Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 7, 2002--Less than 1 percent of the University of Nebraska State Museum's 14.5 million specimens are displayed for public view, with much of the remainder comprising the museum's research collection. The rocks, skeletons and artifacts on display at Morrill Hall represent just a fraction of the items held State Museum's collections.
The collections hold many treasures, and the State Museum will show off some of them in a new exhibit that opens to the public Nov. 16. "Treasures From the State Museum" will feature items selected by curators of the six active research divisions in the museum and highlight how scientists use these specimens and artifacts in their research. The museum's six active research divisions are anthropology, botany, entomology, parasitology, vertebrate paleontology and zoology. Each division will present unique or unusual specimens and explain how scientists use those specimens in their research.
Some of the items in the treasures exhibit, in the Cooper Special Exhibits gallery on the third floor of Morrill Hall, 14th and U streets, have never before been on public display. The exhibit runs through April 30.
Materials used by hunters and herders in the African savanna and the South American rain forest compose the anthropology section, said Tom Myers, curator. Jivaro blow guns and bows and arrows used by the Yanamamo, Shipib, and Cashibo peoples of South America will be displayed, as will shields and weapons used by the African Masai herders to hunt lions.
Myers said the items will be placed in an ecological context--the task of hunting in a forest is different from hunting in a more open plain, for example. The Masai shields will be displayed so visitors can see the decorative painting on one side and the construction technique on the other. Myers said an interesting feature of Masai shields is they were painted in ways that reflect the age and status of the users (youth, junior warrior, elder warrior, etc.) and thus other tribesmen can identify from a distance the status of the hunters. Many of these items have not been on public display for some time, he said.
Peg Bolick, curator of botany, said the goal of botany's section is to raise awareness of the state's plant fossils and to show how some plants have not evolved at the same rate, or at the same time, as animals. "Some plants have changed very little over the past 20 million years," she said. Sycamores are an example of a Nebraska plant that shows little evolution. One sycamore fossil in the botany display is about 100 million years old, she said. There also will be 13 million-year-old fossil elms in the display.
"I also want to show how the collection gives records of plants that may be more rare than they once were," she said, "like prairie orchids."
Nebraska has one of the most active labs in the world involved in the study of scarab beetles, said Mary Liz Jameson, one of the museum's entomology curators. Entomology's section will highlight the research of Team Scarab, as the lab calls itself. With 35,000 species worldwide, scarabs represent about 10 percent of the 350,000 species of beetles, she said. The display will highlight the biodiversity of scarab beetles and focus on their anatomy and other features. "We mostly will show big, gaudy colorful beetles," Jameson said.
In addition, the entomology section will feature two endangered beetles that occur in Nebraska. The American burying beetle once was widespread in the eastern half of North America, she said. Nebraska is one of the few remaining habitats for this insect, which is on the federal endangered species list. The other endangered beetle is the salt marsh tiger beetle, she said. University entomologists Leon Higley and Stephen Spomer are world experts on this beetle and have helped developed that part of the exhibit, she said.
"We are keen to have people learn about beetles and insects in general," Jameson said. "There is amazing diversity among insects."
A tapeworm that typically lives in foxes, coyotes, dogs and voles is the focus of the parasitology section, said curator Scott Gardner.
This tapeworm is a focus of Gardner's research. The range of one species, once limited to the Central and South American tropics, is moving north. A northern species, once found only in certain Arctic regions, appears to be moving south and has been found in Nebraska, he said. The tapeworm lives in canids (dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes) and its eggs are passed in canid feces, which are eaten by voles and field mice. Dogs eat these rodents, completing the cycle, he said. Cats are occasionally infected if they eat infected rodents. Humans can be infected if they encounter and ingest dog feces, which is especially common with little kids, Gardner said.
"This can be really bad for humans," Gardner said. "Once infected, it usually is fatal if untreated."
In the Western Hemisphere, only the U.S. National Collection contains more parasite specimens than UNL's collection, Gardner said. "If you are into cool and icky things like parasites, Nebraska is the place," he said. Parasites are also one way to probe for biodiversity in an ecosystem, because the presence of parasites indicate normal interactions between flora and fauna, he said. An ecosystem with a parasite balance that's out of order can be one that's in trouble, Gardner said.
Mike Voorhies, one of the curators of the vertebrate paleontology section, said his goal in choosing from the 1.5 million fossils in his collection was to "pull out really extraordinary fossils that tell a story and that you wouldn't see on regular tour of the museum."
For example, he will feature the largest mammoth tooth in the museum's collection, which may also be the largest mammoth tooth in the world. "We'll compare it to casts of a similar tooth from Archie (the Museum's 'signature' mammoth) and also a tooth from a contemporary African elephant," he said. "We'll have some fun in estimating the size of the whole animal."
He also will be showing examples of diseases that fossils can show, such as arthritis. "I think kids will enjoy these; kids get into gross," he said. There also will be recently collected items from Ashfall Fossil beds, including jawbones from male, female and young rhinos. These fossils help further knowledge of rhino life, he said.
The zoology section will focus on exotic holdings and unusual Nebraska specimens, said Trish Freeman, zoology curator.
"We have a really beautiful mount of a Malaysian sun bear we're going to display," she said. "It's a beautiful treasure. We're also showing what we're calling our little gems--hummingbirds from South America and some tanagers and a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers, which are extinct."
The Nebraska treasures, Freeman said, show the change in distributions for some native species. For example, groundhogs once were only found the eastern part of Nebraska, but their range is extending westward. Pumas can also be found again in Nebraska, she said. "We want to show how we are documenting changes over the last 40 years," she said. "We want our exhibit to be simple and beautiful; to capture the 'oh, wow' of exotic beauties but also the beauties in Nebraska."
In conjunction with the exhibit, the Museum will host five Saturday Science Adventures with hands-on activities and a chance to meet and learn from museum scientists.
The first Saturday Science Adventure on Nov. 16 focuses on rocks and fossils. Children and adults can explore the world of geology and paleontology through science demonstrations in lapidary, water, meteorites and fossils. Spend the day searching for fossils, hunting for gems, solving puzzles, taking edible core samples and other fun and educational activities. Faculty, staff, and educators from the museum, the University of Nebraska and the Lincoln community will provide fun and challenging adventures throughout the day.
Each Saturday Science Adventure runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Morrill Hall. Participation in the events is free with admission to Morrill Hall ($4 per adult, $2 per child 5-18 years, or $8 per family of two adults and two children). Museum visitor parking is available in front of Morrill Hall and in the parking garage west of Memorial Stadium. The museum is open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call (402) 472-2642 or visit the museum's Web site (www-museum.unl.edu).
Other topics to be explored in the Saturday Science Adventures series are "Animals, Large and Small" (zoology and parasitology), Jan. 25; "Cultures of the World" (anthropology), Feb. 15; and "Fantastic Insects and Fabulous Plants" (entomology and botany), March 8.
During the run of the exhibit, the Cornhusker Hotel will offer a special $93 room rate, which includes complimentary breakfast for two, and a museum family pass. Contact the hotel at (402) 474-7474 for more information.
Contact: Judy Diamond, Professor, Assoc. Director-Public Programs, NU State Museum, (402) 472-4433 (