and developed the non-traditional story pole public art form to achieve his goals, simultaneously pulling from the storehouse of Salishan traditions and nodding to the freestanding carved totem poles with superimposed figures of Northern Northwest Coast Native cultures.

From 1912, with the carving of his first story pole for the Tulalip Indian Reservation (pictured left), through the point of his death in February 1938, Shelton generated with almost a tornadic force during a quarter century-span at least sixteen large-scale and medium-sized story poles for public display across the United States, as well as countless miniatures for private sale (pictured below) including the model story pole owned by the Burke.

The various story poles Shelton carved ushered in an original innovative form to traditional Southern Coast Salish carving practices. To develop the design components for the pole, Shelton turned to the cultural training he received in his youth to identify the conceptual elements that would most honorably illustrate and encapsulate the knowledge and cultural values of his people: skelalitut or skla’letut figures, which signified an individual’s guardian spirit or supernatural power from which all activities and success in life depended; and, moralizing oral stories which, in the words of the late Puget Salish language- and culture-preservationist, Vi Hilbert, give expression to the most important values of our [Salish] culture.

As Shelton penned,
“[The oral stories] were the textbooks used by the Indians to teach their children to be brave, loyal and truthful…My mission is to help them [the children] learn and perpetuate our customs, [and]… explain to my people how important it is to leave a record of our Indian learning before we are all gone. That is what I have tried to do with my…poles.”

The letterhead from a 1930 letter from William Shelton to Washington State Governor Roland Hartley provides indication that Shelton marketed his model story (totem) poles out of a camp ground he ran in Everett, Washington. (Letter housed in the Governor Ronald Hartley Papers, Capitol Commission Records, Office of the Secretary of State, Division of Archives and Records Management, Olympia, Washington)

Shelton’s desire for his story poles was twofold. His objective was not only to convey and provide permanence to significant Native Puget Sound moralizing oral stories for the next generation of Salish youth, but also to breach the divide between white and regional Southern Coast Salish cultures by educating the outside white population about Salish cultural principles—whose core values, he acutely grasped, closely mimicked those of the white population. In his 1923 booklet, The Story of the Totem Pole, Shelton wrote that he “hoped that these stories as well as the Pole will stand as a monument to a vanishing race [and] that they will help our white friends to understand a little of the Indian’s belief in spirits.” In order to achieve this end, Shelton sought out and appropriated the visual language of the freestanding carved totem pole, which was recognizable and easily accessible for non-Native cultures.

The carved guardian figures, or skelalituts, and their accompanying oral stories have been identified using information relayed by William Shelton in 1934 to Ranger-naturalist Victor Scheffer of Mount Rainier National Park Museum, as well as information Shelton penned within his own 1923 booklet, The Story of the Totem Pole.(2)

A Carved Legacy

Consistent with the initial goals conceived with his first story pole construction at Tulalip Indian Reservation in 1912, the various story poles Shelton would carve late in life acted as tools around which he could, on a larger scale, revitalize local Salish community strength and perpetuate the oral histories of his heritage, as well as attempt to transform the dominant negative view white American society held towards Native American cultures the country over. Shelton exercised his popularity to become a pronounced cultural leader and spokesperson for his people until his death on February 11, 1938: Campaigning for Native human rights, utilizing his English to provide numerous public lectures on Salish oral traditions and values, programs in traditional Native dances and songs, and carving demonstrations to youth members of Seattle’s Christian Association of Friendly Indians, Y. M. C. A., and Campfire Girls. As Tulalip elder Hank Gobin poignantly expressed, "[Shelton] could see in the future. He preserved something that otherwise would have been lost." (3)
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1: Velma Nerferding, “Moccasin Telegraph,” Miami Daily News Record, April 5, 1959, 21.
2: Victor Scheffer, “The Story of the Totem Pole,” Mount Rainier Nature Notes, Vol. XII, No. 10, October 1934.; Victor Scheffer, “The Story of the Totem Pole (Continued from October),” Mount Rainier Nature Notes, Vol. XII, No. 12, December 1934.; William Shelton, The Story of the Totem Pole or Indian Legends (Everett, WA: Kane & Harcus, Co., 1923): 27-30.
3: Krista j. Kapralos, “Copyrighting Culture: Tulalips Assert Rights to Stories,” The Herald (Everett, Washington), April 15, 2007: 1.

