No one is more surprised than Austin Bell that he has become the foremost authority on the Key Marco Cat, one of the most enigmatic artifacts of indigenous North Americans. His new book, The Nine Lives of Florida’s Famous Key Marco Cat, being released in September, is described by Torben C. Rick, Cu
I didn’t even hold it in my hands when offered the chance, although I did on a
Explore our timeline to take a look back at the long history of the site and to catch up on what’s been happening lately.
into nearby Bishop Harbor, resulting in fish kills. 1980s Piney Point changes hands
The roots of the primate family tree are now more clearly defined in the fossil record, and about 10 million years older than thought, according to Florida Museum of Natural History vertebrate paleontologist Jonathan Bloch and his team of researchers. The team, led by Bloch, is proposing that a grou
leap, nails instead of claws on at least the first toes and specialized grasping hands
Ferns are notorious for containing massive amounts of DNA and an excessively large number of chromosomes. Defying all expectations, a fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the title for highest chromosome count, with a whopping 720 pairs crammed into each of its nuclei. This penchant of
endeavor will generate untold genomic resources that researchers will have their hands
Sloths and howler monkeys, night hikes exploring the forest floor with frog experts and tropical birds galore – this is not your typical summer camp. Yes, you’ll need sunscreen, and there’ll be bugs, but you’ll be deep in the rainforests of Costa Rica. The Costa Rica Family Rainforest Camp
Museum educator Tina Choe, right, tells campers to cup their hands behind their ears
The destruction of the cattle ranches and interior missions by James Moore, and the continuing English raids that made farming impossible cut St. Augustine off from what had once been an important source of food. At the same time, Spain’s involvement in European wars during the early eighteenth cent
Augustine’s residents began to take matters into their own hands.
The Bahamian hutia, a large Caribbean rodent with a blissed-out disposition, presents a curious case study in how human food preferences can drive biodiversity, sometimes shaping it over 1,000 years. The hutia, which resembles a bristly beanbag, flourished in the Bahamas for millennia, the island
Its conservation needs place its future in the hands of humans.
The University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History celebrated 100 years of inspiring people to care about life on Earth in 2017. To mark the closing of an era and the beginning of a new century, UF News profiled three Florida Museum women who are shaping the research institution’s future
who studies paleontology at the Florida Museum, took dirt and clay in her bare hands
Kajikia albida White marlin are the smaller of the billfish, reaching just over 9 feet and 180 pounds. They have a slender bill and their first dorsal fin is high but lobed rather than pointed like the similar blue marlins. They are dark blue on top and silver white with brown spots below, and th
Also, it is wise to wear protection on your hands when handling billfish due to the
This Halloween season, we’re celebrating a part of Florida’s natural history that’s often underappreciated: fungi, parasites and wasps. We’ve also thrown in a few plants for good measure. Each of these groups is an integral part of Florida’s biodiverse ecosystems, and each provides a uniquely lurid
speciosus) By Halloween, many cicadas will have undergone unimaginable horror at the hands
