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ENDANGERED! Exploring a World at Risk, a special exhibition examining one of the most pressing environmental issues of our era — species and habitat endangerment — opens at the American Museum of Natural History on March 8, 1997. The exhibition, which is on view through September 1, explores the major causes of species and habitat endangerment and extinction, the effect of such extinctions on the planet as a whole, and the prevention of future losses.
Organized by Ross D. E. MacPhee, a curator in and chairman of the Museum's Department of Mammalogy, the exhibition has been assembled from the collections of a variety of institutions and organizations, including the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation, the Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, as well as from the Museum's own collection.
Endangerment
While many people realize that the term "endangered" applies to animals and plants, few realize that it also pertains to entire habitats — the places where species live and interact with one another. Habitat loss, which in this past century has resulted largely from human activities, leads to the extinction of multiple species. As a result, it is important to understand that endangerment is an issue that extends beyond individual species of plants and animals to the entire biosphere.
Historically, species extinction has occurred as part of the natural process of evolution. Yet during the last 500 years, as a result of farming, deforestation, and other human activities, the rate of plant and animal extinctions has accelerated alarmingly. Today, the majority of the world's natural ecosystems are changing faster than the ability of most flora and fauna to adapt, and scientists estimate that early within the next millennium, hundreds of thousands of species may become extinct.
While the reasons for endangerment and extinction are many, there are three leading causes, all explored in this exhibition. Loss of habitat, primarily due to human beings, is regarded as the chief cause of species extinction. Introduced species, plant and animal species introduced, either accidentally or by intention, into new settings, can seriously disrupt delicate ecological balances and create a cascade of unintended consequences, including endangerment and extinction. Overexploitation, or the utilization of a species at a rate that causes its endangerment or extinction, is another leading cause today.
The Exhibition
Endangered! illustrates and explores these critical issues through dioramas created for the exhibition; specimens from the Museum's collections; live animals; and an audio tour, guidebook, and educational children's poster. Special videos created for the exhibition relate the plight of specific species, highlight ongoing scientific research, and illustrate the rapidly rising rate of extinction. Imperiled species from the United States and abroad are also highlighted in the exhibition. A resource area provides the latest information on public policy, legislation, and the recovery efforts of conservation groups.
Habitat destruction
A diorama of giant pandas reveals the plight of a species that may soon become extinct in the wild as a result of habitat loss and other factors. Thousands of years ago the panda's habitat spanned much of China south of the Yellow River. However, as the human population grew, the panda's habitat became severely limited. Only 1,500 pandas exist in the wild today, living primarily on government reserves. In preserving the panda's habitat, other imperiled species that also live there, such as the snow leopard, golden monkey, and Chinese pheasant, will also be saved from extinction.
The problem of shrinking habitats is also addressed in another diorama, a "gator hole" from the Florida Everglades. Once a mosaic of habitats that supported a stunning array of wildlife, the Everglades have been seriously degraded by more than a century of environmental alterations, including the expansion of agriculture, urbanization, and industrial development. In fact, there are more endangered species in the Everglades than in any other national park in the United States.
This diorama, which contains flowing water and several species of live fish and plants, illustrates the condition of this region during the dry season. During this time, alligators live in the pools that remain as the water recedes. These pools become mini-ecosystems that support a variety of wildlife, including plants, birds, fish, and otters. As water in the region continues to be diverted for crop irrigation, the alligator population drops, along with the number of dry-season oases, resulting in a drastic reduction of wildlife in the area.
Introduced species
A Volkswagen "Beetle," encrusted with zebra mussels after four months of submersion in Lake Erie, graphically illustrates the problem of introduced species — plants and animals that are brought to new ecosystems, where they often dominate the habitat and, in the process, eradicate native species. Introduced in the United States in the 1980s, this European mollusk has clogged waterways, wreaking havoc on water- and sewage- treatment systems. It has also caused the extinction of several species of native mollusks in the Great Lakes. By the end of this century, these zebra mussels are expected to have entered the waterways of the entire eastern portion of the United States.
Also on view in this section of the exhibition are several species of live fish, known as cichlids, and a diorama featuring the Nile perch. Another example of the serious environmental damage an introduced species can cause, the Nile perch was introduced to Africa's Lake Victoria in the 1950s to increase the fishing industry. Since that time this voracious predator has not only caused the extinction of more than half of the lake's population of cichlids, it has also contributed to the deforestation of the surrounding area because — unlike the small cichlids, which can be dried in the sun — the large Nile perch must be fried to be preserved. In turn, deforestation and the rise in agriculture that resulted from the increase in population due to the booming fishing industry, has caused an increased amount of polluted run-off to pour into the lake, and the entire ecosystem is now at risk.
Overexploitation
Various displays — a nineteenth-century parlour, a fashion boutique from the twentieth century, and a contemporary shop featuring medicines derived from animal parts — illustrate the extent to which animals have been commercially exploited and explore the changing values of society toward such exploitation of animals. The displays contain items made from animals, including medicine derived from tiger bone; fashion items, such as a dress made from monkey fur and a bowling bag made from the hide of a zebra's head; objects such as a rhinoceros-foot ash tray and an elephant-hide basket; and several Egyptian artifacts, including a magic wand carved from ivory and a comb carved from bone.