Conservation Stories From Behind the Lens

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:32:00 +0000

Each of the 75 photographs featured in our International Conservation Photography Awards exhibit tells a unique and compelling story about a beautiful moment in nature. One that we, as viewers, individually interpret based on our life experiences and understanding of the natural world.

From photographs of tiny creatures to enormous environmental changes, I couldn't help but want to know more... What inspired the photographer to seek out this moment in nature? What is the message they want to convey with their work? How did they get that amazing shot?

I sat down with several of the award-winning photographers and asked if they would be willing to share their story. Here's what Seattle-based bird and wildlife photographer Paul Bannick, Victoria, British Columbia-based photographer TJ Watt, and South Africa-based photographer Cheryl-Samantha Owen each had to say:

Arctic Emissary

Cape Gannet Rescue

Last Stands

Posted by Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

What do YOU want to protect?
From the bird’s nest in your backyard to that spot on the hiking trail where you feel totally alone… from the tiny park down the block to a tree frog half a world away… what matters to you? Share your photo in our Conservation Candids Flickr group!

Studying bursts of diversification in tropical bats

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Sharlene Santana holds a Lophostoma silvicolum bat.

Sharlene Santana is an evolutionary biologist and the new curator of mammals here at the Burke Museum. She studies how behavior, diet, anatomy and function result in bursts of diversification in tropical bats – mostly from Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela.

Sharlene was born and spent most of her life in Venezuela. Growing up in the tropics fostered her love for animals and interest in their diversity.

Some of the tropical forests where Sharlene has worked no longer exist because they have been cut down. While Sharlene releases most of the bats she studies in the field, she collects some specimens to help preserve the biodiversity of these increasingly threatened habitats. In her research today and other studies in the future, these specimens in collections will help answer questions that haven’t even been asked.

I recently sat down with Sharlene to ask her why and how she studies bats.

How did you start studying bats?
As an undergrad I was very interested in studying the form and function of mammals. I was mostly interested in larger mammals though, like foxes and big cats, but I had a great mentor in Venezuela who studied bats and exposed me to their diversity. Holding a bat in my hand and examining it was an eye-opening experience for me. I was hooked on bats from the first time I went to the field!

What type of studies do you do?
(Watch this short video to see Sharlene's work in the field!)

Why tropical bats?
Bats are remarkably diverse and that fits well with my research questions of understanding how and why diversity evolves. It’s outstanding how bats evolved the ability to fly and have become one of the largest groups of mammals. Bats have been able to colonize most habitats, except for the poles, and can consume foods that range from insects and fruits, all the way to nectar and even blood.

Why are there so many different species?
Bats have been very successful in their evolutionary history, partly because they were able to evolve flight and exploit the aerial niche during the night. There may also be some other features of bats that allowed them to diversify fairly quickly. For example, we have found that the evolution of certain characteristics, like the short faces of some fruit eating bats, probably allowed them to adapt to new types of fruit and split into many different species. The same thing might be happening in other groups of bats, we just don’t know yet.

Photo courtesy of Sharlene Santana

What are you studying now?
I’m continuing to do work on tropical bats to study their diversity, anatomy and function. I also hope to do similar work in other mammals and take advantage of the resources we have in the mammalogy collection here at the Burke. There are many questions that I wouldn’t be able to study if I didn't have access to our specimens.

Will you study local bats?
Although temperate regions don't have as much diversity as the tropics do, there's still an interesting mix of bats here in Washington. I think what excites me the most is that there are species of bats that are found across the entire state despite the different climates in Eastern and Western Washington. I’m really interested to see if the bats have evolved local adaptations to their diet based on whether they're on one side of the mountains or the other, and to track bat colonies over time to see which individual bats reproduce the most and why.

Thanks, Sharlene!
---

You can learn more about Sharlene’s research on her website, The Santana Lab and find the Burke Museum's mammalogy collection on our website.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

Day of the Dead: A celebration of life

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 22:07:00 +0000

Day of the Dead Figure
David Linares-Vargas

At the Burke, we bring together people, objects and the stories that make them meaningful. As Mexico and other cultures around the world celebrate Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) on November 1 and 2, we want to share some of the Day of the Dead objects in our Ethnology collection and a special new sculpture on display for our visitors to enjoy.

