Many questions scientists get asked relate in some way to why we do work for the sake of it; most often, data itself does not have an immediate return on investment. However, data is needed before returns under a respectable model can ever be projected. This distinction is made plain by research
order to formulate questions in ways that can be addressed with the equipment on hand
Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network researchers and citizen scientists document the presence of local butterfly species and their numbers so that scientists and conservationists have reliable, long-term population data from which to strategize for future environmental care. The long-handled
Donovan “We want to involve the general public in the network not just to have a hand
Seriola dumerili This large fish is slender and agile, and can grow to be more than 6 feet long. Its is mostly a silvery white color, with a darker gray or bluish coloring from above. This is a popular recreational fish but because it is in the of the apex of the marine food chain, the larger one
Caught primarily with hydraulic reels, hand-lines, roads-and-reels, and traps, the
The first documented shark attach in the Americas, cal AD 789-1033. There are no eyewitness accounts, only the testimony of the bones. Yet our knowledge of prehistoric lifeways and forensic anthropology allow us to reconstruct what probably happened. The incident went something like this: „Th
The skeleton is complete with the exception of the lower right arm and hand.
In honor of Earth Week (you know, the week of Earth Day) and the beginnings of this blog, I’m celebrating each day with an activity that challenges me to get outside, think creatively, stretch my senses, and practice writing. So often in museum education, we get caught up in the logistics and
When you feel like you’re ready, give yourself 2-5 minutes to try your hand at a
Tremarctos floridanus Quick Facts Common Name: Florida spectacled bear Much more common as a fossil in Florida than the living black bear. Thought to be primarily a herbivore like the living South American spectacled bear. Sometimes called the „Florida cave bear“ but they are not clos
Ursine bears, on the other hand, have only one masseteric fossa (Figure 2B) on their
Southeastern Florida Archaeopedology From 1993 to 2007 Florida archaeopedology research was conducted by Sylvia Scudder, now retired. Scudder’s studies employ analyses of chemical and grain-size characteristics to answer questions about site configuration and settlement patterns, environm
east coast of the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 5-1), features monumental earthworks, hand-dug
Montbrook Site University of Florida Vertebrate Fossil Locality LV070 Location South of Williston, Levy County, Florida Age Latest Miocene or earliest Pliocene epochs; late Hemphillian (Hemphillian 4 interval) land mammal age About 5.5 to 5 million years old (estimated) Basis of
The site was gridded into 1 X 1 meter squares and excavated with standard hand tools
Xenosmilus hodsonae Quick Facts Common Name: Cookie-cutter Cat A lion-sized, sabertoothed cat known only from Florida. A mounted skeleton is on permanent display at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Age Range Early Pleistocene Epoch; late Blancan to early Irvingtonian land mam
The radius and hand bones are also curved in such a way to suggest that the animal
Panthera onca Quick Facts Common Name: jaguar Fossils of jaguars in Florida are much more common than those of other contemporaneous large felids, such as the American lion and the sabertooths Smilodon fatalis and Dinobastis serus. The Pleistocene jaguars of North America were much large
On the other hand, the association of Panthera atrox with plains-adapted animals