The exhibition also contains examples of extinct species, including a Tasmanian wolf, the last known specimen of which died in a zoo in Australia in 1936; and Stellar's sea cow, which was hunted to extinction by sailors in the Bering Sea in the eighteenth century. Also on display is the one-ton skull of a Northern "right" whale, so named because sailors wanted to make sure they were killing the "right one." The Northern right whale, which was the first target of unregulated commercial whaling, is now one of the most endangered of the large whales.
Recovery plans and other resources
Also included in the exhibition is a selection of live animals, including Madagascar radiated tortoises and Chinese alligators, from Species Survival Plans© coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Park/Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation. These animals are part of breeding programs in which endangered species are bred in captivity to preserve their unique genetic heritage. Such programs are crucial to the wildlife conservation effort, as they can restore or augment a population at risk.
To provide a historical context, a timeline outlines recovery efforts, from the designation of national parks in the late 1800s, to the formation of federal laws protecting wildlife in the early 1900s, to the creation of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, to the more recent release of species bred in captivity into the wild. In addition, visitors can follow the story of a fictitious animal, the Meeps Island Flying Frog, to trace the steps that species go through to be placed on the Endangered Species List.
A resource area helps visitors learn more about the efforts to save the earth's flora and fauna through a variety of books, articles, and a special "newspaper" called Endangered! that features newspaper articles about the issue of endangerment and extinction. Visitors have access to the Internet at special computer stations, providing links to selected sites of various conservation groups. Trained volunteers are in the resource area to answer questions and assist visitors.
Sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship for the exhibition has been provided by Volkswagen AG. Additional support has been provided by Mrs. Sue Erpf Van de Bovenkamp of the Armand G. Erpf Fund. The public education programs of the American Museum of Natural History, including Endangered! Exploring a World at Risk, are also made possible through the support of The Lila Acheson Wallace/American Museum of Natural History Fund.
Support for related English- and Spanish-language publications and educational materials, including the special children's poster, has been provided by the Louis and Virginia Clemente Foundation and The City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs' 1997 Cultural Challenge Program.
REMAINS OF THE ONLY MONKEY KNOWN TO HAVE GONE EXTINCT IN THE PAST 500 YEARS DISCOVERED IN JAMAICA
A team of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Claremont McKenna College in California announced the discovery of the only monkey known to have gone extinct in the past 500 years. Fossils of the monkey, known as Xenothrix mcgregori, were recovered during a paleontological expedition to Jamaica led by Donald A. McFarlane, associate professor of biology at Claremont, and Ross D. E. MacPhee, chairman and curator of the Department of Mammalogy at the Museum.
The discovery is important for several reasons. It was only recently suspected that Jamaica once supported a native population of primates. (Monkey species living in the West Indies today are descendants of African or South American monkeys introduced in the 18th century or later.) A small group of primate fossils had been discovered in Jamaica in the 1920s but was not identified as belonging to a new, native species until the 1950s. "It came as a shock to discover that monkeys once occurred naturally in the West Indies and that nobody knew anything about how or when they got there, or when and why they disappeared, so we determined to try to answer these questions," said Dr. McFarlane.
The success of the expedition was due, in large part, to the location the researchers selected. Because tropical sun and rain quickly reduce bones to powder, Drs. MacPhee and McFarlane focused on caves that extend far below ground and are protected from the elements. They teamed up with Alan Fincham, a biochemistry researcher at the University of Southern California and a leading authority on Jamaica's caves, and Clare Flemming, a senior scientific assistant in the Museum's Department of Mammalogy.
Team members lowered themselves into deep shafts to prospect among the debris that had accumulated at the bottom. With little worthwhile evidence of the monkey after three expeditions over three years, the team agreed on a final effort in a shaft named Mantrap Hole. After days of fruitless digging and preparing to call an end to the search, Dr. McFarlane found a partial skull with several teeth preserved. "I couldn't believe it," said Dr. McFarlane. "It was nestled in a heap of snail shells right on the surface. I get cold shivers when I think that I might have stepped on it and not noticed it." After sifting hundreds of square feet of debris from the cave floor, an additional piece of an upper jaw and one of the bones of an arm were discovered.
Xenothrix, related to such South American species as the organ-grinder's monkey, was an unusual primate. Its limb bones suggest that it was a slow-moving animal with very mobile joints. For example, it had adaptations suggesting that it habitually moved or fed upside down while suspended from a branch. Its teeth indicate that it primarily ate fruits. "Island animals often lack any natural predators, so they often evolve in remarkable and strange ways," said Dr. MacPhee. "They sometimes develop in directions that would be highly unfavorable in a continental setting but are advantageous within their unique environments. This appears to be the case with Xenothrix."
A startling aspect of the discovery was the age of the fossils. Other fragments of the monkey were found sandwiched between strata bearing jaw bones of the European black rat, first brought to the New World aboard Columbus's ships. This added special significance to the find: Xenothrix became extinct after European contact. Other scientific studies have shown dozens of Caribbean mammals may have disappeared around the same time.
"At present we can only speculate how these catastrophic losses were caused because most of them are poorly dated. However, human impacts, whether direct or indirect, are the only plausible candidates," said Dr. MacPhee, who had previously uncovered evidence of native monkey species in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. "The extinction of Xenothrix is merely an early example of something that continues to happen every day around the globe," added Dr. MacPhee. "It is highly unlikely that this species will long retain its dubious honor as the only monkey to go extinct in recent times."
The project was partly funded by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration and the National Science Foundation. The team was assisted by three sports cavers who volunteered their time and expertise: Judith Lemire, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army; Ray Keeler, a computer programmer; and Adam Fincham, an aerospace engineer.
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