Day of the Dead is a time for families and communities to welcome home the visiting spirits of the deceased and celebrate the love they shared. Rather than a time for sadness and mourning, this holiday, is a celebration of life and is filled with all kinds of individual and culturally meaningful objects that remind us of the past.

Preparations for Day of the Dead often begin weeks in advance. The celebration traditionally includes dances, festivals, family gatherings and religious services. Families also place photographs of their deceased relatives on candlelit ofrendas (altars) with elaborate wreaths and crosses, prepare special foods – such as chocolate skulls and pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and lay trails of brightly-colored marigolds to help guide the spirits home.

Artists produce beautiful creations. Everything from skulls sculpted from sugar, to tissue paper flags, to intricate cartoneria – papier-mâché sculptural works made for use or sale during seasonal fiestas in Mexico. Browse the Day of the Dead objects in our online Ethnology collection.

The whimsical, life-size skeleton sculpture pictured above was made for the Day of the Dead fiesta by David Linares-Vargas, a member of a well-known Mexico City family that has made cartoneria since the 1950s. David carries on the tradition of his grandfather and father in creating elaborate cartoneria.

The sculpture was originally acquired from a Seattle gallery in the 1990s by Robert D. Wilson, a former University of Washington art history faculty member who taught about Mexican colonial and folk art. After Wilson's death in 2009, Drs. Rene and Stephanie Bravmann acquired it from his estate and donated it to the Burke Museum in Wilson's memory.

It is now on display in our Pacific Voices gallery next to a traditional Day of the Dead altar created by local Mexican artists Isaac Hernández Ruiz.

Objects like this sculpture and other Day of the Dead artifacts represent an important cultural identity and community history. We’re proud to help care for these shared resources and celebrate in their meaning.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

Two million fish ear bones contain new environmental insights

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:56:00 +0000


The rings on a fish otolith. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Eustatic Creative Commons license

The rings in a tree stump can tell us a lot about the age and growth patterns of the tree, but did you know similar records are hidden inside the tiny ear bones of fishes?

The Burke Museum's fish collection is currently cataloging and moving a collection of nearly two million of these fish ear bones, called otoliths, to join our rapidly expanding collections and provide valuable information to researchers.

Most fishes have three small ear bones, called otoliths, located on each side of the rear of the skull, which aid in balance and hearing. Like a tree, the largest of the otoliths develop rings that contain all kinds of valuable information: where the fish was born, what it ate and the conditions and depth of the water that it swam in—all of which provide clues about environmental factors such as climate change and how they impact species and populations. Some fishes, such as the rockfishes, can live 100 years or more—giving researchers an entire century’s worth of data to study.

The study of otoliths interests not only ichthyologists, but researchers throughout the various fields of science. For example, geochemists are turning to otoliths to reconstruct earlier and unknown environmental histories. Paleontologists and archaeologists are studying otoliths recovered from fossil and archaeological sites to learn about previous climates and what people ate in the past. Otolith research has fundamentally changed our understanding of fishes and their environment and represents a truly transformative science.

For this reason, researchers like Ted Pietsch, curator of fishes at the Burke Museum, consider otoliths a true treasure. Ted and Burke collections manager Katherine Maslenikov, maintain one of the largest and most diverse fish collections in the nation—more than 10 million specimens—right here on the University of Washington (UW) campus.

The Styrofoam and cardboard boxes that
formerly housed the otoliths collection.

So when Ted learned that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had a massive collection of otoliths—nearly two million—in the Seattle area that they weren’t able to safely store, he worked in partnership with NOAA to transfer the collection to the UW fish collection.

The collection of otoliths began in 1971 when Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) and U.S. Domestic Fisheries Observer Program personnel started extracting otoliths from fishes they collected on the west coast of the U.S. from southern California to the Bering Sea.

Each sample is marked with important information about where and how the specimens were collected, such as their geographic location, date of capture, time of trawl, depth of gear, water temperature, etc. So far the collection contains 83 species of eastern North Pacific and Bering Sea fishes, each represented by hundreds—some by thousands—of unique otoliths.

For the past 40 years, the collection sat in an old airplane hangar built in the 1930s, but the collection has grown considerably over the years—as have the safety risks. With nearly two million ethanol-filled glass vials of otoliths in nearly 12,000 Styrofoam boxes housed in a pre-WWII structure, the risk of fire and losing the collection was very real.

Ted Pietsch holds a vial containing pairs of otoliths.

So, with a $526,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Burke’s ichthyologists will transfer the entire collection of nearly two million otoliths to the UW campus, replace the Styrofoam boxes with acid-free cardboard boxes and sort them on mobilized shelves in a fire-safe space near the existing fish collection. In addition, they’ll catalog and digitize the massive amount of biological and physical data from the collection and publish it online in a searchable database and image gallery.

To help with the tedious task of handling two million pairs of tiny fish bones, Ted and Katherine hired a team of eager undergraduate students to go through the old dusty Styrofoam boxes (some even covered in pigeon poop!), catalog, transfer, relabel the specimens, then move the collection from the airplane hangar to the UW.

“They’re so fast,” Ted said referring to Rebecca Anderson, Josh Borin, Ross Furbush, Eric Harris, Jake Kvistad, Felicia Muncaster and Ellie Robbins—many of whom are continuing to work on the project through the school year. It’s tedious and messy work, but the students are sorting the collection year-by-year and are already working on the otoliths collected in 2004.

“This is not only wonderful for science, but we’re so excited for how it will support our students,” said Ted referring to new student internship opportunities, increased access to the otoliths for UW biology classes, and public programs. In addition, Ted was able to recruit a new graduate student, Jeremy Harris, who comes to us with a M.S. degree from Loyola University Chicago, to help manage the project while also conducting otolith research as part of his doctoral dissertation.

The new, acid-free cardboard boxes of otoliths
in their new home at UW.

By saving and sharing these specimens, the Burke Museum is adding to our library of biodiversity—a library that gets referenced all the time. Otoliths are of enormous value to today’s researchers studying our natural and cultural history, with unlimited potential to aid future researchers in answering questions that haven’t even been asked yet.

Visit our website to learn more about the Ichthyology collections and research at the Burke Museum.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

Explore the Fishes collection:

Cairns: Messengers in Stone

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:57:00 +0000

A beinakerlingar in Iceland.

By David B. Williams

Cairns – seemingly random man made stacks of rocks – can be surprisingly rich in stories and meaning. For thousands of years, cairns have been used by people to connect to the landscape and communicate with others. But what are they communicating?

The word "cairn" dates back to 16th century Scotland and comes from the Gaelic carn, or “heap of stones.” It refers to stone piles ranging from a simple stack to elaborate mounds totalling hundreds of rocks marking Scottish burial sites - some more than 4,000 years old.

Many people today are most familiar with cairns that mark trails for travelers. These cairns may be only a few strategically placed rocks, while others may be massive piles of rocks high on a ridge that are visible for miles. No matter the size or shape, this is a simple way to mark the proper route at a trail fork (especially for those travelers without today's cell phones and GPS units to guide them).

The purpose and meanings of cairns differ dramatically across cultures and history. Some cairns are built to guide travelers, mark grave sites or serve as an altar or shrine, others reveal property boundaries or sacred hunting grounds, and even predict astronomical activity.

The Navajo people repeatedly place stones on cairns to bring good luck (known as tsé ninájihí). The Inuit people in the high Arctic have more than 50 terms to describe various types of cairns, depending on location, season, and message. The ancient Inca Trail system in South America has countless trailside cairns for guidance known as apacheta. And in Iceland, cairns been given the persona of old women and it’s tradition for people to leave bawdy poems, known as beinakerlingar, or bone crones, inside them.

An illustration of the famous cairn
from the Franklin Expedition.

One of my favorite cairn stories is from 1845, when Sir John Franklin and more than 100 men set sail from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the Northwest Passage. Unfortunately, they never made it.

Two hard winters froze them into the ice, almost 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle. In 1847, one ship broke free and sailed south to a small island where the men left a note in a rock cairn. The note read, “all were well.”

One year later, the men returned to the same cairn and updated their original message. Their leader Franklin and two dozen others were now dead and the survivors were trying to march south to find an escape. Their note, discovered in the cairn nearly a decade later, was the lone piece of written evidence ever recovered from the Franklin Expedition.

While their purpose and meaning differ dramatically between cultures, finding a cairn, a silent messenger in stone, is an enduring reminder of those who have crossed paths before us.

Geologist and acclaimed nature writer David B. Williams (Stories in Stone: Travels through Urban Geology) explores the history of cairns from the moors of Scotland to the peaks of the Himalaya -- where they come from, what they mean, why they’re used, how to make cairns, and more in his new book, Cairns: Messengers in Stone.

Drawing conclusions: One geologist's glimpse into ancient marine life

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:00:00 +0000

A fossil found at the Metaline Falls quarry.

Fossils are an important key to understanding life on our planet. They can tell us a lot about creatures who inhabited the Earth millions of years before us. Finding a fossil is one thing. Figuring out what the fossil once was, is another. That’s where geologists like Ed East come in.

Ed is a retired geologist and longtime Burke Museum volunteer and donor with a keen eye for identifying fossils. But when he recently was stuck while trying to identify rare fossils, he looked for a creative approach to discovering what they were and started drawing.

I sat down with Ed on his last day as a volunteer at the Burke Museum. After more than 30 years he had a lot of memories and research to sort through. He pulled out a file folder and spread dozens of fossil drawings across his desk, but before he could start describing them, a photograph caught his eye. Ed gently unpinned the old photo of a clean-shaven young man on his graduation day. "This is me when I attended school here," he said with a smile.

Ed's geology career began while he was a student at the University of Washington. He spent a lot of time doing field work and research at the Burke, until he graduated and went to work as an exploration geologist for Union Oil Company. After 35 years of what Ed called "good work" and worldwide travel with Union Oil, he retired and returned to the place that had inspired him as a young man.

Ed East and Ron Eng at the
Metaline Falls fossil site.

In the fall of 2004, Ed joined a team of Burke researchers, including paleontology curator Liz Nesbitt and geology collections manager Ron Eng, on a trip to the Metaline Falls area in the northeastern corner of Washington State. A quarry near Metaline Falls boasted fine-grained limestone that was once the ocean floor, 510 million years ago, during the Cambrian period.

Inside the quarry were fossils – some of the oldest in the world. These fossilized marine invertebrates (without a backbone) are the ancestors of all animal life today, even animals with backbones such as fish, reptiles and mammals.

Finding fossils is extremely rare in itself, but these fossils were particularly unusual because they contained impressions of soft-bodied marine animals. Most often the remains of soft-bodied animals naturally decayed, leaving very little behind. But in rare cases, if all of the conditions were right, sediment covered the animal (completely flattening it) and developed an impression of the animal's remains in rock.

Many of these soft-bodied fossils are difficult for researchers to place in modern animal categories or match up with any modern descendants. The Burke collection contained many of these unidentified specimens. That's when Ed turned to a pencil and tracing paper.

Ed starts his drawings with a photo of the fossil and enlarges it 2, 3 even 8 times. He then places tracing paper over the photo and gently sketches highlights of the fossil's shape.

A soft-bodied fossil and Ed's drawing.

Ed picked up a drawing of a gangly-looking organism and stared closely at it for a minute,"Some of these things we still don’t have a name for,” he said while gently tracing his finger over the pencil markings. “This one - it’s not too sexy," he said with a smile.

Only a handful of people use similar techniques to try and identify fossils. Some of the strange looking creatures appear as if they could have been life from another planet, but they provide insight into the past life of these ancient marine organisms.

Beautiful or not, the abstract details in Ed's drawings have already helped narrow down the identifications of several soft-bodied fossils, and will continue to aide Burke researchers for years to come.

After walking me through several of his fossil drawings, Ed carefully placed them in a pile on the corner of his desk for the geology team. Though Ed no longer volunteers at the Burke, his tremendous impact in the field of geology as well as his work in our collection continues on.

Thanks, Ed!

Visit our website for more information about Paleontology at the Burke Museum.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications
Siri Lanz contributed to this geology project as part of her work with the Graduate Program in Museum Studies.

Isaac the African lion goes Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Isaac, a mounted African lion who spent nearly 30 years in Seattle and was very popular at last year's Meet the Mammals event, has a new home at Museum Victoria in Australia.

Jeff Bradley, mammalogy collection manager at the Burke Museum, took time off from his recent Australian vacation to visit Isaac in his new home.

"Last year, I got a call from Mardi Newman, a local benefit auctioneer, asking if we'd have any use for a mounted African Lion called Isaac," Jeff said. "A friend of hers, Renee Mills, had recently died, and had left quite a collection of African artifacts and specimens, most of which were going to auction.”

Renee, a Redmond-based travel agent, specialized in African safaris and collected Isaac while on safari in 1983 in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. He was the centerpiece of her collection, and a personal favorite, until her death in 2011. Renee's friends and family didn’t want to see Isaac disappear into a private collection and were looking for a museum that could put him on display, or use him for education or research. That's when they turned to the Burke.

Jeff Bradley shows a young Meet the Mammals
visitor the skull of a full-grown lion.

“In terms of research value, we don't have a strong African mammal collection, so researchers who need African mammals don't typically come to the Burke Museum,” said Jeff. If we took him, he would be used very rarely, which wasn't what they were looking for. But I did offer to ask around and see if any other museums could use him.”

Kevin Rowe, Senior Curator of Mammals at Museum Victoria, was the first to reply and very eager to welcome Isaac – especially after learning that Renee had preserved the lion’s skull and information about the location where he had been collected.

"Isaac is a fantastic lion with all the marks of his life in Botswana, and this was too rare an opportunity to pass up,” said Kevin. “We are fortunate at Museum Victoria that we have the capacity to acquire him."

The Burke Museum community was also fortunate to briefly cross paths with this magnificent specimen and to share him with visitors at our annual Meet the Mammals event. As for Jeff? “I'm really happy to have him sent someplace like this and the family feels really happy that he'll be useful down here."

See more images of Isaac in Museum Victoria's blog post.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

Cloudy with a chance of horned lizards

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Many people go to Mexico for a relaxing beach vacation. But Burke scientists spent their "summer vacation" searching the desert for signs of the elusive horned lizard.

Horned lizards are especially diverse, including sixteen species that vary dramatically from each other (picture Thanksgiving dinner, when you're wondering how that crazy cousin could POSSIBLY be related to you).

Some give live birth like humans, while others lay eggs. Some can squirt blood out of their eye as a defense mechanism against predators, while others can’t. Not to mention, horn and tail lengths vary dramatically between the species. How, where, and why did these lizards adapt so differently from one another?

That’s what Dr. Adam Leaché, curator of herpetology at the Burke Museum, is trying to find out. Adam, along with University of Washington graduate student Jared Grummer, set out to compare DNA from all sixteen species of horned lizards to learn their evolutionary history.

The Burke Museum’s Genetic Resources collection already had tissue samples for almost all of the horned lizards in the family except for three found in southern Mexico: the short-tail horned lizard, bull horned lizard, and the giant horned lizard.

After months of planning and preparation, Adam and Jared set out for Mexico, where they joined professors and students from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to form a top-notch lizard-catching field team.

The Mexican landscape is hostile at best, and the three species of horned lizards they were looking for are notoriously difficult to catch (part of the reason they aren't already in many collections!). According to Jared, the lizards are easily camouflaged in a wide variety of landscapes and can stay still - very still. “They don’t move, not even if you step near them.”

The team traversed many acres of land, fending off scrapes and cuts from thorny branches and cacti for three days, with no luck finding horned lizards. Their task became even more difficult when hurricane Carlotta blew in.

After a frustrating first few days, the team headed to Chilpancingo, Guerrero, after locals notified them of horned lizards in the area. “The sun had come out for a little while and the lizards were out,” said Jared. They quietly watched as two male giant horned lizards bobbed their heads and wagged their tails at each other while competing for a female. “You feel like you are looking back in time when you see their horns, scales, and eyes,” said Jared.

Though the lizards may seem like a portal to a bygone era, their habitat and survival faces serious threats today. In some places like Chilpancingo, Mexico, their natural habitats are already being overrun by new farms. That’s where the importance of research comes in.

By collecting and studying specimens - and investigating the diversity of species - researchers like Adam and Jared, are able to provide invaluable information to the scientific and conservation communities.

After five grueling days in the field, the team managed to catch all three species of horned lizard they hoped to find. They are now part of the collection at the Burke Museum and Adam is comparing each species' DNA in his research to understand how horned lizards adapted and evolved.

Learn more about Dr. Leaché's research on his lab website, or visit our website to learn more about Herpetology at the Burke Museum.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications
Photos courtesy of Jared Grummer. Video courtesy of Dr. Adam Leaché.

The three horned lizards caught in Mexico are of genus Phrynosoma:
P. braconnieri: short-tail horned lizard
P. taurus: bull-horned lizard
P. asio: giant horned lizard

Piecing together Patagonia's ancient vegetation

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Fossil site in Patagonia, Argentina.

Most people hardly notice what's on the ground beneath their feet. But to researchers like Regan Dunn, a graduate student studying paleobotany at the University of Washington, fallen leaves provide invaluable clues to understanding how climate change impacted life on earth - and how our actions today will shape the future.

Regan is part of a team led by Caroline Strömberg, Burke Curator of Paleobotany, that is studying 40 to 18 million-year-old plant and animal fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina. “This was a time with major climate change and some extinction events, so we really want to understand how vegetation was affected by these changes.”

To understand the impact of climate change on Patagonia’s vegetation, they set out to reconstruct what types of vegetation existed in ancient Patagonia. To collect data, Regan visited Costa Rica - which has a modern climate similar to that of ancient Patagonia.

The data she was after? Phytoliths - tiny, glass-like fossils left behind after plants decompose in soil.

The forest floor in Costa Rica.
Photo by Melanie Connor.

With the sounds of birds and bugs providing constant reminders of the ecosystem surrounding her, Regan carefully gathered more than 200 soil samples filled with millions of phytoliths and photographed the surrounding vegetation.

Since the trip to Costa Rica, Regan and undergraduate student Aiden Loeser have been examining the plant fossils in these modern day soil samples in hope they can apply the patterns observed in nature today to fossil phytolith samples from Patagonia.

With more research, they hope to reconstruct the ancient vegetation of Patagonia and better understand how climate change impacted its ancient landscape - with the hope that this knowledge will help us understand how ecosystems like those in Costa Rica may change in the future.

Visit our website to learn more about Paleontology research and collections at the Burke Museum.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications
Video by Melanie Connor

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. EAR-0819910 and DEB-1110354. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

What do you want to protect? Conservation Candids

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:50:00 +0000

Nature photos are beautiful and inspiring. They also make us think twice about the world around us – and what we stand to lose if we don't protect the places that matter to us.

From the bird’s nest in your backyard to that spot on the hiking trail where you feel totally alone… from the tiny park down the block to a tree frog half a world away… what matters to you?

Conservation Candids
The 75 images in our International Conservation Photography (ICP) Awards exhibit recognize excellence in conservation photography, but we know the desire to capture beautiful moments in the natural world extends far beyond this exhibit (and our limited wall space!).

That's why we've created a Conservation Candids Flickr pool to showcase what YOU want to protect.
Want to participate? It’s easy! Add your photo to our "Conservation Candids" photo pool on Flickr.

Here's what a few of you have already shared with us:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
So, what do you want to protect?

Read our "Conservation Stories From Behind the Lens" blog for short video interviews with three of the award-winning photographers with photos in the 2012 International Conservation Photography Awards exhibit.

A little "Eye Spy," anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 23:29:00 +0000

Want to play a little "Eye Spy?" Test your nature knowledge with these sneak preview photos featured in the International Conservation Photography (ICP) Awards exhibit at the Burke Museum through November 25, 2012.

Eye spy a mellow mamma and her curious calf, who was very "friendly" with the photographer when he took their picture near an island in the South Pacific known for the same quality. Where are they?

Photo by Ryan Hellard (zoomed in for Eye Spy)

Eye spy two brash bulls in Banff National Park. Since 1885, the park's population has grown from just a handful to more than 3000. What are they?

Photo by Justin Reznick (zoomed in for Eye Spy)

Eye spy pink-tinged plumage and a pretty yellow pouch (which can hold three times the amount of food as this bird's stomach). What is it?

Photo by Lori Foreman (zoomed in for Eye Spy)

Answers:
1) Tonga
2) Elk
3) Pelican

Keep your eyes tuned to our Facebook page to spy more photos as they're posted.

A homecoming for Sooke the orca

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:56:00 +0000

Puget Sound Southern Resident orcas swim off the shore
of San Juan Island in August 2011. (Photo: Cathy Britt)

The return of the J, K and L Pod Southern Resident orcas to their home waters near the San Juan Islands this week came on the heels of another homecoming of sorts. The Burke returned the skeletal remains of Sooke (also known as Victoria), a former member of the L pod, to her new home at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor.   

When three-year-old Sooke (L-112) washed ashore near Long Beach, WA in early February,researchers examined her remains to try and determine how she died. Shortly after, the Whale Museum began cleaning her skeleton to make it a permanent part of the museum.
Some of Sooke's 12'3" skeleton was submerged in the Salish Sea so fish and other sea life could naturally clean the remaining thin layer of flesh from the bones. But some bones, including the skull, pectoral fins and end of the tail, are too delicate to clean this way. So, the Whale Museum turned to the Burke - and the unique cleaning abilities of our beetle colony.

Sooke's skull needed to dry for 2 weeks prior to being
cleaned by our beetle colony. (Photo: Jeff Bradley)

Jeff Bradley, mammalogy collections manager here at the Burke, first gathered biological tissue samples from Sooke to add to our Genetic Resources collection. These samples preserve a rich array of information about the species and will be available for scientists to study for years to come.

He then let Sooke's remains dry for two weeks before placing them in our beetle case, where our colony of about 10,000 dermestid beetles went to work carefully cleaning the bones.  

After about three weeks of beetle cleaning, Sooke's skeleton was ready for the next step: balancing the oil levels. Whale bones, especially the delicate skull, have a naturally large amount of lipids giving them an oily look and feel. These oils play an important role in the whale's ability to hear, but some of the oil must be carefully removed to help preserve the skeleton.

Jeff Bradley with Sooke's lower jaw (mandible)
on San Juan Island. (Photo: Cathy Britt)

It's a tricky process that involves soaking the bones in a weak ammonia solution, but it's one that Jeff has mastered over the years. The result? Sooke's bones have just the right amount of oil to keep them from deteriorating, allowing them to become a permanent part of the Whale Museum's collection.

Several weeks after Sooke’s remains first came to the Burke, Jeff carefully loaded up the clean bones and traveled back to San Juan Island, where he was greeted by eager orca lovers interested in learning about her skeleton. See photos of Sooke's bones after they've been cleaned.

Although Sooke's life ended at a young age, having her skeletal remains at the Whale Museum and tissue samples at the Burke provides opportunities to learn more about these magnificent animals, and raise awareness of the increasingly destructive pressures they face in their natural habitat.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications

Unearthing a Fossil: Giant Turtle Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Burke Museum) — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:20:00 +0000

We're often asked what it takes to get a fossil out of the ground and ready for research and museum display. The answer: it can take weeks, months or even years worth of work.

In this short time-lapse video, Burke Museum fossil preparator Bruce Crowley walks us through the process with our giant turtle fossil—from digging it out of the ground and wrapping it in a jacket, to chipping away tiny bits of rock with a series of miniature jack hammers.

When we first introduced you to our giant turtle a few months ago, Bruce and a team of volunteers were just starting to carefully chip away at the rock here in our lab. Now, after a lot of work, nearly half of the fossil is exposed...including a complete skull!

The only known complete skull for this species.

Our "giant turtle" is now known to be a softshell turtle of the genus Axestemys belonging to the family Trionychidae, and is estimated to be about 49 million years old.

This fossil is unique because it contains the only known complete skull for this species, along with several complete limbs. Plus, it's giant! Based on what we can tell about its size at this point, it may be the largest fossil turtle in our collection.

So what's next for the turtle? Bruce's team will start chipping away rock from the other side of the fossil. To do this, they'll apply another side of the jacket (aluminum foil and toilet paper covered in a layer of plaster) to protect the exposed fossil and gently flip the turtle over.

Eventually, the fossil will be available for turtle paleontologists and other researchers to study, and could even be on display here at the Burke Museum.

By Cathy Britt, Digital Communications